Windows 10 Reinstall Loop - HP Pavilion 570-a135m

[KindaFlustered]

I am getting to my hair pulling point.  I will explain my issues and steps taken, and below that are the details of my system.

I am stuck in a Windows 10 home reinstall loop.  I was having so many Windows 10 update issues, that I just took the 1TB hdd, wiped all of the partitions, and formatted the drive.  I wanted to just download the latest image and skip the incremental failing updates.  Joke was on me.

I used the Windows Media Creation tool to make a USB install of Win10 initially in 64bit (that's what I need), and then again in 32/64 bit (and tried both).  With no luck, I also did a DVD .iso, burned it, tried it, and failed.

No matter what I do, the furthest I will get is the Windows installer will ask me if I want to install or install 32bit or 64bit.  Off of the DVD, the furthest I will get is 'hit any key to boot from the dvd'.  No matter what I do, it just restarts to the HP screen.

I played in the bios, and tried every combination possible.  Secure boot on, fast boot on, legacy off, tried to set boot device, set boot device during actual boot, etc.  Secure boot on, fast boot off, legacy off.  Secure boot off, fast boot on, legacy off. Secure boot off, fast boot off, legacy on. Secure boot off, fast boot on, legacy on.  Nada.  It just loops from initial screen to HP screen, and back.  Tried booting USB stick via UEFI, then via Legacy...tried booting DVD via UEFI, then via Legacy.  Nada.

It's not a complicated Bios, v 82FF vF.01  dated 2/22/2017

I am at a loss and just cannot get this thing to boot fully off of anything, no matter the configuration.

HP Pavillion 570-a135m (V9B62AA#ABA)

AMD 3.2ghz A9-9340 Radeon R5

1x8gb ddr 2400mhz

1TB seagate hdd, 250gb partition formatted, 750gb unformatted

Any insight would be more than appreciated, thank you! 😄

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You are the second person I came across in the last day that is having this problem, and I am also at a loss to understand why.

Re: Installing a new 2TB SATA hard drive - HP Support Community - 8133697

Usually a clean install of W10 64 bit goes without a hitch.

So for now, the only suggestion I can offer is to try the HP cloud recovery tool to create a bootable USB recovery drive that should reinstall W10, the drivers and the software that originally came with your PC.

Here is an info link for how to use the utility...

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool (Windows 10, 7) | HP® Customer Support

If it works to reinstall W10, then see if you can upgrade to 21H1 by clicking on the blue Update Now button at the link below.

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

I entered your PC's product number in the cloud recovery tool eligibility site, and it does show your PC is supported, even though it does not show up on your PC's support page as an option.

[KindaFlustered]

Thank you for the lead and detailed response, I am going to try that now and will report back.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome. 

[KindaFlustered]

I did manage to get Win10 reinstalled via that HP made USB stick.  But I am sad to say I think I am back where I started.

I left the PC offline while it did the full Win10 install.  I made a shortcut desktop link to the Windows Update Tool url you linked to.  The moment I connected to the WiFi, I used the Update tool.  It ran for a while and seemed to succeed.  But my PC is sticking at version 1803, while the Tool itself says the current version available is 21H1.  I ran it twice to make sure I didn't miss anything.  It never showed an error, it would actually complete, and ask me to restart.  It would restart, spend a good while on the HP spinning circle screen, and ultimately back in Win10 with no errors show, but still at Version 1803.

I am sure I can still go in via Windows Update and let it do the big pile of updates the old fashioned way, but I have a feeling I would get stuck at 1909 again, at best.

This is bizarre, even for the mess that is Win10.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Glad you were able to get W10 reinstalled.

At least you now have a working PC.

See if this works to update to 21H1...

Use the media creation tool to create a bootable USB installer if you erased the one you made.

Instead of clean installing W10 with the flash drive, open the flash drive in windows, click on the Setup application and see if the installer will update Windows that way.

Sometimes you run into a PC that is stubborn as a mule, and will not update Windows in the usual manner.

I remembered yesterday while thinking about your dilemma, that I did have a PC which would not update W10 to v2004.

So, I thought to myself...no problem.  I'll just clean install it.  Like your PC, it didn't work.

So what I did was remove the hard drive from the PC, installed it an a similar but older PC that had an older processor and chipset and installed 2004 that way. 

That PC had been upgraded to W10, so the installation had activated with a digital license like the other one did.

I plugged the drive back into the troublesome PC, it booted up, Windows loaded some drivers and bingo, back in business with the latest version at the time. 

The installation was still activated since that PC also had a W10 digital license/

The PC has upgraded to 21H1 as it should since then.

[KindaFlustered]

So far, I am still using install from the HP cloud restore USB.

Currently, I am at Win 10 Home - Version 1903 - OS Build 18362.1256.

I have updated using the PC Settings -- Check for Updates feature so far.  For the last 2 days, I have been offered no new updates.  If I click the Check for Updates button manually, right now, nothing is offered.

I feel like I got to 1909 before getting stifled last time, so I am still waiting to hit a wall lol.

When you say to attempt to update via a bootable USB installer, are you referring to the HP Cloud Restore installer or the Microsoft originated installer?

I do have a pitiful weak machine that I could try the harddrive swap on, but it would be a slow and treacherous affair on that 4gb RAM machine.  I will hope that it doesn't come to that, but I have noted the process.

Thanks again for your thoughtful responses and time.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

I was referring to the W10 installation media you made with the Microsoft media creation tool, not the HP one.

That would be for v21H1.

Normally you would boot from that and clean install windows but you have already gone that route with negative results.

However if you have the drive in a USB port, you click on 'This PC.' click on the W10 USB flash drive and you will see several files.

You click on the Setup file you see there, and the W10 installer will launch and hopefully it will let you update to 21H1 from the windows desktop.

[KindaFlustered]

I am still stuck at 1903 and see 2 failed attempts for 20H2.  You can see it in the 2 screencaps below.  I have updated the HP Bios in the meantime, but so far the Win10 manual checks for updates have shown no more attempts to do the feature update.  I am guessing those are timed or such.

I am making the Media Creation Tool USB now and will try that next 😉

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[KindaFlustered]

Cheers.  It took the better part of an hour, but I was able to update my bios and then Windows 10.  I did use the Media Creation Tool USB, and it took.  I really appreciate your help.  It seems easy in the end, but the Google loop in searching help on this problem is nothing short of frustrating.  Thank you!

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