HP Envy 23 AIO: No Beep, Screen Blank, No USB

[WellConnected]

Same problem, here. I wonder since yours happened again if you had a faulty power adapter or bad ram. You didn't mention if you tested yours with known-working ones. 

Before I start shopping for a replacement mother board, I may explore those items first.

Regardless, this is irritating.

Thanks any one who has any input whether you had success or not. Every bit of knowledge may help me or others to follow.

[Altdel]

i tried a new power supply, cpu and ram with no joy. i did notice some of the pins on the cpu socket bent slightly.

[WellConnected]

Same computer. Same problems / symptoms.

I replaced the logic board with a used one for around $325 and am up and running again. In removing the old one and installing the new board, be careful handling the processor.

Good luck.

[PhoenixForce]

I recently helped a friend of mine repair their 23-c210xt with this issue.  Machine would power on, CD rom would read, you could hear the fan, but nothing would appear on-screen.  She mentioned this seemed to coincide with updating to Windows 10.  I tried several suggested fixes including:

-Removing the CMOS/BIOS battery for extended periods of time

-Changing CMOS/BIOS jumpers to clear settings

-Downloading, extracting the latest bios and putting it on a USB and then using Windows Key +B and Ctrl + Home key to do a Bios recovery

None of these worked.  What did work was re-flashing the bios using the SPI header on the motherboard.  Self corrupting BIOS seems to be a feature of these HP machines after a few years.  Below is the method I used to write the bios via the SPI header...

Hardware/Software Required:

Arduino Uno R3

Ubuntu Linux latest 

8 Pin Header (just butchered a front panel Audio hookup from an extra case I had laying around).

The latest BIOS for your device downloaded and extracted so you can see the .rom file.

The following guide basically details the rest of the process to install the needed libraries in linux, connect the arduino to the motherboard and flash the chip.  http://tomvanveen.eu/flashing-bios-chip-arduino/

One specific thing to keep in mind for this model, is that HP de-standardized the SPI header so I could not use the standard SPI header layout.  I used the one shown in this image to wire up the Arduino to the header.

It does take about 10-15 minutes to flash the bios via this method.

Some learnings I have taken away that I would do differently...

-backup the existing rom if it can be read from the motherboard.

-Once the bios is restored and if you can boot into Windows, get a tool to figure out what the product key is...

After restoring the bios, I wiped out all the partitions on the hard drive and reinstalled Windows 10 without thinking about the product key because they are normally stored in BIOS these days...it seems either the original corruption wiped out the key in the BIOS, or some part of this process wipes it out.  Either way I cannot activate the fresh install of Windows 10... so sort of kicking myself for not retrieving it prior to fresh install and for not backing up the original bios.

I'll likely have to come up with a new product key to activate seeing as I expect HP to be about as helpful / forthcoming with providing me the original as they are in providing documentation and access to the tools they use to fix this when you send it in for service.

[0XiDE]

For some reason my original post was deleted. Here it is if anyone still needs it:

After half a week of trying, I've finally got the system up and running again!

After countless hours of googling, piecing information together and nail-biting experimentation, I was able to successfully flash the latest BIOS using a similar method to PhoenixForce. Here's exactly what I did:

What I tried:

- Removing CMOS battery overnight

- Changed CMOS reset jumper as per instructions around 35-40 times (left overnight to dissipate charge)

None of these solutions worked, so I went with drastic measures and attempted a BIOS reflash using the ROM_RECOVERY SPI header. The following is what worked for me, however YMMV - attempt at your own risk and only as a last resort.

Hardware required:

- A broken HP system (ours is a HP ENVY 23-d113a TouchSmart All-in-One Desktop PC)

- Arduino Uno R3 (I used a Freetronics Eleven R3)

- Jumper leads to attach to the Arduino and SPI header like these

- A working PC

Software:

- Ubuntu Linux latest

- VirtualBox

- Download the latest BIOS for your PC by googling HP drivers and your PC model (eg. v8.17 for me) and after double clicking the exe, find the extracted .ROM file (usually under c:\SWSetup\ )and copy to a USB

Steps:

1. On working system, install Ubuntu through VirtualBox using this guide BUT also install USB drivers where it says not to!

