hp pavilion - new hard drive, recovery partition gone

[hobey19]

i was given an hp pavilion desktop as payment for a job. the owner decided she didn't want her data to get out (understandably so) so she took the hard drive out and destroyed it, not realizing that the recovery setup is stored on the extra partition. now, i have an extra hard drive already in there, and there is a Authenticity Sticker with the product key on the side, but i am not sure how to go about getting xp back on there.

thanks in advance
craig

[Negeva]

You could contact HP and see if they will send a CD/DVD Recovery disk out - normally at a small fee.

Or, find a HP OEM XP CD and use you're CD-Key and install that.

[hobey19]

Originally Posted by Negeva You could contact HP and see if they will send a CD/DVD Recovery disk out - normally at a small fee. Or, find a HP OEM XP CD and use you're CD-Key and install that.

thanks. i will try to find a cd, i am probably going to end up selling this computer, so i guess if i have to i will get call hp.

craig

[Negeva]

Originally Posted by hobey19 thanks. i will try to find a cd, i am probably going to end up selling this computer, so i guess if i have to i will get call hp. craig

At least you can re-coup any costs that way

[glc]

You can use any CD which is the same version of XP and install it using the key number on the case. If the key is for XP Home, you can install any OEM XP Home CD. You will have to download the required drivers from HP.

[hobey19]

sorry about the delay on the follow up. i ended up going ahead and ordering new discs from hp (~$15 shipped, worth it).

now, a bit off topic, but what do you recommend for getting the smoke smell out of a computer (cigarette, not fire). the previous owner was a smoker and smoked while using her computer. if i decide to sell this, i would clean it in such a fashion that the smoke is no longer there. i haven't really run it long enough to determine if it will go away if smoke isn't coming in. any suggestions?

thanks a bunch
craig