old computer experiance needed

i have just added a really old pc to my home network, its REALLY OLD, its a compaq deskpro not sure what version but its got, skt7 pentium, 4x 32mb edo ram, 4.5gb hdd, basiclly the problem is i cant access bios, ive tried all the usuall stuff , F8, F2, DELETE, ESC, CTRL-ALT-DELETE, but these do nothing, it runs 2000 pro, and i know that old pcs stored there bios file on a small partiton on the hard disk but i formatted that for a fresh 2000pro install, anyone know how or where i can get this bios file from i.e a download link? and also how i then access it once ive restored it to the hdd? thankyou... :major i-CONICA:major

 

If it's Phoenix BIOS, try Ctrl+Alt+ESC or Ctrl+Alt+S.
The Compaq system probably reequires "F10 Utility" to be installed on the HDD.

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/...mId=2&admit=-682735245+1172013627225+28353475

On the Compaq computers from around that time, the F10 setup was
stored on the hard drive. If you've re-partitioned or replaced the
hard drive, the F10 setup is gone. You can download it from this site above
and run it from diskettes or install it on your hard drive.

Bios should still be stored in CMOS even though the partition has been deleted, otherwise your Operating system will not boot as the bios is responsible for this...


Regards...

 

Post the actual model# (on the label on the back of the machine, or inside the case).

 

Yep, Nitecrawler is exactly right. I had this same trouble with a Compaq Armada Pentium II laptop years ago. What I had to do was download the Personal Computer Diagnostics from HP (Compaq), move it to floppy then boot off it. I had to Recreate the diagnostic partition from following the directions on the disk. Then I updated BIOS. When I restarted I hit F10 to enter BIOS.