Recovery Media stops mid-restore

[Ally2021]

After attempting to upgrade to Windows 10 (offered as a free upgrade from Windows Update) from the factory-installed Windows 8.1, my computer would not reboot, and I received an error that the upgrade could not be completed. The onboard restore/repair software onboard did nothing to solve the problem, and I could not go back out of the upgrade process or revert back to Windows 8.1 after the failed install of Windows 10.

Other knowledge base articles recommended formatting the hard drive to allow the restore and to order the factory restore media from HP because of the limits of the HP Stream to run Windows 10 (then why did Windows Update recommend it for my machine?) Nevertheless, I reformatted the hard drive to restore the drive for a reinstall of the operating system after using a command prompt to copy the files I needed off the hard drive to a USB.

I am trying to do a fresh install of Windows 8.1 back to factory settings onto the reformatted hard drive. On bootup, I hit F9 to boot to the restore USB, and it starts the restore. It formats the partition for Windows (again), and then an error message pops up that the restore can't continue and to contact HP just before the step where the USB should copy the operating system back to the laptop. The laptop then turns off. 

All I want to do is restore Windows 8.1 on my HP laptop, and I know the Windows 8.1 key is stored on the motherboard. Is there a problem with the recovery media? Is it not reading the key from the motherboard? Did the failed Windows 10 install corrupt the Windows 8.1 key? How do I fix this? I absolutely LOVE the portability of the HP Stream.  If I can't get it to load an operating system to get away from the 3F0 error, it's just a placemat right now. 

Any help to solve this problem and get my favorite portable laptop going again would be so much appreciated!

Thank you,

Ally2021