Sorry just saw “external”
Some things to try here.
If you create a Windows recovery drive that you should be able to wipe it. You’ll obviously need a working PC for this though, do you have one?
The recovery drive can be a CD (assuming the laptop has a CD reader), an SD card or a USB drive. TBH it’s a useful thing to have, you just need a working copy of Windows 10 to create one.
If it’s less than a month old, get it sent back. it’ll get the hdd reinstalled or replaced when it’s ‘refurbished’. If you start trying to fix it they may say you broke it.
If you’re only worried about browser saved passwords etc then you can change them when you get the new pc. Any payment details are encrypted or stored by the shop on their machines, not on yours
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Presumably there is a password for starting Windows?
… 
If it’s that broke I’d expect they’ll just re-image the disc or potentially just bin the hdd as soon as it fails startup.
When this stuff happens the correct response is the screen cock punch warm up.
Press No to this. Now press Fn + F3 to reset to default. Then save, exit and reboot.
You might need to press Fn + F4 to get back to the save screen.
a fix seems to be moving the hard disk to another sata port, that’s assuming the laptop can be undone to move the cable.
What make/model of laptop is it?
If amazon are happy to replace you can boot from this USB image and if it can detect the hard disk you can wipe before sending back…
why reset the BIOS - it might have setting that pertain to the laptop…
It looks like it is stuck in EFO interface rather than Windows interface. It’s only a month old so I assume it will have a standard build so default would be safe.
Have a look at link in post 82 which I found to see if I’ve misunderstood.
Thanks for all your efforts and advice, I have returned the bag of shit 
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