My notebook does not boot into Windows

[luxio123ply]

NOTE: I apologize in advance if the formatting of this post is not good. I never really post on forums. I placed all information on what may seem relevant to the issue in this post.

I had the notebook for a very long time, then I gave it to someone else. After I got it back, I noticed that the notebook was not booting into Windows at all. On other computers I tried, it did boot just fine without issues. It only did not boot on the notebook.

The BIOS was fine and can be changed without problems. I did run the memory and hard drive diagnostics available to me, and the hard drive passed every time. The memory originally failed, but eventually passed every time.

I have attempted the following fixes:

-Making sure the notebook had enough power by removing the battery and connecting the AC adapter to the notebook (no change in results either way)

-Reseating the RAM and also moving it to the other slot (fixed the RAM issues, but boot issues still occured)

-Attempting to install Windows on the notebook (failed, see next paragraph)

-Removing the CMOS battery to reset the BIOS settings (failed)

I initially tried installing Windows on the notebook, but it failed when trying to install via USB. I tried Windows 10 first, then 8.1, then finally 8. All instances either:

-Froze

-Blue screened then instantly restarted

-Get to the installation screen, but then freeze

-Get to the installation screen, then never finish "getting Windows ready" and stay at 0% (NOTE: The partitions are successfully made and the primary partition has a small amount of used data)

I had the least amount of issues with attempting to install Windows 8 on the notebook, but the issues above still occured.

During both the installation attempts and boot, the hard drive was accessed for some time, then stops being accessed. Nothing happens after this and the installation/boot seems to have hanged in an infinite loop. Error messages, however, did not appear at any time. Attempting to enter the startup menu directly (F8 or Shift+F8) does not work, but can be accessed by intentionally failing a boot attempt. Despite this, none of the Safe Mode options worked, as Windows would try to load then blue screen shortly after the hard drive gets accessed.

Notes about the condition of the notebook and components:

-At some point during the fix attempts, all external ports stopped working. This includes all USB ports, so using installation media or an OS on a USB drive are no longer possible.

-The hard drive does NOT have the HP Recovery Partition. It was wiped completely off the hard drive, so recovery from it is impossible.

I'm not sure what I can do at this point with the notebook. If anyone knows why the notebook will not boot, please let me know.

Thank you in advance.

[MKazi · Accepted solution]

@luxio123ply

Thanks for reaching out to us on HP Support Forums. I came across your post and would like to help. 

Fabulous analysis. Spectacular diagnosis of the issue before posting. Kudos to you for that. You've done a remarkable job performing the steps. 

I understand that you have an HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15-b142dx and it does not boot to Windows. You have covered almost everything about the troubleshooting part. 

To assist you better, I would like to know the following information:

• Does it give you an error message or is it black screen when you power on the laptop?
• The laptop originally came with 4GB RAM. Did you upgrade it or is it the original RAM in the laptop? However, the product specifications show that there is only one RAM slot on the motherboard.

HP strongly recommends you to install the original operating system that came with your laptop Right now you're trying to install a retail version of Windows 8 and Windows 10. It may or may not work. Since all the tests have passed, the evidence points towards the Windows operating system. The hardware seems to be good. 

You may contact our HP phone support team to obtain a copy of the original recovery media for your laptop. 

Secondly, I did some more research on this and found that Windows 8 and Windows 10 may sometimes fail to install if the secure boot option is enabled on the computers. Following are the steps to disable the secure boot option. Then you may retry to reinstall Windows:

• HP PCs - Secure Boot (Windows 10).

• HP PCs - Secure Boot (Windows 😎.

Hope this information helps. Let me know. All the best! 🙂

[luxio123ply]

Thank you for posting.

When I boot, it does not give any error messages. The screen is not black either. Those were resolved at the very beginning.

The laptop has its original 4 GB of RAM. It is not a replacement. When I checked the motherboard, there were two RAM slots (motherboard is the E revision) on alternating sides. In either case, the RAM was detected in both slots.

The version of Windows I attempted to install was Windows 8 Pro. As for the retail or OEM portion, I do not think it would have mattered that much because I installed a retail version on an OEM computer many times without any boot problems.

Secure Boot was enabled when trying to install Windows. I will disable it and try again, then let you know how it goes.

One question I have at this point is this: does it care whether or not it is Pro or Home?

[luxio123ply]

Another issue i mentioned as well is that all external ports (even the USB ports) stopped working at some point while fixing the issues on the hardware level. How can I fix them so they can work again?

[luxio123ply]

I just tried installing the OEM version of Windows 8.1 on the hard drive using a different computer, as the laptop's USB ports were not working. It still does not boot at all.

[luxio123ply]

I have just solved the problem!

Turns out that all I had to do was clear the Secure Boot keys, then install the default HP ones. Realizing this made me stupid, but the problem is solved.

Thank you for the help about Secure Boot!

[MKazi]

@luxio123ply

You're most welcome. 🙂

I'm glad that the secure boot information helped in resolving the issue. I truly appreciate your efforts and your patience. 

Hope your HP laptop remains healthy for a long time. It was an honor to share this platform with you. 

Take care!