Entering BIOS

[1943Mike]

I've followed the two methods for entering the BIOS without success. Method #1: Upon pressing the start button begin pressing the Escape button continuously until startup menu appears (it doesn't - just a black screen with white writing. There's one line on the bottom right that says startup menu but nothing under it. Hitting the Escape or F10 key at that point does nothing).

Method #2: Get to the same point via "Setting" - once the black screen appears same story.

I think I've gotten into the BIOS before since I replaced my original HDD with an SSD and probably needed to change the boot order although I'm not sure about either getting into the BIOS or changing the boot order.

Any suggestions/ideas would be very much appreciated.

Here's a photo I took of the "black" screen:

Mike

[Grzwacz]

Hi,

Your PC is at least seven years old. Have you ever replaced the CR2032 MB battery? Try removing this battery, wait awhile, then reinstall the existing battery if you have replaced this battery recently. Try another new battery if in doubt.

I can't say for sure this is the cause but your PC can't complete the Power On Self Test required to hand off the boot process to the operating system and you can't load the BIOS.

Replacing this MB battery will reset CMOS. It is a cheap fix if it works.

Video works, RAM is detected, and the CPU is detected.

You need the startup menu to run system diagnostics to see if you have a hardware problem. You could try using a HP Diagnostic USB stick (HP Diagnostics download), but it is doubtful you can boot to the stick given your current situation (can't load the startup menu).

I would systematically tear the system down to a minimum config to isolate bad hardware. A bad hardware component could be causing this. I would replace all components using known, good, hardware including the power supply. This is not cost effective in your situation.

Have a local PC tech take a look.

Regards

[Grzwacz]

Hi,

Additional thoughts:

Could be a USB problem if keyboard/mouse are out of commission. Try different USB 3.0 ports, the MB USB 2.0 may have failed.

Again, this looks like some type of hardware problem.

Regards

[1943Mike]

Grzwacz,

Well, I replaced the battery (it should have been OK - putting out 2.7 rather than 3 volts) and then bad things began to happen. I went through hours of trying to reboot without success. None of the blue "labels": (troubleshoot, exit, etc. did anything  ... just came back to the same screen. Then I remembered I had made some recovery disks - set of four. I put the first one in and was able to boot up. I foolishly attempted to get into the BIOS again ... big mistake. Got trapped in that blue screen again with the 4 or 5 options - none of which worked - all came back to the same screen. So I put in each of my four recovery disks and now I'm back to where I was before I attempted to get into the BIOS. Never again will I try that in this machine!

I need a new desktop (have an old laptop but any screen under 27" seems to small for my photo editing work these days) so I'll look around for something - maybe a Christmas present to me from me. I'll continue to use this machine (until my most recent problem it's been great!) but I don't want to have it die on me suddenly without a backup.

Thanks for trying to help.

Mike

[Grzwacz · Accepted solution]

Hi @1943Mike ,

Sorry to hear you had a problem when replacing the MB battery. The old battery was good. But changing a MB battery using standard safety protocol should not cause a problem.

Do no harm is my motto.

You are right, time to buy a new Desktop.

Regards