If it's a Compaq of any sort (pre-HP buyout or otherwise) try using the 'Delete' key; tap that a couple of times a second until the BIOS shows up.
Depending on the machine (Compaq/HP preferred using the Phoenix BIOS), 'Esc' would give you a 'one-time' boot Menu. 'F2' was more commonly used by Dells to access the BIOS. This is the case with my elderly Compaq desktop; pre the HP 'buyout', and hence a 'true' Compaq, and of
far superior build quality. After the buyout, Compaq was sadly reduced to a model name within the HP line-up; a rather ignominious end for a company that once had an enviable reputation for supplying high-quality, innovative, ultra-reliable hardware to the business community.....who prize reliability above all else.
I have always found that with laptops, it's invariably a sign of the need for a strip-down and general 'spring-clean'; there's only so much these canned air 'dusters' can reach. You would not believe the wadges of matted fluff that can build up in heatsink 'radiators' (the finned portion that the fan takes in cool air to blow across and dissipate the heat tranferred to it via the 'heat pipes'). And over time, the thermal paste between the CPU & heatsink turns into 'crispy crud', and no longer transfers the heat the way it's supposed to. You should always aim to replace this at least once every 12 months.
My elderly Dell lappie (15 yrs old, and still going strong) was one of those that used a desktop Pentium 4 CPU, since in 2002 mobile CPUs were still just a gleam in AMD/Intel's collective eye.
55C is a perfectly normal 'idle' temp for a P4!! It's only when you get upwards of 70C that you need to be careful with them. At least I'm not running a 'Prescott'.....
Mike.
