HP Laptop windows 7 won't start up and can't do a system restore.

So the SMART program has warned me about an imminent hard drive crash for a while. Yesterday Windows was installing updates when my dad closed the laptop lid, when I come home afterschool today, I open the lid and it is frozen. Windows warns not to power off during the updates but since it is frozen I have no choice so I power it off. I have constantly getting BSODs, and have to do a system restore everyday so I was not too worried when it wouldn't start up. So i hit f11 when i turn on my computer and it takes me to the HP Recovery Manager, HOWEVER this time the option to do a System Restore was greyed out and I can't click it! I don't have working recovery CDs so what can I do about this?? My new hard drive is also coming in tomorrow, but i won't be able to replace my failing hard drive when my Pc can't even start up now, and I can't do a system recovery to fix it...
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

Hopefully you backed up your important files since you had warning of imminent HD failure. If not try rescuiing them using the methods given in step 9 here: Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot

Then I would replace the HD and Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. Everything you need is in blue link.

Google a replacement HD for your model and replace it as shown in this video. Since you didn't even give us the model you can google it if it differs much from this video:

So the hard drive from my HP laptop became completely toasted and no longer works. My new hard drive arrived yesterday, but i could not reimage my factory hard drive that came with the HP laptop because it is completely broken now. My dad reimaged the hard drive from his ASUS computer and installed on to the new hard drive that recently came in. Now I can use my HP computer again, but I can't access the internet, my dad says its something about the network card. Well, anyways is it a bad thing using an operating system that was from a different brand laptop (the ASUS laptop had the same hard drive as my factory HP brand laptop, Seagate). Is what was done appropriate, and if so, how do I get the internet working, and if it's not something that should be done, what should i do now?

I gave you the steps to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 so why is it necessary to give them again?

As stated in the tutorial put your wireless or ethernet LAN drivers on a stick or CD so you can install them to connect to internet after install, then look for additional newer drivers in optional Windows Updates.

It would have been best to follow gregrocker's post #6.

Using an image from another computer is going to have problems. Have you tried to activate the Product Code with Microsoft yet? You will probably need lots of new drivers for your HP, starting with the chipset and networking.

If you don't want to download the Windows 7 SP1 .iso file and get a clean install as gregrocker gave you the link for, you can go to the HP support site and order replacement discs for your machine. The last I ordered were $16, but I will never use them now that I have downloaded a clean Windows 7 .iso file.

gregrocker said:

I gave you the steps to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 so why is it necessary to give them again?

As stated in the tutorial put your wireless or ethernet LAN drivers on a stick or CD so you can install them to connect to internet after install, then look for additional newer drivers in optional Windows Updates.

i followed your instructions and burned the windows 7 home edition sp1.iso onto a disc but i get an installation error code 0x80070017 at 28% and the installation aborts.

What can I do?

I found this at Microsoft Answers...

I would also suggest using a different DVD drive, or maybe copying the installation files to a USB stick (4gb or bigger) and performing a USB install.
The error 0x80070017 translates to "CRC Error" which means that the files that are being copied from the disk are not making it to the hard drive with the same structure, meaning that the "original" files on the disk are being modified/changed/corrupted while being copied to the "destination" location on your hard drive during the install.
This usually means either a bad DVD, or a read error on the DVD drive.
The easiest thing is to make a USB drive to install Window s7 (and it's WAY faster than DVD too!)

Did you burn the disc with ImgBurn and 4x speed? Try again!

Better yet, make a USB stick using Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool. Google for the link to download from MS, it's free.