Power on results in blank screen w/ blinking cursor upper left; no response to kybd/touch pad

[aging_geek]

Product number WQ799UA#ABA.

Helping a friend with this old laptop from 2010, as she can't afford to pay a tech. 

Problem:

On power up, after the setup key message disappears (immediately), display is black with a blinking underscore cursor in upper left.  Keyboard or touch pad input is ineffective.

Attempted fix:

I finally got into the setup menu, got into system diagnostics; ran system tests. Memory and HDD checked okay, as did the Start-up test and the Run-in test.  Battery is fully charged, notebook is on power cable.

Still in system diagnostics, I went to BIOS management, decided to roll back BIOS to previous version. to no effect. Then I tried to update the BIOS again to current, and got a message "failed reading BIOS image file".

On a working computer, I went to HP Support, found instructions to create a USB flash drive copy of BIOS for the sick laptop.  Unfortunately, the process didn't work as the support page described, and the laptop couldn't update BIOS.

I keep thinking this is a BIOS problem (if it wasn't before, it probably is now).  How can I create a usable flash drive copy of BIOS for this old laptop and breathe life into its systems for a little longer?  Or is there some other issue that causes this behavior? 

Thanks for reading this loooong description!  And for any help anyone can give!

[asmita6658]

Hi @aging_geek

Welcome to the HP Support Community. I'd be happy to assist you with the black screen issue. 

I'd suggest you download the BIOS from this link for Win 7(64-bit). 

Try these steps - "Recover the BIOS using a USB recovery drive" from this document.  

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Have a great day! 

[aging_geek]

Hi, Asmita,

The reason I posted my question was that I had already tried your suggested solution and it didn't work for me. I had been to both the pages you linked me to.

A. I didn't know which BIOS file to download, so I chose one.

B.  My flash drive has two partitions, one for some included software. I didn't know where the file was supposed to go, so I put it in the root directory of the data partition.

C.  I followed the instructions, holding down the Windows and B keys while I pressed the power button for 2-3 seconds.  the PC went thru the BIOS recovery process, but it didn't solve the problem.  I assumed it had just used the resident - and probably corrupted - BIOS file.  I repeated the process later, using another BIOS file from the download page, and a new unused flash drive.  I also tried again to roll back the BIOS, and tried updating it as well.  All failed.  I'm concerned I've further damaged the PC and may have made any recovery impossible.

 How does the laptop know to use the BIOS files on the USB drive instead of the recovery version that resides on the laptop????

Are there any other ideas to get this poor old laptop going again, if only just long enough to copy some data files?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

[asmita6658]

@aging_geek

Thanks for replying. I'd suggest you Contact HP in your region regarding this issue. 

Have a great day!