Issues with Restoring to Factory Settings

[Candycorn]

After starting my computer and the screen was blinking and unable to start Windows I backed up my computer and tried to restore to factory settings. It cannot restore and gives the error message that The system cannot find the drive specified. Is there anyway to fix this?

[WAWood]

@Candycorn 

This issue is often due to a failing drive. So, let's check that first, because if it is failing, it would need to be replaced and there is no point then in doing anything else until we confirm that.

If your PC is new enough to support UEFI, you can use these steps to test the hard drive: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00439024

If not, to check the drive you have to follow these steps:
1) Press Esc key repeatedly, several times a second, while rebooting the laptop. Do NOT hold the key down, just press it over and over.
2) Eventually, you will see an HP Startup Menu
3) Press the Function key for testing the hard drive (usually F2) and let it run.