Diagnosing your pc during startup issue -How long do I wait?

[bb2088]

My computer was running slow all of a sudden. I tried a restart.  It hasn't been able to load Windows 10 to a login screen.  I have tried restarts without a battery and I can see the HP logo and Diagnosing your PC.  It won't get passed this to what I've read is a magic screen that has some options.  How long do I wait?  I've waited over an hour with no success and have tried again. I've seen people say they have tried 12 hours with no success in my situation.  This is pretty frustrating.  Does anyone with an HP 15-bw model have other ways to get to the desktop or into a safe mode reboot?  Is this what we can expect from Windows 10? It's been very disappointing. This happens every couple months.  I'll have a great fast computer and then this will happen.  I'd guess it's an update issue.

[CherylG · Accepted solution]

2 "magic" screens you may find useful.

Immediately after powering on start tapping the Esc key. This will open a menu where F2 System Diagnostics is an option. Tap F2 key and run the tests.

Immediately after powering on start tapping the Esc key. Then tap F11.

[bb2088]

Thank you CherylG. 

Your advice was very helpful.  Now my laptop is performing well again.  I did use F2  to run some quick tests after things seemed to be working smoothly and it says I have a memory failure in Memory Module 2(right). Failure ID: 930CXD-8PA93K-XD7URG-40HD03.  Are these tests reliable and does this mean I have a RAM issue?  Do you have a suggestion?  It seems to be working fine right now, but the test result has me a bit worrried.

thanks again

[CherylG]

@bb2088

While the test is usually pretty accurate it isn't bullet-proof. I have seen it pass hardware that is actually failng but usually in relation to hard drive. If your laptop is working well now you might prefer to just ignore the message for now. Just keep in mind that if the memory is displaying faults in Diagnostics it may well fail  in the future and require being replaced.

If you open Task Manager and go to Performance tab does it show all of your memory is recognized?

[bb2088]

Thanks again CherylG.  It does display all of it in task manager.  I appreciate your help.