HP Spectre Laptop Types Gibberish at the Start Button

[Dctrdarren]

Trying to type in settings text box or on the windows button comes out in gibberish, typing in the browser works fine.  All Bios, HP and Windows updates are up to date.  Virus Scan clear and complete.

Any ideas?

[asmita6658]

Hi @Dctrdarren

Welcome to the HP Support Community. 

Try these steps - 

Step 1 System File Checker -

1) Select Start, and in the search box, enter Command Prompt. Press and hold (or right-click) Command Prompt (Desktop app) from the search results and select Run as administrator.
2) Enter DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth (note the spaces before each "/").
3) Enter sfc /scannow (note the space between "sfc" and "/").
 

Step 2 End Cortana's process -

1) Right-click the Start button.
2) Click Task Manager.

3) Click Cortana. 
4) Click End Task.

Step 3 Restart Windows Explorer -

1) Right-click the Start button.
2) Click Task Manager.

3) Click Windows Explorer. (It's located near the bottom of the Task Manager menu.)
4) Click Restart.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Have a great day! 

[Dctrdarren]

Completed per your instructions.  Resolved with the following error message

I ended up wiping the pc back to factory settings but still get this message.  Was this the expected result?

[asmita6658 · Accepted solution]

@Dctrdarren

Thanks for trying. Did reset fixed the issue with the search? 

Let me know. 

[Dctrdarren]

Follow Up:

After restoring back to factory conditions, I started reloading apps and services.  I installed the following two packages and the gibberish came back.  The first is a Brother Printer Driver package and the 2nd is iCloud.  Can you let me know the root cause so I can uninstall it from my machine?

https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadend.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=mfcl2707dw_us&os=10013&dlid=dlf10...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204283