the computer i am using to post on here is NOT the computer that i am posting about. the computer that i am using does has a floppy drive (a. i have two computers.
this is what happens when i first turn my other computer on:
turn on shows compaq logo. i can see the cdrom light come on then off. then all i get is "no operating system found on any devices. please press any key". and when i do it does nothing the message of no operatins system found on any device stays there. i have tried to put the restore disk (the one that came with the computer) in the cdrom and also my windows 98 cd in and it is not reading either of them. the message stays on the monitor. i don't see the floppy drive light up at all when i turn on the computer. i have continued to tap the f1 or f10 key even after i see the the message show on the screen and it stays there.
thank you.

Hmmm.... This is a strange one hillbilyswife. I just checked on the Compaq website and it says you should be able to bring up the boot list by tapping Esc when you boot your computer.
It also says that tapping f10 when booting up will open your bios up :?

I am starting to suspect that this is a hardware problem not related to the HD. If this was a HD problem you should still be able to access the bios.

you have a corrupted Master boot record and a malfunctioning cdrom drive, replace the cdrom drive with a new one and use your restore cd.

Hi,

It is worth a try (sounds almost like something is messed up in the BIOS setup) to open the side of the case and pull the battery for about ten minutes (make sure you remember how you took it out) and then put it back and try to see what it does. If everything is O.K. with the BIOS, you should be able to enter the BIOS setup menu. At that point, set it to factory default and make sure your boot order is set to:

CDRom - 1st

Floppy - 2nd

Hard Drive - 3rd (the drive you want to boot from)

** Whatever you do, don't forget to save before you exit or save the settings.

If you get that done, then maybe, just maybe, you can redo the drive or test it to see if it is faulty, or even redo your MBR that is probably faulty. That is my two cents worth.

tumbleweed36...just wanted to say you were right. we took the battery out and waited 15 minutes and put it back in and everything is working fine. what a life saver you are. i want to thank everyone who helped with this problem. thank you thank you thank you.

Glad you got it sorted hillbilyswife :thumbs: This was starting to burn the old grey matter trying to figure out what was wrong

Hi,

You are most welcome and so glad you got it going. Now, you have a job to do. You must promise not to be a stranger on this forum. In fact, this is a pretty neat place to hang around, so hope to see you on here from time to time. Have a great evening.