Compaq Laptop 2111ap cdrom not booting

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Neelakantan
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:36 pm
Location: india. navi mumbai

i have a compaq 2111AP laptop; it originally came with a toshiba cdrom;

the cdrom developed a reading trouble and i got the cdrom replaced with dvd/cdrw

i checked for its reading and writing ability when i collected from compaq service center.

recently i was planning to repartition the hard-disk and install a boot manager; when i tried to start the machine with DOS boot CD (after setting the options in bios: CDROM/Harddisk), it still started with Windows xp on harddisk.

local contact in compaq says because it is CDRW, bios is failing to note that; i am not sure of this explanation

my bios details are:
Phoenix bios4.0 Release 6.0
Hewlett-Packard Presario 2100 Bios
Revision KE.M1.54
dated 12/17/02

Chip set ALI M5237 REv3

any solutions?

regards
neelakantan
KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Temporarily disconnecting the HDD and trying the CD Boot again would prove his theory...
Neelakantan
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:36 pm
Location: india. navi mumbai

kachiwachi!

did that though i didnot expect anything;

i set floppy / cdrom / hdd for booting sequence; when the laptop was started it checked the floppy (green light and whirring sound); no response for cdrom (no greenlight!) and went to the preboot bios giving a message (check the cable; no operating system found);

i changed the boot sequence for floppy / hard disk / cdrom; again the same message; it appears it checks floppy and the hard disk only.

when i entered the bios setup, it list the floppy (legacy floppy drive), hard disk (toshiba...) but just names cdrom (with no product identification) though i am surprised that bios identifies the product brand

any help?
KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

What make/model DVD/CDRW?
Neelakantan
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:36 pm
Location: india. navi mumbai

thanks for the rply

the dvdcdrw model is TEAC DW-224E-C;

this is as identified by XP;
bios doesnot identify.


regards
KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Compaq 2111AP laptop
Hewlett-Packard Presario 2100 BIOS (KE.M1.54, 12/17/02)

Is this BIOS correct for this machine??
Neelakantan
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:36 pm
Location: india. navi mumbai

yeah that is right;

the machine was bought from hp authorised centre preloaded with win xp home; later upgraded to xp pro

the bios is still same

my bios details are:
Phoenix bios4.0 Release 6.0
Hewlett-Packard Presario 2100 Bios
Revision KE.M1.54
dated 12/17/02


regards
KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Don't know what to suggest...it's got to be something funky in the BIOS though.
Neelakantan
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:36 pm
Location: india. navi mumbai

hi

i used the floppy to boot the machine with cdrom support and managed the partition work;
is : KE.M1.56 suitable for this and can it be used?

regards
neelakantan
KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

The Compaq site now lists -

OS Independent - KE.M1.61 (2003-07-15)
W2K and WinXP - KE.M1.73 (2005-04-25)

I'm not sure why the OS Independent BIOS is a different version...better check with Compaq to be sure.
Neelakantan
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:36 pm
Location: india. navi mumbai

thanks for the rply; i was not able to look into this for sometime; so didnot respond early.

i had a look at the customer support site;
as you have mentioned there are two updates given:

OS Independent
WinFlash for HP Notebook System BIOS Update - Windows-Based
version date size

» KE.M1.61 current 2003-07-15 1.56M

» KE.M1.60 2003-06-23 1.56M

» KE.M1.58 2003-04-08 1.56M

» KE.M1.58 2003-04-08 1.56M

Windows XP Home Edition
windows XP Professional

KE.M1.73 current 2005-04-25 1.67M

» KE.M1.72 2004-09-03 1.67M

» KE.M1.71 2004-03-17 1.64M

» KE.M1.69 2003-12-12 1.64M

» KE.M1.68 2003-11-06 1.64M

» KE.M1.66 2003-10-16 1.64M

» KE.M1.61 2003-07-15 1.56M

» KE.M1.60 2003-06-23 1.56M

» KE.M1.58 2003-04-08 1.56M

» KE.M1.58 2003-04-08 1.56M



THE ABOVE LIST DOESNOT INCLUDE my PRESENT BIOS KE.M1.54 DATED 12/17/02; (I AM NOT SURE WHY IT IS NOT LISTED)
I CALLED THE CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND HE SEEMS TO THINK THE LATEST BIOS IS ke m1 61 WHICH SUPPORTS dvd. ( MAY BE THE DVD SUPPORT STARTED FROM THAT TIME?????)

I HAVE HEARD LOT OF COMPLAINTS ABOUT WINPHLASH AS AGAINST dosBASED UFLASH. WHEN I DID UNIFLASH ON MY DESKTOP IT TOOK JUST UNDER 3 MIN TO COPY THE THE OLD ONE AND REPLACE THAT WITH NEW ONE FOR 80GB SUPPORT.

HOW RELIABLE IS WINPHLASH;

I OPENED THE softpaq EXE FILES WHICH HAVE MANY OTHER ACTIVITIES IN ITS INI LIKE REGISTER UPDATING. ALSO THE BIOS IMAGE IS A WPH FILE AS AGAINST THE STANDARD BIN FILE FOR A DOS FLASH.

WHICH WAY TO GO?

REGARDS
KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

I would proceed as Compaq recommends.
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