Spectre x360 fail automatic repair on resume/startup after suspend

[gmkayaker]

It will work fine for a while and then all of sudden will give me the black screen with HP logo and the spinner going round and round forever. If I wait long enough, it may report that it needs to restart. That often results in a BSOD. 

This has happened numerous times. I've spent many hours recovering the laptop using recovery drives, BCDedit, recovering from OS backups and even a clean install. It works fine for a while, then when it's on battery, it will go to sleep and when I wake it up, sometimes it works and sometimes in does this again.

I have run all the diagnostics numerous times (quick and full checks) and it has passed every test. I replaced a noisy fan in case it was overheating. I am suspecting boot sector corruption on the SSD. But why would this be happening randomly? And why only quite a while (weeks or months) after the last recovery/reinstall?

[KrazyToad]

@gmkayaker

I appreciate all your efforts and expertise in troubleshooting this issue

I suggest you download and run the HP Support Assistant from this Link: https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/hpsupport.html?jumpid=va_r602_us/en/any/psg/p...

HPSA will automatically search for all the latest drivers for your Notebook

1. Click My devices in the top menu, and then click Updates in the My PC or My notebook pane.

   

2. Click Check for updates and messages to scan for new updates.

   

3. Review the list of updates. Updates with a yellow information icon are recommended. Updates with a blue information icon are optional.

4. Click the update name for a description, version number, and file size.

5. Select the box next to any updates you want to install, and then click Download and install.

Also ensure Windows is up to date.

Select the Start  button, and then go to Settings  > Update & security  > Windows Update , and select Check for updates. If Windows Update says your device is up to date, you have all the updates that are currently available

Keep me posted how it goes

Thank you and have a wonderful day 😊

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the "Solution Accepted" on this Post and it will also help other community members with similar issue.

[gmkayaker]

Thanks for the generic advice. All this and a whole lot more has already been done numerous times. It's not out of date drivers. I suspect a hardware error that isn't showing up in any of the diagnostics, with a small chance of it being a Windows update that eventually gets installed and triggers the latent issue.

It has failed this way on the original installation of Windows 10 (updated from 8.1 on purchase), from the same version recovered from backup image, and on a clean install of Windows 10.  It always seems to be working fine after recovery and then when you start to trust it again and take it on a trip, and let it go to sleep, it fails to resume and goes into Automatic Repair mode (usually after an infinite startup, or a blue screen saying it needs to restart.)

At this point, it won't boot and I'm not prepared to take the time to fix the boot record or reinstall the OS without a bit more specific advice on how to troubleshoot the hardware issue that results in the corrupted boot record. I am not interested in generic, cookie-cutter, first-line-of-support advice. I am waaaay beyond that being of any use; I am an IT professional who has used Windows since version 3 (that's before WIndows 95!) so I have a lot of experience fixing laptops.

[Riddle_Decipher]

@gmkayaker If you've concluded this to be either a hardware malfunction or to do with the windows updates, I suggest we begin troubleshooting the issue via HP Hardware Diagnostics using the below steps:

(With your experience and my suggestions, we should be able to resolve this issue in no time)

Install the latest version of the HP Hardware diagnostics (UEFI) on your device using this link: Click here for details

• Hold the power button for at least five seconds to turn off the computer.
• Turn on the computer and immediately press Esc repeatedly, about once every second. When the menu appears, press the F2 key.
• On the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics (UEFI) main menu, click System Tests.
• Click Extensive Test.
• Click Run once, or Loop until error.
• While the test is running, the time remaining and test result for each component display on the screen.

If a component fails a test, write down the failure ID (24-digit code) for when you respond back to us.

If you wish to thank me for my efforts, you could click on "Accept as solution" on my post as the solution should help others too.

[gmkayaker]

I've been running the System Extensive Test for 3 1/2 days with no errors reported. Of course, this doesn't involve any suspend/hibernate/resume cycles which is when the problem always crops up. 

