HP All-In-One passes HP Diagnostics but wiil not start

I unherited this All-In-One unit from my uncle who passed away. I'd looked at this once before for him when it wouldn't connect to the internet with a wired connection at his house, but would connect at my house (we had different ISPs). I ultimately lent him a router, so he connected wirelessly for the rest of his life.

Anyway, now that it's mine I'm having a problem getting it to start at all. I get the Starting Windows screen and about half of one of the 4 balls, then it just freezes. If you hit Escape you're presented with a Startup screen with various options. I believe F10 is to setup the computer, F11 is for System Recovery, F9 Boot Menu, etc. Both F10 and F11 give me the same half a ball that I get on normal
startup, before freezing. F2 takes through a set of diagnostic processes - processor, hard drive, memory, SMART test. It passes every test. When I boot from a W7 disk, I get the 'press any key to boot from CD' msg, yet when I press any key, I get the 'loading files' bar which eventually fills...., then nothing.....

I tried booting from a Spotmau Bootsuite disk. I get the initial screen, but when I tab to the Bootsuite menu, I again get nothing - just a black screen.

I'm about ready to hit my inheritance with a very big hammer

Try another boot disk provided to work through the steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start
since if its infected it may not repair until it is cleaned up. This will also tell you if the DVD drive is good or a disk cannot boot for another reason.

To help determine this reset the BIOS to defaults: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS
While in BIOS confirm the HD is detected as is expected from it passing its test.

There are flash stick alternatives for all of the necessary boot disks including the Win7 installer provided.

If neither disk nor flash stick will boot, unplug the disk drive and try flash boot again. If this fails unplug the HD to see if the disk or stick will boot. If so it may have boot code interfering which requires wiping the HD. Try a self-booting disk like Partition Wizard, or move to another PC to slave the drive, remove the data and wipe it.

You can also slave the HD to another working PC to disinfect and then repair System files from booted Win7 DVD or OS Command Line. SFC /SCANNOW Run in Command Prompt at Boot
to see if it will boot before wiping it.

Once you can boot a disk or stick with HD plugged into HP, confirm the Partition Marked Active then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times, report back what it finds.

I'd love to get the marketing genius who decided that these All-In-One units were a good idea. I'm dating myself, but it's sort of like the nimrod who thought it was great if they'd combine the speakers, the tape player, the tuner, the amp and the turntable all in one handy piece of equipment. Haven't the morons at HP learned from past mistakes?

Even opening up this HP Omni AIO piece o' dung was an adventure. I got the HDDout, hooked it up to another PC and get getting USB device failed, Write delayed, and saw the icon for the drive flicker and disappear. I have no idea how to get into the BIOS to clear it, have no idea where the CMOS battery is located, have put Windows Defender offline onto a flash stick, but can't get it to boot from it, and every Windows 7 disk I boot from gets to the
Starting Windows screen and freezes.

Hitting ESC on startup gives me the Startup Menu. The first option is Continue Startup (we know what that doesn't do), Second is System Information which only displays info - nothing is changeable, Third is Change Language, Fouth is Diagnostics (F2)
The details of the F2 Diagnostics are as follows:

• CPU Test - Passed
• Hard Drive Connection Test - Passed
• Boot Test - Passed
• S.M.A.R.T Test - Passed

Then I get Press 'R' to reboot. You know the story from there.

Then Startup Menu has F9 Boot Menu, F10 for Computer Setup, F11 for System Recovery, Utilities (which only lets me chage the date and time, and the last Stratup Menu option is something called Run UEFI Application... (hitting that does nothing).

Enter BIOS setup via F10 key to look at the UEFI settings. Perhaps the settings were accidentally changed during a BIOS reset.

Is CSM or Legacy BIOS enabled? If so try disabling If either is set Disabled, try Enabling. Then see if it will boot now as a UEFI disk.

If not, reset BIOS to defaults, save setting and exit. Boot into Win7 disk to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. Everything is there to get and keep a perfect install. Be sure to read the Note to HP Owners at end.

Okay.... after an interminable delay, I am trying to revisit this beast...

I honestly don't know if this is a 32 or 64 bit machine, but it doesn't matter - I've got Windows 7 CD in both 32 and 64 flavor. But even that doesn't matter, since I get the exact same behavior no matter what I boot from.

I get the 'Press any key to boot from CD', then the msg 'Windows is loading files', as the horizontal bar fills from left to right. When the bar is full the screen goes dark for a second, then the 'Starting Window' phrase appears in white lettering with the words 'Microsoft Corporation' in smaller letter underneath it.

