I have a compaq presario 5000/WinME and it has only 15 gigs on it, i recently bought a 40 gig and would like to use that HD instead/ and upgrade to win2K. i plugged everything in correctly, but then i noticed i can't find the bios!, and it won't even go into dos like a normal computer, when i boot the computer all i see is a "COMPAQ" splash screen and then it goes blank. i'm trying make it into dos to load fdisk and read the cdrom first and load the win2k setup.. can someone help? thanks andy

Compaq has the BIOS acces program on the HDD. Since you have removed it, you have no access. Can I ask why you don't just ADD the HDD? You actually can set your PC up to operate more efficiently if you leave the original drive in and simply add the new one, plus you have the original 15 gigs. Of course if there is something wrong with it, check this thread: http://computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/21032.html

old hdd is gone both partitions, so i stuck with 2 empty HDD and no working computer..

I believe you will find informtion at the Compaq Support site on how to rebuild the Compaq partition. Or, download a BIOS setup floppy from there. It works just as well and you can partition the drive any way you like.

Did you try any of the links on the other thread?

yeah ive read it, but the file link brings me to a place wheres there 50 different files, which one do i get for presario 5000

My Compaq Presario did not come with documentation on how to access the BIOS information. Doing so is useful for setting up new drives, changing the system clock time, and a number of other setup activities. When I checked Compaq's website, I found a host of documents about the Presario, but it took a lot of digging to find out how to get to the BIOS setup. (Most systems helpfully say, while booting, something to the effect of, "Press F1 to access SETUP.") Platform I don't know what BIOS chipsets are used in which Compaq computers. I can only say with certainty that this worked for me. There should be little risk in trying on other machines. Worst case, the system will boot normally. Solution Reboot the machine. When the company name, Compaq, displays in big red letters on the Presario's screen, a cursor should appear in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Press F10, and instead of booting normally, you should see the setup screen for the Compaq's BIOS. Someone, in response to seeing this page, told me that some Compaq machines have F12 as a BIOS setup key. If F10 brings you no joy, it's worth a try. ---------------------- This page is part of the Infrequently Asked Questions archive. jhoward@burningvoid.com Hosted by Burning Void Publishing.