HP 255 G3 Notebook PC

[pc_trouble]

hello!!!  i am having issues with a second hand pc i purchased from a yard sale......

think the pc was a school/business issued pc.... it had windows 7 professional 32bit on it h

when i brought it home...  it was extremely slow and full of junk (bloat) so i tried cleaning it and doing a factory reset but got an error that the feature was disabled by the administration/organization .....so i tried to use windows update and got the same error message feature disabled by administrator/organization ... so i managed to remove the restrictions for windows update and installed the windows 10 upgrade... but there is still restrictions so i dont have full access rights to certain functions... there is no recovery partition and no sticker on the bottom of the pc with the product key

so i am wondering does hp have a model specific installation media i can buy for my product?? 

HP 255 G3 Notebook PC

Model #: J7E67UP
Serial #: [personal information removed]

[IT_WinSec · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Thank you for posting in the HP Support forum.

I guess this computer came with Windows 8 originally and that is why there was no sticker (COA sticker) for Windows licence. With Windows 8, 8.1 and onwards, the product key is bundled into the BIOS/machine.

For security reasons when you get a used computer, it is always recommended that you either set the computer to factory default OR reinstall the operating system. For example, the previous user might have set certain rescrtions like in your case OR there might be some hidden virus/malware that will go undetected and this might affected your data and personal identity.

There are 2 options I can think of 

Option 1) You can contact HP support to see if they can offer you original recovery media for this computer (a.k.a. recovery DVDs or USB).

Here is how you can contact them :

>> http://support.hp.com/us-en/contact-hp

>> http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-phone-assist.html

If there is no recovery media at HP, you can try to contact

http://www.best2serve.com/page/rcd_landing   OR   http://www.computersurgeons.com/

Once you get the recovery media, here are instructions how to perform the recovery:

>> http://support.hp.com/bg-en/document/c01867418

>> http://support.hp.com/bg-en/document/c01867418#AbT4

Option 2)

Check if Windows is activated:

>> https://www.maketecheasier.com/check-windows-10-activated/

If this is activated, then this might be a sign that Windows is indeed legal and the key that this computer originally came with is legal.

Windows 10 introduces new ways for activation such as Digital entitlement. More information >> http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04640037

If Windows is not activated, you need to go with Option 1

Then, just in case Digital entitlement is not the case, you can check for the product key using this 3rd party tool >> http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/7745-product-key-view-windows-10-a.html

>> http://www.tenforums.com/software-apps/2577-showkey.html

Write down the key.

Download the original Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft web page

>> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

Burn the ISO to a blank DVD and use it to install Windows 10 - clean fresh new installation

>> http://www.wikihow.com/Burn-ISO-Files-to-DVD

Finally, after successful installation, Windows 10 should activate itself fine. If asked for a product key, you can try with the one you wrote down previously.

Let me know if this worked for you

[pc_trouble]

thanks for you help.. i was able to get my windows key and download windows 8.1 from microsoft website... burned the iso and then rebooted my pc pressed f9 for boot options and it loaded a few options... i am not sure wich one to select so i chose boot from internal cd/dvd rom drive ..... then i was brought to another screen to select the partition i chose to delete the partitions listed because i wanted a complete fresh install .... now it asks for a driver for storage device so i think i screwed up...lmao...i thought i knew what i was doing but apparently i screwed up as i didnt know what i was doing... so can you point me in the direction to learn how to install windows 8.1 

[IT_WinSec]

Hello,

I thought you wanted to install Windows 10? Anyway, after you delete all partitions, you need to install on Unallocated space.

Here are instructions with pictures how to install Windows 8.1 >> http://www.techverse.net/how-to-install-windows-8-1/

Can you make a picture of your issue and then try to upload it either here in the forum or on some web page and post a link back here ?

[pc_trouble]

ok so sorry for the confusion....i wanted to install windows 10 in the beginning of this mess... but decided to just install windows 8 wich is what came factory on the pc from my search of the product and model number....

also i can not recreate what i did earlier but my steps i took was 

1. put install disk in...asked to select language then showed partitions (system...284gb) and (reserved....14gb)
2. selected format and got warning about important files..pressed ok... did that for each partition.. 
3. selected delete for both partitions....
4. now there is nothing left in the partition box and it gives an error that no drivers are loaded for storag?
5. exited install...  restarted pc.....pressed f9 for boot order and tried both the options boot from internal cd/dvd rom and boot from internal cd/dvd rom uefi

 now when i put the disc in it depending wich boot option i choose i get an windows logo that just hangs doesnt do nothing left it on for 3 hrs and the same for the other boot option (uefi) i get an hp logo then the pc just hangs...does nothing any help is appreciated

it wouldnt let me upload my photos because they are too big so i uploaded them to dropbox and here are the links

boot order(f9)

stuck hp logo(uefi  option)

stuck window logo(internal cd/dvdrom)

