After Replacing a Failed HDD, PC Continuously Reboots When Using Recovery Media

[PiterGeek]

If you have only a single operating system installed on your computer, then you try to boot in Safe Mode.

[mdklassen]

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@PiterGeek wrote:

If you have only a single operating system installed on your computer, then you try to boot in Safe Mode.

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If that is successful, then what should be done?

[PiterGeek]

He may troubleshoot the Driver problems or consider rolling back the driver to the earlier version. I doubt that there is any update, driver or program was installed just before the problem started. If he entered Safe Mode successfully, just uninstall them. 

[mdklassen]

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@PiterGeek wrote:

He may troubleshoot the Driver problems or consider rolling back the driver to the earlier version. I doubt that there is any update, driver or program was installed just before the problem started. If he entered Safe Mode successfully, just uninstall them. 

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@the author originally wrote:

   After pressing Esc and choosing the USB as the boot device it look like it begins to boot but then the PC reboots

So, if the PC reboots, instead of installing Windows, is "Safe Mode" already installed?  I don't think so!

Also, before the problem started, the brand-new disk-drive was 100% "empty" -- there is nothing to "uninstall".

[PiterGeek]

Hardware failure or system instability can cause the problem as well. Just take everything into considertation. 

[MjrDv8]

I do not have an operating system installed. As I said in the original post, the HDD failed and I replaced it with a new one.  I am trying to install the operating system using the WRE.

[MjrDv8 · Accepted solution]

After a couple of frustrating weeks and many different ways of trying to get Windows 10 to re-install on this computer, this is what worked for me:

I downloaded the Windows 8.1 64-bit ISO from Microsoft and burned it to DVD.

For whatever reason, this bootable installation disc worked and I was able to install Windows 8.1 on the computer.

After installing Windows 8.1 on the computer the bootable Windows 10 installation disc worked and I was able to install Windows 10 over the Windows 8.1 installation. 

I had tried formatting the new drive before when I initially had issues using the Windows 10 bootable disc but that did not make a difference.  Why having Windows 8.1 installed on the drive allowed me to install Windows 10 I do not know. 

What I did not do is spend $40 plus shipping to get a USB drive from HP to reinstall a product I already paid them for.  Why they cannot provide the ISO or a bootable USB creation utility like Microsoft does is beyond me, other than it's a revenue stream for them.  It is poor product support.

[mdklassen]

> Why [HP] cannot provide the ISO or a bootable USB creation utility ...

I believe that the HP-modified version of Windows 8/8.1, as factory-loaded onto your computer, does have a utility to create a "System Recovery Set", either writing onto a USB memory-stick, or by burning onto DVD media.

Of course, I could be wrong -- there's always a first time.

[MjrDv8]

The computer didn’t come with Windows 8.1, it came with Windows 10 Home 64 which is what I’ve been trying to install on the new hard drive for the past two weeks.

It’s my stepson’s computer and he had a recovery disc that he created using the HP utility that was installed on the system when he got the computer but it was useless without the recovery partition that was on the original hard drive that failed. He did not create the recovery discs that were a backup of the system drive. This, plus it being the first two weeks of school for him and the fact that the computer is barely over a year old has made the situation even more frustrating.

My point was that HP should allow customers to download a utility that can recreate the recovery partition rather than use it as an opportunity to make more money off its customers. It’s one of the reasons I have changed to Asus for my laptop and desktop. If the Win 8 install hadn’t worked I was going to scrap the HP and buy him a Dell or Asus, not that it’s an easy solution to afford but I’m not going to give more money to a company I feel isn’t giving me good customer service.

[mdklassen]

>  It’s my stepson’s computer and he had a recovery disc that he created using the HP utility that was installed on the system when he got the computer, but it was useless without the recovery partition that was on the original hard drive that failed.

I think that he created a "system repair" disk, not a "system recovery" disk.  His mistake.

Unfortunately, is was an easy mistake to make.

The "system recovery set" is designed to install onto an empty disk-drive.

Been there, done that, bought the souvenir keychain.