It shouldn't matter if its the original keyboard or not, just as long as its PS2.
In fact someone here has one without the original Compaq Presario CDS 510 help

I'm not overly familiar with the 510, but I would remove the HDD and as many cards as possible, try less/different ram, and maybe you will get lucky.
but Its hanging really early in the boot process, not a good sign 🙁

But how can I enter to the BIOS if it says me "301-Keyboard error"? The keyboard works fine...

you cant until you fix the keyboard error.

That's why I said remove the hard drive, sound card, some ram. I mean actually open the PC and remove them, not just disable in BIOS
If you are lucky its a hardware conflict.

Another thing you can try is pressing caps lock. If the little light doesn't turn on and off then there is no electrical signal to the keyboard at all, this is not good

Actually the CDS 510 doesn't have a BIOS you can enter. There's a service partition on the hard disk with settings and diagnostics utilities. You can enter that by pressing F10 during boot (when a cursor appears in the upper right corner of the screen). It's also possible to load those utilities from floppy during boot in case your hard disk is broken or your hard disk doesn't have the service partition. I can give you the images for those disks. I have a Presario CDS 524 and that's basically the same machine.

Are you sure that you have the keyboard plugged in the keyboard port and not in the mouse port? That's a possible cause for the 301 error.
Or are you continually pressing keys when you turn on the computer? Then it might be that the machine registers stuck keys and throws an error.

kick wrote:

Actually the CDS 510 doesn't have a BIOS you can enter. There's a service partition on the hard disk with settings and diagnostics utilities. You can enter that by pressing F10 during boot (when a cursor appears in the upper right corner of the screen). It's also possible to load those utilities from floppy during boot in case your hard disk is broken or your hard disk doesn't have the service partition. I can give you the images for those disks. I have a Presario CDS 524 and that's basically the same machine.

Are you sure that you have the keyboard plugged in the keyboard port and not in the mouse port? That's a possible cause for the 301 error.
Or are you continually pressing keys when you turn on the computer? Then it might be that the machine registers stuck keys and throws an error.

Thanks for the informations! I need the images for those disks. If you have a link or something else could you send me? Thanks in advance! I'll make a floppy with those images.
The keyboard is plugged in on the correct port and when I press F10 (for example) it says:

144 301-Keyboard error

Simone02 wrote:

Thanks for the informations! I need the images for those disks. If you have a link or something else could you send me? Thanks in advance! I'll make a floppy with those images.

I'll try to do that tonight when I get home.

Simone02 wrote:

The keyboard is plugged in on the correct port and when I press F10 (for example) it says: […]
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The keyboard is plugged in on the correct port and when I press F10 (for example) it says:

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144 301-Keyboard error

44 normally indicates that scan code 44 is stuck. Scan code 44 is ASCI code 68 which is the D key.

The keyboard error (if you only get it while pressing buttons trying to get into the BIOS) is most likely only due to you trying too many keys at bootup. If you also get it while booting without pressing any buttons, then it seems like your internal keyboard controller is broken.

On a related note. Old Compaq computers had the software used to enter BIOS stored on a partition on the harddrive (at the start of the drive space tbp). If the HDD is missing, or the partition deleted you are not able to enter Compaq SETUP (the BIOS). You need the appropriate Setup Diskette (still available on HP support site) for this model, and boot from that in order to be able to reach the BIOS and change settings.

http://oldcomputer.info/pc/compaq510/index.htm#config

Under Configuration, you'll find the following needed files.:

1) If you have a fresh hard drive, use these disks to re-create a hidden partition. Remember that it needs a hard drive clean of any other partitions and it will take first 3-4MB of hard disk.

2) ES688 (Windows 3.x) - 95 should detect it.
Cirrus CL5425 (Windows 3.x), 16MB patch, ESS DOS drivers in one image and in factory-like form - 95 should detect Cirrus chip without problems.
3) DOS and Win95 patches - needed for applying fixes, mouse drivers and supplementary software

NOTE: the Diag and SETUP Diskette is used for both - BIOS changes AND the recreation of the diagnostic partition (optional).
The Diagnostic partition lets you put the BIOS application on the HDD, enabling you to reach it while pressing F10 at boot, but it is optional, you could also just boot from it whenever you need to change something.

Nice! Saves me trouble of sending the images 😀

kick wrote:

Actually the CDS 510 doesn't have a BIOS you can enter. There's a service partition on the hard disk with settings and diagnostics utilities. You can enter that by pressing F10 during boot (when a cursor appears in the upper right corner of the screen).

The first example of Compaq's crimes against humanity?

gdjacobs wrote:

kick wrote:

Actually the CDS 510 doesn't have a BIOS you can enter. There's a service partition on the hard disk with settings and diagnostics utilities. You can enter that by pressing F10 during boot (when a cursor appears in the upper right corner of the screen).

The first example of Compaq's crimes against humanity?

Actually, if the computer would refuse to boot from HDD without the BIOS partition set, forcing you to boot via SETUP floppy and install it, THAT would be a crime.

Thanks! I bought a IDE to SD adapter and now my Compaq presario works perfectly with Windows 95!!! I solved all! Thanks again!
https://imgur.com/a/BoKLk

Does anyone know how to where to find a ide2sd or usb mod for compaq presario cds 524 and how to install it?
I'm looking for lots of storage for Pro Tools