Corrupt Windows

[InfiniteAsp7239]

Hey,

I ran into slowing down of my pc and I decided to factory reset it fearing virus. After I did it my pc was blank and said desktop was not found. So I decided to reset it again as I couldn't find anything online. After I did it nothing changed so I tried resetting my bios,running windows startup fix etc but nothing helped and now I am convinced that my OS corrupted. I do have a windows 10 bootable usb. I want help reinstalling it.

[WAWood]

@InfiniteAsp7239 

Don't know why you feel you need to do a Factory Reset -- but if it is to fix a SLOW PC, then DO NOT DO THIS! A really SLOW PC is nearly always caused by failing hardware -- which a factory reset will do NOTHING to fix.

Somehow, the Factory Reset has taken on the value of an Urban Legend that is a Miracle Cure for any ailing PC. Not only does it rarely fix the PC, if there is an underlying hardware issue with the PC, it will make matters WORSE by leaving the PC in an unusable state.

Even if there is NOT an underlying hardware issue, the reset puts Windows back to where it was weeks or months ago -- and this will then automatically launch hours or days of Windows Udpates that will bring your PC to a grinding halt, driving the processor up to 100% and the disk utilization to 100% as well. Both of these do NOTHING to speed up the PC.

The HP Factory Reset function relies critically on the contents of the Recovery partition being intact. If those contents get corrupted, which can happen either due to hard drive failing or due to Win10 Upgrade from an older OS, the reset simply will not work -- and will TRASH the PC in the process.

So, you go from having a SLOW PC, to having NO PC. That's not an improvement.

To check for hard drive failing, if your PC is new enough to support UEFI, you can use these steps to test the hard drive: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00439024

If not, you have to follow these steps:
1) Press Esc key repeatedly, several times a second, while rebooting the laptop. Do NOT hold the key down, just press it over and over.
2) Eventually, you will see an HP Startup Menu
3) press the Function key for testing the hard drive (usually F2) and let it run.

[InfiniteAsp7239]

Well I do understand what you mean but i am pretty sure that all the hardware are functioning properly as my pc is configured to run a dual boot environment and the other os seems to functions with out any fail. I am really thankful for your reply, do u think i should proceed with what i was about to do.

[WAWood]

@InfiniteAsp7239 

You are free to do whatever you want -- but need to understand that a factory reset will NOT fix a slow PC.  And the tradeoff, if you use an Windows or HP image that is old, is that you then set yourself up for hours and hours of Windows Updates that not only freeze up your PC but also fill up your hard drive.

If the PC is performing fine under the other OS but slow under Windows, then it is more likely a driver or startup application issue -- and those are long and tedious to diagnose.  But, if you force your PC to restart in SAFE mode and it is still slow in Win10, then it is more likely hardware than software, even though it works well in the other OS.

[InfiniteAsp7239]

The computer did run fine in safe mode when the slow down started and I was not thinking about factory resetting it but installing a recent image of windows. I did create a usb stick with the help of windows media creation tool a couple of months ago. The problem I have is not that the computer slows down but that after I factory reset(which I did before coming here for help) it the pc seems to run into errors and auto resets upon startup.

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@InfiniteAsp7239 

Factory resets done from external media are reliable but those done from internal sources, such as through recovery manager, are not reliable because some of the restore components could have become corrupted.

[InfiniteAsp7239]

Well I am going to try it and hope it helps.

[InfiniteAsp7239]

I managed to fix my problem by a installing a clean version of windows. Thank you for guiding me.