Questions regarding ancient persario 4770

[fugigoose]

I have a Compaq persario 4770 i'm trying to make into a crappy fileserver. I flashed the BIOS to it's most recent image. I was able to get windows 2000 to load, but I really dislike it now that XP pro is around. XP, however, will not load. It will get through all of install and restart, but instead of booting it says "Disk read Error". I don't know if this is XP's problem or my hardrive's problem. The hardrive is a 20 gig Western Digital (Whom I hate with a passion too) set to be 'single'. For some reason, the master setting doesn't work on WD drives because WD thought it would be funny. This problem could be solved easier if I knew how to get into the BIOS. Companies refuse to use del or f1 to tic people off. I knew it at one time, but it was really akward. Does anyone know how to get Windows XP to load and what key to press to get into the BIOS setup?

 

[tjv]

The problem with the Compaqs are that there is a FAT12 Partition that reads the bios info and if you completely wiped the HD then its gone. you can however download the install utility from Compaq and get into it to install the utilities. If the HD was not wiped then you would hit the F10 key to get into the settings for the BIOS. you may see at the Compaq logo screen a flashing white line in the top right hand corner of the screen, if you do then hit F10.

Also check for BIOS updates at Compaq.

 

[pudda]

One more note, haven't seen an older Compaq yet that didn't have the HDD- or CD for that matter- set as Cable Select. A single WD HDD, if it works on other than CS, should be jumpered to the "single drive without slave" configuration:

http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/jumpers.asp

Hope this helps...

The test continues...

 

[wolluf]

fugigoose - if you only want a 'crappy fileserver' - why not use 2k?

 

[rockerfellerz]

2K would be better for the file server on that machine. XP is more demanding of the hardware...

If you're going through Hell...keep going... (Winston Churchill)
RocKeRFelLerZ

 

[bcastner]

I vote for Win98SE for the 'crappy fileserver.'

 

[jonhiker]

For a "crappy fileserver", i would suggest 2K or Unix/Linux.

 

[fugigoose]

<sigh> I guess your right guys. 2k it is. Thanx.