Why Is My HP Laptop Restarting For So Long? | Fast Fixes

Guide / By

Slow or endless restarts on an HP laptop usually trace to pending updates, driver hangs, disk errors, or power glitches—work through the steps below.

You press Restart and your HP notebook sits on the spinning dots. Ten minutes pass, maybe more. This guide shows what actually causes those drawn-out restarts and how to clear them without guesswork. Start at the top, try each action, and stop when the restart time returns to normal.

HP Laptop Stuck On Restart? Likely Causes

Long restart loops rarely come from a single thing. The usual culprits are:

  • Windows Update clean-up: Servicing stack finishing updates, or a stuck cumulative update.
  • Driver or service hang: A device driver waits on hardware that isn’t responding.
  • Disk or file-system errors: Bad sectors or NTFS journal issues stall shutdown.
  • Fast startup residue: Cached hibernation image keeps replaying a bad state.
  • Low-level firmware hiccups: BIOS needs a power reset, or a firmware update.
  • Rarely: malware: Intercepts shutdown or hooks into drivers.

Quick Checks Before You Go Deeper

  1. Wait 10–15 minutes once. Windows can take a single long restart after big updates. If it happens every time, move on.
  2. Disconnect everything. Pull USB drives, docks, SD cards, HDMI, printers. Restart again.
  3. Give the system a clean power reset:
    • Shut down the laptop.
    • Unplug AC. If the battery is removable, take it out.
    • Hold the power button for 15–30 seconds to drain residual charge.
    • Reconnect power (and battery) and boot.

    This clears latched hardware states and is a standard step in HP’s power reset procedure.

Stop The Loop: Safe Mode And Startup Repair

When the restart never finishes, use Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to break the cycle.

Enter WinRE Fast

  1. With the computer on the “Restarting” screen, press and hold the power button until it powers off.
  2. Turn it on and cut power again as soon as you see the dots. Repeat this twice. On the next boot, WinRE appears.

Run Startup Repair

In WinRE go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Repair and follow prompts. This tool fixes boot files that block normal restarts. Microsoft explains the flow on its Startup Repair page.

Boot Into Safe Mode

From Advanced options, open Startup Settings and press 4 for Safe Mode or 5 for Safe Mode with Networking. Note: some systems show a BitLocker prompt before these screens; Microsoft mentions this on the Windows Startup Settings page.

Fix Windows Components That Prolong Restarts

Once you can reach the desktop (normal or Safe Mode), clear system and disk errors that often stretch restart time.

Run System File Checker And DISM

Open an elevated Command Prompt (right-click Start, choose Windows Terminal (Admin)). Run these in order:

sfc /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow

The first scan repairs protected files. DISM repairs the underlying component store. Microsoft documents both on its page about using SFC and DISM. Run SFC again after DISM finishes.

Scan The Disk

File-system errors and bad sectors can stall shutdown. Schedule a full disk check:

chkdsk C: /f /r

Type Y when asked to schedule for the next boot, then restart. Microsoft’s chkdsk reference explains what each switch does.

Clear Fast Startup Cache

  1. Open Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do.
  2. Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
  3. Uncheck Turn on fast startup, save, restart twice.

This forces Windows to rebuild the hibernation-based cache that can hold a bad state.

Remove The Last Problem Update (If Restarts Started Yesterday)

  1. Go to Settings > Windows Update > Update history.
  2. Select Uninstall updates and remove the last cumulative or driver update.
  3. Restart and retest. If the system stabilizes, pause updates for a few days, then try again.

Driver And Startup Cleanup

Perform A Clean Boot

  1. Press Win+R, type msconfig, press Enter.
  2. On Services, check Hide all Microsoft services, then click Disable all.
  3. Open Startup in Task Manager and disable non-HP, non-Microsoft entries.
  4. Restart. If restart time improves, re-enable items in small groups to find the offender.

Update Or Roll Back A Device Driver

  1. Press Win+X, open Device Manager.
  2. Expand Display adapters, Storage controllers, and Network adapters—top suspects for timeouts.
  3. Right-click a device > Update driver. If problems began after a driver update, use Properties > Driver > Roll Back.

HP-Specific Steps: Firmware And Hardware

Update BIOS Through HP Support Assistant

  1. Open HP Support Assistant in Windows.
  2. On My devices, select Updates.
  3. Install the BIOS update if offered. HP outlines this path on its page about checking for a BIOS update.

BIOS fixes can eliminate hangs during handoff from firmware to Windows. If Windows won’t load at all, HP also documents BIOS recovery using a USB stick on many models.

