Issues reinstalling operating system

I've had a HP DV5000 series laptop for about 4.5 years now and it's been great until recently.

I was having some issues, and thought to reinstall Windows on it to clear out some unnecessary files and clear up some space from the hard drive. Unfortunately things didn't really go as planned.

My laptop was never shipped with a new operating system cd. Instead it gives you the option to burn recovery disks and reinstall the operating system that way. I made the 4 disks and started the process.

After the first disk finished running, I was given access to Windows again. I tried inserting the second disk and waited for a prompt to begin the next phase.....nothing. I restarted the computer with the second disk in the drive, assuming it would begin the process, and nothing.

The end result of my attempt to reinstall Windows was me losing access to the programs I had installed. They all still show up under the All Programs but I was no longer able to open them. My harddrive is still full and I can't clear it out.

Can you give me any advice on how to fix this issue? I'm pretty fed up with this computer and can't figure out how to proceed.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

You should be able to restore windows using the HP recovery partition (if you have one)

To access Recovery Manager press F11 while powering on the Notebook

 

Here are a few articles that provide help for this type of ReInstall:

I haven't looked at any of these instructions, so I can't say if they are actually worthwhile.
There is one in this list for HP Computers with either Windows 98, ME, XP or Vista
Windows Reinstall - OEM Computers

Also:
About.com - How to Reinstall Windows Without Losing Your Data

This one is for Gateway computers, but it is explicit and may be applicable to your situation.
Full System Restore (with Backup) Using Gateway System Recovery Windows XP Recovery CD

 

I do have a recovery partition, thats actually how I burned the cds. I used both the cds it gave and tried to do it right from the partition on the harddrive with the same results. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the advice. I checked those out and they all are write ups on how to do it while retaining your programs. I'd like to wipe it clean and start from scratch honestly.

 

What were the messages on running the first disk? Can you tell us exactly what each screen said from boot to getting access to Windows again?

 

Unfortunately I can't. I tried to do this a few weeks back and don't remember the messages.

From what I remember, I loaded the PC Recovery Program and let it go for a little over an hour. It didn't require any sort of action from me once it had started. Once it finished I was able to jump on, configure the time settings and start.

Sorry if these seems like relatively obvious questions, but I'm still rather new to this: Could I use the 4 disks that Windows let me make to format the hard drive? I'm assuming that's their purpose.

If so, and I was to restart my computer and boot from the first disk, would it give me prompts on when to enter the other disks?

Also, would the disks have all the necessary drivers to run the equipment installed on my laptop from the factory?