Lee wrote:
|I'm very surprised nobody got the brass ring here.
|Especially on older laptops but also some compaqs, dells and most laptops,
|
Pretty sure this is only an issue on Compaqs.

|the BIOS is partially contained on a hidden partition on the hard drive.
|
On Compaqs: Yes.

|Mostly for guaranteed incompatibilities is my guess 
|
Well, in a roundabout way.  You have to go way back in time
to when there was no such thing as an "IBM-compatible".
Compaq made the first one.
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:en.wikipedia.org+Compaq+BIOS
They tried to do it in a way so that IBM wouldn't sue them.
Back then, everybody was tap-dancing around the issue very carefully. 
cache of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Computer

|but "they" also tend to have the entire CDROM driver
|hosted on this hidden partition as well.
|
I don't see how that is correct.  To *install* Windoze,
the (DOS) driver only needs to be on the bootable floppy (with CONFIG.SYS tweaked).

*After* Windoze is installed, the W98 CD driver is on C: with all the other drivers.

|So along comes the typical desktop user
|and destroys the hidden partition by wiping or fdisk and[...]
|
Yes--but this is brand-specific to Compaq.
The bootloader is in ROM; the Compaq BIOS is on the HDD.
(It's actually a carry-over from CP/M.)

|It doesn't matter as the real problem remains
|that the hard drive is missing [its] much needed hidden partition
|with required BIOS data and program.
|
I remember doing this on a Compaq that was wiped before I got it second-hand.

|[...]Typically also the Windows version is drastically different
|from that found on a generic Windows install CD
|such that even the flavor of Windows needs to be "special"
|in order to work with the Laptop proper.
|
I've heard an urban rumor about this vendor-specific-Windoze stuff
(W98 update from W95 on Dells)
but when I went looking for corroboration, it wasn't to be found.

|Bottom line - without the Restore CD and the Windows installation CD
|from the laptop's manufacturer, you can't get there from here...
|
From Compaq's site, I got an executable that fit on a floppy
and restored the on-HDD BIOS, then used a regular OEM W98SE CD to install.
No sweat.

I don't ever remember hearing about a true IBM having this kind of hangup
--and really, why would it?  IT'S IBM.

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