BIOS Compaq Armada 1592

[Don Frank_1]

I am have a problem accessing the bios and have read many Q & A on the forum and no luck. Two problems I am having from donated machines. 1. The blinking cursor never appears in the upper right corner. Nonetheless, I try to use the F10 key at start up to no avail. I also tried Fn-F6 but do not get any screen for password entry. So What might be I be doing wrong - How can I access the BIOS? I tried to update the BIOS (file SP8975.exe) but get an error 11: )File Read Failure) after the SoftPaq asks me to put in a floppy and get to copying file image. The disk is newly formatted and no write protect active.

2. Some of the donated machines don't boot to floppy or CD - do to my inability to access BIOS, I can't change the setting to even reload new BIOS. Any thoughts?

Does the Armada 1592 allow me to clear the password and reset the BIOS by disconnecting power and the CMOS battery? Are there specific jumpers to clear - if so, is there a main board schematic pointing to applicable jumpers?

Thank you for your thoughts - Happy Holidays - Don

[Roger Faucher]

Don:

Here is a link to the 1500 Series User Guide. According to Chapter 9, you're following the correct procedure to get into the BIOS Setup (pressing F10 key).

As to BIOS, I would try this one:
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/Armada/us/download/8076.html

If you're dealing with donated computers, you should have a floppy cleaning kit handy at all times. In fact, I would recommend cleaning every floppy drive as a matter of course. I usually clean them pretty vigorously by tripling the cleaning kit directions. If you can't load an OS, try booting with the cleaning disk in the floppy drive. If it seems to load the heads and try to read the cleaning disk, just repeat that process several times. Then retry booting from the BIOS update floppy.

Try this: turn power on and then press the F10 key repeatedly every 1-2 seconds and see if that gets you in.

Hope something here helps.

Roger

BTW, here's the link for clearing the CMOS (BIOS): http://web14.compaq.com/falco/detail.asp?FAQnum=FAQ5258
Unfortunately, it doesn't tell you how to remove the RTC battery.

[Roger Faucher]

BINGO!

Check this out: http://web14.compaq.com/falco/detail.asp?FAQnum=FAQ3844

Apparently, the diag partition is NG. This will tell you how to retrieve it.

Roger

[Roger Faucher]

Don:

That last link only provided a workaround. Here's how to re-create the partition:
http://web14.compaq.com/falco/detail.asp?FAQnum=FAQ2063

Roger

[Roger Faucher]

Don:

I am attaching a JPEG of the RTC battery in case that helps you locate it (or its connector).

Roger