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You probably won’t need to factory reset your HP laptop very often, but it’s a good idea to do so if you want to sell or give away your laptop, or if you’re having a lot of trouble with it. If you have trouble with your HP laptop’s system that won’t go away, resetting it to factory settings might be a quick and good fix. Or, if you bought a new computer and want to get rid of your old HP laptop because you no longer need it, you can safely erase your personal information by putting the laptop back to its factory settings.
That’s because a factory reset will put your laptop back to the way it was when you first took it out of the box, though you can usually keep your files and just reset Windows. Boot-up failures are the worst thing that can happen to a computer user. They stop everything in its tracks until the problem is fixed, and there are many things that could cause them, such as a power outage, a broken hard drive, bad memory, or a broken screen. It’s easy to forget that the capacitors on the motherboard could have energy stored in them. With a hard reset, you can sometimes get your HP laptop to work again by getting rid of this energy.
How to Factory Reset HP Laptop
- Back up your important data: Before performing a factory reset, it is essential to back up any important files or documents on your HP laptop.
- Restart the laptop: Click on the “Start” menu and select the “Restart” option to restart your HP laptop.
- Access the recovery environment: During the startup process, repeatedly press the designated key to enter the boot menu or BIOS settings. The specific key varies depending on the HP laptop model.
- Navigate to the recovery options: Once you access the boot menu or BIOS settings, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate to the “Recovery” or “Reset” options. Press Enter to select it.
- Choose the factory reset option: In the recovery options, you should see a choice to perform a factory reset. Select this option to proceed.
- Confirm the reset: You will likely be prompted with a warning that all data will be erased during the factory reset. Carefully read the warning and confirm your decision to proceed with the reset.
- Wait for the reset to complete: The factory reset process will now begin. It may take some time to complete, so be patient and avoid interrupting the process.
- Follow the on-screen instructions: Once the factory reset is finished, your HP laptop will restart. Follow any on-screen instructions to set up your laptop, such as selecting the language, region, and creating a new user account.
How to Hard Reset HP Laptop
- Power off the laptop: Make sure your HP laptop is turned off. If it’s not responding, you can hold down the power button for a few seconds until it shuts down.
- Disconnect external devices: Remove any external devices such as USB drives, printers, or external monitors connected to your laptop.
- Remove the power source: If your laptop is connected to a power source, unplug the power cable from the laptop.
- Remove the battery: If your HP laptop has a removable battery, gently remove it from the laptop.
- Press and hold the power button: With the battery and power source disconnected, press and hold the power button on your laptop for about 15 to 20 seconds. This helps discharge any remaining power and clears the laptop’s memory.
- Reconnect the power source: Plug the power cable back into your laptop, but do not reinsert the battery at this time.
- Power on the laptop: Press the power button to turn on your HP laptop. It should start up without the battery.
- Shutdown and reinsert the battery: Once your laptop is fully powered on and running, shut it down normally from the operating system. After it shuts down, reinsert the battery into the laptop.
- Power on the laptop again: Press the power button to turn on your HP laptop with the battery reinserted.
How to Restart HP Laptop
- Save your work: Before restarting your laptop, it’s a good idea to save any open files or documents to avoid losing any unsaved work.
- Close all programs: Close all open programs and applications running on your laptop.
- Click on the “Start” menu: Locate the “Start” button in the bottom left corner of the screen and click on it.
- Click on the Power icon: In the Start menu, click on the Power icon, which looks like a circle with a vertical line.
- Select “Restart”: In the power options menu, click on the “Restart” option.
- Confirm the restart: A confirmation dialog may appear asking if you want to restart your laptop. Click on “Restart” or “Yes”.
- Wait for the laptop to restart: Your HP laptop will now begin the restart process.
- Login: Once the laptop has finished restarting, enter your username and password to log in to your account.
FAQs
When you turn on the laptop, press the F11 key over and over again until System Recovery starts. On the screen that asks you to choose an option, click “Troubleshoot.” Click on “Reset this PC.”
If the F11 prompt doesn’t work, the only way to reset the notebook to factory settings is to order W8 recovery media for your specific model PC from HP. Now, if you want to reinstall Windows 8.1 from scratch, you can use the W8 product key in the BIOS of your laptop to do so.