What happens when you replace the base enclosure?

This is kind of hypothetical, but it is based on an actual situation from another thread.

This is on a business model - 3 year warranty...

If your base enclosure (the bottom chassis cover) gets accidentally damaged, what happens to the service tag when you replace that part yourself?

You see, that part carries the service tag on it for warranty purposes. I know the mobo is also tagged (tattoo'd) with the service tag info, but then what happens if the mobo dies, and you have replaced the bottom cover?

My guess is that you could peel off the service tag from the old part and somehow glue it onto the new one, which wouldn't be very nice.

Also what would HP do if they were carrying out the repair?

 

The sticker will be removed and reapplied to the new base enclosure. The base enclosure part does not come with any stickers. However, I believe you will lose your Windows license sticker because those are tricky to remove.

HP service centres will also do this. Afaik, you can't reissue that sticker at the bottom of your machine. It's unique. The serial number is flashed to your motherboard too, so you don't really need the service tag at the bottom.

 

The windows licence sticker would be replaced with a new OEM one; OEM pre-loads don't actually use that key on the sticker, it can be any OEM valid key in the image, windows would activate automatically, one would use the key in situations where it was then reinstalled other than a recovery.