Win 98 SE BIOS

[dddave]

I recently bought a used computer as backup; it's a Compaq Presario. I erased everything, reformatted the hard drive (4 GB) and reinstalled my Win 98 SE. Everything went fine. Later I tried to read something from a floppy disk. Got the message: "You are not authorized to access this device!" I then accessed the BIOS via F1 at startup and tried to fix it; it did not work. Still cannot access the BIOS in the standard manner.
Question: How can I access the BIOS on this Compaq and how do I clear all the lock outs.

 

[ski]

I then accessed the BIOS via F1 at startup"
"How can I access the BIOS on this Compaq"

Are you saying that you can or cannot enter BIOS???

 

[dddave]

ski,
Cannot access the BIOS. (Please excuse the confusion.)
David

 

[ski]

OK, thanks.

Did you try repeatedly pressing the F1 key, or just holding it down, immediately after the system is started?

 

[edfair]

or the [F10] while the cursor is winking in the top right corner of the screen. Maybe the [F12]. Earler models used such, and I can't remember which ones.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[mattjurado]

Or, could be Delete, Ctrl+Alt+Escape, F2, Tab. You can also remove the CMOS battery for a few minutes, the BIOS defaults will be loaded, and should clear the problem. But take another shot at doing it manually first, you might even try another keyboard.

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[dddave]

Did get into the BIOS via F10 and tried all kinds of things. What we did was remove the original 4 GB drive and just use a new 60 GB drive.
Thanks to all.
David