"Preparing Automatic Repair" With Zero Progress

[marneo]

There's something very strange going on with my HP Pavilion 17-g121wm and I hope someone can please advise what I should do. A few weeks ago, out of nowhere, on powering up the machine, it would not load Windows 10. All it would do is continually cycle through displaying "Preparing Automatic Repair" on the screen. That would keep coming and going for hour after hour with nothing changing. I managed to download the latest version of Windows 10 from the Microsoft website and create a bootable USB Windows 10 installation flash drive with the Microsoft media creation tool at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10?msockid=399a0214610f66c7394d17e860896731 and reloaded Windows 10 Home edition and got everything back up and running only to have the same thing happen again a few times now since then. Last Saturday, with the machine left on, I went to do something else and, not having powered it down, I came back to find it doing exactly what I just described above so I had to go through all the same motions again of reloading Windows 10 Home only to power up the machine this morning and have the same "Preparing Automatic Repair" displaying on the screen. I've since reloaded Windows 10 Home but obviously, this is a completely unsustainable state of affairs. I can't keep taking 3 hours of my day twice a week to go through all of this. Can anyone suggest what might be causing this and what might be a viable solution please?

[VikramTheGreat]

Hi @marneo,

Welcome to the HP Support Community.
 

Thank you for posting your query. I will be glad to help you.

What you're experiencing on your HP Pavilion 17-g121wm is not sustainable, and you've done a commendable job so far using the Media Creation Tool and reinstalling Windows 10 each time. The problem now isn’t just a software glitch — there’s likely an underlying hardware issue, especially with your hard drive or SSD, that's triggering these recurring failures.

Let's try a Hardware test to find if it's a hardware issue.

1. Run a Full Hard Drive Health Test

Your hard drive is the first thing to check. It might still seem to work (especially just after a reinstall), but behind the scenes, it may be riddled with bad sectors or failing read/write mechanisms.

🧪 HP UEFI Diagnostics (No OS Needed)

1. Power off your laptop.
2. Power it on and immediately press Esc repeatedly, then press F2 for diagnostics.
3. Choose Component Tests > Hard Drive > Quick Test, then run the Extended Test (this will take longer, but is essential).

If it fails or gives a "SMART check failed" or "drive imminent failure", → The hard drive needs replacement.

2. Backup Any Data Immediately

Since you're still able to boot after reinstalls, back up any critical data NOW before the drive fails:

• Use OneDrive, Google Drive, or a USB drive.
• Or, boot using the Windows USB again and go to Shift+F10 > notepad > File > Open to access files and back them up externally.

I hope this helps.

Take care, and have an amazing day!
 

Did we resolve the issue? If yes, please consider marking this post as "Accepted Solution" and click "Yes" to give us a helpful vote - your feedback keeps us going!

Regards,

VikramTheGreat

[marneo]

Good Day Vikram and thank you for your compliment about having done a commendable job so far using the Media Creation Tool and reinstalling Windows 10 each time. The fact is I've posted twice earlier with respect to this same issue so I've gotten some earlier guidance from other support agents: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-System-and-Recovery/Is-there-a-more-recent-BIOS-tha... https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/How-to-load-the-necessary-driv... As it regards your assessment that "the problem now isn’t just a software glitch — there’s likely an underlying hardware issue, especially with your hard drive or SSD, that's triggering these recurring failures", I included the links to the earlier posts in case you wanted to give the history of this issue and my earlier interactions with other support agents a quick read. As you can read, I have a brand new hard drive installed but this problem still manifested with the new drive as it had done with the original drive. I've already run the Hard Drive Quick Test but I confess I have yet to run the Extended Test. The last 2 times this issue manifested were one week ago yesterday and then again the day of my most recent post ... the one to which you were kind enough to reply. So today is the 4th day on which my notebook has managed to boot up without an issue. Having clicked out to some of the Recommendations on the right side of the page leading to posts by community members experiencing the same issue, I was guided to the following video on how to resolve a corrupted Windows bootloader: https://youtu.be/CZ17JrgFFhw Windows 10 and 11 Won't Boot, How To Fix UEFI Partition CyberCPU Tech If this issue manifests again, I plan to run the Hard Drive Extended Test as per your recommendation and to go through the steps outlined by the author of the video above to rebuild the UEFI bootloader and I'll be back to post about what happens going forward. Thanks again Vikram. Have a good weekend.

