I have a presario, 2190US. It hangs at the red compaq logo...allows to push f2 to enter setup but just says entering setup and nothing happens. Tried booting windows and live disks from cd-rom but nothing happens (stays at compaq screen). Since i can't get into setup or boot from cd i cant do a hard drive self test. The hard drive is making a ticking noise like a second hand on a watch...i'm assuming bad hard drive (any opinions...only thing other than that its a bad mobo) and would like to try replacing. Can i replace with just any ATA hard drive...does it have to be same size to avoid bios problems etc...
I tried "tapping" the harddrive, i am still getting the same thing :( also...did you notice it said the system BIOS is shadowed?? what does that mean? anyone?
this really makes me sick this laptop is doing this.
Summary: remove hard drive, tap it, re-install. Fixed!
I had the same issue with my compaq presario 2100. Stuck at compaq logo screen. Could not enter setup.
iowatoad's solution helped me realize it was a hard drive problem.
I then removed the hard drive and rebooted. I could now enter setup, so that confirmed the problem was the drive.
I then just tapped (quite firmly) the hard drive, and re-installed it, rebooted. And now it boots perfectly!
Tapping a hard drive is a known technique to (at least temporarily) resurrect hard drives. I've resurrected my ipod like this two years ago, and it still works! It is of course not a great sign for the health of the drive, so you best backup your data as soon as possible. But then again, your drive might be back in business for quite a while.
Hope this helps others out there.
I have a 2190 with the exact same problem. I have now found that it is the hard drive. The hard drive should spin with random clicking, not that clock-like clicking. The hard drive is located in the front edge of the unit looking like a drive door. Remove the two rubber plugs and two screws. Pull the "drawer" sharply to toward you to unplug the drive. Then try to boot the computer without the hard drive installed. The computer will now let you enter the bios, etc. Weird, huh?
NO its a software crash use the installation disk you said you used......go through the blue screen allowing windows to boot up from that disc let it go right to the end and press "R" for the console (the dos line ) when there enter .... chkdsk /p Let Windows fix any problems. When finished remove the disc and I bet it will open windows for you. Please come back and tell me how did you do because most people that I helped with this problem just run but you know old saying "what goes around comes around"
You might want to also try an get into the setup of the bios and see if the CD rom is loading as the second slave before the hard drive. This could be you problem why the CD wont start.....failing that then what your machine is asking you to do is restore the computer to factory settings thats done when you first start the machine if I remember for that compaq its the F12 Button only thing here is it wiill wipe everything else.
There is a battery lithium one soldered to the Motherboard in your laptop find it and unsolder it leave it for about a couple of hours the longer the better for some and then go back in it should have resetted the bios and may allow you more options particularly with reading the CDrom.
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Paeroa, thank you for your suggestion.
The Presario 2190US I have has Ubuntu installed as the main OS...I just put in the Windows disc (as well as the Ubuntu installation disc) in to see if it would even boot from that since it had XP originally installed, but as i said it will NOT boot from the cd-rom drive this includes live discs like Knoppix, as well as the hard drive self test burned as an iso on a cd-rw.
Also...i can not enter the bios setup as i mentioned before when i hit f2 to enter setup it says entering set up but stays at the compaq screen and nothing happens.
The other options are hitting esc to change boot order. If i remember correctly, normally a screen should pop-up showing the current boot order, but when i hit esc it immediately takes me to the Pheonix bios screen showing the memory test, etc but nothing happens, just stays there.
The other option is f12 to boot from LAN (which won't really get me anywhere) but when i hit it says booting from LAN and just sits at compaq screen just as when i hit f2.
the cd-rom shows the activity light blinking but nothing ever loads...it worked perfectly fine before this mishap.
iowatoad--thanks for the suggestion. Yes, i was then able to access the bios with out the hard drive in place. Unfortunately after putting it back in after changing the boot order ..it still is hanging at the compaq screen and can't do a hard drive self test or read a cd. If i put a cd in with out the hard drive in i just get an "operating system not found" and doesn't go any further.
If the bios can start with out the hard drive in , does this signify a bad hard drive?? or is this a software issue as Paeroa suggests??
If its the hard drive to i need to replace with an ATA same make, model, and size to avoid bios issues etc??
Thanks again.
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