How do I get out of a doomloop and regain agency over my HP Probook 470 G4 (Windows 10 Pro)

[DGeekMeister]

Hello. I wonder if anyone can help.

My HP Probook 470 G4 running Windows10 Pro is in a constant doomloop. It won't boot. It won't repair. Have done diagnostics tests and the tests say "passed."

I am happy to reset the laptop and reinstall Windows 10 Pro afresh (I have a USB drive with W10 Pro). However, when I try and do a clean reinstall the laptop says there is insufficient space on the hard drive and that I need to free up space on the laptop (which is impossible to do because it won't boot - not even into Safe Mode).

My G4 won't reinstall Windows 10 Pro online "from the cloud" either.

I assume there is no button (or series of buttons) on the G4 that I can press to override everything and make the laptop erase what's on it so I can reinstall Windows 10 Pro (I really wish there was!)?

How do I make a G4 laptop in a doomloop recognise that I have plugged a USB flash drive with Windows 10 Pro into one of its usb ports and that it should boot from the usb drive?

I would really appreciate it if anyone can offer any steps I can take to get my laptop working again.

Many thanks.

[BeemerBiker · Accepted solution]

Your laptop must not be booting the USB flash. Something wrong with setting up the recovery USB or the bios is ignoring the USB.  Otherwise a serious problem with the laptop

You mentioned cloud.  Since you have a business system you probably downloaded the Cloud Recover Client described in this web page for windows 10.

I assume you have backups of all your work as the cloud will remove everything on the drive.  If this is not what you want then lemme know and do not do the following.

The recover app is below.  You might try running it again with a 32gb flash drive that has an LED to indicate it is working.  It may take over an hour to build the USB

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp142501-143000/sp142993.exe

Go into the BIOS of your laptop and set defaults for all pages.  Put in the recovery USB and power the system up. If there is a boot selection option then select it and make sure the USB boots up. The LED will flash indicating it is loading.   Follow instructions.  When (or if) it tells you there is data on the drive and it will all be erased then confirm the deletion.

Lemme know what happens.

[DGeekMeister]

Many thanks @BeemerBiker. Your solution worked perfectly.