Warning about HP Laptops - incompatibility with Win 10 Creators Update

[Straf]

Oh I remember those!

Only 2% fragmented - the other 98% has already been defragmented, so in one of those old style disc images it would appear much as if you had just completed a defrag

There was always a little bit of fragmentation from certain blocks that can't be moved.

That looks like an old Noctua radiator (supposed to be superb) with some extra offbrand fan strapped to it. You only really need the brown one so long as it's oriented right (blowing towards the back). Even if you don't want to take off the LED fan completely you should be able to just move it up the radiator by moving the clips up the tower a bit (it may not be as easy as it is with the new ones, honestly I'd just ditch the LED fan).

I think I will remove that fan. Do you think the single fan would handle a hardcore MUD session then?

I'm nowhere near a power user these days. I don't do any online gaming any more. I ragequit WoW, TFC got overwhelmed by cheatbots and a lot of the MOH clans switched to COD which I didn't really like. They were the only things I played and I never got into anything since. I have the occasional game of TF2 for a laugh.

[Mouse]

Right.

I created the stick. I rebooted the PC. It came up Windows.

I watched the video that Red linked to, and remembered that you have to hit ESC as you turn on the machine to get into the start up menu.

I did that, and I got into the startup menu, but... I couldn't select any of the options - not the boot from USB, or the BIOS.

Is that because before the OS is activated there's no recognition of the keyboard input?

[Straf]

Are you using an external keyboard? Use the keys on the laptop keyboard to enter the boot options. Also is it ESC? I thought it was F11 or F12 on HP.

[Mouse]

It was ESC on the video I watched. It was such a very long time ago - back in the days of Win 3.1 the last time I ever had to interrupt the startup by hitting F?, so I really can't remember.

I was using the laptop keyboard. I hit ESC, and I got the menu showing me that I should hit F9 for USB boot, or F10 for BIOS. (another couple of options but those were the ones I was interested in)

I tried both, but nothing happened at all.

In the end I hit RETURN, which was the option to continue the usual startup - Win 10

[Redrobes]

I think you have the boot menu for the OS but not BIOS. The BIOS has all the stuff like Boot order, list your HDDs or DVD drives, maybe CPU clock rate and temperature, whether to set a BIOS password and all those things. If you just have Start Windows or Go to Safe Mode or something along those lines its not the BIOS.

Normally to get to BIOS you hit F1 or F2 or maybe Del key during the start of cold boot.

I have also heard that modern windows basically does not fully shut down. It always goes to a hibernate kind of function even when you ask it to shut down so that when you reboot its never from cold. This was the issue I was having with the laptop I bought a few months ago and where I needed to push a pin into the hole in the side. Then it reset the mobo and it started a cold boot.

Another option you might be able to try is that if its dead easy to remove the laptop battery then take out the power supply lead, remove the battery, count to about 30 and then put it in and boot and carefully watch the screen for the enter BIOS instructions which often can flash by real fast.

If you have a digital camera can you take a photo of the screen at the point of where its in the BIOS menu and post it ? Also, whats the name of the laptop again - lets have a look at what is the expected BIOS keys for it. I found a good site a few months back to tell me what to do with mine.

Also - regarding the 100% HDD usage - selden has it right, you need to know why its doing that. The tab left of the one in the screen shot says processes. That should show you what is using a lot of CPU which is likely to be the same one as using the HDD. It could very well be swap but it could also be the file indexer scanning through your HDD looking and indexing the drive so when you do a file search its quicker than scanning it later. When windows is idle it kicks off all sorts of maintenance things like disk defrag etc. No telling what its doing. Shutdown Krita and everything else and then leave it a minute and then put up the process list and do a screen cap of that.

[Mouse]

This is the laptop:



(sorry if that's not what you meant - I'll be back as quick as I can - camera works when it wants to)

[Azélor]

There was always a little bit of fragmentation from certain blocks that can't be moved.




I think I will remove that fan. Do you think the single fan would handle a hardcore MUD session then?

I'm nowhere near a power user these days. I don't do any online gaming any more. I ragequit WoW, TFC got overwhelmed by cheatbots and a lot of the MOH clans switched to COD which I didn't really like. They were the only things I played and I never got into anything since. I have the occasional game of TF2 for a laugh.

That thing is huge!
I think (but I could be wrong) that has long as you are not overclocking, you don't need all that extra cooling. Unless you happen to have those very fast and cheap 5 Ghz CPU used for cooking.

[Redrobes]

Ok, apparently its escape key followed by F10 key. But I suspect that is from a cold boot.

This link looks like exactly what you need and its from HP themselves.
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03736054

Seems like you have an option to turn off Secure Boot which is what is causing you the issue.

[Straf]

Mouse, do the function keys on the laptop need the Fn key pressed down to make them work?

[Mouse]

ESC works, but when you get to this screen the only key that works is ENTER



@Straf - yes. As with most laptops, the top row of keys on the keyboard have double functions. They are media controls (volume, play, pause... and display adjusters; brightness, contrast etc). They are also the F keys 1-12. You have to press the FN key at the bottom of the keyboard at the same time as the F key to get the function.

I've just realised what you are saying