The h8-1110 BIOS is very compact.
It has mainly default entries.
Guess that's progress for fast boot time.

The BIOS does indicate running AHCI.
But, From what I can see in the BIOS and the performance,
is that it is set for

UEFI Boot sources
USB Floppy/CD
USB Hard Drive
ATAPI CD/DVD Drive
or
Legacy Boot Sources
USB Floppy/CD
Hard Drive
Sata0
Sata1
Atapi CD/DVD Drive

Therefore, the floppy gets read first( You hear the floppy getting booted)and as no OS
you get a cursor on a blank screen, as no continuance.
No way to change to CD/USB Floppy.

If, I moved the
Atapi CD/DVD Drive up, and try.
I think that the DVD or CD would read first,
but would it recognize the F6 command to interrupt to show Sata0 or Sata1?

Nice Machine, WIN 7 Premium. But Craps out for Gaming?
(Like loads aircraft with instrument Panel. No cockpit, no fuselage).
He has resigned to use the Older Compaq with WinXP for Games only,
and the h8 for other duties, two computers, one screen/mouse/KB/Printer via KVM set-up.
But, will persevere, Just maybe, there is a work around.
As usual, HP says
Past warranty for return, (30 days) and not OS or Hardware problem.
What heading is BIOS under?