Need SERIOUS Help Please

Left it overnight so I'm not sure at what time it was done

Fine then... go ahead and start the reset process and turn it off after 3 hours.

Or...

Start the process and let it finish.

Restoring processes often require laptop restarts for installation. Even installing Windows from scratch on a new PC requires restarts as drivers are installed in sequence.

You only really have two options at this point. 1) Leave the laptop on for a long period of time until the restarts some occuring & or hard drive activity. If restarts start numbering 10 or more then assume that process is not working.
2) Get the laptop screen replaced and eliminate a variable.

Been a while since I did it, but yes 3 or 4 times. That was it, when it was done it got to a screen where I had to enter name etc for end user activation of windows, and then it went to desktop.

Sounds like you need the laptop screen to work to understand what is going on. Its probably in a restart loop like for example "restarting in 30 seconds if ____ button not pressed" because of some fault it has come across.

Does the drive have files you need? Because it sounds like they are gone. An option to check this is for you to pull the drive and install the drive in another PC as a secondary drive to get what you can get off of it.

And you will have to decide if the laptop screen is even worth fixing. How old is it? And even if the screen is fixed does not guarantee the laptop can be made functional again, though it should be "restoreable" with use of a restore disc from the manufacturer.

No prob on the questions. And too bad no others chiming in.

Did you get the laptop new? If so then is it under warranty (I assume it is)? What is the exact model of the laptop?

How did the screen get trashed? As in did that in any way affect anything else in the laptop as in motherboard, cabling between hard drive and motherboard etc?

Regarding reset... I assumed that you meant it to mean restoring the contents of the hard drive to factory fresh condition (As in that many prebuilt systems have a separate partition on the hard drive not accessible by the user that contains the info needed to return the laptop to a factory fresh state). Were you following the instructions that came with the laptop to start the reset process?

The biggest question is do you have anything on the laptop in the way of files you must / need to retrieve?

I suspect that what is during the reset process, output to an external screen is not enabled. Thus the viewing problems you have with the laptop screen prevents you form seeing a screen that is asking for user input to proceed. If no input it is restarting. From what you have described it is restarting over and over every few minutes?

My suggestion is to get that screen working. Read this just to learn some of the options you have. http/www.pcworld.com/article/2029829/replace-your-laptop-screen-without-spending-a-fortune.html

If you do send it to the manufacturer you will probably lose your files (if any remain after the reset attempt, after all that is the purpose of a reset). The damage is probably not under warranty so you will have to pay. If you do the repair yourself ALL warranty you may have had is void.

To summarize, you need to get the laptop screen working to figure out why the reset is not working or what it is asking for.