How do I Restore my system to the original factory settings

[eminton]

I have an HP Envy dv6-7229wm Notebook PC I haven't used in a few years. It now only boots up to a blue "Recovery" screen. Function keys will not affect or redirect me anywhere except the UEFI Firmware Settings. I can't get to any option to Restore to Factory Settings. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

If tapping the ESC key at the beginning of the HP welcome screen, and then selecting the the F11 recovery option from the menu doesn't get you to the factory reset option, you may want to consider clean installing W8.1 by using the W8 product key in your notebook's BIOS.

Install W8.1 by creating the Microsoft installation media, using another Windows PC, if yours is not working...You want W8.1 64 bit.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8ISO

Only if you are asked to enter a product key during the installation process, use this generic key.

This is the generic key for W8.1 'standard.'

334NH-RXG76-64THK-C7CKG-D3VPT

If you had to enter the generic key, manually change the generic product key to the W8 'standard' key in your PC's BIOS in the PC settings menu.

After you get W8.1 installed, and you had to manually enter the W8.1 generic product key, you will need to run the free utility I zipped up and attached below, that will show you show the W8 product key in your PC's BIOS.

I have also zipped up and attached below, the Microsoft tool which hopefully will transfer the ISO file to a DVD or usb flash drive so it is bootable.

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

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-ENVY-dv6-Notebook-PC-series/5296055/model/530950...

[eminton]

That is great info. I'm going to try clean installing Windows 8.1. 

I download the Windows 8.1 file, put on USB thumb drive from a desktop machine, then insert USB on HP laptop? Are there particular steps to do this with a non-functioning laptop? It doesn't boot up normally, but to a blue "recovery" screen. Consider me a beginner at this. I'm somewhat new to the BIOS settings menu. Thank you for your patience!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The usual process would be to have the flash drive in a USB port (preferably the USB 2 port).

Turn on the PC and tap the ESC key at the beginning of the HP welcome screen 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.

The PC should then boot from the flash drive and the W8.1 installation process should begin.

[eminton]

When going F9 to boot options menu...I only have two  options.

1. OS Boot Manager
2. Boot from EFI File

I don't see a USB option. I appreciate your guidance!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

OK...

Go into the BIOS, enable Legacy Mode and disable Secure Boot.  Save the settings and see if you now have a legacy boot sources listing where you can select the legacy USB flash drive to boot from.

See this link for the settings to change...

https://www.support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03736054/

[eminton]

I made those changes to the BIOS settings and selected the USB boot that did show up. I also have my USB in the 2.0 port on the machine. I'm getting a "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key" error repeatedly in all USB ports I try.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

If the Microsoft tool worked correctly, the USB flash drive should be bootable.

Unfortunately, I don't know why it isn't working.

Test the installation media in another PC and see if you can boot from it.

You will be able to exit out of the installation window once it loads.

Do you have a DVD burner and a DVD-R disk you can make a bootable DVD with?

Burn the W8.1 ISO file you saved to a DVD.

If so, install this free DVD burning software, select the Burn ISO file option, and burn the disk at the slowest speed you can.

https://www.cdburnerxp.se/en/download

[eminton]

I finally got it to boot up through the USB installation media. 

I would like to wipe everything and reinstall completely. This part is new for me, so I'm a little confused by this error. Do I need to install on Drive 0 Partition 2 or 4?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

OK, great.

Click on each partition listed on your screen shot and click on the X Delete icon to leave only one partition.

Start with the first one you have highlighted.

Then click Next, and W8.1 should begin to install.