PC started freezing up. HP Pav with Win7 Home Prem (w/o SerPk 1).Performed diagnostic from boot screen by pressing F9 key. CPU, Mem, Hdd all passed except got "BIOHD-3 error. No bootable drives detected", yet it was still booting up. Within minutes though pc would get stuck/freeze with spinning circle/busy icon. Decided to do a factory recovery. Installed from factory image on hdd without any problems but that did not solve the problem.
Bought new hdd. Can I use the factory image to install Win onto new hdd? If I'm unable to retrieve factory image, I have Win 7 Home Prem w SerPk 1 on disc. Will the OEM key work to activate? I appreciate any advice or input regarding this issue.
Thanks,
Baron
My Computer
At a glance
Windows 7 Pro x64AMD FX-8350 8-Core Black Edition, 4gHz, 125WCORSAIR: Vengence (2X8 GB) 16GB DDR3 1866mHzNVIDIA: GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 1GB DDR5
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
CUSTOM BUILD
OS
Windows 7 Pro x64
CPU
AMD FX-8350 8-Core Black Edition, 4gHz, 125W
Motherboard
ASUS M5A99X EVO, AMD 990X/SB950 Chipset, UEFI BIOS, USB 3.0
Memory
CORSAIR: Vengence (2X8 GB) 16GB DDR3 1866mHz
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA: GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 1GB DDR5
Sound Card
Creative: Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium
Monitor(s) Displays
NIXEUS 27"
Screen Resolution
2560 X 1440
Hard Drives
Seagate: SATA 2TB (internal)
Seagate: SATA 4TB (external)
PSU
NZXT HALE82 750W semi-modular
Case
NZXT PHANTOM, FANS 3x 200mm, 4x 120mm
Cooling
CORSAIR Hydro Series H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
Keyboard
AZIO (backlit keyboard)
Mouse
SENTEY Luminata Pro
Internet Speed
CABLE 100Mbps
Antivirus
ESET Smart Security
Browser
Firefox
Other Info
NZXT: APERTURE Card Reader w 2x USB 3,
NZXT: Custom Premium Cables
I have recovered an image to many different drives and manufacturers without any problems.
I seriously doubt M$ would jump on a drive replacement. But who knows what weird crap they're
capable of. It's kinda hit and miss with them sometimes.
Good luck.
Yes, you should be able to install from the disk and activate with the OEM key, in the event that you can't get at your recovery partition, as long as the version of Windows is the same. Re-installing from an actual Windows disk is often preferable because you avoid all of the factory bloatware that comes with a factory install.
One caveat, though. Make sure that you go to the HP website and download all of your drivers and put them on a USB stick before starting your re-install. Especially the network drivers. You'll need the network drivers to do your updates and activate to complete the install.
Good luck, and post back if you have any troubles.
My Computer
At a glance
Win 7 Pro x64/Win 10 Pro x64 dual bootAMD FX 8350 Vishera @ 420016 GB Mushkin Blackline DDR3-2400 @ 1866 (9-1...XFX Radeon R9 280 Double D Black Edition
. To clarify, Win7 Home Prem and Win7 Home Prem SPk1 are the same version. Is that correct? I would prefer to use the disc anyway.:huh: Thanks again. I'll post back with an update.
Baron
My Computer
At a glance
Windows 7 Pro x64AMD FX-8350 8-Core Black Edition, 4gHz, 125WCORSAIR: Vengence (2X8 GB) 16GB DDR3 1866mHzNVIDIA: GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 1GB DDR5
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
CUSTOM BUILD
OS
Windows 7 Pro x64
CPU
AMD FX-8350 8-Core Black Edition, 4gHz, 125W
Motherboard
ASUS M5A99X EVO, AMD 990X/SB950 Chipset, UEFI BIOS, USB 3.0
Memory
CORSAIR: Vengence (2X8 GB) 16GB DDR3 1866mHz
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA: GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 1GB DDR5
Sound Card
Creative: Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium
Monitor(s) Displays
NIXEUS 27"
Screen Resolution
2560 X 1440
Hard Drives
Seagate: SATA 2TB (internal)
Seagate: SATA 4TB (external)
PSU
NZXT HALE82 750W semi-modular
Case
NZXT PHANTOM, FANS 3x 200mm, 4x 120mm
Cooling
CORSAIR Hydro Series H80i High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
Keyboard
AZIO (backlit keyboard)
Mouse
SENTEY Luminata Pro
Internet Speed
CABLE 100Mbps
Antivirus
ESET Smart Security
Browser
Firefox
Other Info
NZXT: APERTURE Card Reader w 2x USB 3,
NZXT: Custom Premium Cables
Within minutes though pc would get stuck/freeze with spinning circle/busy icon. Decided to do a factory recovery. Installed from factory image on hdd without any problems but that did not solve the problem. 
