Cannot log in? It's a endless loop.

[Amy35]

When you press the power button, it begins loading up & automatically signs in as administator. (Doesn't give option of what log in to use or ask for a password.) Then the following message appears: "Restoration incomplete. The restoration did not complete. Please select one of the following buttons"(Recovery Manager). There's a 'save log' button, but doesn't accept any of the disks I insert (as requested). Theres a 'details button' that says something about an unknown USB device & a device descriptor request fail. Then there's a 'Retry' button that repeats the same process. 

I can not get any further than this stage. Any help will be appreciated.

[Grzwacz]

Greetings Amy35,

Welcome to the forum.

I am not a HP employee.

Please provide more background detail. Is this a failed HP Factory Recovery operation?

An unknown USB device and device descriptor may suggest you have a USB device connected to the PC that should not be connected when doing a HP factory recovery.

Only use (if possible) the HP mouse, HP keyboard, and any monitor.

It sounds like you have an aborted factory recovery. So you may not be signing in to Windows as an administrator.

I am not sure what we are troubleshooting. This is why more information is needed to figure out what is happening.

Regards

[Amy35]

Well the laptop has been acting up for a couple of days now. It's been slower than usual and started to freeze temporarily (although this is likely because there was a number of tabs up since this is a family computer). 

To my knowledge, no factory recovery system was attempted. Just one day when loading it up, it started this endless loop. 

The only devices we usually have connected, is the mouse and a new desk lamp. But after this situation, I've removed all of these devices when trying to restart the laptop. But when trying to do so, the same messages and the same results appear anyway. As soon as you press the power button, you don't have much control. It simply loads up, signs in saying 'Administrator' & then the message about restoration incomplete turns up. This is also the first point in which you can actually interact wih the laptop. 

I have been searching online trying to find similar problems but to no luck. It does seem unusual. It may be just a case that the laptop has had its time as we've had it for a fair while now. 

Thanks again. 

[Grzwacz]

Hi Amy35,

This sounds like you may have a failing component; maybe the HDD or memory.

Try running boot time HP Diagnostics (Link) if possible.

Start your PC and tap "ESC".

Press "F2", choose System Tests.

You can also run diagnostics from a bootable USB stick if needed.

Regards

[Amy35]

(Sorry it took a little while for me to reply) 

I tried what was suggested but that didn't seem to work or make any difference. The laptop was/is completely unresponsive until the restoration message and the provided options appear etc.  

Although a detail that I haven't expressed yet: after choosing an option and before the laptop resets itself, there's a black scene with a bunch of writing  (things like the model of the laptop and the windows 8 / 10) and if you click the mouse or press any key, it turns round saying 'Access denied.' 

Even though the laptop has McAfee Security, it's possible that a virus may have gotten on the system. Might explain the slow Internet and freezing beforehand. At this point I don't think I have many options unless you can think of any other solutions. 

I wouldn't worry about it too much. We've had it for a while and it might simply be time to get a new one. Thanks again. 

[Grzwacz]

Hi Amy35,

Maybe you do have malware.

You might want to post this issue in the HP Notebook Forum (Link).

 I would probably wipe the HDD at this point and reinstall the HP Windows 8 factory Recovery image. I would not try to recover data from the HDD if the PC is infected (you may unknowingly copy the potential malware while copying data).

Persistent symptoms on a new factory install or an aborted factory recovery would suggest there is a hardware problem.

Many malware folks like to hide the malware so it can be used to gather financially sensitive information from the target PC.

You may have disruptive malware that has rendered your PC unbootable.

Regards