Presario 5000 won't start - Stuck on Compaq logo

[JAKAFUTZ]

I'm working on a Presario 5000. It won't move past the Compaq logo screen. F10 won't take me into BIOS..Recovery CD and QuickRecovery CD don't work. No beeps and no logo when I pull the RAM. Unplugged and reseated all connections..replaced the MB battery. Since BIOS won't even respond I'm not concerned about the hard drive at this point. CTRL/ALT/DEL will restart, but still just the Compaq screen.

Bad MB? Any other suggestions before I throw this one into the trash?

 

[garebo]

You should still be able to re-set the bios via the bios re-set jumpers on the motherboard, right?

And some motherboards, like mine, have a "recovery" jumper right with the bios re-set jumpers.

There are the first 2 options for you. There are more but those are probably the first 2 to try.
Good luck.


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[amdathlonxp1984]

I agree with garebo, you should try and reset the bios via the jumper, if that doesnt work then make sure that you strip everything out from it as in unplug all the cards and drives so the only thing it has is the ram and maybe a graphics card if it doesnt have it built in to the mobo, if that dont work then you can gimme the parts

 

[pcdoc4christ]

Hey JAKAFUTZ:

Many older Compaq PCs have software installed on the hard drive that is required to access the CMOS settings. If someone has reformatted the hard drive & erased the software, you will no longer be able to access & make changes to these settings by pressing F10.

I learned this lesson the hard was when i reformatted a hard drive for a Compaq Deskpro 2000 PC; i'm not sure if this is the case with your Presario 5000.

Question: Do you hear any beep codes or receive any error codes on the monitor? You may want to try to boot to a bootable floppy diskette. If the PC will boot, then the hard drive (or the operating system) may be the cause of the problem.

Hope that helps!

=================================

"Freely you have received, freely give." --Jesus Christ
pcdoc4christ@yahoo.com

 

[garebo]

i didnt think the presario used that cmos routine like with the deskpro.

If thats the case then its pretty easy.
You go the comaq website, which is now HP, but the stuff is there. You have to get the make model and serial # and enter that in when asked and presto, you will get all the software,bios, etc, thats needed for that machine.
YOu have to download the bios rom, and another rom, i forget the name, but it will be obvious at that point, and you have to put it all on a floppy and it installs to the hard drive, its easy.
So go to the website first. If any problems then copy the url here so we can help you better.


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[pcdoc4christ]

You're probably right, garebo.

 

[JAKAFUTZ]

Thanks garebo and amdathlonxp1984. I reset the BIOS and when I restarted, I got the post error "162 - System Options Not Set". It wouldn't let me have access to BIOS when I tapped F10, so I unplugged everything except the RAM...then F10 got me to BIOS. I reset everything, shut down, replugged and tried again. Got stuck on the Compaq logo again and couldn't access BIOS. Then I unplugged just ard drive and tried again...and got into BIOS. This has me a bit confused...if BIOS is on the MB, why would having the HD plugged in matter? Without the HD plugged in, obviously there is no operating system to boot....and with it plugged in I get stuck at the logo. The sequence for booting is set with the CD Rom 1st, then diskette, than HD. If I throw the QuickRestore CD in with the HD unplugged, it finds it with no problem (but can't do anything because there is no HD). With the HD plugged, I just get the logo. I'm not convinced this is a HD issue.

Thoughts?

 

[JAKAFUTZ]

Sorry, I was typing and working on the PC so I didn't see the updates from garebo and pcdoc4christ. Given that the fact that I now have been able to access BIOS and have this HD issue...I'm not sure the latest suggestion still applies?

 

[garebo]

Ok, lets start with the jumper on the hard drive. Make sure its set to master. What kind of ide cable are you using?
If its the ide66 then the h drive has to be on the last or end connector, with the blue connector to the mobo.

I would put the h drive as master and cdrom as slave or master on secondary ide connector to mobo and then try getting into bios again.
If that fails, take ide off and get into bios and set to boot from floppy. Put a win98 boot disk in and fdisk and format the hard drive.