And that;'s it. No multi-colored balls converging. Just those words on a black screen. For hours. I have a Spotmau Power Suite CD that has helped with many problems in the past, but when I boot from it I get the Power Suite menu, but toggling to Bootsuite and pressing enter gives me another 'loading files' w/ the horizontal bar, and then nothing. Just a dark gray screen.

I have gone into the startup menu via ESC, then used F10 for Computer Setup which takes me into the BIOS. I have loaded the defaults and restarted. Pretty much the same result. 'Windows is loading files', white bar, Starting Windows, and nothing. else.

The Startup Menu has a System Recovery option via F11. Same deal - loading, starting, and nothing.

There is another Startup Menu option called 'Run UEFI Application...' (the 3 dots are part of the option), but it does nothing when I toggle to it and press enter.


The F2 option for diagnostics takes me thru a

• CPU Test - passed
• Hard Drive Connection Test - passed
• Boot Test - passed
• S.M.A.R.T Test - passed
• Memory Test - passed

I am currently running something called a DPS Self Test. I have no fracking idea what it is, beyond some sort of HDD test, but it says it'll take about 70 minutes and it's 20% complete.

You suggested that I 'enter BIOS setup via F10 key to look at the UEFI settings'. I don't know exactly where they are.

You also asked 'Is CSM or Legacy BIOS enabled?' Once again, I don't know where that is within the BIOS. When this DPS self test is through checking for lumps I'll continue to explore more BIOS settings, but I would think that by setting it to default levels, it should have accomplished pretty much what you wanted.

I am completely and totally baffled. Maybe I should try that BitDefender disk I created....

I very specifically told you what to look for in BIOS setup, but see no indication that you made this attempt.

Again, for a UEFI BIOS you'll want to look at the settings for Legacy BIOS, Compatibility Service Mode (CSM) or UEFI. What such settings are avaialble? When you expand on them to see the choices what choices are offered?

You can take camera snaps for us to see better. We will help you try both UEFI and Legacy BIOS to see if Windows will start. If not we will help you reinstall, preferably in Legacy Mode because UEFI is an added layer of crapware that confers no real benefits.

You can learn more about UEFI watching this video: UEFI BIOS vs. Legacy BIOS - YouTube . If you think you want it then try the UEFI settings first, if Windows won't start try reinstall to UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

gregrocker said:

I very specifically told you what to look for in BIOS setup, but see no indication that you made this attempt.

I know. I know, but there's a bunch a categories in this BIOS, and while looking for the settings for UEFI or CSM or Legacy BIOS I happened onto the DPS Self Test and self medicated by running it. Sometimes I get distracted by shiny objects. It won't happen again. The test is at 60%.

Those diagnostics are very valuable and good to run. On most HP's there's also a full diagnostics suite on the ESC menu which you can run to test all of the hardware and not just the HDD. If it runs and you can get the current install to work, or reinstall in the present (UEFI or Legacy) mode then you can keep the small OEM partition and often the bootable diagnostics will still run from the BIOS Boot menu ESC key. Likewise the Recovery partition.

In fact I'd try booting the Reccovery Partition again from ESC then F11 to see if it offers a Minimal Recovery which is almost as good as a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

The DPS Self Test completed successfully. I can find nothing in the BIOS regarding Legacy BIOS, Compatibility Service Mode (CSM) or UEFI settings.


The Setup Utility options I have are

• File - System Information, About, Set Date & Time, Apply Defaults and Exit, Ignore Changes & Exit, Save Changes & Exit
• Storage - Device Configuration, Storage Options, DPS Self-test, Boot Order
• Security - Setup Password, Power-On Password, Device Security, USB Security, Slot Security, Network Boot, System IDs, System Security
• Power - Hardware Power Management, Thermal
• Advanced - Power-On Options, BIOS Power-On, Bus Options, Device Options

Give me a clue about where to look. I don't see how I could get you any screen grabs unless you know some method with a flash drive....?
And as I mentioned previously, the F11 Recovery Option, acts the same as a normal boot, or a boot from a W7 CD.

Did you look inside the various settings choices which must each be expanded to see the options?
Look at BIOS Boot order choices. If there are no UEFI devices offered we'll assume it is an BIOS system. Set the DVD drive to boot first, HDD second, save changes and exit.

If the Win7 disk won't boot to confirm the Partition Marked Active and then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times try the other bit-version disk. You'll need to get the disk to boot. Inability to boot a disk is 90% of the time a user failure. How to Boot A Computer from CD or DVD - YouTube.

If that fails try booting into Partition Wizard bootable CD which will boot on its own, post back a camera snap of drive map so we can see if anything is obvious. But if you can't boot either Win7 disk to do Startup Repairs then I'd just highlight the HD number, from Disk tab do a Quick Wipe of the HD, which should force the Win7 installer to start to Clean Install Windows 7