Can I use System Recovery even though my motherboard was replaced by HP?

[selectric]

I'd like to do a full System Recovery/Factory Reset on my Envy Spectre 14-3100 (Win 7) just to clean it up a bit.

I have both the Recovery partition on the original internal SSD and a USB recovery drive which I created according to HP's instructions when the laptop was new.

The thing is, this machine had its main board replaced by an HP Service Center a few years ago - could that cause problems with system recovery?

AFAIK the main board is identical to the old one but I'm unable to say whether the HP technician matched the tattoo/fingerprint of the old MB with the new one. I wasn't provided with a new recovery media.

If I initiate the recovery process through HP Recovery Manager, and the recovery partition and the USB recovery drive both turn out to be non-functional, will the program prompt me BEFORE it starts to irreversibly wipe out the old system? Will I be able to roll back to where I was?

Thanks again.

[TheOldMan]

Since I do not work for HP, I cannot say but what you need to do is make a backup.  Either use Windows or a third party backup solution BEFORE you do that, whether Recovery Manager works or not.

[selectric]

Copy that, chief. I've backed up all of my personal files, but I haven't cloned the current OS.

I could always buy a new SSD, plug it in (even though it's a fairly complicated operation) and then see if I could fire the notebook up with the USB recovery media.

If it doesn't work, I'll still have the original SSD with the original OS to fall back on.

Then again, I'm not too sure if I want to spend that money so I'd really like to know whether the HP Recovery Manager will prompt me about incompatibility issues before it starts wiping out the old system. 

[TheOldMan]

Hopefully one of the HP guys will see this and offer their opinion on if it will work.  I have seen others that complain the Recovery Manager will not complete even for a fully normal PC, so here's hoping they answer.

[selectric · Accepted solution]

Okay, so I just took a leap of faith and ran HP's Recovery Manager in order to do a full factory reset.  Surprisingly, it worked without a hitch and I'm back in business!

For everyone considering doing a Factory Reset on a machine with a swapped motherboard: if the technician coded the board to match your old one AND if you're doing a reset from D-partition (not a USB drive) the chances are it's going to turn out A-OK.

[TheOldMan]

That is great!!  Glad it worked!!