Pssst.
A recovery disk may not be enough.
You bought and paid for an operating system and should be able to do a clean re-install.
Even if you have to call Big Brother Microsoft (which you would have to do) and ask "pretty please may I make my computer useful again?"
A "recovery" disk would not make a re-install possible.
You can always just ask around among your friends and try to get a Windows XP CD. Preferrably the Corporate Edition, so's you won't need to activate.
You bought and paid for an operating system and should be able to do a clean re-install.
Even if you have to call Big Brother Microsoft (which you would have to do) and ask "pretty please may I make my computer useful again?"
A "recovery" disk would not make a re-install possible.
When HP ships their recovery CD (usually CDs), it's keyed to the specific system. It has all of the drivers and applications that were originally installed by the factory on the system, and will restore it to the same state it was in the first time you used it. Of course you will lose all data, and any additional applications or updates that you installed, but HP is (or was) pretty good about their recovery CDs...
Mark