Compaq CMOS SETUP explained

How to access SETUP

How to load DIAGNOSTICS and SETUP to disk.

Unlike the "clone" MB community that uses a CMOS SETUP routine that resides in "silicon" on the MB, Compaq uses a SETUP diskette to access the CMOS in their systems and a DIAGNOSTIC diskette to perform system tests and inspect system level information. Images of these floppies are loaded to a non-DOS partition at the front of the hard drive when Compaq configures their systems. The F10 key is used to access them from the HDD on boot.

When upgrading to a new or larger hard drive these diagnostics will not be present or a hard drive crash may corrupt these diagnostics. In either case you will need the Compaq diskettes to reload the SETUP and DIAGNOSTICS software to the hard drive.

These procedures are correct for the Compaq Business products like Deskpro, Prolinea, Prosignia, and etc.

The steps outlined herein assume standard Microsoft partitioning software (FDISK), not the 3^rd party "xxxx magic" partition utilities available. I have not tried to move and create a new diagnostic partition on an existing drive using these utilities and cannot verify their success or failure. Do so at your own risk.

How do I access the CMOS SETUP routine on my Compaq?

1. At boot time the cursor will appear as a large block in the upper right corner of the screen after beeping twice. Press F10 AFTER the memory test completes or when you see the block cursor, and the DIAGNOSTIC utility screen will appear. Perform your standard CMOS functions from the utility screen.

NOTE!! If the diagnostics are not loaded on the HDD the block cursor WILL NOT appear after the two beeps.

2. If the F10 at boot sequence fails, boot with disk 1 of the SETUP/DIAGNOSTICS DISKS in the drive. Proceed with the standard CMOS SETUP functions from the utility screen.

 

How can I get the SETUP and TEST diagnostic diskettes if I have lost mine?

You can create the diskette images from the F10 boot utility if that is still functional on your disk. If the hard drive has been wiped and you don't have copies of the diskettes perform the following steps:

1. Go to: http://www.compaq.com/support/files/index.html

2. Click on the type of system you need help with (IE desktop, server or peripheral).

3. Enter the system model information in the dialogue boxes and press the Locate Software button on the page.

4. Scroll down to the ROMPaq selection for your model. Download the ROMPaq file to a temp directory on your disk.

5. The file is a self-extracting file that will create the SETUP and the DIAGNOSTICS diskettes on 3.5" floppies.

6. Label the disks Compaq Diags 1 of 2 and 2 of 2 and etc. to have them in the correct sequence for booting and creating the diagnostic partition.

 

How can I load the diagnostics on a new hard drive-- OR --I repartitioned or formatted my hard drive and want to load the diagnostics back?

This is where the problems occur. You will need the "SETUP" and the "DIAGNOSTICS" floppies to proceed.

Click on the link above to download the ROMPaq for your system if you don't have them.

1. Boot from Disk 1 of the set and define the HD parameters if necessary. For an existing drive this should not be necessary.

2. Have NO PARTITIONS defined on your hard drive. Delete any and ALL partitions you may have created in previous attempts to load diagnostics.

NOTE! If you try to load the diagnostics with a DOS partition defined it will say there is not enough room to load diagnostics because it needs the FIRST PART of the drive to load them. (Available space on the drive is unusable) If you loaded an OS and your applications and want to preserve them, you CANNOT load the Compaq Diags to the hard drive. As an option the Compaq Setup and Diagnostics can be run from floppy if you choose to not install them to the hard drive.

3. Boot from Disk 1 of the set and it will detect no diagnostic partition on the hard drive and prompt you to create one on the drive.

4. Follow the prompts to create the partition and insert the diskettes when requested. This is a 3-pass operation, to create the non-DOS partition, recognize the partition and transfer the diskette images. Now you will have F10 functionality at boot.

5. Run FDISK and partition the remaining space on the drive, as you would normally do. I personally use a single partition in Win98 to simplify things.

6. Format the drive with the DOS command FORMAT C: /s and the C: drive will be bootable and have the Compaq Diagnostics installed. Then continue to load the standard Microsoft Win95/98 Operating System onto the hard drive.