Replace Presario notebook HDD: how to format new drive?

I'm trying to replace the HDD in a Presario 2715US notebook: with the
new drive installed, how the hell do you boot to BIOS and format the
drive? From factory Compaq put BIOS in the boot sector of the
factory HD, which of course if not present prevents you from booting
from floppy, CD, etc. I've tried the crappy startup floppy from
HP/Compaq, which says it can't find a partition. Anyone out there
who has done this successfully?

thanks,
pete

Which operating system are you trying to install? If it's Windows 98 or ME,
you need a boot floppy with the FDISK and FORMAT programs on it. You use FDISK
to create partitions and FORMAT to format them. After that, you install the
operating system,

If you are trying to install Windows 2000 or XP, both installation CDs will set
up partitions and format them prior to installing Windows... Ben Myers

On Sat, 11 Nov 2006 23:17:20 -0000, lid (psirois) wrote:

>I'm trying to replace the HDD in a Presario 2715US notebook: with the
>new drive installed, how the hell do you boot to BIOS and format the
>drive? From factory Compaq put BIOS in the boot sector of the
>factory HD, which of course if not present prevents you from booting
>from floppy, CD, etc. I've tried the crappy startup floppy from
>HP/Compaq, which says it can't find a partition. Anyone out there
>who has done this successfully?
>
>thanks,
>pete

"psirois" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I'm trying to replace the HDD in a Presario 2715US notebook: with the
> new drive installed, how the hell do you boot to BIOS and format the
> drive? From factory Compaq put BIOS in the boot sector of the
> factory HD, which of course if not present prevents you from booting
> from floppy, CD, etc. I've tried the crappy startup floppy from
> HP/Compaq, which says it can't find a partition. Anyone out there
> who has done this successfully?
>
> thanks,
> pete
>
As a general rule, your boot order should be floppy drive, CDROM and then
HDD. If a preceding device is not present, the boot will be attempted from
the following device(s). If you put the hard drive first, you can never
boot from an alternate device unless the hard drive fails or has no boot
sector.

The BIOS is not on the hard drive. It is still in ROM. The BIOS Setup
Utility may be on a hidden partition. If you download the Setup Disk and
the Diagnostic DISK from HP, you can recreate the hidden Diagnostic
Partition before you add partitions to your hard drive.


--
Earl F. Parrish