I am new to the forum here.Looks like a great place to hang out!
My question is how do you get into bios to check what is enabled or disabled?I cannot seem to find bios.
OS is win98

Welcome to the PC Guide.
The usual way is to press the delete key when the computer first boots up. Though some systems use different keys. There should be a message when your computer boots about which key to press to enter setup.

This is usually noted on the very first opening screen, but if you have certain name brand computers it may not be visible because they have their logo screen instead. I would try the "Delete" key and if that doesn't work it is sometime F10, Ctrl, or F2. If it isn't one of those, post back with specs on your system and we can try to track it down.

Also, be careful when you get in BIOS. We have a lot of posts here from people that experimented with changing BIOS settings and now can't access their computer. It is usually fairly easy to correct this, but it can be disturbing and it is a hassle for you. It is unlikely, but I believe possible, that you would cause permanent damage.

Thanks for replys!The reason I asked the question is I have a older computer that had win95 on it and I installed win98 on it.After that the serial mouse would not work or the modem.
So I decided to reformat C drive know the problem I am having is that it gets 90% threw formatting then I get this message that shows up
Not ready
Format terminated.
So I tried to reformat again and get same message.I have never saw this before,Any ideas?
I wanted to add this is what I see before it terminates
Trying to recover allocation unit 717,547

That probably doesn't have anything to do with the BIOS, but it is likely that it means your hard drive is having trouble and may be dying. The best bet would probably be to run the diagnostic software from the hard drive manufacturer to see if it is ok, but you would need to know what the hard drive is to do that. You could pull it and check if you are comfortable doing that, but otherwise you can just run Scandisk which will at least give you some info on if there is a problem and possibly fix it at least temporarily. You would run this from the same disk you are using to format the drive and you can get info on how to use it HERE. (http://www.easydos.com/scandisk.html)

Budfred Thanks for reply
I did run scan disk before I tried to reformat c drive it ran but there was bad sectors on the drive it took a while for it to run.
Know that I tried to reformat c drive is win 98 removed or is the os still there.
Where is the hard drive located is it where the fan is in the back where the unit plugs in?
I am running format c drive right know is there a command to quit?

The hard dive will be in the front. Just follow the cables connected to the motherboard and they will lead you right to it. There should be three cables.
1 goes to the floppy
1 to the cd-rom
1 to the hard drive

In the back were you plug in that's that power supply.

Thanks found it!
It says western digital Caviar 33200.

You can go here (http://support.wdc.com/download/) and get Data Lifeguard v2.8 you can use that to check out the drive.

Thanks 1 will go check it out.:D

To answer your question about the drive data, most of it has probably been made inaccessible with your attempted format. You may still be able to recover data if you didn't back it up before, but it is difficult and can get expensive. You certainly aren't likely to be able to run Windoze from there anymore. Hopefully Data Lifeguard will give you a good idea of where you stand with the drive.

Hi there UF
If you are having trouble formating the drive you might have to run FDISK to delete the primary partition and then remake the primary partition again.
I have run into this problem with older drives in the past (inabillity to format until after Fdisking)

Be aware though that you will lose ALL data on the drive by doing this.

As per the previous replies, check the drive with the makers software first.

I have the drive makers software but problem is drive A does not work either as well as the mouse and modem.
I get this message when I start up.
Pri Master Hard Disc:S.M.A.R.T status bad,Backup and replace
Press F1 to resume
So I do not think I can check bios as when I press F1 it loads win98:confused:

Usually when you get a SMART message like that it signifies that the HDD is on the way out. But this should not stop you from entering the BIOS. So i would look to trying to save any data still available to you.

You could try taking the HDD out, reset the pins to slave, and insert into a known working computer as SLAVE to see if you can then do anything with it ((running diag software from there).

If you cannot find the key for getting you there try pulling the keyboard from back of computer. This should then throw up an error message and tell you how to enter setup.

You should be able to navigate using the keyboard or get your self a serial mouse.

if you do not know how to use keyboard to navigate go here and see PP's post at bottom
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=899&highlight=Navigate+with+keyboard

Thanks for reply!I have a serial mouse and it doesnt work,There is a yellow exclamation in device manager at where the mouse is,any idea how to remove the yellow mark then would mouse work?

Hi:I have the mouse working now I managed to get into BIOS and enabled power mgmt.The problem I have now is when I connect to the internet my mouse stops working!Help. serial mouse com4, modem com2

I am glad you got into BIOS, but I am confused about why you then enabled power management. This is probably even more likely to make things weird. I agree with the idea to back up valuable data on that drive, I suspect it may be on its last spins. You may need to begin saving nickels and pennies for a new system and plan to use this one to experiment on, it sounds like it is already a bit of antique and that it is falling apart.

It might be helpful to post as much info as possible about your system specs so that we have a better idea of what you are working with. You also might want to try just setting your BIOS to defaults and see how that goes. If you do, write down the current settings so that you can reset if you need to...

Budfred
Thanks for all your help
I enabled power mgmt as there was a exclamation mark in device mgr.
What happens know is as soon as I connect to the modem my serial mouse stops working.
I did not know there was default settings in bios,I will check tommorrow as the computer is at work,The computer is from 97 and I believe it is a acer computer.3 gig HD.
I just wanted to get it going for work so to use the internet as I do not wanna leave my laptop there.
You got the antique part right:cool: