i am running windows nt and i need to reformat my hard drive, but i do not have a windows disk, my info is supposibly all in my hard drive. how do i reformat my hard drive and reinstall my windows data? thank you

is this a presario 7500 desktop?

yes its a desktop

Compaq Presario Desktop PC 7500

Is this your PC? It lists OS as 95, 98, or ME. & gives no info on accessing a recovery partition.

This more general link requires a Compaq CD:

Compaq Presario Desktop PCs - How to Perform a System Recovery

Did your computer come with NT installed?

Do you have the manual?

its another computer i have in the house, it came with xp installed, (sorry i told you it was nt) should i sign in on that computer? when i reformatted it last time i think i pressed f10 to reinstall everything. But if i reformat my hard drive wont it erase everything that is in my hard drive? compaq wont help me anymore, service contract is up. do you understand what i am trying to tell you. im just not sure im describing this correctly to you. thanks for your patience.

Running the Recovery will delete all data except the Operating System.

It returns it to As New condition. The F10 sounds familiar.

Also found this:

Compaq Presario Desktop PCs - Restoring Original Drivers and Software

Why do you feel the need to reformat?

Does the computer have a CD burner so that you could back up your data?

Or you could put the Hard Drive on a different computer & get off of it what you can. Programs will most likely be lost as you will be resetting your registry.

Let us know if we can help further.

thank you for all your help, but how do i run the reformat? the system is full of pop ups and i cannot clean it enough, its just driving me crazy.

Most of the systems come eiterh with a hidden recovery partition, from which you can reinstall the operating system or a Recovery CD which contains an image that is copied back to the hdd and your system is restored to its shipping status (softwarewise)

How exactly your system is configured, and what it uses (recovery partition or cd) should be stated in the manual. Had a look around at the HP/Compaq website, but didnt find any useful information on how to restore the original system.

Usually you get a message during boot to press whatever key to start system restore/recover. Some manufacturers use F10, others like IBM for example use F11. Have a look at the messages during boot if any of them indicates or points towards system recovery.