Recovery Manager / Windows 8 / Failing to restore / discs purchased from HP

Question

Last week I purchased a set of recovery discs directly from HP.com. Before this my laptop was running perfectly fine, no issues at all. I purchased the discs in hope of restoring my laptop to its factory settings. After receiving the first set of discs I inserted the first disc and powered my laptop down and then powered it back up. I then proceeded to follow the instructions presented in the interface. I noticed when I got to the 4th disc, the "Application and Driver Recovery DVD", that the image was not taking at all. After such I received the following message in Recovery Manager: "In most cases, recovering the hard drive will fix your problems. If your problems continue, you may need to contact HP Support. Find HP Support contact information in your PC documentation".
From there I clicked on the "finish" tab that resulted in the laptop powering down but not rebooting. So I powered it back up manually where I received the infamous "Boot Device Not Found / Please install an operating system on your hard disk / Hard Disk (3F0) / F2 System Diagnostics" message. I was immediately alarmed. I proceeded to repeat the system recovery instructions once again. These were the instructions provided by HP along with the recovery discs.
Once again I received the same messages, the same results. So I immediately contacted HP support. The first agent I spoke to acted as if he had never heard of the "Boot Device Not Found" problem, which I now know is very common with HP notebooks. He diagnosed the problem as faulty recovery discs, thus he had a new set expedited to my home. I received them a few days later, the exact same set of discs and instructions. Of course I was feeling weary about things at this point. And as I expected I received the exact same results as I did with the prior set of discs.
So once again I contacted HP support where they looked into other problems, such as the health of my HDD. But the HDD passed both the quick check and the extensive check. Like I stated earlier, before I started the recovery process with the HP discs I had no problems with my laptop at all, including my HDD. So the agent had me go through the BIOS solution that I have seen others use on here, where legacy mode is enabled. This solution to failed.
I've also tried resetting the BIOS to it's default settings. I've also carefully removed my HDD and reseated it nice and snug. After doing so I ran the diagnostic tool, and once again the HDD passed with flying colors. HP support finally suggested, as I was already expecting, for me to have the laptop sent off to them to have it repaired. This is not an option. It was a perfectly running machine before I ran the recovery discs and it should be the same now. 
But one thing I did notice from the get go, after receiving the first set of discs, and researching what the interface of the recovery manager should look like (http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03489643), was the fact that the interface established by the windows 8 recovery discs that I received, look nothing like that found on the HP support site. It also never gave me the option, like it states in the instructions that were provided with the discs, to select either a "Factory Reset" or a "File Backup Program". The system recovery instructions are dated as Second Edition: March 2014 but the 3 operating discs are dated 2012 with the Driver disc being dated 2014.
Like I stated before, after running all 3 operating discs through, without interuption, the Driver disc does nothing when asked if I have a supplemental disc. With that all being said, has anyone ever been provided the wrong set of recovery discs directly from HP? Or do you know of another solution that might solve my dilema? Any help or suggestions would be sincerely appreciated.
I'm just wondering if I might have received a set of discs intended for let's say a desktop system running Windows 8 instead of the ones needed for a laptop.
The following is the name and part # of the discs that I received: "System Recovery DVD Windows 8 Recovery Media for Windows 8 Products". 1st disc: 708664-001, 2nd disc: 708665-001, 3rd disc: 708666-001, 4th disc (Application and Driver): 712189-B26.

Answer 1

GRuss wrote:
Did the replacement disks work? I have the exact same problem, hours on the phone, no solution except send to them with more money
Nope. I gave up trying to get real support and a resolution from them. You'd think they would have at least a few local American reps to communicate with, but I guess HP is too **bleep** cheap to pay a few extra bucks to hire such people!
Anyhow I took a different route in restoring my operating system, thanks to an individual on another tech site. He gave me a link to an ISO file that at least got me back up and running.
And don't, whatever you do, send them anymore money. It's a complete ripoff, complete sham. After, like I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, communicating hours after hours with HP support over this matter I was told I would receive a full refund, even though the discs sold to me originally had already blown out my Windows 8 operating system. I reluctantly agreed. I just didn't want to deal with them anymore. Over a week had passed and I saw that my credit card had still not been credited like I had been promised by the HP rep. So I called back to see what was going on with it.
Once again I was put through the ringer, told to call this and that number, connected over and over with different Indian reps. Finally one, after speaking with her supervisor, told me I would NOT be receiving a refund because I had received and used the discs. I finally stopped being polite at this point. I blew up on the phone! These effers admittedly sent me the "copied wrong" discs not once, but 3 freaking times! Thus blowing out my operating system! Prior to being told I would receive a 100% refund, I offered to go directly to the HP distribution center where the discs originated from. Ironically it's only about 40 miles from my home. I just wanted to take my laptop there with me to find the correct software to restore my operating system. But they, the HP reps, would not allow such. Complete BS!
Thankfully I was able to contact my credit card company and was able to dispute the charge. When I told the "American" rep that I was having a problem with HP he started chuckling. He pretty much told me that HP was one of the most disputed companies out there. He took care of everything for me. I was able to get a full refund for the time being.
I will never buy another HP product again. And this is coming from someone who has not only an HP laptop but a 2 year old desktop as well, and not too mention my HP printer. After this ordeal they, HP, will never get a dime from me again!