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- HP Community
- Notebooks
- Notebook Boot and Lockup
- boot loop

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03-07-2025 11:29 AM
Hi @millikanb,
Welcome to HP Support Community.
Thank you for posting your query, I will be glad to help you.
It sounds like your HP laptop is stuck in a boot loop because the factory reset was interrupted. Since you already have a bootable ISO on a flash drive but can't get it to load, try the following steps to force your laptop to boot from the USB.
Access the Boot Menu
- Turn off your laptop completely. If it's stuck in a loop, hold the power button for about 10-15 seconds until it shuts off.
- Insert the bootable USB flash drive into a USB port.
- Power on the laptop and immediately start pressing Esc repeatedly (or F9 on some models) until you see the Startup Menu.
- Press F9 to enter the Boot Device Options menu.
- Select your USB drive from the list and press Enter to boot from it.
Enable USB Boot in BIOS (If It Doesn't Work)
If your laptop still doesn’t boot from the USB, you may need to adjust BIOS settings:
- Turn off your laptop again.
- Power it on and immediately start pressing Esc repeatedly until you see the Startup Menu, then press F10 to enter the BIOS.
- Look for the Boot Options or Advanced Boot settings.
- Make sure Legacy Support is enabled (if available).
- Ensure that Secure Boot is disabled.
- Set USB Drive as the first boot device.
- Save changes and exit (F10 to save and exit).
Repair or Reinstall Windows
Once your laptop successfully boots from the USB:
- Select Repair your computer → Troubleshoot → Startup Repair to try fixing the boot issue.
- If that fails, go back to the Advanced Options and select Command Prompt. Run:
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd
- If none of these work, you may need to perform a clean installation of Windows from the bootable USB.
I hope this helps.
Take care and have a good day.
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Hawks_Eye
HP Support
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