Laptop bios

[AMPLIFRIER]

Hello all....

just got a new laptop a couple weeks ago..... http://products.hp-at-home.com/products ... num=F5399H

would have built it my self but laptops are a different game.

the main question i have is..... when i hit f2 to go in to the bios..... the only think you can change in there is the boot order......what the hell is up with that? are the settings buried in there because HP likes to prevent the customers from touching them?

this is my first laptop so its kinda a shock to me that it isnt as configureable as my good ole pc tower systems i built.

thanks in advance

AMP

[cy]

I would think so just like the IBMs, Dells...

[LT-73]

Originally posted by cy
I would think so just like the IBMs, Dells...

Yup. My g/f had a laptop from Dell, and she asked me to format the HD. She wanted win2k instead of the 98 she was using. Me, like the moron i am, did it. Turns out i screwed the whole thing up! I had to take it to Dell and have them reverse the damage. Dam sh!t cost me almost $200 !

My guess is you might have to take to the HP techs and have them do it, otherwise you'll suffer the same fate.

[Docsta]

LT...how did you mess up a format man?

[LT-73]

Originally posted by Docsta
LT...how did you mess up a format man?

I dunno how, but it did. The guy at the shop told me laptops are different from desktops, go figure

I keep gettin clients that want their laptops worked on, i say no. I'll never touch a laptop again !

[Murman]

Originally posted by AMPLIFRIER
Hello all....

just got a new laptop a couple weeks ago..... http://products.hp-at-home.com/products ... num=F5399H

would have built it my self but laptops are a different game.

the main question i have is..... when i hit f2 to go in to the bios..... the only think you can change in there is the boot order......what the hell is up with that? are the settings buried in there because HP likes to prevent the customers from touching them?

this is my first laptop so its kinda a shock to me that it isnt as configureable as my good ole pc tower systems i built.

thanks in advance

AMP

It's prob like the Dell's .. they "lock" the BIOS so user's can't change anything. Simply call up HP's tech support and they'll give you a password to unlock the BIOS. We had to do this at work for some of our Dell C610's.

[AMPLIFRIER]

Originally posted by LT-73



Yup. My g/f had a laptop from Dell, and she asked me to format the HD. She wanted win2k instead of the 98 she was using. Me, like the moron i am, did it. Turns out i screwed the whole thing up! I had to take it to Dell and have them reverse the damage. Dam sh!t cost me almost $200 !

My guess is you might have to take to the HP techs and have them do it, otherwise you'll suffer the same fate.

Ive already formated my machine and installed my stuff....and i rfuse to take any of my machines to someone else to fix

AMP

[AMPLIFRIER]

Originally posted by Murman




It's prob like the Dell's .. they "lock" the BIOS so user's can't change anything. Simply call up HP's tech support and they'll give you a password to unlock the BIOS. We had to do this at work for some of our Dell C610's.

I already email hp support about it and they emailed me back stating that ....what i saw is all that is available in the bios.

i dont believe them.

i dont see any other place that asks for a password or anything like that.....only the option to change boot order.

this sucks.

AMP

[LT-73]

I understand amp, no problemo.

Good luck on your search tho

[Docsta]

LT ive formatted a ton of dells, hp's and compaqs at work for many customers and they all turn out just fine...using fdisk to remove the partitions then formatt em..and install whatever OS they want...most people want XP, so its done in under an hour. weird in your case???!!!

[MAmuT]

well i have a Dell and everything its fine i formated the HDD and even installed SuSE linux 8.0 and it rules.

What might have happened is that as dell has a 30MB partition for some drivers and some other stuff you might ereased without knowing .

Also that applies to Some HP Notebooks and Compaqs, and even for their Destops they havethat kind of things and Mine didnt have any BIOS luck ( mine is a 8100 ), so it might be some unusaul cases , and on my BIOS i can change almost everyhitng but the Memory speed and the processor speed, but everything else its changeable

[AMPLIFRIER]

Originally posted by LT-73
I understand amp, no problemo.

Good luck on your search tho

thx

AMP

[AMPLIFRIER]

i just find itto be really crapy to not have full control over the bios.

cest la vie....welcome to laptops'burg

thanks all!

AMP

[newbie1]

i just got a notebook yesterday, and i had the same problem, and i was looking all over for a bios so i can configure it the way i want to (including upping FSB)...but silly me, i flashed the wrong bios for my notebook (that's what tech support told me) , and nothing would turn on, so i called tech support this morning,, i thought i voided my warranty, but i explained that i got the bios from the support disk that came with my notebook, and they're willing to replace everything, lucky me


why don't you ask for a more customizable bios, like ask for a site to download it from?

the company i bought it from "prostar" actually gives websites out on where to download and upgrade the bios, but foolish me, i decided to look for it myself, and it ended up being the wrong one