Problem with HP laptop purchased at QVC- how to get microsoft product key?

rissajaneen · ‎12-10-2012

Hello,

Has anyone needed to get the microsoft product key from their HP laptop purchased through QVC?

Last night my computer automatically installed an update. Today it would not let me even log in to the computer. An online help forum suggested to do a system restore and restore it to a point before the update. When doing the system restore my computer got the black screen of death and is now having a boot error. I called the lifetime PC support that came when I purchased the laptop from QVC. They were really helpful... but they said I need to reinstall the windows operating system and to do that I need the product key. Since windows was installed on the computer by HP, they told me I need to contact HP to get the number. Turns out that you cannot talk to an HP representative without paying $59 to have them help you... has anyone else had a problem or know of a way to get the product key if it was preinstalled by HP on a laptop? Can QVC help me at all with this?

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

@rissajaneen Suggest you send this complaint to our moderators at qvcsocialteam@qvc.com. include your order number.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

Nuttmeg · ‎03-09-2010

@rissajaneen

I would suggest doing a Google search. You will find some YouTube videos. The key maybe on a sticker on the laptop.

This is a great question to search for on HP free Community Forum.

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

@rissajaneen wrote:
Hello,
Has anyone needed to get the microsoft product key from their HP laptop purchased through QVC?

Last night my computer automatically installed an update. Today it would not let me even log in to the computer. An online help forum suggested to do a system restore and restore it to a point before the update. When doing the system restore my computer got the black screen of death and is now having a boot error. I called the lifetime PC support that came when I purchased the laptop from QVC. They were really helpful... but they said I need to reinstall the windows operating system and to do that I need the product key. Since windows was installed on the computer by HP, they told me I need to contact HP to get the number. Turns out that you cannot talk to an HP representative without paying $59 to have them help you... has anyone else had a problem or know of a way to get the product key if it was preinstalled by HP on a laptop? Can QVC help me at all with this?

How were you able to perform a system restore if you couldn't log onto your computer? Try this:

https:/system restore

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

@Nuttmeg wrote:
@rissajaneen
I would suggest doing a Google search. You will find some YouTube videos. The key maybe on a sticker on the laptop.

This is a great question to search for on HP free Community Forum.

Generally speaking, copies of Windows come with a sticker that gets placed on the back/bottom of a computer with the key on it. That's the way it always worked with physical copies of Windows, but these days a lot of the installations are done online or using USB sticks, so things are evolving. Somewhere in the literature you got with the computer, if not on the computer itself, should be the key you need. In some cases, you'll find the key covered by a scratch-off silver coating like that used on lottery tickets that you need to scratch off to reveal the key. A bit of poking around should reveal the key for you.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!

apple1964 · ‎08-07-2013

You brought it from QVC..Oh brother! I would try to do a factory reset and even then I would not hold my breathe that would work. I do not understand why anyone would order any device from QVC? They sell older computer devices and charge you more for them. Good luck to you O/P.

depglass · ‎03-10-2010

Apple1964 is right. I bought a Dell from QVC and it took four hours for the first update from Microsoft. I still had all kinds of problems so I called Dell. After 6 sessions with their people, averaging 45 minutes apiece, they talked me into a $169.00 reinstall of complete new "guts." The guy worked terrifically fast and I watched him dump and replace every program on here. I'll keep this until it dies but no more Dells for me. Next one will an Apple, I don't care how much it costs. This is my third Dell and I quickly dumped the one HP I squeezed in there somewhere. The keyboard drove me nuts.

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

@apple1964 wrote:
You brought it from QVC..Oh brother! I would try to do a factory reset and even then I would not hold my breathe that would work. I do not understand why anyone would order any device from QVC? They sell older computer devices and charge you more for them. Good luck to you O/P.

Just a quick note about "older computer devices." When I build a computer I never use the newest, most state-of-the-art stuff as most of the time you're the beta tester for it. I prefer tech that's at least six months to a year old. Once something's been on the market for six months or longer, it typically has been shaken down and any huge flaws fixed.

