Welcome to installing OSes.
First off, no hard disk I know of boots to DOS when new.
Next, to install Linux, you don't need DOS.
To install DOS, you just FDISK, create your partition with your DOS boot diskette (I make them from a selection from http://www.bootdisk.com) and remember to ...
FORMAT C: /S
But all that is not needed if you were to install Linux.
Bob
I recently acquired an old HP PC. It was bought new by my parents in 1999 and had Windows 98 on it. The Windows was corrupt and there were no back-up disks available. So, I bought it (cheap) and decided that I would use this PC to run the Linux OS.
I attempted to format the hard drive. I started by running fdisk. It was there that I made a mistake. Basically, I deleted my entire C:\ Partition. Now, there is nothing on the hard drive. When it starts, I can hit F1 and get into the HP system screen but when I exit, it states "No operating System". Not even MS-DOS. I made a boot disk from my primary computer and tried it. It starts up on A:\ and I can see the directory of the boot disk but that isn't helping me. There is no MS-DOS operating system. Or is there?
If I completely erased everything on the hard drive, is it now worthless?
When you buy a hard drive do they come pre installed with DOS?
I guess I could purchase a reasonable cheap 40 GB hard drive for around $70.00.
I was just wondering if there was any way to salvage this system?
I never really thought about what happens to a hard drive if you erase everything, including DOS.
I'll know now, LOL...
The computer is an HP Pavilion 6470z
It has a 12 GB hard drive and 96 MB RAM.
It has a 400 MHZ Processor (Intell Pentium II)
It has a CD-ROM Drive
Iomega Zip Drive (Internal)
Floppy Drive
Any information will be greatly appreciated.

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