Got some old Compaq laptops with hidden partitions which contain the system setup program, etc. My question is, if i format or anything like that, will it affect this hidden partition? Cheers Alex

Just make sure you do not remove the compaq partition which is seperate than the C: drive partition(Do not fdisk). Just do the format c: and you will be OK.It is a good Idea to get into your bios and find an option to copy the files to disk. It is a good idea to have these on hand because it is a nightmare to find them on the Compaq site in case you need them.

Format OK. Fdisk not OK. Carl's right. You gotta make sure you have all the drivers for your machine before you format or nuthin' is going to work afterwards. Go here to see what you can find: http://h71025.www7.hp.com/support/home/index.asp?countrycode=1000&catid=763&famid=2265&destination=home&prodid=8%7CContura+400

Thanks for the information people. I did see the seperate parition and i thought I dont want to lose that, but as a format should be fine, i might do so because I have lot of errors. One of the laptops has another problem you may be able to help with - when I turn it on after the RAM count it always says "Missing operating system" even after ive tried "SYS A: C:" from both MS-DOS 6.22 and Win95 bootup disks and it sid "system transferred successfully" Any ideas cos im lost on this one Cheers Alex

There could be several reason why the bios can't find an OS: No HD HD not identified properly in cmos HD not partitioned HD partitioned but not set active HD not formatted No system files But the command to transfer the system files after booting from a bootdisk is to type: sys c: and enter at the dos prompt.