[IT_WinSec]

ok so sorry for the confusion....i wanted to install windows 10 in the beginning of this mess... but decided to just install windows 8 wich is what came factory on the pc from my search of the product and model number....

also i can not recreate what i did earlier but my steps i took was 

1. put install disk in...asked to select language then showed partitions (system...284gb) and (reserved....14gb)
2. selected format and got warning about important files..pressed ok... did that for each partition.. 
3. selected delete for both partitions....
4. now there is nothing left in the partition box and it gives an error that no drivers are loaded for storag?

>> This was somewhat OK, next steps was to create a new partition and proceed with the installation.

1. exited install...  restarted pc.....pressed f9 for boot order and tried both the options boot from internal cd/dvd rom and boot from internal cd/dvd rom uefi

>> Under normal curcumstances, this would mean it is either not booting from the DVD or it the DVD is not working properly.

 Try to disable Secure boot and enable legacy mode in the BIOS/UEFI:

>> http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03653226

>> http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03653226#AbT4   (ignore the card description)

You may also configure legacy mode boot options making the Internal CD/DVD  option the first one.

Restart and try to boot from the installation DVD again. If Internal CD/DVD is selected and if the installation DVD is OK, it should boot from it.

If this doesn't work, try to get this live media :  GParted - http://gparted.org/

http://gparted.org/livecd.php

Stable directory (.iso/.zip)
(for i686, i686-pae and amd64 architectures) - download version 0.25.0-3 (AMD 64 - ISO)

Burn the ISO on a blank DVD and let me know if it boots from it...

Have you considered option 1 mentioned above - to obtain original recovery media from HP ?

[pc_trouble]

no i was not able to obtain factory oem disc from hp

secure boot is disabled and legacy mode enabled

still hangs on windows logo

downloaded gparted-live-0.25.0-3-i686.iso burned to cd and it booted

now what?? lol thx so much for being so patient with me!

[IT_WinSec]

---

@pc_trouble wrote:

no i was not able to obtain factory oem disc from hp

secure boot is disabled and legacy mode enabled

still hangs on windows logo

downloaded gparted-live-0.25.0-3-i686.iso burned to cd and it booted

now what?? lol thx so much for being so patient with me!

---

You are most welcome! 🙂

This was a simple test to test the boot option - since GParted booted fine and the Windows DVD did not, this means that that the installation media is corrupted or not compatible - your DVD drive works fine. Your computer supports officially x64 edition of Win 7, 8.1 and 10.

You need to get an installation media that works :

Option 1 mentioned above with HP recovery media is the best options.

Alternative download of Windows 8.1 ISO from Microsoft web site >> https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8ISO

Required you provide the installation key prior to download.

Here is how to burn the ISO to DVD >> http://www.wikihow.com/Burn-ISO-Files-to-DVD

[pc_trouble]

THANK YOU SO MUCH... so after i ran the Gparted live cd i burned the windows 8 iso 

linked in in your post and was still not able to install it.....when i put the cd in and rebooted 

it would just hang on the logo screen...i let it sit on the windows screen for 5 hrs lastnight 

and nothing happened it stayed froze up....so i put the gparted live cd back in and ran the 

partition wizard and it showed unallocated space so i created the disk partition using gparted

then i put the windows cd back in and tried the install and to my surprise the windows cd loaded 

and started install ..... any ideas why that happened? why would it hang during the cd loading and then after i partition the disk 

then it loaded???

was just curios so i dont make the same mistake next time.....

[IT_WinSec]

You are welcome, mate .

I really have no idea why Windows failed to load. It seems there was some problem with the partitions - for example, the was unallocated space or space without (proper) partition table or with unrecognized file system. Windows is somehow limited when it comes to dealing with partition table and file systems - it lacks support for many non-Microsoft and non-standard options.

On the other side, GPart/GParted is very powerful tool which has saved me numerous times in the past years - you can do a lot with it and it has wide support.

I was thinking of telling you to boot with GParted to create new partitions/file systems/format if Windows installation actually boots to first point BUT does not see your HDD. However, you mentioned it even fails to boot. Honestly, I can't explain this other than some bug or design flaw.

Did you manage to install Windows completely eventually ?