KillDisk should be fine...Ok, I ran KillDisk and erased the drive with the one pass zeros method.  Then I ran the Compaq SYSTEM Recovery discs again, and guess what?  It worked!!!!!

Thank you very MUCH, Patio.  I am in your debt.Excellent news smoser...feel free to stop by anytime...Hello again Patio.  I'm taking you up on your invitation to stop by anytime.  The system is still having problems.  Here's what's happening now when I power on:

The Compaq splash screen appears.  Windows Vista loads, then it starts running a program called HP Flex Build 2.0 (cPC_DASH 2.0014).  A DOS window opens labelled x:/windows/system32/cmd.exe - startnet.com.  Inside that window it says "Build Partition", then everything blanks out and all that's displayed is a white screen with two file folder icons and DOCUMENTS moving from one to the other.  After watching it do this for over 24 hours, I figured out that the system is stuck.

When I alt-tab to see what programs are running, it shows one windows icon labelled "PROGRESSO" and two DOS icons labelled "ADMINISTRATOR: x:/windows/system32/cmd.exe".  The only way to interrupt the program at this point is with a hard reboot.  I've done this a number of times and it just goes through the same process as above over again.

Any ideas?