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Question

Failed Boot and Critical Process Died

Mar 6, 2018 10:44AM PST

Two days ago I performed a factory reset on my Samsung Notebook 7 Spin laptop with Windows 10 purchased in the fall of 2016. I went through with the factory reset because the computer had been giving me boot loading problems starting about 6 months ago that did not prevent me from using the device until quite recently. I have fiddled with the boot configuration to see for myself what works and what doesn't, but I've come to the conclusion that the optimized default settings are there for a reason so I no longer meddle with it. In addition, I had/have antivirus protection software with a reputable company (Kaspersky) so I cant imagine that a virus was the cause of the issue or continues to be one since the factory reset. I've scoured the internet for help and tips for resolving the issue by myself without having to pay someone to do it for me. The problem is that even with what should be a fresh out of the factory computer by now, this problem still persists. What normally happens when I turn on my computer is that I get a black screen with the sentences "All boot options are tried. Press F4 to recover with factory image using recovery or any other keys for next boot loop iteration." On the rare occasion that the computer does actually load I receive the critical process died message before I can even open up the command prompt and follow the instructions for support. I'm not sure what else I can do at this point aside from sending it somewhere to get it fixed but I want to exhaust all my options before I throw in the towel. I should also add that I'm simply a consumer of tech products, not a programmer or engineer who can code their way out of this or take apart the computer and determine what's wrong. I'm at my wit's end and would really appreciate the help.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
This is typical when
Mar 6, 2018 11:12AM PST

The HDD has failed. To figure this out I need to boot any HDD test USB or CD and then see what shape the HDD is in. As you own the PC you may know what make HDD.

As to generic HDD test apps, https://www.lifewire.com/free-hard-drive-testing-programs-2626183 has quite a few. You should start with the ones that you can boot from USB or CD.

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Given the story and as you are a consumer only
Mar 6, 2018 3:55PM PST

You need to get estimates for repair. Since I don't see any reply about test results I think this is not possible either.

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ditto on failing HDD
Mar 6, 2018 7:47PM PST

However, you can recapture the restoration partition on it, possibly. Reason is to put on a new HDD. Boot to a GParted LIVE CD or a linux distro like Linux Mint that has GParted included among it's programs. If the HDD can be recognized as such by GParted, then the data in the restore partition should still be OK, since it's had few reads and no writes to it over live of the HDD. You can copy that partition using GParted off to a backup media. When you install a new HDD, you can then use GParted to copy that partition back onto the new HDD. You can then install a bootloader which will see that partition, allowing you to run the restore program and it will set up the new HDD.

I did this in past using Linux Mint, did a grub update, and it then showed both the linux and the restore partition as bootable, allowing the restore partition software to be run and restore the system to the drive. The restore program redid the entire HDD, losing the linux system and restored the windows one.