Only 1/2 as dumb as what I've got. For a new laptop, burned off the Windows backup disk to DVD per instructions then checked how it works -- instruction one, "use the boot floppy....
No floppy drive on this bear. No socket for a floppy adapter. No provision to make a bootable CD.
Redid the effort, this time to CD's figuring I'd get a bootable CD out of that effort. SOS ... "use the boot floppy....
Mickey-soft ain't cuttin' it. This has turned into the most amateurish outfit going. Of course, I could be wrong -- it might be an HP problem.