HP Media Center Reinstall

[scifiguy1]

I am working on a pc for a friend. What I have is an HP Media Center pc (model m470n) with WindowsXP.
Her son was deleting things and deleted something where windows would not boot up anymore.
So he tried to fix it by installing Win98 on it.
That didn`t work.
So when I got I turned it on and it booted into win98 and showed a 6gb hd.
The sticker on it says it has a 160gb hd.
So I used an XP disc and wiped out that partition.
Was that wrong?
I do not know if I deleted the recovery area or not and I wasn`t thinking when I did because it wasn`t booting up anyway.
She does not have the recovery discs but I can purchase them through HP.
My question is , will I be able to reinstall her os with the recovery disc???
HP says the cost is between 20-27 dollars for them.
It has the key on the side but I tried to reinstall with an upgrade disc (from 98 to XP) but the key would not work, so I figured we are going to have to get the replacements disc.
Any and all thoughts are appreciated.
Dick

[EzyStvy]

20-27 dollars would be a small price to pay and should get you up n running.

[glc]

You installed 98 on the recovery partition. That's all 98 will see because it's FAT32 where the main partition is NTFS. That was a bad move and you now need the disk set.

[scifiguy1]

Just to be clear it wasn`t me who installed Win98.

Now will I be able to "reinstall " with just the recovery discs?
That is the main answer I need.
Just wondering if that is going to work or not?
Yep, 20 bucks is pretty cheap I would say.
I await your response.
Dick

[EzyStvy]

Recovery discs will set the pc back to the way it was when it was taken out of the box.

[Negeva]

Originally Posted by scifiguy1 Just to be clear it wasn`t me who installed Win98. Now will I be able to "reinstall " with just the recovery discs? That is the main answer I need. Just wondering if that is going to work or not? Yep, 20 bucks is pretty cheap I would say. I await your response. Dick

Bargain if you ask me, most other OEMs charge a hefty price for technically software that you already paid for.

As, stated it will return the machine to factory settings.

[scifiguy1]

Alright , well I will proceed with " PLAN A" as my dad would say.
Always have a plan..........
Again , like all the rest of us say .........THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is quite the blessing to us for you folks to be available to help us.
Dick