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[garebo]

I forgot, if you get the drive fdisked, when it asks if you want it to be active, say yes, then make sure you reboot and then format the h drive.



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[pcdoc4christ]

Hmmmm

JAKAFUTZ:

I believe your assumption is correct.

But please tell me: Does the Compaq logo screen appear before, or after the sound of the Power On Self Test (POST) beep(s)?

 

[garebo]

post error "162 - System Options Not Set"

Seems to me thats a good sign when dealing with compaq computers that age.

You really need to go to the website and get more info!
Read what they have to say and you will start to catch on to this better.



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[JAKAFUTZ]

OK...after lots of putzing around...I do have ide66 cables and they are all plugged correctly. HD is master and CD ROM is master in secondary slot on MB. I had to once again remove the HD ide to get into BIOS where I changed the floppy to first boot position. Plugged in the WinME boot disk and go the message that there was "no valid FAT or FAT32 partition". Then it says that it successfully loaded the tools onto the C drive. Tried to fdisk and got "no fixed disks found". Did a scandisk and surface scan and everything checked out OK. Went back into BIOS to make sure everything was configured correctly and that looks OK.

I don't have speakers hooked up to this PC so I'm not sure about the beeps. I could move a set of speakers if you think that is worth knowing.

I know amdathlonxp1984 is just waiting for me to throw in the towel...but I haven't given up.

Thanks again for all of the great advice...

 

[garebo]

ok, well, compaq bios writes to the boot sector of your hard drive. So am thinking that possibly your boot sector is messed up. Now bear in mind that if you do mess with your boot sector then you will have to re-do the bios, which as i told you is not hard, you get it from HP website for your specific computer. I gave instructions above.

Ok, so hook this drive up as master and unhook cd rom and anything else but vid,keyboard, mouse,monitor and ram.
Set bios to start from floppy and put a win98 or winme startup disk in. When it boots to a: then do this:

fdisk /mbr

Just like that with the space left as a space.


That will fix the mbr. Now you can reboot and get back to a and run fdisk - yes to large disk, go to, i think 4 and see what you do have. If its bare then just partition the hard drive and when it asks if you want it active say yes.
Then you have to reboot again and get to a:, then type
format c:. If you get an argument keep pressing enter until you win the argument and format the drive.

Then you have to go to HP and download the rom and the rompaq. The rompaq is their word for the bios installer, and the rom is their word for the bios.
Instructions for that are above.








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[garebo]

Note that when you load thru the a drive that c drive actually becomes d drive. Thats why it said it was successfully loaded to c drive. Thats only a small temporary setup thru your boot disk,a ramdrive i believe its called, its not really your actual hard drive or c, your actual hard drive is d but you cant access it until its formatted!


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[pcdoc4christ]

Me thinks i'll stand back & watch the professional surgeon at work!

 

[JAKAFUTZ]

OK...tried to do the fdisk /mbr trick but still get the "no fixed disks found" message. It seems to know the C: drive is out there but at the same time is can't seem to find it.

Any other ideas?

 

[garebo]

Sorry, gotta go right now, will be back in an hour. Wife has come home from work, gotta visit for a bit before she goes to sleep, lol.
Its a job we gotta do!



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[garebo]

In the meantime, could you give us a complete rundown of your setup, which is on which ide connector, master, slave, that sort of thing, as this thread is getting kinda long and there seems to be a lot to do.
thanks

What make and model of hard drive is it, and how many gigs?


also, have you visited the HP website yet?



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[JAKAFUTZ]

I to need to wrap it up for the night...but here is what we're working with...Presario model 5080US, 800Mhz Celeron, BIOS family 686C3 dated April 18 2001, Windows ME, 128MB RAM, 20GB Maxtor HD model D540X-4K hooked up into the primary IDE with an ide66 cable and no slave connected. I am now able to get into the BIOS with the HD connected (but CD ROM is disconnected). I did go out to the HP website, but couldn't find the place to put in my machine model or serial. I did find the ROMpaq for the 5080US and have it downloaded. It looked like everything I needed was in one file. It's also the 686C3 family but a few months newer.

I do appreciate all of your help!! I'll check in tomorrow AM. Thanks.