HP 15 F233wm Recovery Failed-- New Hard Drive and New Restore Thumb Drive from HP

[Gar-Dog]

I have an HP 15 F233wm that the hard drive failed on.  I replaced the hard drive without problem.  

I had to order the recovery media from HP.  I did the recovery--- everything seemed to go well for about 30-40 min.  I was asked if I had a second recovery media for drivers-- I didn't-- and it said to skip.  After another 20 min of looking like it was being set up, I go an error saying the recovery failed and it had me save the log to a USB drive- which I did.  

I tried a second time-- after deleting all partitions from the drive, and got the same error.  The log file is not helpful for me (I do not understand what they saved).

I know the drive is good. When I first put the drive I installed Windows 7 from a full version I own--it worked fine-- but I could not find drivers, so I bought the recovery media from HP for about $50 

I could not find anyplace on HP's site to ask for help and sumbit the log.

Any ideas or advice would be helpful.  

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

I wouldn't be able to help you with why the HP recovery media isn't working but you may be able to clean install W10 this way...

To reinstall W10...Use the Media Creation Tool.  Make the 64 bit installation media.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

You can make a W10 USB flash drive installer using an 8 GB flash drive using another Windows PC, since your PC is not working.

W10 will work with the product key in the BIOS, install and automatically activate once you are connected to the internet.

Here are the steps to create the W10 USB flash drive installer...

1. Select Download tool now, and select Run.
2. If you agree to the license terms, select Accept.
3. On the What do you want to do? page, select Create installation media for another PC, and then select Next.

4. Select the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit or 32-bit) for Windows 10. You want 64 bit.

5. Select which media you want to use:
6. USB flash drive.  Plug in a blank USB flash drive with at least 8GB of space. Any content on the flash drive will be deleted.

Then you can install the drivers and available software from the PC's support page.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-15-Notebook-PC-series/7527799/model/8857447

If that works for you, I recommend that you see if you can get a refund from HP for the recovery media you purchased.

In the USA/Canada, call HP at:  1 (866) 724-8600

[Gar-Dog]

Thanks... your solution worked.  

I do not understand why HP Tech did not suggest that solution.   They charged me $50 for a thumb drive that did not work.  Do you think they'll allow me to return it--since it did not work?

---

@Paul_Tikkanen wrote:

Hi:

I wouldn't be able to help you with why the HP recovery media isn't working but you may be able to clean install W10 this way...

To reinstall W10...Use the Media Creation Tool.  Make the 64 bit installation media.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

You can make a W10 USB flash drive installer using an 8 GB flash drive using another Windows PC, since your PC is not working.

W10 will work with the product key in the BIOS, install and automatically activate once you are connected to the internet.

Here are the steps to create the W10 USB flash drive installer...

1. Select Download tool now, and select Run.
2. If you agree to the license terms, select Accept.
3. On the What do you want to do? page, select Create installation media for another PC, and then select Next.

4. Select the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit or 32-bit) for Windows 10. You want 64 bit.

5. Select which media you want to use:
6. USB flash drive.  Plug in a blank USB flash drive with at least 8GB of space. Any content on the flash drive will be deleted.

Then you can install the drivers and available software from the PC's support page.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-15-Notebook-PC-series/7527799/model/8857447

If that works for you, I recommend that you see if you can get a refund from HP for the recovery media you purchased.

In the USA/Canada, call HP at:  1 (866) 724-8600

---

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

All you can do is call HP and ask.

The call is free, so you have nothing to lose but a little time.

Tell them the recovery media they sent you didn't work, and you were able to install W10 using the media creation tool, so it definitely isn't the PC that was the problem.