Trying to find out if a laptop is salvageable or DOA

[figureguy]

Good morning.  My cousing has a model 15-db0011dx hp laptop.  I know it is Windows 10 but I am not sure of the version and can't find out.

When I first turn it on the hp logo appears and it says it is preparing automatic repair.  There is a black screen with the white cursor showing for quite some time.   It then says it is diagnosing my PC.   Then automatic repair shows my PC did not start correctly and that by choosing to restart it fixes most problems.  It does not then repearts.

Then comes the blue screen with options to fix the computer.

I have tried many advanced options and here are the ones that I did and the results.

I have tried to reset by keeping or not keeping files and it is unable to reset.

When I choose command prompt it freezes and never shows up and I need to reboot.

I have tried to exit and continue to Windows 10 and then it prepares auto repair and repeats.

Startup repair diagnosing won't.

System restore is very slow to work and says it could not complete successfully.

Uninstalling updates does not work.

I am not able to change start up settings.

I do not have an external device to restore the system from.

I am at my wits' end and this seems to cover most of the choices I have with advanced options.  Also my knowledge of software has been exhausted.  Any help would certainly be appreciated.  Thank you very much in advance.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

From what you are reporting, it seems to me that there is a hard drive failure.

Did you run the hard drive diagnostics test (F2)?

Restart the PC, immediately press/tap the ESC key to get the menu of options and select the F2 diagnostics option.

[figureguy]

No I did not.  Even if it goes right to Diagnosing just hit F2?  Thanks I will try that now.

[figureguy]

I did that and it is running now.  It said that my diagnostics was not up to date and to go to hp's website for an update.  Regardless it still ran and just finished.  It says hard drive DST Check failed.  Contact HP.

Failure ID:  QCXFU4-9B8B6C-XD7W2K-60U003

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

The failure code indicates that the hard drive needs to be replaced and the operating system reinstalled.

That means the notebook is easily salvageable if you want to remove and replace the failed drive and reinstall the OS.

Below is the link to the service manual, where you can find the hard drive removal and replacement procedure.

Maintenance and Service Guide HP 15 Laptop PC

You may want to consider replacing the failed mechanical hard drive with a better performing 2.5" solid state drive (SSD).

After you replace the drive, you can use the HP cloud recovery tool on another PC running W7 64 bit or newer to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will reinstall W10, the drivers and the software that originally came with the notebook.

Here is an info link for how to use the utility.  You will need a 32 GB USB flash drive to create the recovery media with.

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool in Windows 11 and 10 | HP® Customer Support

[figureguy]

Thank you for your time and your advice.  I'll let my cousin know what the problem is and see what she wants to do about it.  But I appreciate you explaining it all and taking the effort to link the steps for us to take.  Please have a good rest of your day.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome. 

You enjoy the rest of your day too!