cant figure out how to enter bios

[Aeridyne]

i have a compaq armada 7710MT here and i cant for the life of me figure out how to even enter the bios.... i know is sounds pretty nubbish, but seriously nothing works that i have tried. compaq's experts (shocky monkey is sleeping) tell me to push f10 and that clearly does not work. anyone got a clue for me?

 

[alent1234]

shut it off, boot it and hit every single key while it's booting up

repeat until you figure out the magic key

usually it's F10, delete, or some other F key

 

[Aeridyne]

i have tried the f10 key and every other f key individually to no avail.

 

[themusgrat]

Try enter, control, and delete. Also, are you using a standard keyboard?

 

[Aeridyne]

well, that did not work either

i am using the standard keyboard that comes with the unit, the keyboard that is built into the unit.

i didnt think that trying an external one would do anything since the keys will beep at me if i press them too many times, which would indicate that they work.

 

[Neverm1nd]

Some motherboards have a jumper you need to set to be able to enter BIOS, but I'd say it's a long shot on a laptop.

 

[Allanv]

i would say the F keys aint switched on, but cant remember the sequence on a laptop cus i am tired

 

[nvfriendly]

Try holding a key down until you hear a beep, than let it go and see if it enters BIOS.

 

[Aeridyne]

well, i talked to a guy on ebay who is actually selling one, and he said that the bios utility is actually on the hard drive... he said if its been wiped that you aint gettin in and that it really is f10. So. now, how do i get this utility, its not on hp/compaq's site and i sure dont get tech support for it cuz its pretty old. anyone got any ideas?

 

[Fin]

You need to go to hp/compaq website and get the rompaq for it. You need to make new system disks so you can restore the hidden partition on the hard drive. This will allow you to get into the bios.

-Fin

 

[RebateMonger]

Compaq Armada 7710 Reference Manual.

It says to hit F10.

The manual says these came with 16MB of RAM....
My experience with old laptops is that they aren't worth the trouble.

 

[Aeridyne]

Fin "You need to go to hp/compaq website and get the rompaq for it. You need to make new system disks so you can restore the hidden partition on the hard drive. This will allow you to get into the bios."

Thank you for the most valiant attempt thus far Fin, but i already tried that, i got an error that said bad command interpreter....

 

[Aeridyne]

ok i got the rompaq to install, and it did update the bios or so it said, however i STILL cannot get into the bios.

 

[Shawn]

why do you need to get into the bios?

 

[corkyg]

The initial splash screen on HP/Compaqs tells how to get into BIOS. It is at the bottom of the screen. Mine says "Press F10 to enter setup." (Setup equals BIOS>)

 

[RebateMonger]

Sooo...what happens if you remove a RAM module? Most PCs will stop at boot and say say, "Hey, something's changed here! Do you want to enter the BIOS? "

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Sooo...what happens if you remove a RAM module? Most PCs will stop at boot and say say, "Hey, something's changed here! Do you want to enter the BIOS? "

Nope! I removed a SODIMM module from my HP laptop - and it booted normally - just a bit slower. Laptops don't behave like PCs.

On my desktop, if I interrupt the boot cycle with a power off - it will automatically go to the BIOS, but not the laptop.

 

[imported_nocturne]

The question still remains, what do you hope to accomplish in the bios?

Almost all commercial desktop pcs, let alone laptops, have very limited BIOS's basically meant for the most diagnostic purposes. You can't really hope to find too many settings, especially clocks and voltages.

Seeing as almost all laptops have fixed hardware, I can really see no point at all for the BIOS.