So I bought an hp laptop 2 years ago from Frys, and despite man opinions got the extended warranty. Well my hard drive went out...so I brought it in to see if the could fix it. It turns out the recovery partition was destroyed and the had to replace the whole drive. They reloaded windows, but the "product key" on the sticker my laptop came is faded so they can't read it..any way to find the product key other than that stupid sticker? Or am I going to ave to buy a new copy of windows?
This used to be common occurrence on on laptops 1 or 2 years ago, but manufactures got smarter and started hiding them under the battery so there is no wear on the sticker.
Unless the Service Dept has an brand specific OEM/Recovery disc for your laptop (HP, Dell, Toshiba, etc) it will require a license key. HP, and most others have a recovery disc set you can purchase last time I checked. Usually set you back $20 or so. If they (Fry's) do not, they are probably using a regular vanilla OEM copy of Windows to reinstall.
If you need the computer immediately, you can ask them to skip the activation and you will take care of the rest, for Win 7 I believe you get 3 days. During that time you can figure it out. Lots of different scenarios depending on what they do in that case.
What store is this at btw? Also computer brand, OS, etc.
It's in Dallas....and it's an hp pavilion running windows 7....I believe the did install a basic oem...I didn't hear from them at all today, so I plan on going in tomorrow and seeing what's up
Hp sells recovery discs for a little of nothing that includes the O.S. ....all you need is your laptops serial # assuming that also hasn't faded. Last set I ordered was around $20 and I received it in 2 days. You are PAYING for a hard copy of the O.S. when you buy a laptop. If included on a partition, they will send you discs for shipping/handling costs.
Go to Hps site look up your laptop model, and there should be a link to order recovery discs.