Can't get windows on a hard drive I formatted

[arty]

I have a Compaq Evo D500 that had two windows 2000 and one Xp upgrade operating systems on it. it was running slow with no evidence of virus or malware after several products were used ,so i attempted to erase the drive figuring it was over loaded(20G).
i removed it and reformatted it to fat 32(no go) then ntfs(no go).....now I've been told windows will not load(restore disk) to a drive in an external case.
I thought that was how it was done....Now I need the drive completely blank,I guess for the restore disk to reformat it accordingly!
the hard drive will not boot in original unit and i can't get past 'Press F1 for recovery'...nothing works past that point...even holding down F10 or F12 during boot up sequence only gets me the same place,nowhere. Cdrom is not reading the Restore disk,and I'm completely stymied,here...lol!
I do not know how to get out of this mess.I was trying to get this thing going for a 9yr old who is behind in her homework and wound up screwing everything up 'cuz i didn't know what i was doing(figures,huh?)....no bios setup or anything for me to work with...Help,please!...............................................................................peace Well I managed to get 'er done!

[venney]

This might not be a permanent solution, but maybe you could download a linux live cd, as to enable your daughter to do homework. You could even try installing it, as during the install it would ask to format the drive. Im sorry but i dont know an awful lot about the subject.

But defiantly try a livecd. I have ubuntu on live cd, and although you cannot save work to hard drive in livecd mode, you can use the internet and there word processor, and i assume a usb stick.

i have also heard opensuse is good, http://software.opensuse.org/

other than that im sorry i cant help. maybe someone else can.

[Axelation]

Couple of questions:

Is the drive SATA or IDE?

You formated the drive....did you erase any of the partitions? Such as the recovery partition?

Are you trying to run an restore CD, or install a fresh copy of Windows?

And is the drive good?

This is why I ask...If you are running a restore CD then it won't matter if it is SATA or IDE, but chances are, that it is looking for a recovery partition. If you erased it, the recovery will not work. You will have to to a clean Install of Windows at that point.

If you are trying to do a clean install, and the drive is SATA, then you will need to find the SATA drivers and load them upon Windows Setup by pressing F6 when prompted.

You mentioned external drive....Are trying to load windows via USB enclosure or something? If so, you may not have much luck with that without some serious headache.
If not, then how is the drive attached to the MOBO of the D500?

I am afraid I am not following what went on here.

[arty]

Thank you Alexation,but the problem was solved!...Yes i erased the recovery partion...and didn't realize that the disk would delete the other OS...and ...don't laugh,okay?...the freakin' keyboard was preventing the boot sequence somehow..lol...switched keyboards and all went well.
I have a Sata on my Gateway but the Compaq is IDE.....
any way it works fine now....thanks for your input...

PS:Venny,thanks for the compliment and well wishes,but the 9year old,Alexis,is my spouses Grand Daughter,not my daughter...lol..........peace,people!