bios on win2k

[meganisonfire]

Hey guys I have yet another problem.. I just got a new hard drive on my computer and I am trying to get into BIOS on win2k in order to set the computer to boot from the har rive instead of the cd-rom, but I can't figure out what it is. Does anyone know? Thanks.

 

[Inaris]

the BIOS is not in the OS. It's in the BIOS on the Motherboard. You press F2, F1, DEL or somethng else to get into it. when the system first boots, black screen, possible spalsh displaying mobo manufacturer, press one of the keys I stated. watch when you are booting cause sometimes it will tell you which to use. "** to enter setup"...
good luck

 

[ekÆsine]

if that is the only hard drive in your computer you have to install a new OS on it or clone it from the old hard drive and than set the partition active. if there are no active partitions on the MBR than even if you set hard disk to boot before cd-rom your hard disk wont boot.

 

[meganisonfire]

so you mean...

So you mean that I have to boot from the cd-rom OS disc everytime I need to reboot?? Thats messed up....

I have anohter question now.. I put win 2k on here and now my graphics suck no matter what monitor I put on here except the one I used before I switched (that was the only one that gave excellent color).. now all these monitors have had brillent color before this reformat and new drive happen... is there a way I can go in and change the colors? I went into display and it will only stay at 16 bit.. the graphics are so horrible I can barely see to type this!!!!!!

 

[Inaris]

no, you don't, if there is no disc in the CD drive, the machine will boot to the next device, ie Hard drive.
I'm going to venture a guess and so that you have not worked on copmuters much. that said, I need you to explain in very clear detail everything you are having trouble with. Every detail will help. The Graphics card problem sounds like a driver issue. You will either need the software disc that card came with or download from the manufactures website.

 

[meganisonfire]

I have worked on older computers with DOS only like back in the day when VGA graphics wwere just now coming in.. well ok here is the thing(about the booting issue first) Lets say I go to reboot it, shut down in windows 2k like normal and it goes to reboot(without a disc in the drive) the screen pops up like normal(that screen that shows the boot stuff except it doesnt mention what to push to go to bios) and then a black screen shows up and it says insert a diskette into A: to continue or 'invalid diskette in drive A:', well then I put in my windows 2k disc and reboot it again and it works fine it boots from the cd.. so apparently something is not set-up right in the bios... at least I think that is the problem or maybe I need to make that a boot drive or something cause its the only one..

now back to the graphics problem.. how do I find out what my graphics card is because it doesnt tell me on the card itself and the hardware thing doesnt tell me because I guess it isn't installed lol. oh boy computers are a pain in the butt arent they>

The reason why I am asking you guys for help is because I do my college online and I need a working computer with good graphics.. that and I want to learn how to fix them indepth so that maybe one day I can build my own instead of relying on factory pieces of junk.

 

[Inaris]

do you have a floppy in the drive all the time? have you entered the BIOS to see what the boot order is? if yes to the first, take that out. if no to the second, then press f1 or f2 of the delete button on your keyboard and see if it will allow you in. if it's a Compaq, you might try f8 or f12.
As to the graphics, you have a couple options. There are tools online that can scan your hardware and tell you what it is, but I guess the easiest way is for you to look all over the card and get all of the partnumbers and names that you can find and post them here. if the card has a removable heat sink on the core, remove it and look there. Did it come with your computer? did you buy it?

 

[meganisonfire]

I figured out the graphics problem lol so don't worry about that now guys...

alright I will try one of those keys to see if I can get in to the bios thanks!

 

[ImUseless]

Use the "Pause/Break" key when your PC boots up. The second
you hear the beep and the first screen pops up you want to capture it-so hit the "PAUSE" key.

If you pause the screen you can find the info to enter the "Setup"
or "BIOS" then you can setup your hard drive as the boot drive.

More than likely it is the "Delete" key or an "F" key. Once you find
out what key it is, follow the instructions for pausing the screen
except when you hear the first beep, hold down the appropriate
key and this should take you into the BIOS.

If holding the key down doesnt work, at the first beep begin
tapping the key and this should get you into the BIOS.