17tby100 BIOS update leading to Recovery

[ChefJason1]

Hi, the past day the laptop had been giving a pop up on an update, not indicating it was to be a BIOS update.  I've run BIOS updates successfully before on previous desktops in the past.  Tonight I opened my laptop, had it on charge, left the charge in, and a BIOS update automatically started.  It ran for a few minutes, then got to a point where there was something with the boot device.  It then had me try and locate a recovery from either USB, network, or DVD.  Now, it starts up to a blue Recovery screen, (The Boot Configuration Data file doesn't contain valid information for an operating system.) - (File:\BCD and Error code: 0xc0000098) to which I can hit F1 and go into Recovery, asking about my keyboard layout, which is US. 
I hit enter and get to Choose an option:
Use a Device (USB, network connection or DVD)
Troubleshoot
Turn off your PC

I have tried Troubleshoot which goes to advanced options:
Startup Repair (Diagonosing your PC, couldn't repair your PC)
Command Prompt
Uninstall Updates (Uninstall latest quality Update, we ran into a problem)
UEFI Firmware Settings
System Restore (popup box, To use SR you must specify which Windows installation to restore)
System Image Recovery

After looking at BIOS setup utility, BIOS vendor is Insyde, and version F.62.  No loss of power when this was updating, and just let it do it's thing.  Very frustrating having an HP, never experienced any problems like this.

[IT_WinSec]

Hello @ChefJason1 

Thank you for posting in the HP Support community !

It might be the BIOS/UEFI update has reset your BIOS/UEFI settings to default ones. And default ones might be different from the ones you used to install your OS. Your Windows might be installed in MBR partitioning mode/legacy CSM mode.

• Try going into the BIOS (F10) and enable Legacy mode, save the changes, exist and see if Windows will boot eventually.
• If this does not help, try with Legacy mode off, Secure boot off, etc.

Reference >> https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04784866

Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes.

[ChefJason1]

So I tried those things, and it seems to not have any affect at all.  It's really perplexing, what else can we try?  Maybe I can take pictures on my camera.  I've been up all night, so I'm going upstairs to take a nap.

[tk_srq]

@ChefJason1:

The Windows10 is booted off of the boot loader in the EFI partition on the hard drive (or SSD). For this to happen,  your UEFI BIOS needs to have the UEFI Boot Order selected, with the Windows Boot Manager on the top of the list. When you got into the BIOS, did you see the UEFI Boot Order selected in the Boot Options? Did you see the Windows Boot Manager on the top of the list?  I own a ProBook and two EliteBooks but their BIOS interface is different from Insyde so yours may not be Windows Boot Manager but should be a similar name.

You can check one thing. Make sure your laptop has no USB drives, SD card or disc in the internal optical drive, Turn on the laptop and press the Esc key for the Startup menu. From there click F9 Boot Menu and see what is listed there. If I press F9 on my laptops, the Windows Boot Manager is shown. You may see something else. Again, if you don't see the Boot Manager there,  your BIOS is not configured for the UEFI boot order.

[ChefJason1]

So last night I did remember the importance of boot order, as I've had to do some things in the BIOS on some of my other desktops.  The current setup that hasn't been changed is, and has ontop:
UEFI Boot Order
-OS boot Manager
-Internal CD/DVD Rom etc

I do see near the bottom:
! Network Adapter, usually the ! means somethings disabled right?  But that should have no importance right now in terms of boot.

[tk_srq]

Did you press F9 Boot Device Option to see what is listed? I'm sure you won't see OS Boot Manager there, as your laptop doesn't boot into the Windows.  If you see a specific name of a hard drive or SSD there,  your BIOS may be actually configured for legacy boot order. So try and find out.

[ChefJason1]

So it says

Boot Option Menu

OS boot Manager (UEFI) -  Windows Boot Manager
Boot From EFI File

EFI File is in blue, the upper one is in white.

[tk_srq]

Well, looks like your Boot Options are configured correctly with Windows Boot Manager listed there. I wonder if the Windows boot loader file is somehow corrupt or misplaced.

Your F9 also lists Boot from EFI file and this option will let you manually navigate to the boot loader file. You can check to see if this file is there and if it is, you can click it to load the Windows. If the Windows is not booted, maybe it is corrupt.

In order to navigate to the boot loader, select and click Boot from EFI File in F9. Then you'll see a system file with a huge string of characters and numbers. Click it and you'll navigate to EFI then Boot. Finally click Boot and you'll see bootx64.efi. This is the Windows boot loader and go ahead click it to see what will happen. So the folder path will be EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi.

[ChefJason1]

So I found bootx64.efi and pressed enter, it then immediately sent me back to the Recovery blue page.

[ChefJason1]

So I'm wondering how this happened though, why?