I have an hp computer it came with 2 recovery disk i put in the system recovery like it told me an resart my computer and when it turns back on the menu should come on saying if i would like to recover or format and recover and i have reformated twice before but when i restart my computer with the disk in the menu doesn't pop up what should i do?

verify that the cd rom is the first bootable device by looking in the bios setup.

where is the bio setup i dont know where that is

To get to the bios is different for most computers, but pretty much the same. At the HP logo screen, press either the F8 key, F10 key, or the Delete key. One of those will bring up the bios settings. I have a Compaq that uses F10, and a custom built computer that uses Delete. If none of those work, then I'd go to www.hp.com, then click the support and drivers link. If you have an owner's manual for the computer, it might say somewhere in it how to get to the bios. But buy pressing one of the buttons I stated, it should bring up the bios settings.

Sorry for the double post, but I just re-read the original post, and I have this to say now: On my Compaq, I have 2 system recovery discs, when reformatting the computer and reinstalling Windows, mine does that too. Wait for a minute or 2 to see what happens. It may be doing something you're not aware of. Is your hard drive activity led on the front of the case blinking on that screen? Is there a few lines of rows of 5-10 boxes on the screen? If I know that, I might be able to help you more. I had a similar problem when I first got my Compaq and did a reformat. Stayed at a black screen for a while, then the computer caught up and finished formatting the hard drive, and reinstalled Windows. I know HP and Compaq are different, in the older models, but they are some-what similar, the older models anyway. Nowadays, HP and Compaq are the same, since HP bought the Compaq company.