FACTORY RESET HAS BEEN STUCK ON 88% FOR 3 DAYS

[DEE613]

TRIED FACTORY RESET HAS BEEN STUCK ON 88% FOR 3 DAYS.  HAVE TRIED UNPLUGGING AND HARD REBOOT, NOTHING STOPS IT

[WAWood]

I can certainly understand the desire to do factory resets -- given the prevalent view that such an action, though extreme, will fix a variety of mysterious problems and return a troublesome PC to working condition.

Problem is -- that very often is NOT the case and if there is any hardware issue at all, which is nearly always the cause with a SLOW PC (which is why most folks do the factory resets), you end up trashing your PC and rendering it useless. So, you trade a SLOW PC for a non-working PC. Not a good trade -- and certainly not what you intended.

In addition, if you start the reset and it does not complete but hangs or crashes before done, that is almost certainly an indication of a failing drive.

So let's check for the drive failing:
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.

If the test will not run or if it fails, that indicates that your drive has failed and would need to be replaced.