HP wont reformat due to no user partition?

F11 is the key to press or
1.Right-click on "Computer" icon and select manage.
2.This will launch the Microsoft Management Console.
3.On the left side of the MMC, click on "Disk Management" and it will show you all of the partitions.
4.Right-click on the "HP Recovery" partition and select "Mark as Active Partition."
5.When the warning prompt appears, select "Yes" - Reboot and it will automatically boot into the Recovery Manager (without pressing F11).

the only way to format is using the CD,before formatting download the network drive from HP so the you can download other softwares after formatting

It is unlikely that a virus would stop you using the F10 key within the BIOS screens as to do so would require the virus to be able to alter an EEPROM chip.

I would suggest attaching an external USB keyboard and seeing if you can use all the function keys on that without problem - you may need to enable USB legacy support in the BIOS if not already enabled.

The other option to test your computer would be to boot it from any of the available Linux Live boot CD's or alternatively download and create a copy of Hiren's Boot CD then boot in to the Mini-XP environment which will allow you to see the content of any installed drives and also to delete objects or even partitions if so desired.

Are you trying to boot from a disk, if so.. Try F8.. if that doesnt work, try F2 and go into system and reorder the boot order and make the DVD drive above the Hardrive this will cause the computer to boot from the reformat disk, if you are trying to reformat from a partition, the put the partition first in the list, hope this helps.

try to remove the bios battery for a second..it will reset the bios to the factory settings ...it might just work ...
I believe that the problem its one that developed after you changes some settings or after you installed some device that use that key for a different action ...

The same problem happened to me today on my hp Pavillion a1600n.
Try pressing the F10 key as the computer is powering on. This may allow the computer to access the recovery partition on the hard disk. If you get that far, then you can restore the user partition from the recovery partition. If it is like the a1600n, then you can do a restore of all the content and either leave your own data files intact, or, have it reformat the user partition and then you WILL have to restore all the data files. In either case, you will likely need to reinstall any applications that were added AFTER you got the PC. (Or, in my case, some apps were still kinda working...).

If F10 does not work, you may be able to create a PC Recovery Tools CD from a different hp XP machine, and boot that CD. During part of that boot up process you may get the opportunity to run the Recovery program.

Hope that helps!

If your hidden partition is still in tact you can use the recovery function.

When you boot up the laptop press Shift + F10 when you see the Acer screen.

If that doesn't work try CTRL + F10 or ALT +F10 or Fn to F10

If you just want to format then you'll need a boot cd from any Operating System. XP, Vista, Linux, etc.

you try entering safe mode?

Hp and Compaq usually have drives partitioned into 2, second is used for recovery. What I'm thinking happened here might be that when you re-install your windows, you might have picked the smallest size(2nd partition). The only way out is to re-install your windows and when you do that, you kust delete the biggest partition or try partiton magic.

go to the bios pressing F10. Click on the configuration> and then disable the ( Sata Native Mode). THis should work. Try it.