2. Close Ubuntu down and go to the USB settings in VirtualBox

3. Connect the Arduino via USB

3. Check Enable USB Controller, select the speed of your USB port (1.0,2.0 or 3.0) and Add a new USB filter for the connected Arduino

4. Start Ubuntu

5. To get the necessary software (flashrom, frser-duino) required for flashing the new bios, press the top icon on the taskbar, type "Terminal" and click the Terminal icon

6. Type "sudo apt-get install flashrom gcc-avr binutils-avr gdb-avr avr-libc avrdude git" without quotations and press enter

7. Type "git clone --recursive git://github.com/urjaman/frser-duino" without quotations and press enter

8. Type "ls -l /dev/ttyACM*" (without quotation marks, press enter) to check your Arduino is connected

9. Type "sudo usermod -a -G dialout <your username>" to add yourself to the dialout group

10. Reboot/logout from Ubuntu

11. When restarted or logged back in, open up Terminal again

12. Type "cd frser-duino" (without quotes/press enter)

13. Type "make u2 && make flash-u2" (as above) to write the program to your Arduino and close terminal once complete

14. On your HP, unplug power cord and remove the backplate

15. Remove the casing above where the memory/CMOS battery and jumpers sit

16. Remove your CMOS battery and place it to the side

17. Use a screwdriver to remove the 5 screws holding the metal casing above the motherboard and remove casing

18. Locate the ROM_RECOVERY header. It looks like this:

19. Remove the jumper connecting SPI_CS# and SPI_CS# and put it aside

20. If there's a jumper directly above the ROM_RECOVERY header, shift it to the right hand pins (closest to the SPI_CS# headers). Not sure what this does, but it worked for me.

21. The fun stuff. Connecting the Arduino. First, unplug the Arduino USB

22. Connect the arduino and ROM_RECOVERY SPI header:

Connect Arduino Pin 10 --> the BOTTOM SPI_CS# (ie. NOT the one next to SPI_MOSI)

Connect Arduino Pin 11 --> SPI_MOSI

Connect Arduino Pin 12 --> SPI_MISO

Connect Arduino Pin 13 --> SPI_CLK

Connect Arduino GND --> GND

Connect Arduino 5V* --> 3VSB

*Originally I tried connecting Arduino 3.3V --> 3VSB, however erasing/writing to the BIOS would fail every single time. As soon as I switched to 5V as a last ditch effort, it worked for me. YMMV.

23. Plug your Arduino back into the working PC

24. To create a copy of your old BIOS file, open Terminal and type "flashrom -p serprog:dev=/dev/ttyACM0:115200 -r old.ROM"

25. If all is correct, you should see your BIOS chip detected (my Spansion S25FL064K was detected as a Winbond W25Q64.V) and the process will start. sit tight until it's complete.

26. To write the latest HP BIOS, copy the *.ROM file downloaded and extracted onto the working PC to the Home folder in Ubuntu and rename to "new.ROM"

27. In Terminal, type "flashrom -p serprog:dev=/dev/ttyACM0:115200 -w new.ROM"

28. Bite nails for 15-20 mins

29. Wait for the verification to complete - the lights on my Arduino stopped flashing during verification so I actually pulled the USB out here. Probably don't do that - only if you have to.

30. Unplug the Arduino from USB and ROM_RECOVERY headers. Put jumper back over SPI_CS# headers and move other jumper back to left hand side.

31. Reinsert CMOS battery

32. Plug power back in and press ON button

33. System should start and then restart quickly. Let it do it's thing.

34. CELEBRATE!

35. When booted into windows, update BIOS the official way (run the exe file)

36. Leave system on for around 30-60 minutes.

I used these excellent resources in order of usefulness:

- http://systats.or8.net/hpspi/

- http://tomvanveen.eu/flashing-bios-chip-arduino/

- http://www.informaticanapoli.it/hp-envy-23-touchsmart-non-si-accende/

And of course a massive thanks to PhoenixForce who kickstarted the whole idea.

Good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to post them here.

[Windjamer]

OXIDE (and all) -

Thank You very much for all the time you have spent to help others with this.   Your instructions are great and i think they may be for a ENVY 20 motherboard possibly?

i'm having this same exact issue with my HP ENVY 23 (23-DO27c).   I got have a Uno R3 and was about to connect it to the motherboard - but mine doesn't look quite like yours.

I do see the ROM_RECOVERY header -- but I don't have any of the other headers (GNU, SPI_CLK, 3VSB, SPI_MISO,  SPI_MOSI, SPI_CS#, and SPI_CS#).    Maybee those headers don't exist on mine - but mine appers to be a very simlar chipset - just positioned differently.

