eMachine T2542 BIOS?

[kdoan06]

Hi, I'm quite new here, but from the looks of all the threads, this forum seems very helpful. So I shall confide my problems to all of you here at TECHSPOT.COM.
The problem is I am fixing an eMachine for a friend of mine and for some reason I cant access the BIOS menu. I checked the system (model: eMachine T2542) and I assume that I does have a BIOS cause I see a battery and a set of jumpers lined up in a row. Ok, here is my main problem... I have no idea how to access the BIOS to change the boot drive to CD (I do not have the manufacturer's system restore CDs) so that I cant install I fresh OS onto the El Crappo eMachine. My main questions are: Is there a way to access the BIOS? If I can, what is/are the key(s) do I have to press to access it? Can I install a non-factory designated OS? Can I install any OS at all?

Thanks a lot for any assistance possible.

 

[patio]

All theEMachines i've worked on are shipped with that setting already on in the BIOS. Default is CD; IDE1; and floppy when applicable. Try and track down any OEM bootable CD from Win98 up or if you do some searching you can create a bootable CD to test this.
Is his machine under warranty? ? If so that's the best spot to get MBoard and hardware info.
I know the last one it took me 2 phone calls just to get chipset and MBoard info

patio.