Conference noted::ibmpc-95

    
    I have been given a Compaq 386 lte lite laptop which has been
    cmos/powerup password protected. I know the powerup password but would
    like to change/remove it which requires a system/cmos password. This
    one I dont know. How can I clear this to reset all passwords. I
    wouldnt normally bother but the powerup password is somewhat offensive!
    
    
    Gary

Maybe this belongs in the wanted topic but:

I picked up Compaq Deskpro (486) for my in-laws - its more than they need!.

I also got a CD player for it and, gee, guess what, I need a special
bracket to mount it.  Anyone got spare ones of these around that they
want to part with?

Along those lines - anyone got the manuals that go with one of these suckers?

Thanks

Brian J.

    When adding a new hard drive to the Compaq deskpro 4/33i, Is there
    something special that needs to be done for the F10 BIOS code? I
    thought that I read somewhere that the code is stored in the boot
    sector of the hard drive. If so, how do you prepare a new drive to work
    on the system? How does one get the BIOS code on the hard drive?
    
    John

    Bios code isn't located on the drive, it's in its own rom on the
    mainboard. You set the bios to either autodetect the drive "geometry"
    (logical rather than physical these days) or set the appropriate
    parameters yourself using the CMOS setup utility.
    
    Once you've done that, you use FDISK to initialize drive partitions, then
    FORMAT to format (duh!) the drive. 
    
    /dave

    Thanks Dave. That's what I thought. I guess in their older machines you
    needed to put in a diskette to do the BIOS setup. The DEC 420SX is like
    that. I helped a friend install a new drive and copy all info from old
    (smaller) HD to the new one. You needed to use one of the original DEC
    install floppies to get into the BIOS.
    
    -jp

    Unlike most PCs, COMPAQ stores their setup in a small partition on
    the hard disk.  They should supply the floppies to reconstruct
    the partition for a new disk.
    K

I donwloaded the setup disks from their web pages - I assume they would verify
the existance of required items on disks.

bjm

    I purchased a refurb Deskpro 486/33i with no software. It had a
    formatted HD with only command.com on it. I read somewhere to check the
    hard drive with FDISK to look for a small non-DOS partition. I did that
    and there was none. The machine does go into BIOS setup if I hit F10
    right after the POST signal. I was just concerned that I might need to
    do something special if I ever wanted to upgrade the HD.
    	I also downloaded some of those files from the WEB some of them
    crashed during install. The video drivers caused my NEC 3V 15" monitor
    to display a squashed picture in windows. If I adjusted the screen via
    the knobs, then the text went off the screen in DOS. I went back to
    VGA. That scales perfectly between DOS and Windows.