Run A Full Hardware Reset

On some notebooks, a deeper residual power drain helps:

  1. Shut down, disconnect AC, remove the battery if your model allows it.
  2. Hold the power button for 30 seconds.
  3. Re-install the battery, connect AC, boot.

This mirrors the process HP lists across its troubleshooting pages for systems that don’t start cleanly.

When The Restart Hangs Only During Updates

When the dots sit under a message about working on updates, treat it as an update issue.

  1. Give it one long window once. Large feature updates can take a while.
  2. If it sticks on every reboot, run Startup Repair from WinRE, then uninstall the last update from Advanced options > Uninstall updates.
  3. After a successful boot, run sfc, dism, and chkdsk as shown above.
  4. Recheck Windows Update once the system is healthy.

Trim Restart Time With These Settings

  • Turn off Fast Startup as shown earlier if the system keeps resuming a bad state.
  • Schedule updates: Set Active hours in Settings > Windows Update so the machine installs updates when you’re not mid-task.
  • Disable auto restart on system failure during troubleshooting: Settings > System > About > Advanced system settings > Startup and Recovery, uncheck Automatically restart. Re-enable when you’re done so crashes don’t leave the PC powered on unattended.

Advanced Tools If Nothing Works

System Restore

Press Win+R, run rstrui.exe, pick a restore point from a date before the restarts grew long. This rolls system files and registry back without touching personal files.

Reset This PC Or In-Place Repair

From WinRE, pick Troubleshoot > Reset this PC and choose Keep my files. Or create Windows install media, boot it, and pick Repair your computer. Microsoft groups these choices under its recovery options page.

Copy-Paste Commands You Can Trust

Use these exactly in an elevated Terminal. They’re safe on healthy systems and fix common restart stalls.

:: Rebuild Windows components and check disk on next boot
sfc /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow
chkdsk C: /f /r

:: Turn off Fast Startup (requires admin; then reboot twice)
powercfg -h off

:: Reset Windows Update services & cache
net stop wuauserv
net stop bits
net stop cryptsvc
net stop msiserver
ren %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
ren %systemroot%\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old
net start msiserver
net start cryptsvc
net start bits
net start wuauserv

When It Points To Hardware

If restarts stall even outside Windows, you may be looking at storage or memory faults. Steps:

  • Run HP UEFI diagnostics from power-on (often Esc or F2 on many models) for memory and drive tests.
  • If a drive shows SMART errors or fails the long test, back up right away and replace the drive.
  • Reseat user-serviceable RAM. If you added RAM recently, test with the original module only.

What Each Symptom Often Means

Symptom Likely Cause Fast Action
Spinning dots for 10+ minutes after “Restart” Update clean-up or driver wait WinRE > Startup Repair, then clean boot and driver rollbacks
“Working on updates” stuck at same percent Failed cumulative update Uninstall last update from WinRE, then run SFC/DISM
Restart hangs before HP logo Firmware or hardware latch HP power reset, check for BIOS update via Support Assistant
Random restarts during use Driver crash or overheating Clean vents, update GPU and storage drivers, watch temps
Restart only slow after sleep/hibernate Fast startup cache issue Turn off Fast Startup, reboot twice

Safety Notes While You Troubleshoot

  • Backups first. If you can sign in, copy personal files to an external drive or cloud before deep repairs.
  • BitLocker keys. Some actions in WinRE ask for a recovery key. Sign in to your Microsoft account on another device to view stored keys.
  • Stay on AC power. Firmware updates and disk checks should never run on a low battery.

HP Maintenance That Keeps Restarts Short

  • Keep HP Support Assistant and BIOS current to pick up stability fixes.
  • Install drivers from HP’s page for your model, not only generic ones, for storage, chipset, and graphics.
  • Leave 15–20% free space on the system drive so updates and servicing can complete.
  • Run a monthly sfc /scannow and a quarterly chkdsk during downtime.

Wrap-Up: A Simple Order That Works

  1. Power reset and unplug extras.
  2. Break the loop with WinRE, run Startup Repair.
  3. Safe Mode → SFC, DISM, then chkdsk.
  4. Clean boot, driver updates or rollbacks.
  5. HP BIOS update if offered.
  6. Remove the last Windows update only if the issue began right after it.
  7. Use System Restore or Reset this PC as a last resort.

If you follow that sequence, most HP laptops stop dragging their feet at restart and go back to a normal 20–40 second cycle.