A motherboard manufacturer recently released their newest motherboards and assumed they'd work with the newer processors. Yeah, not so much. It turns out you have to flash the BIOS of the new motherboard to make it work with the processors, but you need a processor on the board to flash the BIOS and the new processors won't work for flashing the BIOS. Oops! They ended up having to "loan" people a processor so they could flash the BIOS to be able to use the motherboard they'd bought. The loanee would then have to return the borrowed processor or be charged for it.

Older technology isn't always a bad thing in the computing world. By the time six months have passed, there are typically good drivers, patches for glaring issues, and a pretty solid product. If you buy something on day one of its release, well God help you. You're more likely to have big problems than be successful. Give the tech six months to a year to get the bugs out and you're generally much farther ahead.

We'll be seeing new CPU's and GPU's coming out between now and the start of the school year. I would wait a good length of time to invest in either. If you're a day one buyer, you will likely run into all kinds of issues that a buyer six months later won't have to deal with. Older computing tech is usually the smarter buy than the cutting edge stuff.

If you absolutely have to have the bragging rights, feel free to buy the hottest, newest tech, but it will likely drive you a bit nuts. Stuff that's been around for six months to a year is typically the safer buy. And prices drop pretty quickly on tech also. There's talk of some of the new GPU's retailing for over $2,000. In a year or two, those same GPU's can be bought for a quarter of that.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!

Caffeina · ‎03-09-2010

@rissajaneen

See if this HP link for resetting your compter is of help.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04742289

Chose the instructions for Perform a Windows 10 system reset through Windows Recovery Environment. They include a video to show how it's done.

apple1964 · ‎08-07-2013

@gardenman wrote:
@apple1964 wrote:
You brought it from QVC..Oh brother! I would try to do a factory reset and even then I would not hold my breathe that would work. I do not understand why anyone would order any device from QVC? They sell older computer devices and charge you more for them. Good luck to you O/P.
Just a quick note about "older computer devices." When I build a computer I never use the newest, most state-of-the-art stuff as most of the time you're the beta tester for it. I prefer tech that's at least six months to a year old. Once something's been on the market for six months or longer, it typically has been shaken down and any huge flaws fixed.

A motherboard manufacturer recently released their newest motherboards and assumed they'd work with the newer processors. Yeah, not so much. It turns out you have to flash the BIOS of the new motherboard to make it work with the processors, but you need a processor on the board to flash the BIOS and the new processors won't work for flashing the BIOS. Oops! They ended up having to "loan" people a processor so they could flash the BIOS to be able to use the motherboard they'd bought. The loanee would then have to return the borrowed processor or be charged for it.

Older technology isn't always a bad thing in the computing world. By the time six months have passed, there are typically good drivers, patches for glaring issues, and a pretty solid product. If you buy something on day one of its release, well God help you. You're more likely to have big problems than be successful. Give the tech six months to a year to get the bugs out and you're generally much farther ahead.

We'll be seeing new CPU's and GPU's coming out between now and the start of the school year. I would wait a good length of time to invest in either. If you're a day one buyer, you will likely run into all kinds of issues that a buyer six months later won't have to deal with. Older computing tech is usually the smarter buy than the cutting edge stuff.

If you absolutely have to have the bragging rights, feel free to buy the hottest, newest tech, but it will likely drive you a bit nuts. Stuff that's been around for six months to a year is typically the safer buy. And prices drop pretty quickly on tech also. There's talk of some of the new GPU's retailing for over $2,000. In a year or two, those same GPU's can be bought for a quarter of that.

FYI... I do not have the best and the most expensive However I would not buy a device from any shopping channel. They sell older computers with a ton of bloat ware I will never need of use. So I have no "bragging rights". And if you read some older threads people have been complaining about QVC shipping and handling and the long wait time to get a computer device and when the laptop came it had problems. And your post to me had nothing to do with what I was trying to say. Maybe read it more carefully before you judge me.