PC won't boot - Cloud recovery tool fails

[Andrew872]

Hi,

Monthly Windows 11 update was scheduled to occur overnight.  Next morning PC was unable to boot to windows 11.  Hard reset caused a circle to spin on a black screen for ~30 seconds, until spinning stopped and PC froze.  I rebooted many times with the same results occasionally receiving a BSOD stating "Clock Watchdog Timeout".  Found that I can only successfully boot to BIOS or (using F2) the HP UEFI tool.  Booting using F11 fails (spinning circle which then stops spinning and PC freezes).  Ran all UEFI tests twice and everything passed so it appears there are no HW issues.  Created a USB HP cloud based Recovery Drive specific to my model PC, then reset the boot load order in the BIOS.  Unfortunately the PC doesn't boot from USB, instead I get a spinning circle and a "Please Wait" notice, but the circle stops spinning after ~30 seconds and PC freezes requiring a hard reset.  I tried using a Windows 11 USB recovery drive created from another computer and it boots fine, and shows all utilities, but (since it was created for a different Windows 11 PC), the utilities do not work.  I assumed that my HP cloud based USB was corrupt, so I recreated another one with the same results.  I have been unable to figure out a way to order shipped USB recovery drive from HP as it doesn't appear one is available.

Thanks very much for your help!

Andrew

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Andrew:

You'll have to contact HP customer service starting at the link below to see if they have recovery media available for your PC.

Official HP® Support

There should be no need to go into the BIOS and change boot orders to boot from a USB flash drive.

Have the USB flash drive in the USB port.

Turn on or restart the PC.

Immediately tap the ESC key to get the menu of options.

Select the F9 boot options menu, and from that select the USB flash drive and press the Enter key.

Have you tried using the Microsoft media creation tool to create a plain W11 USB installation flash drive so you can at least use your PC?

if not, you may want to try that (2nd option).

Download Windows 11

If you are able to boot from the USB flash drive, and can get into the Windows setup steps, most likely you will encounter a message where you get to the part that asks, 'Where do you want to install Windows', and it reports that 'we cannot find any drives to install on.'

That is because you will need to install the Intel storage controller drivers needed for Windows to find the drive which is a requirement for all PCs that come with the Intel 11th > 13th generation core processors.

I zipped up and attached the Intel storage controller drivers below.

The attached file is good for both W10 & W11.

Copy all of the files in both folders in the attached file to a USB flash drive.

Have the flash drive and your Windows installation media plugged into USB ports.

Boot from the Windows installation flash drive.

When you get to the screen where no drives can be found, click on the Load driver option, browse to the flash drive with the storage controller drivers on it.

If you check the box, it will only include the compatible driver.

If Windows still can't find the drive, uncheck the box to include the compatible driver and try any of the ones listed.

Click Next, and Windows should install.

If that works, you can install the drivers and available software from your PC's support page.

HP ENVY Desktop PC TE01-3000i (4M0M1AV) Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Support

[Andrew872]

Hi Paul,

Thanks very much for your insights and the provided links! 

Do you recommend that I order the HP recovery media first (if available) prior to using Option #2?   (Using the Microsoft media creation tool to create a plain W11 USB installation flash drive)?

Do you know if I need to pay for phone support just to order the HP recovery drive USB?  I have not found a way to reach out to HP without paying first.  Hoping that your HP Support link addresses this, but I suspect my only option may be to open a case for the recovery media.

I really appreciate your help and especially am grateful that you anticipated my next challenge in Option #2 and provided me the storage container drivers needed.

I will update after I proceed with the next steps.

Thanks again!

Andrew

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Andrew.

I would try option 2 only because if you are able to get/purchase a recovery drive from HP, you can still use it regardless.

In the meantime, while you are waiting for the USB recovery media to arrive, hopefully, you can get your PC back up and working again.

You may find that you are happy with a plain installation of W11 with the drivers and software installed, and can use the recovery drive at a later time if necessary.

[Andrew872]

Perfect, I will proceed with option #2 tonight.  Thanks again!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Let us know how you made out.

[Andrew872]

Hi Paul,

I am unable to open the attachment you provided.  It shows as below and the virus scan never completes:

F6.zip

(Virus scan in progress ...)

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks!

Andrew

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Andrew:

I never had that happen before.

Usually, the forum virus scan completes in a few seconds.

I deleted the file and reattached it and this time waited until the virus scan was complete to see that it now works.

Try it now.

Paul

[Andrew872]

Downloaded the file with no issues.  Thanks!!

[Andrew872]

Hi Paul,

Prior to doing a fresh W11 install, I decided to try to repair the boot partition using a 3rd party tool that had good reviews and was cheap (EaseUS WinRescuer).   Unfortunately their Boot Repair utility doesn't see any of the 3 internal drives -- (2) SDDs and (1) HDD.  Their tech support guy thinks the drives are faulty but they all tested fine with the HP UEFI tests. 

Rather than wasting more time, I decided to move forward with a fresh W11 install.  Unfortunately, I was unable to load any of the storage drivers.  Those drivers listed under the HSA Extention folder all failed to load with "Error Installing Driver" messages.  The drivers listed under the VMD folder seemed to try to load, and then (after a minute) they each reflected a BSOD error (Clock Watchdog Timer).  Results were the same with every driver in each folder.

HP is unable to offer me recovery software other than the Cloud based tool that fails to load.  Very disappointing.

Do you have any additional suggestions to get me past the storage controller driver issue?

Thanks!

Andrew