Crazy hard drive

[NNNNN]

Sorry about the title of this post but I cant find a better description

my laptop (compaq armada) was running slow and I wanted to clead it up so I formatte the hard drive format c:
since then I can not install anything except windows nt
the previous operation system was 98

In order to get any kind of a system I installed nt
now I can install/ uninstall NT anytime I like
but if I put the 98 start up disk in it detects a start up disk and I am prompted for a 'y' or 'N' to proceed
I chose 'y' but the disk is bypassed sn NT starts up
this is the same for floppy and CD
I have tried to install dos6 win3.1 win 95 and win98

Unfortunately I am not able to access the BIOS - I downloaded the correct BIOS file from Compaq put it in the floppy. On start up the floppy starts to read but is ignored and NT start up appears.

the only thing that will work as a boot isk is the Nt disk
I am baffled!!!!
If anyone can help I would be most grateful

 

[wolluf]

How many different boot disks have you tried? (the more the better chance...)

How about creating a boot disk on the machine (with NT installed, get app from

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

to create the boot disk) - then at least you'll know its compatible with floppy in the machine (floppies written on one drive can cause problems being read on another drive).

 

[NNNNN]

Thanks for the tip

I have tried that but no joy

I cant understand it

 

[micker377]

What method did you use to format c: in the first place?

 

[wooglin]

when booting the laptop, try holding the 'c' key after hitting the power button. It's worked for me in the past.

 

[NNNNN]

I have tried holding C - stillno joy
have tried several boot diskes - even linux
am I doomed?

 

[Freestone]

I'll echo micker377's earlier question "What method did you use to format c: in the first place?", and ask one of my own, how are you uninstalling and reinstalling NT now?