Need help with an ancient PC Vectra QS/20

[Roger Faucher]

If you press F1 after the error message WITHOUT inserting a bootable floppy, does it boot successfully from the hard disk drive? If not go back into setup and make sure ALL of the settings seem proper. If you still cannot boot from the hard disk, try booting from the floppy again and issue FDISK /MBR from the A: prompt and retry booting from the hard disk.

[Jamie Hughes]

Hello,

I understand that type of message can be frustrating, especially when it doesn't appear that there is any other problem. Did you ask your friend if they remember when they first encountered this error? Have they gotten the error since they've had the PC or when did it start?

Since this machine is way past its support life, I'm having a hard time finding any documentation, etc. If everything is running fine and your friend thinks they've been getting the error for a while, I would just learn to ignore it. If they just started receiving the error, I would tend to think this might be a true hardware problem that just happens to be only showing an error at this point. It could be indicative of an intermittent problem or your motherboard/clock could be going bad. I would keep an eye on it and make sure you have a good backup if you have anything important on it.

Best regards,
Jamie Hughes

[Freddy Soer]

Hi, I've got an old HP Vectra QS 165 with the same BIOS-message. I tried Jamie's file: down-
loaded it, run the SETUP# -d a: (as to unpack the files on floppy disk, and then after inserting the floppy in the HP Vectra, I ran SYS A: from the C:-root, then did a cold reboot with the floppy in the drive, and voil? I could adjust everything! Jamie thanks a lot for providing this worthful stuff. Em, I hope yoyu will succeed too now! Good luck, Bye Freddy.