I've been facing a frustrating issue with my laptop where every time I turn it on, I have to cycle the power on and off for about 20 minutes before it finally boots up. Usually, I see a message about a CMOS error asking me to press enter to restart. Once I get into the BIOS, I notice that the date and time are reset back by two years, which I have to correct. I own an HP Victus that doesn't use a CMOS battery, and I also keep getting messages saying my C drive is being repaired on boot. Additionally, I've run into boot screens showing errors related to missing drivers, but even after reinstalling Windows, those issues haven't been resolved. In a recent update, the BIOS time was correct for the first time, but I still experience boot loops. The BIOS language inexplicably changed to Spanish, and now I'm getting a variety of stop code errors such as 0xC000021A, critical service failed, critical process died, and kernel security check failure, as well as a page fault in a nonpaged area.
1 Answer
This sounds more like a hardware issue than a Windows problem. The combination of boot loops, CMOS resets, and those stop codes suggest something in your laptop isn't quite stable. Common issues with HP Victus models could be faulty RAM or a failing NVMe SSD. I’d recommend testing your RAM—try booting with one stick at a time and running a memory diagnostic like Windows Memory Diagnostic or Memtest. After that, check the SSD's health from your BIOS or see if you can access SMART data. Don't forget to load the BIOS defaults and consider updating your BIOS firmware if there's a newer version available. If your system stabilizes with one RAM stick, you've likely pinpointed the issue. If there are errors with the SSD, a replacement might be in order. This is likely why a Windows reinstall didn't help you out.
Wow, that makes a lot of sense! I'll start by testing the RAM as you suggested. Fingers crossed it's a simple fix!