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Dead Compaq motherboard???

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by saxman642

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I have a friend's Compaq Presario 5333

The initial purpose was to simply reinstall windows after a series of windows protection errors.

Sadly this has turned into a nightmare.

After backing up data and formatting the hard drive the PC now will not boot past the compaq logo screen.

One point to note: When I formatted the drive I accidentally removed a special F10 software residing on a non-DOS prtion of the hard drive that allows you to access a Compaq BIOS ,...the drive has been left unpartitioned since...... I manged to download the software, and install it to floppy, but the friggin PC won't even boot to a floppy!

It simply checks memory, the cursor moves to the next line and then apears to hang. You can skip the memory test, but the keyboard doesn't respond after that..

I removed the battery and change CMOS jumper settings... onthe only difference is that the power light is orange when it turns on

The compaq turns on automatically as soon as you plug in the power cord into the power supply. holding down the power button to turn it off doesn't work.

All of the aforementioned tests have been done with board tested out of the case, extra PCI cards removed, leaving just the drive, floppy, power supply and Power switch

Is there anyway to revive this board? If so your advice is needed NOW!!

7 replies

by crowngreen

Can u establish what make and model of motherboard u have. removein the software should not affect any rebuild. what operating system are you trying to install, and have you a windows startup disc
If possible f disk the hard drive and remember to format it, forget this F10 bios mode.
Rebuild the pc as normal. Once formatted either use cd support or start up disc to reinstalll windows.
let me know how u get on.

by saxman642

While I understand your point about ignoring the F10 stuff... the fact is the the PC won't attempt to access the floppy or any boot device anyway. If it could then I'd have continued installing any proprietary software, windows, etc, and my job would be simple

BTF teh prt number for the board is 120694-101...Thanks though

by dec33162

First, kudos to you for backing up the data before getting started.

I agree with the first submitter that formatting the drive should not affect using the F10 option as that's built into the BIOS. Also, since you do get to the Compaq logo, you'realready past the BIOS entry point. The fact that the system is completing the memory test and displaying the Compaq logo lets you know that the board is still good.

Remove all hardware connections from the motherboard. (Memory, video cards, CPU, etc). Reinstall only the CPU, memory and video card.

Put the BIOS jumper in the clear position. Turn on the power. The system "SHOULD NOT" boot up. After about 5-10 seconds, turn the system off (unplug it if you have to). Reposition the BIOS jumper to its normal operating position. Power the system back up.

The cursor on the Compaq usually starts in the upper left hand corner then moves to the upper right hand corner. Press F10 once it's in the right corner and before the Compaq logo isdisplayed. After a few seconds, you should get into the BIOS to change the option to enable and select the floppy as your first boot device. Check your other settings while you're in there, (such as autodetecting the hard drive), insert a bootable floppy, save settings and exit.

The system should reboot and come up on the floppy. If that works, which it should, you're all set. FDISK, reboot, format, install. OR, remove floppy, insert restore CD, reboot. System will walk you through reconfiguring it to the way it came from the factory.

by saxman642

You suggestion I have already and repeatedly tried an no success.... but the cursor does not move to the right corner of the screen. After the memory test it just moves to a second line on the left hand side of the screen. it won't attempt to boot the floppy or any boot device. My contention is if the board is good then it should try to boot from a floppy at least, shouldn't it?

Also The F10 software is REQUIRED to enter and change settings in the BIOS...I spent too many hours researching on compaq/hp's site to be wrong... but the software only applies to older compaq's.

At this point I will conclude that the board is dead and simply have my friend replace it....thanks anyway

by nickmkhn

Can't answer, because don't know the model of the motherboard.

It's still interesting to know the model of the motherboard, because we have Compaq certified technicians in the computer depot, and we have different kinds of Compaq hardware, and also manuals. I used to work not on many, but on some hundreds of Compaqs.

by nickmkhn

As mentioned above, "...I manged to download the software, and install it to floppy, but the friggin PC won't even boot to a floppy!.."

If the system looks for a proprietary CD and allows the Boot from CD option,
then try to burn a bootable CD from floppy image (need a software).

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