Greetings, everyone.

I have an HP laptop (pavilion dv7-1245dx) with a copy of Windows Vista installed, and the hard drive recently died (Windows won't even boot up, and a hard drive diagnostic kept failing - I was able to retrieve most of my files using Knoppix as a bootable OS though). I had never gotten around to burning my recovery discs for the computer, so I ordered new ones from HP. When I installed the new hard drive and popped in the operating system recovery disc, it gave me the following error message:

"This PC is not supported by the System Recovery Discs. You will not be able to continue to recover this system with these discs."

Error code: 0100-30FC-3602-3603

The original hard drive was a Hitachi, 320 GB SATA
The new hard drive is a WD 500 GB SATA

If anyone knows why this error occurred or how I can fix it, any assistance that anyone can give would be lovely. :]

Thank you for your time,
C It seems the computers that HP is now shipping have a recovery partition that must be used to recover the system, even when using the recovery discs.
You need to contact HP for further information. They might say you have to have the exact same hard drive. Or the drive may need to be pre initialized by Vista before it can be used.
Otherwise,installing Vista on a new PC from ground zero is a hassle. Unless you have the actual materials the factory used.
You need the specific drivers plus all updates that have been issued.

All users should make a recommended backup right after the purchase of any new PC that does not INCLUDES a full install disc(s).

If you do it yourself, allow at least eight hours of your ATTENTION. Without the factory loader, it is a slow process.The factory does it with an image of a pee-installed Vista for that model. But you will have to go through the process of installing all the drivers.

(BTW, this applies to most new computers being sold now. The user has to make an image or other type of backup. And the failure rate of OEM hard drives seems to be higher than expected.)
That is... tremendously discouraging.

I called HP, and ESSENTIALLY I was told that there was nothing they could do, but if I wanted to spend a couple hundred dollars I could get the laptop in-warranty and they would fix it for me. Unfortunately, I do not have a few hundred dollars to spare, nor do I feel particularly fond of HP enough after this to hand over my money to them.

Is it possible to boot into the system with a live cd (like Knoppix - but preferably not Knoppix, as the computer doesn't seem to like it much), and then clone the hard drive in its entirety, put it on the new hard drive, and then use the recovery discs to start from scratch and install Vista?

Thank you for your response - I had no idea this kind of practice was common now.I hate this. I have a reply to you and Firefox lost it.

Short answer. Paying $200 to fix a PC that should last five years is a crime. Don't entourage them.

You have the legal right to fix this anyway you can, short of breaking into the HP factory and stealing a replacement.

Many here will object to this. What I am saying here is that you bought the PC and thou are entitled to repair it any way you can. Nothing in the EULA prevents you from doing that.

Do you understand d what I am saying? Do have nave to PM you and spell it out. Some here will object if I tell you in detail how to put ,legally put, Vista back onto a laptop with no backup and recover possible.

Hint: Find a friend that has the same model, or one of the same series. Maybe only screen size and CPU speed vary
Need I say more?

Let me know if you need the rest of the story...
I wanted to use the method you suggested as a last resort - thank you so much for OFFERING it. However, I decided to try to clone the drive first, and this is the sequence of events that worked for me:

- Cloned the old hard drive using Clonezilla (the LiveCD didn't work for some reason, so I used a USB stick instead)
- Put the image file on the new hard drive using Clonezilla
- Windows would not load - not even a little. The main partition was not mountable, even using PuppyLinux
- I put in the recovery discs that I received from HP, but it still said it wouldn't work with the hard drive
- Restarted the computer, hit escape and got to a menu of options
- Chose "recovery" from amongst the options, which included things like booting options, BIOS, etc.
- Followed the screens, and it used the recovery partition (which -WAS- mountable, even though the other partition that was C: was not)
- Reinstalled Vista flawlessly from the recovery partition

Hopefully this helps anyone else with the same problem, provided that their recovery partition is intact like mine was.

Thank you for your posts and assistance! This seems to indicate that the recovery discs you ordered from HP were the wrong ones.That's what I thought too - but I double checked the ordering information, and it's the one for my model. The one interesting thing, though? When I go on the HP website and enter in the model of my computer (Dv7-1245dx, as it says on the bottom of the laptop), it will bring up Dv7-1245dx. However, if I put in the product number on the bottom of the laptop, it brings me to a slightly different system instead of Dv7-1245dx.

Even more interesting? I am having some trouble connecting to the Internet wirelessly on the laptop. I went to HP and looked up the page for both dv7-1245dx, as well as the page for my precise product number, in order to REINSTALL the drivers to see if it would help. However, the drivers listed on the HP site for this product are for a wireless device that is not in my laptop. Weird. Still haven't found the right drivers yet. Perhaps this in and of itself is the problem that I - as well as a number of other people - have faced with HP systems and the recovery discs. Even if we order it to go with our product number/model it could still be the wrong one. o-oDon't sweat it. You can easily recover. You can use ANY FULL VISTA DISC FROM ANY PC TO INSTALL FROM. It is amazing how many people don't know this. The only limit is to make sure you use the appropriate x32 or x64 version. Use ANY Vista disk you can get. During install, DO NOT ENTER A CODE, and select "will activate later". Also, select the version of Vista you had installed, i.e. Home Premium and REMEMBER TO FORMAT THAT NEW DRIVE! Install VISTA - you may have to download a lot of drivers from the HP site - and it will prompt you to activate. When it does, use you existing COA (Certificate of Authenticity) from the label on your laptop. It may prompt you to call MS, but they will only ask for the code that comes up on your screen. It is usually an "interactive menu" voice now. Good luck!!!

Quote from: cassiearmand on April 19, 2011, 07:22:03 PM

Greetings, everyone.

I have an HP laptop (pavilion dv7-1245dx) with a copy of Windows Vista installed, and the hard drive recently died (Windows won't even boot up, and a hard drive diagnostic kept failing - I was able to retrieve most of my files using Knoppix as a bootable OS though). I had never gotten around to burning my recovery discs for the computer, so I ordered new ones from HP. When I installed the new hard drive and popped in the operating system recovery disc, it gave me the following error message:

"This PC is not supported by the System Recovery Discs. You will not be able to continue to recover this system with these discs."

Error code: 0100-30FC-3602-3603

The original hard drive was a Hitachi, 320 GB SATA
The new hard drive is a WD 500 GB SATA

If anyone knows why this error occurred or how I can fix it, any assistance that anyone can give would be lovely. :]

Thank you for your time,
C