Got a PB Force 448CDT and it won't go into BIOS

AnonymousDapper

I recently picked up an older Packard Bell Force 448CDT computer in pretty decent condition. Everything appears to be original, except the hard disk, which was swapped out with a Western Digital AC14200 4GB IDE drive. I have confirmed that this drive works, it appears in Windows' Disk Management when connected to an external IDE adapter.

On powerup, the computer POSTs successfully and then tells me that the CMOS battery failed (which I know about). If I press F1 to enter setup, it says "Entering setup..." and then stalls. Similarly, if I let it get past that, it does not detect the hard drive and attempts to boot from floppy or waits on "Press F1 to enter setup and ESC to boot."

Do any of you have advice or maybe even an owners manual for this thing so I can get it working again?

HorseBatteryStaple

This is not the most helpful thing ever,i know,
but try a new CMOS battery,and try a different HDD,as while a different computer may recognise it,Packards are figitey.Also, check for bad caps, Transistors, Chips,ports,ect.

jamie1130

Replace the CMOS battery???

BigCJ

First things first, replace that battery. I had to replace the one in my PB when I first got it. Trying to load an OS without a working CMOS battery would always fail. This is because it can't remember what kind of hard disk and floppy drive is installed. From there on out, there's a multitude of things it could be. Check your jumper settings, there should be a diagram on the disk to show proper settings for your system configuration. Try another IDE cable, yours may be bad. Make sure the IDE cable isn't hooked up backwards. Listen for disk spin-up at boot, it may not be getting power.

HorseBatteryStaple

also,check the BIOS chip.