[VikramTheGreat]

Hi @marneo,

Thank you for letting me know. Please do try and keep us posted so we can try to find all the help we can.

Keep me posted

Regards
VikramTheGreat

[marneo]

Hello again Vikram. I said I'd be back to post about what happens going forward so here is an update. It's been about 3 and 1/2 weeks since taking the actions described below and my notebook has not failed to boot up again. No more episodes of continually cycling through displaying "Preparing Automatic Repair" on the screen with nothing changing and zero progress toward a fix.

I mentioned that I had clicked out to some of the Recommendations on the right side of the page leading to posts by community members experiencing the same issue and was guided to the following video on how to resolve a corrupted Windows bootloader:
https://youtu.be/CZ17JrgFFhw
Windows 10 and 11 Won't Boot, How To Fix UEFI Partition
CyberCPU Tech

I did carefully go through each step outlined by the author/narrator of the video above to rebuild the UEFI bootloader but the only thing I noticed that was different after doing so was that I did not have to again go through the steps recommended in the thread at https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-System-and-Recovery/Is-there-a-more-recent-BIOS-tha... by jdb223 on 06-19-2025 at 04:00 PM to "Boot into BIOS go to the boot options menu, disable secure boot, clear secure keys and then load HP default keys. I was able to the boot back into Windows and everything looks to be working. Let me know if that works for you."

I had been having a problem trying to get the Windows 10 installation screen to load after having deployed my USB Microsoft media creation tool and jdb223's advice DID work for me to be able to get the Windows 10 installation screen to load which had not been loading for me prior to implementing this advice from jdb223. I found that I had needed to do what he or she had suggested every time before to load the Windows 10 installation screen but, after going through the motions to rebuild what may have been a corrupted Windows bootloader as per the video, going through those steps of booting into BIOS was not necessary to be able to get the Windows 10 installation screen to load. Again though, that was the only thing I noticed that was different from before going through the process of rebuilding what may (or may not) have been a corrupted Windows bootloader.

That being said though, unlike what happens in the video, after having replicated each step as the author went through them, Windows 10 did not load for me although it did for him. I still had to plug in my USB Microsoft media creation tool and bring up the Windows 10 installation screen and load Windows 10. I don't understand how the video's author was able to load Windows. Doesn't formatting a drive delete the OS also? Formatting is one of the steps in the video so how was Windows not deleted for him?

At about 16:51 of the video, he says "Now one of the downsides to this method that you should be aware of is that, when we rebuilt the UEFI partition, it's just a basic generic BCD file that's been created like I showed you; it will get your system booted as you can see but you will lose some functionality; specifically you'll lose the Windows recovery console; however that's really easy to fix; just [revisit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10?msockid=399a0214610f66c7394d17e860896731 where we created that USB drive] at the beginning of the video and just select 'upgrade' instead of 'create media' at that section where we created the media; the upgrade process should fix your BCD file and create another Windows recovery partition."

I did exactly that and upgraded at the above link and, since having done that, this issue has not manifested again. I am left to wonder though if that was the solution after all and whether that was all that was needed to begin without the need to go through all the steps in the video. What do you think?

I had also wondered if the UEFI bootloader resides within the Windows 10 program or is notebook firmware but I gather since my notebook is again fully functional and no longer failing to boot up that it must indeed be integrated into Windows 10?

[VikramTheGreat]

Hi @marneo,

Thank you for taking the time to share such a thorough follow-up, and I’m glad to hear your notebook has been stable for over three weeks now. That’s always a good sign that the underlying issue has been resolved.

Your combination of rebuilding the bootloader and performing the upgrade was a good approach it addressed both the low-level boot structure and restored the full Windows recovery environment. Given that you no longer have boot issues, I’d say you’ve hit the right solution, even if we can’t say with absolute certainty which step was the single “magic bullet.”
 

And yes, based on your description, it does sound like the problem was specifically with the bootloader, not the rest of Windows or your notebook’s firmware.

If you need any assistance in the future, please do keep us posted

Take care and have a good day.

Please click “Accepted Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, as it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos/Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

VikramTheGreat

HP Support