Can't factory reset with drive partition missing

[Schitty29]

Hi guys, I'm trying to do a factory reset on my fathers laptop and it has come up with 'Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing ' error. I've restored it to a point 6 months ago but that did nothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers.

[KrazyToad · Accepted solution]

Hi @Schitty29

Welcome to HP Support Forums. A really great platform for posting all your questions and finding solutions.

I understand that you tried to do a Factory Reset and you got the error "Unable to reset your PC".

It seems the Recovery Partition is corrupted.

Do you have the Recovery Media with you?

If you do not have the Recovery Media, please call our Phone Support to order one.

Step 1. Open link: www.hp.com/contacthp/
Step 2. Enter Product number or select to auto detect 
Step 3. Scroll down to "Still need help? Complete the form to select your contact options"
Step 4. Scroll down and click: HP contact options - click on Get phone number and phone number appear.

Thank you.

If the information I've provided was helpful, give us some reinforcement by clicking the Solution Accepted and Kudos Buttons.

[Schitty29]

Thanks KrazyToad, i'll have to give the support a call as i don't have the recovery media. In your experience is this a common error? How does ones recovery partition become corrupt in the first place?

[KrazyToad]

Hi @Schitty29

The Recovery Partition is on the Hard drive itself. Since the Hard drive is a Mechanical part, certain Partitions on the hard drive can get scratched during normal usage itself. If the problem occurs on the Recovery Partition part, that's when it corrupts the Recovery Manager and the Recovery Partition won't work.

You will be able to fix this if you have the Recovery Media.

Thanks 🙂

[Schitty29]

Thanks KrazyToad for taking the time to reply, appreciate it.

[KrazyToad]

Hi @Schitty29

Do visit our HP Forums and drop us a Message anytime you need help.

Thank you. 🙂

[APrev]

hey so its been a year since this post was made and im having similar issues i believe.... except i cant seem to get a support number because my tablet is out of warranty apparently????? i mean, i just want troubleshooting tips for dealing with the bios / os??? is there ANYONE that can help me or what? the best i can get for support it seems is a stupid robot to search the forum for me.... like im felling kinda dead in the water here....

My issue in short:

havent used the tablet in a while and im taking a trip to California in a week and i want to take it with me. windows wanted to update but couldnt because there was not enough room on my drive to download the files it needed. so i decided to do a reset. turns out it wouldn't allow me to do that either for some vague reason. so i deleted all my personal data manually, successfully updated to windows 10 and then decided to do a windows system reset anyway and start fresh. left my tablet for the day and got home to an $800 brick running in an endless boot loop. it wont boot into windows anymore and doesnt seem to get past the bios, though windows 10 DOES seem to still be installed.... so once in the bios, i hit "HP Recovery" -> ""troubleshoot" -> ""reset your pc"->"windows 10". i get a short "please wait" message and finally: "Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing."

and... thats it. i cant get anywhere and there seems to be very little info out there on how to handle this... (or im not looking in the right place, maybe). Again i'd like to get advice from a PERSON over the phone or something but apparently i dont have that permission anymore... lol?? 

[Schitty29]

Hi mate, i ended up ringing HP support (Australia) and they were very helpful and sent out the recovery media CDs but when i tried to run them the laptop would freeze so i could never solve the original problem. Sorry i couldn't help.

[APrev]

It's alright, I'll hopefully figure something out.  I'll try our Canadian support center and hope for the best. I also totally made the mistake of believing this thread was about the hp elitepad 1000 tablet (though we have the same issue). And the matter of the media CDs malfunctioning/worsening the issue seems to be recurrent across multiple hp devices (mine and yours included)

Anyway, thank you for replying so quick and letting me know the odds at least!