Reinstalling Vista with different CD, old key

I have an HP Pavilion a6500f computer that I got from a friend because it stopped working. It's got some really nice hardware, and I'd like to use it. But it has some odd booting problems. Basically, I've done a lot of testing and decided the easiest thing to do is reinstall Vista on it. It has a recovery partition, but I've been unable to get that to work. Among a few other things, I tried using Hiren's Boot CD to boot miniXP mode and set the recovery partition as the active one, hoping that it would boot up from there and let me restore it to factory settings. (I read to do that online somewhere) Long story short, it doesn't work. Booting form the recovery partition freezes every time, booting normally gets past the this screen:

and then just gives me a blank, black screen that shows nothing and is totally unresponsive no matter how long I wait. There doesn't seem to be anyway to boot it into safe mode, none of the F1-12 keys give me the option. Trying to boot from the normal partition gives me option to try to repair my computer, but it just sits for a while, asks if I want to use a restore point, and then freezes after pressing either yes or no. Based on a few of the tests I've done, I don't think the HD is bad, it just has all of the boot data on both partitions messed up. But I could be wrong.

My main question:
I happen to have a Vista home premium x64 disc laying around, not anything that came with the machine though. I also have the serial key for the vista that was originally installed on the computer (likely a HP oem or whatever) Can I install the retail copy of Vista on that computer OK? Or will the key only be good for the HP oem build of vista, or something weird like that? I'm not worried about any data backup at all, I just want to get it in working condition. I'm pretty sure I can get Vista installed by wiping the HD and doing a clean install with my disc, I just need to know if the key is going to work with the Normal, "un-branded" build.

If you have any suggestions (even ones about how to get it to work without that other Vista disc) I'd love to hear them.

Thanks

As long as the key and the disk are the same version, it rarely is a problem. Just remember, none of the proper drivers or programs will be there.

Thanks for the info. I've seen some programs that are supposed to be able to magically find all your drivers for you over the internet. Do you know of any that are trustworthy/actually work well? I could find them all myself I'm sure, but I've actually been wondering about those programs for a while.

Or better yet, is there a folder on the HD where the drivers are stored that I could just back up and copy over after reinstalling vista?

Dont use that software. Go to the site and pick the drivers yourself.
To backup driver max is good.

Ok thanks. Lastly, if I'm going to do a clean install:

1. Should I wipe the HD using a partitioning tool on a CD (like Ubuntu Live, or Hiren's Boot CD) or should I let the Vista CD wipe it when it I install it?

2. Should I leave the Recovery Partition in place, (even though it seems to not work at all) or delete it?

3. Can I create a different recovery partition right after a clean install?

4. Is there anything else I should know before doing any of this? I've reinstalled an OS a couple times before, but I'm not exactly a guru about it yet

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/68767-clean-install-upgrade-vista.html?ltr=C
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/117366-clean-install-full-version-vista.html
For Seven and Vista
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

Get your drivers saved onto a gthumb drive.. especially your network drivers, and your antivirus, then go and wipe it out, and renstall.

Ok, lets see how this goes...

Problem!
I got the OS reinstalled fine and updated a few drivers. The internet was working OK at first, but then when i went to Windows Update, it didn't seem to be downloading anything. When the internet wouldn't load in the browser either, I told the computer to restart. It froze at the "Shutting Down" screen after some time, so I did a hard reset. It took forever to boot up (I Started Windows Normally) and then when it got to the point where it should have given the login screen, it crashed. Booting it up again, I get an error (not BSOD, just against the black background)
that said "DISk BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISk AND PRESS ENTER." It does that with every boot now. I put the install disc back in the drive and hit enter, and it took me to the Install Windows thing.

What's the problem?! Is the HD bad? I don't want to have to reinstall it again.

Dont guess with the HD

Test Hard Drive HD Diagnostic or this test Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/tophddiag.htm

Thanks Rich, I forgot I already had the Seagate SeaTools on a disc. I'm running tests now.

Cant mess around with the HD or you can lose your stuff

Oh I'm not at all worried about losing stuff. I'm just trying to get it to work, there's absolutely nothing important on it. It's 500 GB, and one of the biggest drives I have. I just want it to be functional so I can use it