Windows 10 update bricked my HP notebook

[steve30518]

Whatever Microsoft pushed out with their latest Windows 10 update has bricked my computer.   Almost $1,000 down the drain.   I've tried System Restore, System Reset, all of the diagnostic suggestions to no avail.   Cannot remove recent updates.  I've spent nearly a full day troubleshooting this.   I am not going to reinstall Windows 10 - I am going to shut the computer down and put it in the closet to collect dust.

My new Chromebook is on the way - won't have to waste hours every year fixing Windows "updates" that do nothing but add unneeded, unwanted features like the local temperature in the toolbar.   If anyone has any other ideas on how to fix, please let me know.

[WAWood]

@steve30518 

We obviously have different definitions of "bricked" -- because in my experience, that means turning a laptop into an "electric brick" -- meaning that NOTHING works, not even powering it ON.  So clearly, you could not then run either System Reset or System Restore because the laptop would not even power up.

As to System Restore, is it NOT the "time machine" that everyone seems to think it is -- and never has been.  It is only useful under very limited situations and with Windows Update caused issues, almost never works.

System Reset means LOTS of different things, so much so, that the term has now become useless.  The most extreme form is a factory reset and that totally rewrites the entire content of the drive -- so unless the drive has failed, that will always work.

There's no salvaging a laptop that has actually been "bricked" -- so if you want suggestions, you need to tell us the state that it is really in -- what works, and what does not.

[steve30518]

I've run all of the diagnostic checks from HP - all passed, no hardware issues.    Half the time, the computer does not even recognize that it has Windows installed.    When it does load Windows, I get the BSOD within 2-4 minutes with "Critical Process Died" error.  I've tried undoing Windows updates (does not work - error messages), tried all of the different ways to restore the system to no avail.   I tried a Factory Reset, aware that I would lose my personal files - that did not work either.  I've tried all of these things in Safe Mode to no avail.   Frustrated as I have used Windows since Windows 95 - MS seems to be adding so much bloatware and features that no one wants instead of producing a reliable OS.   There are tons of recent reports from others having issues in the past few days....at least this is my personal PC and I don't rely on it to run a business.

[WAWood]

@steve30518 

You said the factory reset did not work.  So, how did it fail -- what errors did you get?  If the drive is intact and working, that should always work.

[steve30518]

It either fails to download from the cloud, or times out about 35% of the way through the download.

[steve30518]

Just tried to reset again....it got 99% of the way through the download and then gave me the familiar BSOD with a new error:  Kernel Data Inpage error.   Restarted with the same black screen - Boot Device Not Found

[steve30518]

Well, at least I was able to find out more information after a few more diagnostic tests.   The "Long DST Failed" - which I guess means the hard disk drive has failed and needs to be replaced.   So, indeed, I would consider it a pretty blue expensive brick right now after just 3 years.

[WAWood]

@steve30518 

I'm not going to argue with you, but you can get a decent sized HDD for a laptop these days for $50 and a 500GB SSD for about the same amount.  While that is spending money, it's a lot less than replacing the entire PC -- which is what you would have to do if it was actually "bricked".