floppy says disks are read only

tomolesonjr · 03-21-2006, 07:44 AM

you're right. it still says read only. I have 2 sets of 3 pins. everything else is two or less.

Emerson · 03-21-2006, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerson

Some of these computers do not have built-in BIOS setup programs and must be configured using extarnal program from floppy.

Did you try download the diskette images from Compaq?

tomolesonjr · 03-21-2006, 08:00 AM

You are right. what puzzles me is that suse is saying the floppy permissions are drwxrwxrwx.

tomolesonjr · 03-21-2006, 08:04 AM

As for the diskette... I have looked at compaq. this must be an early version of the compaq deskpro workstation. the motherboard says compaq, but I haven't found anything else yet. I probably won't get to it for another 5-6 hours... stuff for class to do. I'll take it apart again and look for more info on the motherboard.

tomolesonjr · 03-21-2006, 08:58 AM

I found a driver at bios-drivers.com. deskpro 386. but it's not really free, you have to sign up for stuff. is that what I need?

Emerson · 03-21-2006, 11:46 AM

Probably not. They have BIOS upgrades there. What you need is a BIOS setup utility.

tomolesonjr · 03-21-2006, 12:04 PM

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/de...of_production/

I might of found something.

tomolesonjr · 03-21-2006, 03:46 PM

http://www5.compaq.com/support/files...agnostics.html

we have a winner. but I need to get it onto a cd, bootable. kbIII is the winner. I still have to burn it and hope that it works.

tomolesonjr · 03-23-2006, 07:17 AM

no luck yet, but here is a longer list. problem is they are for windows. I have an old version of nt...

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/diags.html

Emerson · 03-23-2006, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomolesonjr

http://www5.compaq.com/support/files...agnostics.html

we have a winner. but I need to get it onto a cd, bootable. kbIII is the winner. I still have to burn it and hope that it works.

I visited this page, there is a zip file for making that bootable setup floppy. Did you try it? What CD are you talking about?

tomolesonjr · 03-25-2006, 07:10 AM

hi,
I had a program that works for the installation.. I guess I didn't need a cd. I made the floppy(720k). then I tried some more. they didn't work.

bios is probably password protected. the programs that I thought would work didn't.

right now I'm trying my sister's old 250. it has everything but a nic. but it only has isa slots. so no upgrading. I can get into bios on it though.

it's a trade off... I really wanted the computer with a nic so I could practice networking on SuSE. but... even a computer company looked at it and wished me good luck.

on my sister's computer you can get into bios and pull the battery and I didn't look but I assume there are probably even a place for jumpers to reset the BIOS.

Emerson · 03-25-2006, 07:57 AM

Try calling your local computer geeks. They may have ISA NIC's left over. Will cost you probably nothing or a couple of bucks.

tomolesonjr · 03-25-2006, 10:28 AM

thanks for all the help.

tomolesonjr · 03-25-2006, 04:45 PM

found isa nic for free, dad's work. the floppy works on my sisters!

it had to of been a password. again, thanks

ronald-be · 03-26-2006, 03:29 AM

Hello,

Normally, there is a jumper on the motherboard which allows to shortcut the CMOS memory. It brings all settings to factory settings and... removes the BIOS-password. I think it's the jumper you mentioned. Normally it's mentioned in the board's manual and somehow printed on the board (something like "CLR"). Check out the board??? Good luck!!!

Greetings,

Ronald