Laptop Bios… Can’t find !!

How do I get to the bios on laptop when booting up ?
I have a Compaq Armada 1700. I got it at an auction with no documentation or warranty etc. The hard drive has now refused to go. I know very little of laptop technology and are reluctant to “fiddle’ too much with the inside of it. All I can find is that you press F10 while booting but I fear this only accesses Compaq utilities on hard drive…. which does not go !!
It is a P2 233, 48 meg RAM, IBM 4 gig HD.

It can boot off floppy or CD_Rom.

Any help ideas etc much appreciated.