press ESC key to start up

[leonumb3891]

hi.. i need help please.. my laptop can't startup.. it keep asking 'press esc key to start up' but nothing happen when i did.. i've done primary hard disk self test and memory test.. but after it's finished, it goes back to 'press esc key to startup' i read some older post saying to follow page 59 on maintenance manual, i did it but i couldn't find the rtc battery on my presario cq43
please help me..
thanks

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

leonumb3891

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

What you want to do is WAIT and NOT press any key when that message is displayed.  It has done the same on my  HP laptop for over 5 years, and I simply wait ...  Eventually, it boots into the Windows login screen.

If you wait a LONG time (say, 5 MINUTES or longer), and still, nothing happens, that implies a problem with filesystem corruption that is preventing the Windows boot loader from running.

If that is the case, then try these steps ...

you will need access to a working PC for this step in order to create the media needed to repair your PC boot loader.

You will need to create something known as a Win7 Repair CD -- which you could have made for free when Win7 was working. This will repair the boot loader files, and if that is the problem, your PC will boot OK after that.

But now, that can be obtained (for a fee) from this link: http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/

When you download this file, it will be an ISO file.

To make a bootable CD from it, you will need to download and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/

Once you have that installed, run it, select the option "Write image file to disc" and select the ISO file you downloaded, and point it to a blank CD.

To make a bootable USB stick from it, you will need to download and install RUFUS: https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Once you have that, run it, in the Device entry, use the pulldown to select the USB stick. Down near the bottom right, where is says "Create a bootable disk using", select the ISO file you downloaded.
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Boot from the media you created, and follow the directions in this link: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

You will probably have to run Startup Repair three times for it to fix all the boot loader problems.

When done, your PC should boot OK. If it does not, there is a more serious problem.

Good Luck

[leonumb3891]

Hello,
Thank you so much for the help.. It's so kind of you..
I tried to leave my laptop untouched for more than 10 minutes, still nothing happened.. So, I intended to follow the second option.. But there's a fee, and I just move to France and I dont have my bank account yet.. So I can't pay anything online yet.. 😂 😂
But the second option triggered me to re-install my laptop using bootable usb... Funnily enough, I didn't think of it before.. Good thing I found some free ISO file of windows 7..
Now my laptop is working...
Thank you so much...