Developer Forum

Hi all'
I've recently taken an old (1998) Compaq PC (P2. 233) apart with the
intention of rebuilding it. I have just got to point of adding the
hardware, eg floppy, hard drive etc. When I attempt to boot the PC
it sees nothing. Not the floppy or the H\D. Or the floppy on its own.
Also I noticed the original cable that connected the floppy to the MB
was not the usual twisted pair but a straight cable.
I've heard that some older brand name machines used their own
floppies to boot their machines i.e a Compaq floppy. Could this be the
reason?
I've tried 3 cables and 2 floppy drives so I know the hardware is OK
and until I took it apart the PC was OK.
The only different component in the PC is the H\D which is smaller
than the original. Even so it should still boot from the floppy
without the H\D present but it doesn't. Everything else is as it was
so I'm confused and could do with a little help.
Thanks.

I knew a person once had an early Compaq that seemed to have gone south
after his kid started playing with the power button. He took it to a dealer
who said $2000 for new motherboard. He brought it back, asked me to take a
look and after a short 800 call to Compaq this is what they suggested I do
(which worked) ...

There was some jumper on the motherboard that I took off for about 10 sec.
Sorry, no idea now what it's labelled.

When system next started it automatically just redetected everything.
Windows started etc.

Note there didn't seem to be any way to get into a "normal" BIOS screen as
most of us have come to expect. Never interested in a Compaq since observing
that.

First off when you first start the PC does
the floppy light flash on then go out.
Second is it set in bios to boot A,C.
apart with the
adding the
boot the PC
on its own.
floppy to the MB
their own
Could this be the
hardware is OK
is smaller
floppy
is as it was

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 17:46:08 -0700, "Greg"


Thanks for the advice PJP.
I'll look for the jumper

Greg wrote....

First off when you first start the PC does

The light on the floppy comes on then stays on and the bios is set to
boot from A first.
If I reverse the floppy cable I get a "no disk" error message . The
error message disappears when I connect the cable correctly which must
mean that it is seen by the MB. Then it hangs.

Make a new boot floppy disk, and try with it.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://www.yqcomputer.com/

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 22:47:15 -0400, "glee" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM >





Yep, did that, no joy. tried a variety of boot disks i.e PC cillian ,
Universal boot etc.
Someone suggested that Compaq PC's keep the Bios on a partition of the
H\D hence the new drive\s can't be seen. Unfortunately I've formatted
the original H\D.

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 22:47:15 -0400, "glee" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM >





Yep, did that, no joy. tried a variety of boot disks i.e PC cillian ,
Universal boot etc.
Someone suggested that Compaq PC's keep the Bios on a partition of the
H\D hence the new drive\s can't be seen. Unfortunately I've formatted
the original H\D.

The comment about "BIOS on hidden partition" jogs a memory but can't
remember specifics. fdisk and reformat may not have been entirely what you
wanted to do?