I Dug A Hole Lost OS

I purchased a refurbished Asus K55A laptop preloaded with Windows 8. When it arrived there was a piece of paper that said the hard drives had been wiped clean and that there was no recovery partition. So I emailed the retailer and asked for a recovery disc. They replied that they don't have any and all I had to do to recover is to press f9 at boot up.
Here's where I dug my hole, I pressed f9 at boot up. I was thinking that I could just cancel the restore or install after I looked at what was there. Not so! I lost the OS. Panic set in. I called Asus for a disc,they said I should send it back. Had I chose that I would not be asking for help now. So I dug my hole deeper, I had a Windows 7 disc and I tried to load that. I could not get past the screen to load 7 because the hard drive was GPT protected. Formatting did nothing. So out came the Kill Disk and ran that. After it was done I put 7 back in,Gpt partitions were gone and I could get past that screen and start to load 7. I cancelled the install right after it started to load because I had no product key.
I called Microsoft and told them I bought this Asus and lost Windows 8 OS and asked if I could get a product key for a downgrade to 7 home premium. They said no can do, but for $300 they would take care of all my problems. I said no and the sales pitch began. Then they said for a one time fix, $150, they would give me Windows 7 Ultimate. If I did that I would still not have a physical disc to reload Windows if my hard drive fails. This is why I got myself into this mess in the first place.
I found this on the superuser website: Jesse writes
-----
I purchased an ACER M5 with a pre-loaded OEM version of windows 8, similarly there was no affixed sticker stating the product key. I removed the original hard drive and upgraded to a new SSD. No efforts towards imaging or maintaining of the original HHD were performed. I purchased a system builders DVD for windows 8 pro to install onto the new, entirely blank SSD. During the installation, I was never asked to input a product key. My final istallation was a copy of windows 8 (non pro). Futhermore, a check on the last 5 digits of the product key applied on my installation reflected a different product key than the one shipped with the system builder DVD.

Speculation: the OEM product key was stored elsewhere on the machine, detected, and employed rather than asking the user to supply a product key. I've read elsewhere that the key is maintained in the BIOS for new OEMs from major PC manufactures to simplify reporting to Microsoft.

Personal: I build a new box every two years so the fact that my product key was never requested doesn't impact me; my purchased personal use license for W8 pro will be used eventually.
-------
My question is: Is what he saying true? Can I go out and buy a OEM copy of Windows 8, load that on my Asus laptop, then use the 8 disc product key to build another machine that I intended to do this winter.

 

Your message here is completely confusing i have no idea what you need are you asking about to recover your operating system.

Where did you get this laptop from.Sounds like a bad business deal they wiped your drive and did not reinstall windows.

 

1. laptop came with a working Hard Drive windows 8
2. came with no recovery partition or recovery disc
3. through my error I lost the OS
4. the product key is embedded in the bios not stuck to the laptop surface
5. to put an operating system back on the laptop, can I buy a Windows 8 OEM disc and use that to load windows?
6. Will windows pick up the product key from the bios during installation?
7. Can I then use the just purchased Windows 8 OEM product key on a new homemade system I intend to build?

Goldenskull,Hopefully that simplifies my dilemma.

 

Well from what i understood it sounds to me your in a little bind.With Microsoft's newer windows it will embed the current windows 8 key activation to your bios.

I have no idea on how to continue with this sorta issue some body else is going to have to help.

I have stuck with xp and 7 for this reason.

 

You will have to re-install Win 8. If you use an OEM version it will more than likely have a key on the DVD and it wont read the BIOS. You really need the original install disk to read the BIOS.

 

You are incorrect.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57554240-292/windows-8-moves-to-bios-based-product-keys/

http://i.imgur.com/YcJRJxY.png

 

I just want to be absolutely clear Just Playin. I read that link you posted. All things point to I being able to buy a Windows 8 OEM. Run the install on the Asus laptop then use the purchased 8 product key on a new build, just like this guy Jesse did. You can read the full article here, http://superuser.com/questions/497660/will-a-clean-install-of-windows-8-recognize-an-oem-license-product-key?rq=1[/URL]

-----

Is that what you would do? Or what would you do?

 

Since you plan on building another PC in the future, you will need an OS. In any case, you will be able to use your Windows 8 purchase on that PC. When you use the disc in your laptop, as part of Activation 3.0 it will check for an embedded product key in the BIOS. The disc will need to be for the same OS with which your laptop was shipped originally.

 

Just Playin, I would like to thank you for your help. I have decided to buy a 8.1 disc as that was the last OS running. I can always upgrade to Pro later.
I still am a little confused between what you say and what happened to Jesse.

 

The final entry.
Bought a windows 8 disc.
During installation I could not get past the add the product key page even
after entering the product key retrieved from belarc and magic jellybean.
So no recovery from Bios as others here and other websites have thought.
I would think Ewen is more correct than Just Playin.
I ended up using the product key from the newly purchased OEM 8 disc on
the troubled Asus.
I now have to buy another Windows product key to load on my new build going
on now.
Asus no help.
Microsoft no help
Major geeks well you decide.