Solved boot devicenot found using UEFI/will load using legacy BUT

[impi7]

HP notebook 2000 model tpn-l108
Windows 8

Having an issue loading windows. Father-in-law bought this refurbished on ebay. Worked fine when he received it. My sister-in-law was installing a printer software and after it downloaded and rebooted it froze on blue screen with please wait. She left it that way for hours then finally powered down and restarted only to come to the same screen. I received it from there. I started by loading setup and doing a HDD scan everything looks good, but still please wait. Restored factory defaults and now it loads to boot device not found. Changed UEFI to Legacy and it loads windows only to come back to please wait. Tried f11 to recover but doesn't load recovery info. Tried using a repair disk from win7(still in legacy because UEFI wont load from dvd) that got me to system repair but could not self repair. I would do a clean install to win7 but I don't have a windows key sticker on the bottom of the laptop. Where do I go from here?

 

[genet]

edit: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4692-system-restore-how-do-windows-8-a.html

- Start the computer from the Windows 8/8.1/10 installation media.
- Select Repair your computer (see screenshot below) > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System Restore.



How to boot into Safe Mode from the Windows 8/8.1/10 installation media or recovery USB flash drive. -> link

How to download and clean install Windows 8.1 if you have an OEM computer with UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8/8.1 product key. -> link

 

[impi7]

I created the installation dvd, disabled secure boot, changed the UFEI boot order, but it doesn't boot from dvd. I recently clean installed win7 on another computer and had to use a mircosoft tool to make the dvd bootable, do I need to do that here.

Also it will not let me enter system recovery(f11) from boot menu.

 

[genet]

Quote from this post:

Both the 64-bit installation media (USB flash drive and DVD) can be booted in both UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot mode.

Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help

If you previously selected the ISO file option and once the ISO file is created, select the Open DVD burner option (see screenshot below).

 

[murby]

I had a similar problem some time back.. The problem seemed to be compounded by a bios setting about something like "protect boot area" or something similar. I forget the actual wording but when I turned it off, it repaired just fine.

 

[impi7]

Wouldn't do a repair had to do a clean install. Had to use a USB not sure why the DVD wouldn't work but oh well.

Thanks for your help