I need to restore factory settings on an old laptop. Its using W Me. I don't want to restore anything once i ve clean it. How do i restore to factory settings?

Here's HP's instructions: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...

The link you posted was for W XP, and I am using ME. Does it matter?? It also talks about system recovery is that the same as setting it back to factory settings?

There is normally an image of the original system put in a hidden partition on the hard drive. To restore the system to the way it came from the factory from this image, a keyboard key combination is depressed during a power up boot. I can't say for sure that it's always the same for HP systems, but I feel pretty sure that it is. I suggest that you try the F10 key and see if it works. If not, check the HP web site for your model.

Thanks, i tried pushing the F10 key and nothing happend. Do i need to do something special?

A search for 'HP laptop recovery' found the following: Here are recovery instructions for HP/Compaq laptops. 1. Reboot, and repeatedly press F10 at the HP logo until the recovery screen appears. 2. When the recovery screen appears, press "Next" and then "Yes" to perform a non-destructive recovery. 3. To perform a destructive recovery, click "Advanced" and then "Yes". 4. After the recovery is finished, the laptop will reboot. Did you 'repeatedly' tap the F10 key? Is the keyboard working? If someone has deleted the hidden restore partition, it might' act like that.

Ok I tried what you suggested and I got the diagnostics to come up but it only tested to see if the system was running properly. I hit the F10 before the computer fully loaded and it would only bring up the diagnostic page and/or beep at me. is my timing off??