Unable to do factory reset from Thumbdrive

[Ellarn]

My husbands computer said he had an update and when he ok'd it, nothing worked on the computer.  We backed up allimportant files and went to do the factory reset.  We put the thumbdrive in and the process started.  But at 50% we got an error code 0xEFFFFF23 and I can't find any solution in the forum that can get us past this.

This is frustrating.  HELP!!!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I'm thinking in your situation, you should do a clean install of W10 by using the Media creation tool at the link below, which will either make a USB installation flash drive, or a ISO file you can burn to a DVD to reinstall windows 10.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

If your PC came with W10 from HP, then the media you make should work with the W10 product key in the PC's BIOS.

If you previously upgraded the PC from W7/8 or 8.1 to W10, when you get to the part of the installation script where you are asked to enter a product key, you select the 'I don't have a product key' option, and W10 will install and automatically activate once you are reconnected to the internet.

Then go to your PC's support page to install the drivers and available software.

[Ellarn]

I downloaded the link you gave and was able to follow the instructions up to the point where it goes back to the recovery page - but the System Recovery button is not lit.

1. Use the down arrow key to select Secure Boot, press Enter, and then use the down arrow key to modify the setting to Enable and press Enter.
2. Use the arrow keys to select Legacy Support and press Enter, and then use the arrow keys to modify the setting to Disable and press Enter.
3. Press F10 to accept the changes and exit or use the left arrow key to select Exit, use the down arrow key to select Exit Saving Changes and then press Enter to select Yes.
4. The Computer Setup Utility closes and the Operating System Boot Mode Change screen displays, prompting you to confirm the Boot Options change. Type the code shown on the screen, and then press Enter to confirm the change.
5. The Computer Setup Utility closes and the computer restarts.
6. Turn the computer off and try to boot from the Recovery media once again.

This is the all I can get.  I never get to this:  

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You should be able to boot from the media you made and reinstall W10 without having to go to the recovery manager selection.

With W10, you should not have to enable legacy mode or disable secure boot to boot from the usb flash drive.

[Ellarn]

It does not - keep taking me back to the same place - starts the process and never gets to copy files - gets code error 0xEFFFFF23

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

If the notebook is still under warranty, I suggest you contact HP technical support for assistance.

The PC should be booting from the installation media directly.

Unfortunately, I don't have any other suggestions for you to try.

[Ellarn]

We purchased this computer from Best Buy and , assuming there is a one year warantee, I have 2 days left.  The computer worked fine before the update.  The computer is erased.  It boots from the thumbdrive but won't move to the step where it copies the files for W10 over to the hard drive.  I'm stumped.

[Ellarn]

Thank you so much for all the help.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Sorry I wasn't able to help you get W10 to reinstall.

[Ellarn]

You did great.  It should have.

I decided I had spent enough time on my own (with help, of course) so I took it down to Best Buy where I thought a Geek might be able to get me over the hump and get Windows to load.  He got the same messages, did some other research, did something else to analyze the hard drive and it failed.  The partition couldn't be completed because of a glitch in the hard drive.  That prevented the system from completing the partition to move on to copy the files.  

So, since I had 2 days left on the warrantee, Best Buy sent it in to get the replacement hard drive and we should be good to go in 2 weeks or less.  

So once again, I am truly grateful.

Ella