Firefly FP9004 Recovery problem

[butleri]

Help!

I've just joined this forum as I am very stuck!!

I have an Advent Firefly FP9004...the HDD started to fail (some bad sectors or similar so I could still use it but if I tried to access certain files it would freeze and I would need to restart PC). So I took the opportunity to buy a new larger HDD.

Stuck new HDD in PC, booted the Advent Recovery disc (which I had already created) and selected 're-install Windows'...it would then come up with 'cannot detect HDD' error message.

OK - so I then used a piece of software to extract the product key from the old HDD and downloaded a copy of Windows (not a hacked copy or anything)...burnt to disc, stuck new HDD back in, booted disc and installed a fresh copy of Windows to the new HDD (using the key I extracted). This appeared to work fine...except it seems that it didn't activate and now that the 30 days is up it is telling me so. Basically it appears that because the license is for a pre-installed version of Windows I cannot install the way I did. The only way to legitimately install windows is to use the Advent Recovery disc....which brings me back to the above issue. When I try to do a new install/destructive wipe of the HDD (using the Advent Recovery disc) it always comes up with the 'cannot detect HDD' error.

Help!