Software Updates and Restorations

Installing a Retail Version of an Operating System

The Windows operating system provided on the notebook or on the Operating System Recovery CD is enhanced by Compaq. The Compaq enhancements add power and security features and provide supplementary support for external devices such as drives and PC Cards.

ÄCAUTION: Replacing an operating system enhanced by Compaq with a retail version of an operating system will result in the loss of all Compaq enhancements. In some cases, the loss of these enhancements might result in an unresponsive system or the loss of complete USB support.

Configuring Your Notebook

The BIOS (basic input and output system) Setup utility, which is also referred to as the Setup utility, helps you configure your notebook operation. The utility is a preinstalled, ROM-based information and customization utility that can be used even when your operating system is not working or will not load.

Opening the Setup Utility

The Setup utility reports information about the notebook and provides settings for startup, password, port, Setup utility appearance, and other preferences. To access most settings:

1.Start up or restart the notebook.

2.Before Windows opens and while the “Press <F10> to enter setup” prompt is displayed in the lower left corner of the screen, press F10.

On some models, you must start up (not restart) the notebook to access the settings for a hard drive password.

Software Guide

4–19