So in this image (for my HP ENVY 23 board) I think that it may be upside down and sideways:

• The 3 pin set over from ROM_RECOVERY has the blue pin
• If mine is like yours - my 7 pin would also have:
  • SPI_CS# and SPI_CS#    (looks like I should take out jumper, but Connect Arduino Pin 10 on the right pin
  • SPI-MOSI (looks like I should Connect Arduino Pin 11)
  • SPI-MISO  (Connect Arduino Pin 12) and SVSB  (Connect Arduino 5V) 
  • SPI_CLK (Connect Arduino Pin 13) and  GND (Arduino GND)

Does that seem right?   It seems common sense and very liikely - but I didn't want to assume.  Did your board actually have headers for the specific pins?

Thanks for all the help. 

~ Marcus

[UpNorth2]

Thanks to all the great information above I just restored a HP ENVY 23-d160qd.  I had tried all other suggestions, but it required reflashing the BIOS.  I will try to write up a bit more later, but noticed that Windjammer had a question. 

Looking at your picture, first move the blue jumper so that it shorts the top two pins rather that the bottom two, then ignore those pins for the rest of the discussion.  Now turn your picture upside down and it will match the drawing "ROM_RECOVERY" above.  Your seven pins will match the seven pins in the drawing: GND = upper left pin, SPI_CLK = upper right pin, 3VSB directly below GND, SPI_MOSI is on a row by itself.  You will need to remove the black jumper shorting the two SPI_CS# pins together and attach pin 10 to the lower left one.

Hope this helps.

[spez86]

---

@UpNorth2 wrote:

Thanks to all the great information above I just restored a HP ENVY 23-d160qd.  I had tried all other suggestions, but it required reflashing the BIOS.  I will try to write up a bit more later, but noticed that Windjammer had a question. 

Looking at your picture, first move the blue jumper so that it shorts the top two pins rather that the bottom two, then ignore those pins for the rest of the discussion.  Now turn your picture upside down and it will match the drawing "ROM_RECOVERY" above.  Your seven pins will match the seven pins in the drawing: GND = upper left pin, SPI_CLK = upper right pin, 3VSB directly below GND, SPI_MOSI is on a row by itself.  You will need to remove the black jumper shorting the two SPI_CS# pins together and attach pin 10 to the lower left one.

Hope this helps.

---

Any chance you might have that write up for the d160qd? Just got one in and it's exhibiting similar symptoms. Fans spin, no video, no beeps, no boot. Customer says he was updating to Win10, the update failed, the machine restarted and hasn't showed an image since.

[UpNorth2]

With many thanks to OXiDE and PhoenixForce I was able to revive my dead Envy 23-d160qd.  The procedure above written by OXiDE was well written and easy to follow.

I do not have an Arduino, but I do have a Raspberry pi and used that for the recovery.  The purpose here is to document that you can be successful with a Raspberry pi, with a few modifications to the procedure above.

The same basic program (flashrom) is used to flash from the Raspberry pi.

Login to your pi and download the latest version of flashrom from https://www.flashrom.org/Downloads Then extract the source and run “make” and “make install” from the extracted directory.  I had to also install libpci-dev as a dependency. 

Once flashrom is installed on your pi then make the following connections:

Raspberry pi			    Connect to 
Pin number    Function              ROM_RECOVERY pin
-----------   ------------          ----------------
6             Ground                GND
23            GPIO11 (CLK)          SPI_CLK
1             3.3V                  3VSB
21            GPIO09 (SPI0_MISO)    SPI_MISO
19            GPIO10 (SPI0_MOSI)    SPI_MOSI
24            GPIO08 (CE0)          SPI_CS#

To read the existing rom use the command:

    sudo flashrom -V -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0 –r old.ROM

To write the rom file Envy.ROM use the command:

    sudo flashrom -V -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0 –w Envy.ROM

I relied heavily on the information at: http://www.win-raid.com/t58f16-Guide-Recover-from-failed-BIOS-flash-using-Raspberry-PI.html  I did not use the resistors and capacitor listed on that site, it worked connecting directly from the Rasberry pi to the dead Envy, it is safer to use the resistors and capacitor, but it did work without. 

At one point I had a bad connection and during the troubleshooting I used +5 volts rather than the +3.3, much as OXiDE did, at that point in the troubleshooting, it did not help, but I did not go back.  Unfortunately I cannot say for sure that the +3.3 will work (it should) but I did not prove it.

Again, thanks to the contributors above.

[Underwater_Man]

So I followed these directions, everything looks good, and then it just stops working altogether.  The Transmit light flashes but the receive light stops doing anything.  It finds the chip most times, and identfies it, can start reading from it, but it never completes.  Using the most verbose mode, it's working, and then suddenly nothing.

I have tried with two different laptops, and both of them stop mid receive, mid flash, etc.  I am using an Arduino Uno, and 6 inch jumpers.  Any ideas?  Are the jumpers too long?