HP Recovery Media - Will it work for me?

[nikothenomad]

I have been reading about downloading the ISO and then making it readable using program like Rufus.  I've never done this before and will be doing it long distance by logging into my father's computer remotely and having him put the USB drive in, etc.   What I am confused about is... do I download both the ISO and the converting file to the USB stick?   Or do I download the ISO to his computer and then download the converting file and use to make the file I want to put onto the USB?  All of the sites I read say to download the ISO and then use the converting files but I have not found actual steps for the novice like myself.  Thank you so much for responding.  I think we are going to go for it soon!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

With either the Microsoft tool that I attached or the Rufus utility, those get downloaded and installed on the PC.

You download and save the ISO file and you use either utility to transfer the ISO file to a USB flash drive so that it is bootable.

Only the ISO file goes on the flash drive and either one of those programs has to do it so that the flash drive is bootable.

If you just copy and paste the ISO file to the flash drive, it won't boot.

[nikothenomad]

OK So based on what I have been reading and what you have said... I need to make the USB bootable first.  I see that I can make the USB bootable via the admin cmd prompt.   Could I do that and then transfer the ISO to the drive?  Would that be a valid way to proceed?  Also, I would be having my father do this on his computer which is Windows 10 and the USB would be used on my Mom's windows 8.  Does it matter when I make the USB bootable what windows I am under?

[nikothenomad]

Also, we have been unsuccessful as of late of getting into the bios on the broken computer.  By "bootable" does that mean that this USB will tell the computer what to do even though I cannot  change the boot order?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I don't know anything about making a USB flash drive bootable from a command prompt.

In order to access the F10 setup option, or to select the F9 boot options menu, you turn on the PC, immediately start tapping the ESC key to get the menu of options.  Select the F9 boot options menu, and from that select the USB flash drive, and press the enter key.

Those ISO file transfer utilities will work on any Windows PC with W7 or newer on it.

[nikothenomad]

ok so you are saying that i have to be able to access the bios to change the boot order to be able to use the usb drive that i have created.  now that may be a challenge.  we shall see...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Probably so.

The notebook is always going to want to boot from the hard drive first.

You might get lucky though.

[nikothenomad]

Well, no dice.  Got the USB drive all set up, put it into the HP Stream-13, turned it on and still nothing.  I am unable to access the bios or setup screens.  It is in an infinite preparing automatic repair loop and never looks at the USB.  I do not know how to get it to look at the USB without being able to access the boot setup order.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Sounds like you're not going to be able to fix the problem.

At least you didn't waste $40 for it to do the same thing that it is now.

Did you have your parents try to tap the ESC key immediately after powering on the notebook?

That would be the only way to get to the Setup menu and boot options menu.

[nikothenomad]

Thanks.  Yes, true.  We've tried the ESC key and many others.  It was working a while back but lately the keys don't do anything.  Computer goes into immediate infinite loop of black screen, blue screen, black screen, blue screen trying to repair itself but never getting anywhere.

We'll continue to try the ESC and other keys just in case but for now, until I can be there in person it seems that is all we can do long distance.

Thanks again for the help and support.