bios help

[kevinash20]

hi i use a compaq amarda laptop running xp professional and i know my stuff but im lost one day after turning my laptop off i turn it on only to realise after the word "compaq" is displayed on the screen the screen goes blank. ive tried going into bios and it as if its not there f10 doesnt work del doesnt work. i used f8 so i could load from tha last best configuration but when i select an option from the f8 menu nothing happens. i cant seem to boot from floppy or cd-drive.i have been on compaq's website to download bios rom update for my version of compaq laptops. it confirms its been updated but i still cant get into bios.eventually i placed my hard disk into another laptop and installed windows 98se plugging it back into my laptop windows 98 run detecting all my plug and play devices. trying install xp over 98 after xp load all its setup files the pc restarts to install xp.when the pc restarts it writes "setup is now inspecting your computer configuration" and stop there. can anyone help is my bios just gone

 

[zero4zero]

From what I remember when I had a Compaq is that the bios was written on the hard disk, and not burned on the motherboard. But from what I read, you may have to change the motherboard battery; they don't last an eternity and the when you bring you laptop around from cold to hot, drop it, wobbles around when you are traveling; sooner or later they pass out, and you have to buy another one.