HP 840 G4 boot stuck at "Sure Start" Logo Screen, Cannot enter setup (F10) or Boot Menu (F9)

[mcjw]

I am trying to boot to a USB on an Elitebook 840 G4.  When I press the power button, it almost immediatley freezes at the Logo screen during boot up.  Nothing works Esc,F10,F9, etc. (I begin pressing as soon as I turn it on)  

I then have to unplug everything, remove the back, remove the battery and disconnect the BIOS battery.  I then re-connect the power supply and enter setup (F10).  I have tried resetting BIOS to factory, disabling Secure boot, changing Sure Start to manual. 

After each try I reconnect the System battery, then reinstall the Laptop battery and replace the cover.  I then restart, log onto the laptop ok.  However, when I shut down again I am right back where I started and it freezes at the "HP Protected by HP Sure Start logo."  I have been through the same process about 4 times now.  Any suggestions?

[edtechtk]

Did you every find a fix for this? Working with the same problemn and I can't get past this with anything. 

[mac87]

Hello together,

i'm encountering the same problem

either the HP Sure Start Logo appears for 10 seconds than i could have accessed the BIOS

or it stuck there for about 1-2 minutes and then is switching directly to windows logon

i have here 7 HP EliteBooks 850 G4 with the identical problem yesterday delivered from HP - so brand new ...

any suggestions - and to be honest someone got a way to get rid of HP Sure Start? i would accept the risk when the stability is back 😉

greetings from austria

mac

[mac87]

after some searching i think i have found a solution (not a solution to get rid of Sure Start but a SpeedUp and the possiblity to access BIOS anytime again):

i have choosen "Update System BIOS" after accessing the BIOS (finally) and he has offered me an important rollback from Version 1.05 to Version 1.03, so i have done it - now it seems to be working again properly.

But: now he is again offering me a Update to 1.05, it would be nice to know (from HP Support Staff) if i should stay on 1.03 or if the reinstallation of 1.05 is the solution 😉

[JoshMe]

We came to the same conclusion.  Downgraded from 1.05 to 1.03 and all was well.  Agree that it would be nice to hear from HP on the issue.

[ChiSox1906]

Has anyone found another solution to this issue? I am experiencing the exact same thing on BIOS v1.03 and 1.05.

Side note - Downloading the BIOS Media creation tool and selecting to make a flashdrive doesn't work properly. You still have to manually go into the flashdrive and copy the .bin file over to the "NEW" folder for the other computer to recogize it. This seems like a huge oversight...

[QuanIT]

We have 160 HP Elitebook 850 G4 and are experiencing the same issue.

We have tried downgrading, upgrading to 1.05

There is a 1.06 that is new, we are trying that out.

This usually happens after imaging a hard drive.  But it never happened before in any other laptops.  So I think this is an HP problem.  They need to fix this Sure Start.

[ChiSox1906]

Hello!

I actually believe I found the solution to this problem. You are correct that it only appears to happen after imaging, and only on computers with the new SecureStart feature. I was able to fix it on all three computers where it occured using the following steps.

From what I can tell the issue stems from SureStart not being compatible with images that were created while "SecureBoot" is disabled within the BIOS. On all the computers I had SecureBoot disabled and Legacy Support enabled so I could boot into a PE for imaging.

1) Open up the computer

***If the 850 is like the 840s, then beware because they hid a screw under the SD card slot

2) Disconnect the CMOS Battery, battery, and AC Adapter. 

***The unit should now POST/boot with just the AC Adapter attached

3) Press escape at startup to trigger boot options

4) Press F10 to enter the BIOS

5) Re-enable SecureBoot & disable Legacy Support (You can accomplish this also by setting the BIOS back to defaults)

6) Reatch the CMOS battery

7) Put the computer back together and you should be good to go!

The above worked for me everytime in two seperate BIOS versions.

[JoshMe]

I have a couple that I have upgraded to 1.06.  They work fine.  These were ones that were previously downgraded from 1.05.

[ChiSox1906]

That is very good to know that they fixed that. It looks like 1.06 only came out for the 840 on July 27th, so it wasn't a possible fix for me at the time. I'll make sure to update the BIOS before imaging going forward. Thanks!