SOLVED Laptop won't move past start screen....been rebooting for 8 hours.

[A.a]

I have a Lenovo flex 2 laptop that is brand new and used to run windows 8.1 until earlier today.

I opted for the recommended win 10 upgrade, and things went smoothly until it was time to reboot.

The laptop begins to boot, I get to see the Lenovo start screen for a few seconds, and then it turns off before starting over again.

This loop has been going on for 8 hours, as of right now.

All attempts to access the boot menu via the F2, F8, F11, and F12 keys have failed, and the novo key has had no effect.

I am desperate at this point- the laptop is brand new. And now it is next to useless. No actual customer support is available in the country I live in. I just want a way to go back to win8.1.

I don't have a recovery disk, or any activation code. I'll try almost anything to get a working laptop back, except spend more money on it.

Help, please.

 

[Trouble]

The first thing you probably need to try is to hard reset the computer.
Disconnect from AC power, remove the battery, hold the Power Button for a count of 30.
Re-insert the battery, reconnect the AC Power, push the Power Button and see if you can access the BIOS and or the Boot Menu.
See if it will boot. IF not you'll need to arm yourself with the installation media.

The installation media can be obtain through either of these two resources. I recommend the first one (techbench).

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/techbench
OR
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Once you have the ISO, you can use ImgBurn to burn it to a DVD or Rufus to burn it to a USB ThumbDrive, either of which you can use to boot your computer.

When you've managed to boot from the installation media you need to click the Repair Your PC link on the second page after the Choose a Language and Keyboard layout page.
That should get you to the Advanced Troubleshooting options and you should see a "Go Back To" ICON

 

[A.a]

I got into the BIOS!

Which is I presume a good thing, except I don't know how to proceed further.

It's a Phoenix BIOS, so can anyone help me out with how to reset my laptop to factory default from there?

tried the 'load default settings' and there was no change.

In the security tab there is a 'reset to setup mode' and a 'restore factory keys'.

Should I take my chances with either of them?

Secure boot is enabled by the way.

 

[Trouble]

I got into the BIOS!

Which is I presume a good thing, except I don't know how to proceed further.

I guess it is some progress.
Can you likewise evoke the boot menu using the appropriate "F" key (possibly F12 although every system can be different)?

I'll try almost anything to get a working laptop back,

If so can you boot from the installation media, as I suggested above

 

[A.a]

With the help of a slightly-more-technologically-inclined friend, I proceeded to download the installation media.

While waiting, said friend pointed out that the novo key not working was a red-flag, because the laptop is new and the novo-key has never been used.

I took the laptop to the showroom I'd bought it from, and after 4 hours on the tech bench, they informed me that my laptop had a defect of some sort.

Since it has been less than a week since purchase, they're replacing it.

I am to get a new (yay) laptop by the end of the month.

Suffice to say I am very, very happy with how things have turned out.

Note- the guy at the tech bench informed me that the novo-key is ALWAYS supposed to work, unless you mess with it and damage it, or it comes damaged like it did with mine.

In any case, the method you recommended above should work and would have done the job.

Thanks for the help!