Odd and Frustrating HP Laptop will NOT boot to Windows (But boots Linux)

[LordX]

So... customer brings in a laptop - thinks HDD is gone. Ok - easy.

I put in an SSD (which he wanted anyway since he had an old HDD). When I put in the Windows USB, it pauses to load files, and as SOON as it would normally begin to have the circle spinning - RESTART. Again and again.

I tried a windows PE boot USB that I have. Same story. As soon as it is prepped to have the circle spin - RESTART.

I tried to set BIOS to legacy and disable secure boot - same story. Tried to boot from a DVD of Windows - same story.

Here is the odd part - Parted Magic boots up fine. FreeDOS Rufus USB loads up.

There is something with the initiation of windows that is causing the system to restart, and for the life of me I have no idea what else to try.

Has anyone run into something like this?

PS - I am trying to update the BIOS, but the HP BIOS exe will not load in FreeDOS, the current BIOS doesn't have the area to load in the .bin extracted BIOS files either. I was going to use the PE USB to load the bios, but it does the restart thing.... so I am about to give up on this thing and I don't want to.

PPS - I also ran the internal memory tester which passed its 20 min test

 

[sapphirescales]

It's rare but some laptops are NOT compatible with Windows 10 beyond a certain build. Visit HP's website and read all the release notes for each BIOS version from the one you have to the most recent version. You'll probably find one that says something along the lines of "resolves compatibility issue with Windows 10 version 1709."

The easiest way to test this is to try to boot it from the Windows 7 or 8/8.1 install USB. I don't believe we had these compatibility issues until Windows 10.

 

[LordX]

So... I did boot from an old 32 bit Windows 7 DVD - and it booted, and is installing now....

I do have some old windows 10 disks, all the way back to 1709 I believe, so I could try that as well.

I am also downloading Windows 10 32 bit ISO juuuust in case there is something crazy with 64 bit going on... I don't know how a 64 bit problem would 'manifest' all of a sudden - but I am grasping at straws here.

Bloke - I did swap out the ram from the original 8gb chip down to a 4gb chip I had lying around - same issue.

 

[timeshifter]

Just how old is this laptop? Is it really worth repairing? October 14, 2025 is 626 days away, that's when Windows 10 enters end of support (security updates).

 

[LordX]

2017 - not old enough to be causing these issues IMO! So it came with Windows 10, and should still qualify for the Windows 11 update. We will see.

So - Windows 7 saved the day (and made me nostalgic). Was able to run the HP BIOS exe and that was it. So Sapphire - you were on to something.

Now the Windows installs load in without a reboot. Still installing the OS as I type this - so hopefully this is a problem solved moment!

 

[Markverhyden]

So... customer brings in a laptop - thinks HDD is gone. Ok - easy.

I put in an SSD (which he wanted anyway since he had an old HDD). When I put in the Windows USB, it pauses to load files, and as SOON as it would normally begin to have the circle spinning - RESTART. Again and again.

I tried a windows PE boot USB that I have. Same story. As soon as it is prepped to have the circle spin - RESTART.

I tried to set BIOS to legacy and disable secure boot - same story. Tried to boot from a DVD of Windows - same story.

Here is the odd part - Parted Magic boots up fine. FreeDOS Rufus USB loads up.

There is something with the initiation of windows that is causing the system to restart, and for the life of me I have no idea what else to try.

Has anyone run into something like this?

PS - I am trying to update the BIOS, but the HP BIOS exe will not load in FreeDOS, the current BIOS doesn't have the area to load in the .bin extracted BIOS files either. I was going to use the PE USB to load the bios, but it does the restart thing.... so I am about to give up on this thing and I don't want to.

PPS - I also ran the internal memory tester which passed its 20 min test

Over the years I've run into a few machines, mostly laptops, that wouldn't load any MS Windows OS but loaded and ran any linux. Picked up a suhweeeet Sony PCG-FX Vaio 15" laptop that way. 15 months old and Sony said tough luck to the owner when a motherboard replacement was requested. I've usually attributed that type failure to some issue with the chipset. Windows is so tightly wound around the Registry. Failure loading a .dll, etc can easily bring a torrent of blue poop.

 

[brandonkick]

Do the initial load to the SSD on another machine. Either some type of DISM image deploy, or the less elegant swapping of the drive into another system just to load the disk to the point of first boot. Nothing about the host machine should be "installed" on the drive until after the first time windows actually boots AFAIK. So installing the windows file on a different machine, and then booting on this machine your having issues with should cause no problem.

Again, that or DISM img deploy if your equipped for it.