Hello I've been trying to totall scrub the data on various computers. I've been using IOLO's DriveScrubber for the job. A simple floppy disk to boot, then follow the commands. I've Successfully cleaned most of the pc's but have got stuck with a couple of Compaq Presario desktop pc's. What happens is.. PC On. Compaq splash screen (can't press escape or del to get into bios. nothing (even after I have cleared the config.sys... files)). Floppy disk starts to run, "Starting Drive Scrubber". THen all I get is a black screen with a cursor in bottom right. I can't do anything here. there should be a menu. any idea's? get arounds? or other FREE/TRIAL software I can use instead? cheers

www.killdisk.com I believe you can create a bootable floppy on the above website. ;) James

Hi Simplest solution. Remove drives place in another system. Use the nice little prog that you have been given. Scrub drive clean. I'm not sure if killdisk does secure deletion. Then install drives and use the disks that came with machine to reinstall OS. The reason you had this strange problem is part of the hard drive in Compaqs (a few other used to do this as well) store part of start info (bios) in a special partition. Hopefully you still have a going floopy to repartition and ready the drive. Otherwise, you'll have to do a bit of downloading from the Compaq aka HP site.

Jaybee, F10 will usually get you into the BIOS setup on a Compaq. anenefan is almost correct on the BIOS partition...The BIOS itself resides on a chip, just like any other computer, but some Compaqs have a small partition which contains the CMOS Setup Program, used to access the BIOS. If the partition is required on your particular Compaq, but is not resident on the HD, the BIOS can also be accessed from a Setup Boot Floppy. The floppy can be DL'd from the HP(Compaq) website. After wiping the HD, the partition will be missing, but can be reinstalled before repartitioning the HD & installing Windows by using the setup & diagnostics disks (available at the above mentioned website.) HTH Dave

Hi The small partition on a compaq stores a number of things. Dave357 My reference and use of the word bios (though few users really know the difference from cmos) is based on what I came to understand chasing a problem with a compaq, Google/web search "IML System Partition BIOS" I don't know if it applies to modern compaq. The sudden loss/failure of the systems in question suggest they do oporate in this manner however.