Many compaq machines use a separate BIOS utility that you must load from
floppy disks. I would reccomend checking thier website for this machine. You
should be able to load the BIOS utility from a set of around 4 floppys and
check your settings from there.

Eric Wertman

-----Original Message-----
From: PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Douglas Fontaine
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2001 10:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PCBUILD] Win2k and the case of the missing BIOS


I recently upgraded my Compaq Presario 2256 from Win98 to 2000 pro.  When
booting up, BIOS seems non-existant all I see is a message "invalid boot.ini
file... starting windows".  Searching the system, I'm unable to even locate
such a file.  The root of C is empty save a few directories.

Once 2000 loads, everything is functional with the exception of the modem.
Under my device manager, I find the following "This device is disabled
because the firmware of the device did not give it the required resources.
(code 29)"

I've visited the MS website, but was unable to find anything that even
resembled help.

One thought is to wipe the drive and install 98 again, but I'm afraid that
if BIOS is really gone, I'd be left with nothing more than a Compaq paper
weight.

Any suggestions?

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