Windows won't boot on old HP tablet

[Matt227]

I'm trying to boot up an old HP windows tablet I bought back in 2015. Unfortunately, I'm getting an error saying 'Your PC needs to be repaired'. Given that I don't have any

recovery or installation media, is there anyway to save/re-use this old tablet?  Can I repair the existing installation or is there a way to install android or ubuntu touch or something similar?

 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You can reinstall W8.1 for free by downloading the plain W8.1 32-bit ISO file from the link below.

Download Windows 8.1 Disc Image (ISO File) (microsoft.com)

Use the Microsoft tool that I zipped up and attached below that you will need to transfer the ISO file to a USB flash drive so that it is bootable, or you can use the free Rufus utility.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

After W8.1 has completed installing, you can install the drivers and available software from the support page.

HP Pavilion x2 - 10-k077nr (ENERGY STAR) Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support

After you get W8.1 up and running again, you may want to consider taking the free upgrade to W10 because Microsoft will quit supporting W8.1 next year.

To upgrade to W10, click on the blue Update Now button at the link below.

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

[Matt227]

Thanks, I didn't know windows 8 was now freely available. I created the bootable USB using Rufus and change the book order in the bios but it's still returning me to the same error screen.  Are there other bios settings that need to be changed to get the boot to work? I'm not super familiar with windows so it may be something basic that I'm missing. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Have the W8.1 flash drive in the USB port. 

Turn on or restart the PC.

Immediately press\tap the ESC key to get the menu of options. 

Select the F9 boot options menu, and from that, select the USB flash drive and press the Enter key.

The PC should boot from the flash drive. 

[Matt227]

So I hit Esc when booting up, hit F9 to access the boot options and see this: 

Then I select "Boot from EFI File" ( the other option just takes me back to the original error screen) and then I have these options:

Both these options seem to allow me to navigate through a file system and select different files but selecting any of the files just seems to bring me back to the original error screen. Which file do I need to run to boot from the USB? Or is there an error with the the way my USB is formatted so the bios doesn't recognize it as a bootable drive? 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

See if going into the BIOS (ESC>F10) and enabling legacy mode allows you to boot from the USB flash drive.

Then try the ESC >F9 boot options menu again.

If it does and you have options, boot from the EFI USB diskette on key/USB hard drive device if you are given the choice of booting from a legacy USB diskette on key/USB hard drive or the above one.

Installing Windows in EFI mode will allow you to disable legacy mode again.

[Matt227]

My BIOS utility is something called Insyde h20 and it looks like this may be limiting the options  I have with regards to things like selecting legacy mode or booting from USB. I don't see any option to change to legacy boot mode. I did find this about the BIOS:

https://www.compuhoy.com/how-unlock-insydeh20-bios-advanced-settings/

But know luck with their suggestions so far.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You don't see any settings like described at the link below?

HP Notebook PCs - Cannot Start Notebook Computer From a Bootable CD or DVD | HP® Customer Support

If not, did you set the partition table in Rufus to GPT when you made the bootable installation flash drive?

If you did, that may boot from the efi file selection in your boot options menu.

If you selected MBR, it will not.

[Matt227]

This is all I see under System Configuration: 

I was able to access bootmgr.efi   by selecting "Boot device options"  but when I ran it I got a message saying "The selected boot device failed. Press <Enter> to Continue,.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

That's interesting you have a secure boot setting, and it is disabled but not a Legacy mode setting that should have indicated 'Enabled.'

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