The BIOS is not on the hard drive. A set of diagnostics is. Some Compaq
BIOSes give an error if they can't find it. It's a small (10 MB)
partition of some unknown type. I would just try a new drive. There's a
good chance it'll just work. (Subject to any BIOS limitations on drive
size - refer to Compaq's web site for that information.)
Alternatively, if the drive is at least slightly functional (and a new
drive doesn't just work), try cloning the magic partition. Even more
alternatively, I believe you can (could?) download the diagnostics and
just recreate the magic partition. I've only had one case where a Compaq
system wouldn't boot without the magic partition - and I think that had
other causes. The system was replaced rather than the hard drive due to
its age, so I didn't get to the bottom of the problem.
Michael O'Donnell wrote:
>Somebody just gave me one of these clunky
>little 1120T laptops because its hard disk
>is pretty much dead. I know NOTHING about
>Compaq systems but it seems I recall hearing
>that Compaq made some (ahem!) interesting
>design decisions like putting some of the
>BIOS code on the disk and such. Is this true?
>Can somebody point me to a detailed discussion
>of the architecture of one of these machines?
>
>If I manage to find a replacement disk and
>that stuff about BIOS code living on the disk
>is true, it sounds like it'll be a giant PITA
>to get the system usable again, right?
>
--
Dan Jenkins ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Rastech Inc., Bedford, NH --- 603-627-0443
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