"Shenan Stanley" wrote:

> gsulliv4 wrote:
> > I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running XP Home. I want to wipe my hard
> > drive (C and start with a clean slate. Somehow a BIOS password got
> > set, I don't know it, and I am not able to set the PC to boot from
> > CD. I tried removing the battery for a day and a few other things to
> > reset the BIOS. No go.
> >
> > I also do not have a floppy drive. And my disks do not seem bootable.
> > When I enter the boot options during startup, I am not given the
> > choice of "Boot from CD" no matter what I have in my drive.
> >
> > So I tried installing Recovery Console and formatting the drive from
> > there. It lets me in, lets me run format, but nothing happens. I
> > tried a clean install, and all my XP files went away, but all the
> > other garbage on C: is still there.
> >
> > My latest idea was to install an eval version of XP Pro on my Seagate
> > external drive (G, boot from that, and format C: from there. Well,
> > it will apparently not let me install on the external drive. It says
> > startup cannot see it, even though it is listed as an option.
> >
> > I am clueless as to what to do next. Can anyone give me an idea of
> > how I might be able to wipe my C: drive and start with a clean
> > install of XP?
>
> Tried this?
>
> 1.. Restart your computer.
>
> 2.. At the first text on the screen, or when the Dell logo appears, press
> the <F2> key every three seconds until the message Entering Setup appears.
>
> 3.. When the System Setup screen appears, press the <Alt> + <F> keys at
> the same time to load the factory defaults.
> A beep sounds to indicate the defaults have been loaded.
>
> 4.. Check and, if necessary, reset the time, date, and year.
>
> 5.. Change the Secondary Drive 0 setting to Auto.
>
> 6.. Change USB Legacy Support to Enabled.
>
> 7.. Press the <Alt> + <B> keys at the same time to save changes and
> reboot.
>
> 8.. Proceed with the installation or troubleshooting that you were
> attempting.
>
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
>
>

Hitting <ALT> + <F> does nothing. When I hit <F2> during startup it puts me
in the main BIOS screen with a prompt for the System Password. Without that,
I can't change any of the settings. Hitting <ALT> + <F> on this screen is not
doing anything. No beep, and the password prompt is still there.