My HP Stream 7 is a brick

[k72]

When the upgrade showed up in the regular update, I tried updating my HP Stream 7 and it said to attach an external drive. I charged my tablet fully and did this, but the install was very slow, much slower than the times I tried before. So the battery died part way through. Now it won't do anything without the external drive attached, but all it does is restart over and over. It shows the HP logo, then a window flashes quickly, then it says it's trying to recover the installation just for a second, then it says it's reporting my previous version, then it restarts. The process only takes a couple minutes before it restarts. It did this for an hour last night with no change. What do I do?

 

[pankaj981]

Charge the tablet for a solid 4-5 hours, then try using a USB hub with keyboard, mouse and the bootable USB plugged in to perform a clean install. It should complete in 15-25 minutes tops.

 

[k72]

Re: My tablet is a brick

Charge the tablet for a solid 4-5 hours, then try using a USB hub with keyboard, mouse and the bootable USB plugged in to perform a clean install. It should complete in 15-25 minutes tops.

I can pick up a USB hub today. I have a USB mouse, but no keyboard. Is it 100% necessary?

 

[pankaj981]

I can pick up a USB hub today. I have a USB mouse, but no keyboard. Is it 100% necessary?

Yes you'll need it, Windows 10 installation does not provide an on screen keyboard option. You can buy a cheap one for 2-3 bucks from Microcenter or from somewhere else depending on where you're located. Again proceed only if you're comfortable in installing an OS from scratch. Windows 10 clean install deletes the 8.1 recovery partition so you'll gain at least 4-5 GB unless you were on a WIM Boot install

 

[k72]

From what I can tell it's not a WIM boot install. I had wondered about a clean install but I keep reading about how the product key is needed. Is that in the bios or will I need it separately?

Edit: Never mind. I found it here - http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebo...ow-to-find-Windows-8-product-key/td-p/1981065 - after searching for 2 days (it's been a long week, I'm a bit brain dead). And I remembered I do have a USB keyboard in the closet, so I'll stop at Fry's to get a hub, and hopefully I'll soon have a working tablet.

 

[pankaj981]

Re: My tablet is a brick

Wait..you'll need to upgrade using the Windows Update method atleast once for the upgrade to stick after a clean Windows 10 install. I had initially done a clean install w/o the upgrade on my Venue 8 Pro but it never accepted my Windows 8.1 key. Then I had to perform a clean 8.1 install, used the original 8.1 key to activate it. Then force upgrade to W10 after all Windows updates were installed. This time I received a different Windows 10 activation key, different than my original 8.1 key. I then performed a clean W10 install and the new Windows 10 worked. So I guess upgrade through Windows update at least once is the only option.

 

[k72]

Re: My tablet is a brick

I've done the partial upgrade that failed, but not a successful one. I can't run Windows update because my tablet won't load.

 

[k72]

Re: My tablet is a brick

Well, I tried the media creation tool but it crashed every time I used it on two different computers, so I tried installing my copy of the preview, but no luck. :-( On the phone now with HP to see what my options are.

 

[pankaj981]

Re: My tablet is a brick

Did they resolve it for you? Or at least guide you in the right direction?

 

[rcloke91]

Re: My tablet is a brick

Have you tried restoring 8.1 via a clean install on USB?

Then upgrade to 10 from there.

 

[k72]

Re: My tablet is a brick

Did they resolve it for you? Or at least guide you in the right direction?

I was talking to my brother while I was on hold and he gave me some options (I didn't even think of safe mode, duh). I tried all of the repair options, but none of them work, so no going back. It showed options to rollback, or to choose Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, but neither one seems to be complete. I tried installing 8, but it required a product key to go forward, which is one thing I don't have from the tablet. I may try again with my key from 8.1 pro that I upgraded to 10 already just to see if it will let me continue. Otherwise I guess I'll try 10 and hope it has my key, and then try HP again. I guess they're swamped with upgrade calls right now.

 

[k72]

Re: My tablet is a brick

So I got Windows 10 installed, and as expected, it wouldn't activate. However, I remembered that I had a copy of Windows 7 that is not being used, so hopefully that will work. Unfortunately I will have to let my tablet charge a while before I can do anything, because I don't have the updated drivers yet, so it only works with the mouse and keyboard (super glad you warned me about that!).

I was wondering what the partitions should look like at this point. I formatted the Windows partition to install 10, but I still have the recovery partition and 2 others. I tried resetting after I installed 10 in case it reset to 8, but it didn't, so I don't know if I still need these other partitions.

Edit: I just read that I should have deleted all of them. I think tomorrow I will reinstall 10, add the drivers, and then try the Win 7 key and see how it goes. The bright side is that I am definitely getting a ton of troubleshooting experience!!

 

[pankaj981]

Yeah a fresh OS install recreates those drives automatically so nothing to worry about. Plus the clean OS is better than the WIMBoot in certain aspects especially the way Windows updates are handled.

 

[k72]

I remembered I still had access to my school account on dreamspark, so I got a copy of 8.1 and 10 with product keys. I decided to just install 8.1 again. Working tablet again finally! Thanks for all the help!