Marlborough Wi-Fi

Disabling the Keyboard Prompt on a Compaq Deskpro

Ever tried getting a Compaq Deskpro to boot without a keyboard plugged in? While it initially appears impossible, I recently stumbled accross the proper method quite by accident. I thought I’d post some notes here as it is poorly documented on the web.

The Deskpro series are very well-built, quiet and reliable PCs and they suit the task of a ‘poor man’s server’ extremely well.

Here’s the guts on what to do:

1. Press F10 when prompted at startup to enter BIOS setup.
2. Go to the Security menu and select Power-On Password.
3. Assign a password and press F10.
4. In the Security menu, a new option should appear called Password Options.
5. Open this item and set Network Server Mode to Enabled.
6. Save the changes and exit.

The computer will now boot without any prompting and disable the PS/2 keyboard port, turning it into a dedicated server appliance.

If you need to perform maintenance from the console you can press F10 at boot to enter the BIOS setup and enable the keyboard again. You can also plug in a USB keyboard and it will work normally while the operating system is running. In this mode a BIOS setup password is also recommended.

UPDATE: I have since been informed that some older Deskpros that do not support network server mode need a ‘No-F1′ BIOS patch from Compaq to kill the F1 prompt. I have only provided this as a convenience and will not accept any resposibility for any damage done to your computer.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 22nd, 2006 at 14:42 NZST and is filed under Projects & Experiments. It has been viewed 89466 times. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.