First, the recovery disks needed to be made, they where not supplied. It was supposed to be step one when the pc arrived, but most people don't follow direction or read what is given
Second, You are right floppies are mostly useless and out dated. Don't quote me on this but I believe that there formats are basic and easy to operate as far as cmos is concerned.(less code to use raw data for basic boot protocol)but as you said almost useless so I do not know much about them as they are old news. I have an external just in case.
Unfortunately Microsoft decided the only format the sata drivers could be loaded from by the install software is in fact a floppy. because the optic drive is needed for the xp disk, and flash drives predate xp's basic programing, and when xp was released every pc had a floppy.
You might find software on the makers site to make a floppy to load sata drivers. But you'll need more than the xp disk at this point. You'll need a new Windows cdkey. Even if one is on the laptop more than likely it will not be excepted by windows install due to it being a special edition win xp version bundle for hp.
I can not help you any more than I have. If anyone else has anything please buy all means speak up. I am a pc tech, my professional opinion is give it back, then proceed to give them shit for not following the directions.
you said they did make backups, the should have used the built in recovery software to do that, if they did, then I will have to proceed to give you shit as you will have just wasted my time. So, ask, and if they did use the bundled software to make recovery disks then reread my posts and follow the links instructions. If not then I can say with out regret We both tried our best.
Good luck
P.s. empty your in box!