So what's next? My laptop still won't boot.  It says "Recovery", "Your PC/Device needs to be repaired", "The Boot Configurtion Data file doesn't contain valid information for an operating system." and "File: \BCD" , "Error Code: 0xc0000098".

I have been through all the "Advanced Options" one by one including System Restore (had no effect; it doesn't even look like it rolled back because it is still showing the same restore points), Uninstalling Updates (neither Feature no Quality will do anything because I have "pending update"), "System Image Recovery" cannot find any images to recover.

I tried booting with a newly-created windows image USB. It will let me re-install windows but won't let me "upgrade" (was hoping that might fix the BCD issue.  I decided *not* to reinstall windows because the problem has just re-occured when I did this in the past and was hoping that maybe we could figure out what corrupted the \BCD file by looking at *how* it was corrupted.  

[Echo_Lake]

@gmkayaker
Thank you for posting back. 

I appreciate your efforts to try and resolve the issue. As you've performed all the relevant troubleshooting steps and the issue persist. 

I would suggest performing system factory default will isolate the failure, If its a hardware related issue then computer needs to serviced. 

The HP Cloud Recovery Tool allows you to download recovery software to a USB drive. You can use the downloaded recovery image file inorder to install Windows operating system. Click here: https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c06162205 to Use the HP Cloud Recovery Tool (Windows 10, 7)

Click here: https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c04758961#AbT3 to perform a System Recovery (Windows 10)

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

[gmkayaker]

I understand that will using the Cloud Recovery Tool will reinstall Windows on my laptop. But it is not a solution to the real problem. I have previously reinstalled Windows and the problem came back evenutually. Please explain how reinstalling Windows using the Cloud Recovery Tool will lead to diagnosing the issue causing the BCD to become corrupted when I laptop suspends and/or hibernates when on Battery.

If it is a hardware issue, why hasn't it failed any of the diagnostic checks which I ran for 3+ days?

What else could cause this very specific behaviour (corruption of BCD on suspend/hibernate/resume) to occur? Let's hear some real troubleshooting advice rather than generic "reinstall Windows and let's hope the problem goes away" advice. That's what would get me clicking "Accept as Solution". 

gmkayaker

I am an IT professional with 35 years experience using personal computers with 24 years of those on Windows

[Riddle_Decipher]

@gmkayaker I hear you, let's get technical, This error has been known to occur as a result of one or more of the following: (If we've already confirmed its not due to a hardware malfunction, and we have, so let's move forward)

Cause 1: BCD has no OS entries

One of the most common causes of this error is the BCD that has no entries in it. That could happen because of disk write errors, power outages, boot sector viruses, or errors made while configuring the BCD manually.

Cause 2: An incompatible hard drive driver is installed

Another possible cause of this error is a device driver that is incompatible with the current hard drive. That could occur after a system update, or a service pack installation.

There are a few ways of resolving such BCD entries and I'm afraid almost all of them require a repair/windows installation disc, with that in mind, here's what you can try first:

Rebuilding the BCD in Windows should only take around 15 minutes:

1. Start Advanced Startup Options if you're using Windows 10

2. In Windows 10/8, select Troubleshoot and then Advanced options.

3. Select the Command Prompt button to start it.

   Command Prompt won't start immediately. Your computer will show a "Preparing" screen for a short time while it readies the computer.

   You may need to choose your account name and enter your password to get to the Command Prompt.
    

4. At the prompt, type the bootrec command as shown below, and then press Enter:

   bootrec /rebuildbcd

   The bootrec command will search for Windows installations not included in the BCD and then ask you if you'd like to add one or more to it.
    

5. You should see one of the following messages at the command line.

   Option 1

   Scanning all disks for Windows installations. Please wait, since this may take a while... Successfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 0 The operation completed successfully.

