Bios Coded COA

[Guest]

I have a Pavilion XH545 notebook. The recovery CD is Lost. HP does not make
the recovery CD any more.
After reinstalling XP home from a true OEM CD it pulls the COA from the bios
and I cannot change it. It has done this with OEM and the retail version of
XP. It even did it with windows 2000. The real problem is that the COA it
is pulling from the BIOS is not what is on the actual COA sticker from HP.
The COA from the BIOS and the sticker cannot be activated oever the phone.
HP help is a lost cause because they say you need a recovery CD but don't
offer it.

Does anybody know a way to prevent the BIOS from supplying the COA during
setup so that i can manually input it from the sticker?

 

[Guest]

I would contact the BIOS manufacturer and get (possibly free to download) a
BIOS update for the board that is non-HP. Using a floppy drive and BIOS
update utility upgrade/update the BIOS and then you will be free.

 

[Brian Wescombe]

I have a Pavilion XH545 notebook. The recovery CD is Lost. HP does not
make
the recovery CD any more.
After reinstalling XP home from a true OEM CD it pulls the COA from the
bios
and I cannot change it. It has done this with OEM and the retail version
of
XP.

Seriously? If HP can block installation of a Retail copy of XP (which is not
linked in any way to HP), I'll never buy a HP computer. They surely can't
legally lock the BIOS to prevent installation of a non-HP copy. What if you
wanted to use XP Pro?

 

[Ricky]

Seriously? If HP can block installation of a Retail copy of XP (which is
not linked in any way to HP), I'll never buy a HP computer. They surely
can't legally lock the BIOS to prevent installation of a non-HP copy. What
if you wanted to use XP Pro?

I have an HP and had no problem putting a retail copy of XP Home on it. It
sure does a lot better without all the HP stuff on it.

 

[aworkman]

I have the 2nd and 3rd recovery disk, but the first disk is inoperabl
due to a crack. Does anybody have the 1st recovery disk for th
Pavilion XH545? If so could I get a copy of Disk 1? HP does not carr
them anymore

 

[Guest]

I ended up having to install 98 and "upgrade" it to win 2000. After getting
the run around from HP, they officially state that they no longer offer the
recovery disks. Seems like a poor support policy to not even offer an ISO as
the laptop was only a few years old.