Notebook Operating System and Recovery

I have a HP Envy TouchSmart 17-j011sa. Prod  Number :F4C20EA

I have tried the following but I can’t get HP recovery disc creator to start burning disc 1. :

-          burning recovery discs with 2 different types of DVD+R manufacturer.

-          running the recovery manager in Windows 8 safe mode and it refuses to acknowledge that the laptop is charging

-          turning off internet and closing all applications.

-          running a diagnostic check on the optical drive using HP Support Assistant but I only seem to have network and battery check. Optical drive check is not available

-          I have successfully burnt music to a blank dvd using windows 8 copy, paste and burn.

-          turning AVG off

It does the “prepare data” but can’t get to step 2 “burn data” or step 3 “verify disc”. It says “ We are experiencing errors in recovery media creation. Please try again”. However, looking at the DVD player activity light when it transitions from preparing data to burn data it looks like it does not even try to spin the disc

When I try and run in safe mode workaround suggested :

If I try and launch the HP Support Assistant I get :"HP Support Assistant has stopped working" please close. This always works in normal windows running mode.

I then do a search for “Recovery manager”. This launches. I choose to create a recovery disc and it presents me with a screen saying:

“Please install battery”

“Battery must be installed and the computer must be connected to its power adapter to continue this process. “

When the battery is installed and the laptop is connected to the mains. The above screen appears before I can even tick the box saying I acknowledge that only one set of discs can be created. So in safe mode I don’t get as far as I could when in normal running!

Strangely I could only get word pad to work not word (it just wouldnt launch...no error messages?) when in safe mode.

Any advice on how I can resolve this would be greatly appreciated short of ordering the discs at my own expense.

Thanks,

Dave