HP Tech Support (ugh)

[windsorwindsor1]

I have Xubuntu 7.04 installed on its own 20G hard drive, but I wanted to partition my Windows drive so I could experiment with other Linux distros while still having Xubuntu installed. I bought my computer in early '02 with Windows XP pre-installed. It was one of those that didn't come with a Windows CD-ROM disc, but had a hidden recovery partition. I wanted an actual disc in case something went wrong, and I thought all I had to do was call HP and tell them I need a Windows disc, and they would send me one. Wrong!

I called 4 times, and 3 of those times, the person that answered had a thick foreign accent and could barely understand what I was trying to say. 2 of them just told me my computer's out of warranty and refuse to send me a disc, the other one tried to sell me a disc for $34.99. When I finally did get a native English speaker on the line, he refused to do anything for me and gave me another number, which turned out to be wrong.

Now I'm not mad at anyone who's trying to learn English, but this is clearly a case of HP just being as cheap as possible with its customer service. I'm pretty angry that they won't just send me a disc for this copy of Windows I already own. Has anyone else had problems with HP?

[-grubby]

Outsourcing is rampant among tech support. Also, I don't think you can get a Windows disk if your computer is out of warranty

[p_quarles]

Unfortunately, HP won't send you the recovery media unless you ask for it within a year of purchase.

On the other hand, the two HP's I bought both allowed me to make a set of recovery disks from the image on the partition. Have you looked for that option? If that doesn't work, your best bet is probably just to pay them, since that's a lot cheaper than buying a new XP license.

[igknighted]

I have Xubuntu 7.04 installed on its own 20G hard drive, but I wanted to partition my Windows drive so I could experiment with other Linux distros while still having Xubuntu installed. I bought my computer in early '02 with Windows XP pre-installed. It was one of those that didn't come with a Windows CD-ROM disc, but had a hidden recovery partition. I wanted an actual disc in case something went wrong, and I thought all I had to do was call HP and tell them I need a Windows disc, and they would send me one. Wrong!

I called 4 times, and 3 of those times, the person that answered had a thick foreign accent and could barely understand what I was trying to say. 2 of them just told me my computer's out of warranty and refuse to send me a disc, the other one tried to sell me a disc for $34.99. When I finally did get a native English speaker on the line, he refused to do anything for me and gave me another number, which turned out to be wrong.

Now I'm not mad at anyone who's trying to learn English, but this is clearly a case of HP just being as cheap as possible with its customer service. I'm pretty angry that they won't just send me a disc for this copy of Windows I already own. Has anyone else had problems with HP?

When you buy your computer, they charge you extra normally if you want the official Win XP disk. Otherwise you get the "recovery partition" garbage. The fact that they are charging you now does not surprise me at all. Keep in mind that you do not own windows, you merely own a license to use it. Since it is an OEM license, you really don't have a license to re-install it on anything but the original hardare, so theres no reason to give you the disk (or so goes company logic...).

It happens that I have an official Win XP home disk w/ SP2 from an HP laptop that has since croaked. If you cover the shipping I'll mail it to you.

[Zimmer]

The disk issue is now common practice with major retailers. You will likely NOT get a copy of Windows.
The new computer comes with Win installed and you are supposed (if you can find them ) to read the instructions that give you the opportunity to create your restore disk using software already installed on the machine.
If you want a disk from them, you end up paying. I believe they send you a 'recovery' disc for your machine: ie. as it was configured at purchase time. You will likely NOT get a proper copy of Windows.

The majority of people I have met with this type of problem were never aware of the need to create the disk in the first place or lacked the knowledge/confidence to actually carry out the task and just did not bother.

In any case, after a few months have passed the recovery disk contents probably bear little relation to the OS now residning on the machine... leaving the poor user in the ....
..in the position of either needing to purchase a recovery disk or a full copy of Win. and other missing applications..

[Cochise]

xp goes cheap enough on ebay these days.