Trouble with a Hard Drive

The hard drive on my computer seems to have died. It will not boot any longer.

I have tried to use the Computer setup disks to get into the cmos and they freeze up.

I am going to try and install a new harddrive tonight, but am wondering about a couple things.

Is the cmos in the harddrive or is that a motherboard thing?

Is there a way to reset all setting on the computer so that I will be starting fresh?

Any other good advice on what i can do will also be much appreciated.thanks

Travis