I have an old Compaq 7730 Armada 166Mhz laptop, and I can't find any key to setup the BIOS, when the machine boots. I have tried DEL, ESC, ENTER, F1, F2, and numerous combinations of CTRL+ALT+<something> I've read about.
I haven't unfortunately found which model my BIOS is. When booting, the machine shows just the amount of RAM, no sign of BIOS manufacturer anywhere.
With F10 I can get into some kind of Compaq - setup, but it's not the BIOS Setup I've used to see.
Any ideas, anyone, please? I'd want to boot the machine with the CD-rom. This is not possible currently.
Second,
The machine had an NT 4.0, wich, unfortunately, didn't co-operate very well. I was unable to uninstall the NT (the installation log was missing) nor was I able to clear the HD. So, I used the DISKKILL program.
Then I made a MS-DOS boot disk, but now the C: can't be found. ("Invalid drive specification"). I can't format or even inspect the C: using the Boot disk.
I understand the HD has still the NT file system (is it the NTFS?) or something, and the MS-DOS can't read the HD... I'm I right?
How could I format the HD again and set the BIOS? I'm planning to install Win98, which maybe runs better than the NT in that old machine of mine.
All help is very much appreciated, I'd be very thankful for any advice!
yours,
Matti J.
Finland
I haven't unfortunately found which model my BIOS is. When booting, the machine shows just the amount of RAM, no sign of BIOS manufacturer anywhere.
With F10 I can get into some kind of Compaq - setup, but it's not the BIOS Setup I've used to see.
Any ideas, anyone, please? I'd want to boot the machine with the CD-rom. This is not possible currently.
Second,
The machine had an NT 4.0, wich, unfortunately, didn't co-operate very well. I was unable to uninstall the NT (the installation log was missing) nor was I able to clear the HD. So, I used the DISKKILL program.
Then I made a MS-DOS boot disk, but now the C: can't be found. ("Invalid drive specification"). I can't format or even inspect the C: using the Boot disk.
I understand the HD has still the NT file system (is it the NTFS?) or something, and the MS-DOS can't read the HD... I'm I right?
How could I format the HD again and set the BIOS? I'm planning to install Win98, which maybe runs better than the NT in that old machine of mine.
All help is very much appreciated, I'd be very thankful for any advice!
yours,
Matti J.
Finland