Lion restore w/out recovery partition or discs?

I just purchased my first Macbook. A used mid 2009 15". I am new to Mac computers. It did not come with any discs and there is no recovery partition either.
I am wanting to restore the whole system due to the previous users leftover stuff still there. I do not care about saving any information that is currently on the computer.
I have tried the Recovery Disk Assistant on a thumb drive and have attempted the Internet Recovery however from what I understand, without the recovery partition, both of these options will not work and neither one has worked.
What is the best way to go about restoring? Will upgrading to Mountain Lion via the App Store give me the option to, or automatically create, the recovery partition? (then I can do a restore from one of the previously mentioned ways) Or do I find a friend who has some discs laying around that I can use?
Thanks for the help!

HI eddieleon7pc:
Thank you for you query.  I am glad to be able to help!
I understand that you are getting a hard disk not found error when trying to boot.  I am sending you documentation on  "Resolve Boot Device not Found Error Message" click here.  You mentioned not being able to to boot to a usb drive. Here is a link to "Configuring the Boot Order in the System BIOS"  click here. 
If you require further assistance would you please provide your model number and what operating system you are running. "How Do I Find My Model Number or Product Number?"  click here
Sparkles1
I work on behalf of HP
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

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