Need Tattoo software for HP (repost)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anthony Fremont
  • Start date Start date
A

Anthony Fremont

Sorry if this appears twice, as it somehow disappeared from my news
server.

Hello all,

I have a customers pc (Pavilion 7905) here that suffered a failed hard
drive. Naturally the customer never made any recovery disks before this
happened and HP didn't provide any. Now I have purchased a 7 disc
recovery set for $25.00 from HP for this specific model and serial
number, and (naturally again) it will not boot these. HP tells me that
the BIOS "Tattoo" information has "somehow" become corrupted and I will
need to take it to an authorized service center to have the bios
re-tattooed so these disks will work. Of course the "authorized"
service center wants me to shell out another $95.00 for the privilege.

Can anyone point me to some software that will retattoo the bios so that
I can recover this damn system?

spam-me at houston dot rr dot com is my real e-mail address.
 
if this is just a matter of whether the recovery disks work or not, not
a knackered bios, i'd be tempted to tell them where to get off, and get
an OEM copy of Windows XP and do a clean install...works out cheaper
and you won't be in the same position again. you'd lose any apps you
didn't have media for, though.

ric
 
ric said:
if this is just a matter of whether the recovery disks work or not,
Click to expand...
not

I'm wondering about this. The message I get is not the typical explicit
thingy saying that these disks are only authorized for use on an HP blah
blah blah. Instead I get a short and cryptic message that FWICT is
coming from the windos code, not any HP wrapper that may be applied.
a knackered bios, i'd be tempted to tell them where to get off, and
Click to expand...
get

Oh, I told them what I thought all right. ;-) I kept them on the phone
for 45 minutes bitching at them. They really don't seem to understand
why I don't want to pay $100.00 to have some kid "tattoo" the bios after
spending $25.00 for the recovery disks that should have came with the
machine. Especially since I'm not convinced that tattooing the bios
will fix the machine. That's why I want a hack utility to do it myself,
just in case since the AUTHORIZED SERVICE CENTER wont give me my money
back if it doesn't work. $100.00 for a one-minute job, f*ck that.
an OEM copy of Windows XP and do a clean install...works out cheaper
Click to expand...

Right, I could do an OEM XP Pro for $139.00 or another XP Home for
$89.00, but it really wouldn't be legal since it's not new hardware.
OTOH, I did replace the drive and that's certainly authority enough to
allow me to purchase an OEM copy of XP from a wholesaler, so perhaps it
would be legit. At any rate, I don't care. The customer already
posesses valid licenses and that's all that matters, they shouldn't be
expected to pay anything to get these bought and paid for recovery disks
to load their licensed OS and software back onto their machine. For HP
to be able to pull something like this should be considered some kind of
trade violation.
and you won't be in the same position again. you'd lose any apps you
didn't have media for, though.
Click to expand...

That's the rub. The recovery disks contain a copy of Office too. This
whole thing really pisses me off, and I swear I will tell every customer
I have about this. It's just another good war story for the future. I
know the customer is not going to be buying any more HP equipment (OF
ANY KIND) because of this. I suspect they will tell their friends about
this too.
 
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