   Option 2

   Scanning all disks for Windows installations. Please wait, since this may take a while... Successfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 1 [1] D:\Windows Add installation to boot list? Yes/No/All:

   If you see Option 1: Move on to Step 7. This result most likely means that Windows installation data in the BCD store exists but bootrec couldn't find any additional installations of Windows on your computer to add to the BCD. That's fine; you'll just need to take a few extra steps to rebuild the BCD.

   If you see option 2: Enter Y or Yes to the Add installation to boot list? question, after which you should see The operation completed successfully, followed by a blinking cursor at the prompt. Finish up with Step 10 toward the bottom of the page.
    

6. Since the BCD store exists and lists a Windows installation, you'll first have to remove it manually and then try to rebuild it again. At the prompt, execute the bcdedit command as shown and then press Enter:

   bcdedit /export c:\bcdbackup

   The bcdedit command is used here to export the BCD store as a file: bcdbackup. There's no need to specify a file extension. The command should return the following on screen, meaning the BCD export worked as expected:

   The operation completed successfully.
    

7. At this point, you need to adjust several file attributes for the BCD store so you can manipulate it. At the prompt, execute the attrib command exactly like this:

   attrib c:\boot\bcd -h -r -s

   What you just did with the attrib command was remove the hidden, read-only, and system attributes from the file bcd. Those attributes restricted the actions you could take on the file. Now that they're gone, you can manipulate the file more freely (specifically, rename it).

8. To rename the BCD store, execute the ren command as shown:

   ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

   Now that the BCD store is renamed, you should now be able to successfully rebuild it, as you tried to do in Step 6.

   You could delete the BCD file entirely since you're about to create a new one. However, renaming the existing BCD accomplishes the same thing since it's now unavailable to Windows, plus provides you with another layer of backup, in addition to the export you did in Step 5, if you decide to undo your actions.
    

9. Try rebuilding the BCD again by executing the following, followed by Enter:

   bootrec /rebuildbcd

   It should produce this in Command Prompt:

   Scanning all disks for Windows installations. Please wait, since this may take a while... Successfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 1 [1] D:\Windows Add installation to boot list? Yes/No/All:

   This means the BCD store rebuild is progressing as expected.
    

10. At the Add installation to boot list? question, type Y or Yes, followed by the Enter key.

    You should see this on the screen to show that the BCD rebuild is complete:

    The operation completed successfully.
     

11. Restart your computer. Assuming that an issue with the BCD store was the only problem, Windows should start as expected.

Depending on how you started Advanced Startup Options or System Recovery Options, you may need to remove a disc or flash drive before restarting.

If you wish to thank me for my efforts, you could click on "Accept as solution" on my post as the solution should help others too.

[gmkayaker]

Given that I reinstalled Windows and the problem reoccured almost immediately (during the restart required by HP Support Assistant updating various drivers) I see no point in manually fixing the BCD until we've figured out why it is getting corrupted. 

But I tried anyway.
Step 4: 0 OS found.
Step 7: "Path not found - C:\boot"
Step 8: "The system cannot find the file specified."
Step 9: 0 OS found.

I can see the C: drive using dir command. There is no "Boot" folder. (I looked on my other laptop as well; it doesn't have one either.) So the rest of the "Answer" is not very helpful.

I also tried "bootrec /fixmbr" with "Successfully updated NTFS filesystem bootcode." on C: and 😧 plus 2 more "FAT32" volumes.
I followed the directions to rebuild the BCD manually: http://woshub.com/how-to-rebuild-bcd-file-in-windows-10/
Now, if I boot from Boot Manager, the screen just stays black.
And from command prompt, still finds 0 widows installations.

I have a screenshot of the current output of bcdedit, diskpart list vol and diskpart list part:

But even with this, it still won't boot.

Thanks

[KrazyToad]

@gmkayaker 

At this point, I suggest you contact HP Support for further assistance. You might need the Recovery Media.

Click on this link - www.hp.com/contacthp/ and select your Country to get the Contact details for HP Support

Thank you