No display after BIOS update

[Julianx]

Hi - I'm really hoping that someone can help me resolve this issue. I have an HP 280 G2 MT Business PC and it recently did from what I remember was a BIOS update via the HP Support Assistant software that was running. I simply left it running and when I came back there is no display - it must have rebooted at somepoint.

So now I have no display at all BUT there is drive light activity so it is still booting in to Windows. In fact if I look at the devices on my network it appears but I am unable to connect to it as RDP is disabled.

The display does absolutely nothing - my PC has an onboard VGA and DVI adapater, nothing else. I've tried several different known working cables but still nothing on the display.

I've tried the CMOS reset as well as the BIOS recovery via Windows key & B. And still nothing from the display. The monitor simply assumes there is nothing to display and hybernates.

I've searched this forum and others and although the same or very similar issues have been reported none of the solutions have worked. I'm desparate to resolve this and am just hoping someone here has had the exact same thing and managed to fix it.

Thanks in advance.

[Lil_Boy_Blue]

Hi
Hopefully one of these documents will cover (and solve) your problem...
https://support.hp.com/ca-en/document/c00042629

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02693833


https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04126730

This will not work for everyone, but you may be lucky?


HP Notebooks and Mobile Workstations -
No Power, No Boot, No Display When Power Button Is Pressed



NOTE: Be sure the battery is installed in the computer and it has sufficient power before continuing. Due to the design of the Embedded Controller/Keyboard Controller, the power supply must be disconnected and the computer must be powered with battery power to reset the Embedded Controller/Keyboard Controller.

Unplug the AC power from the computer.
Press and hold the power button for more than 12 seconds.
Release the power button (after at least 12 seconds).
The computer will power on and should boot normally after releasing the power button.
Re-connect the AC power to the computer.

NOTE: In case the battery is not charging after performing the steps to reset the Embedded Controller, unplug and re-plug in the AC power again.

[Julianx]

Thanks @Lil_Boy_Blue but already tried these or as I cannot get anything from the display at all it's impossible to tell if it's doing anything or not.

This thread explains the exact same issue that I'm having https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/GPU-quot-lost-quot...

There's a few mentions of removing additional video cards, but as I and "Robtschick" in the above thread mention I have no additional cards installed - the VGA & DVI are both onboard. I also tried adding a graphics card but just got 3 long and 3 short beeps - or the other way around, I can't remember now.

Someone else must have had this issue .... and someone must know how to fix it. The HP update broke it in the first place.

[Lil_Boy_Blue]

3.3 seems to fit your description exactly.

How to Restart Your PC’s Graphics Drivers

To restart your graphics drivers, press Win+Ctrl+Shift+B on your keyboard.

[Julianx]

Hi - sorry for the delay, just gave up trying. So just tried this now and still no joy - nothing from the display. When I do the key combination below there is drive activity. I tried this on a working PC as well and also saw drive light activity but the display also briefley goes off and on again.

I've also connected the PC directly to my wifi hub via ethernet and then looked at the connected device list - it gets assigned an IP but RDP is not  enabled so I cannot connect to it. But it's obviously still booting to Windows.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Lil_Boy_Blue]

Hi

With those 2 additional bits of info,

I tried this on a working PC

 but RDP is not  enabled

I would try, Linux, either Mint or Lubuntu.

They have the option/ability to sometimes boot without "ACPI" and "APIC" etc.

Just may boot to a basic VGA screen.  F8 for a command line VGA screen in W10??

Also RDP is possible, I realise without clearing the first hurdle I am giving you false hope, like mentioning a 

"headless install" which I have done with a Raspberry Pi.

https://distrowatch.com/    has at least a hundred Linux versions to try.

If in doubt please ask.

[Julianx]

Hi - apologies its been a while. So I've tried this, various Linux distro's. The same result, the problem I see is that when the BIOS tried to update and it rebooted my PC it's screwed something up. So no amount of trying makes a difference - there's simply nothing be sent to the display. My monitor and other monitors tried just don't receive a signal when the PC is powered on and eventually just go into power save mode.

I've not really had time to troubleshoot this any further, but I'll be amazed if no one else has had this exact same issue. I'm not being funny but my PC is now useless because of an HP BIOS update.

[Lil_Boy_Blue]

Hi

So removing the HDD  into a caddy is dramatic but desperation says try anthing.

WinKey + B  (or V) I believe look for a backup copy of the bios on the hard drive, something like C:\SWSETUP\?????

I would look for and substitute an earlier version, renaming it if necessary.

So the repair just runs the amended version, as there seems to be nothing to lose.

A dead display I have had, and it was the CPU that had failed.