No display (apart from BIOS, etc) - but can see the drives etc from another machine via the network

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PhilANZ

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#222738 26-Aug-2017 13:22

I've been blaming the Creators update for all my woes (not that major - changes to taskbar won't stick) but recently I have much more major issues - and last night I figured it mightbe HP to blame.
On 21st I did my first ever HP update using their in tool. It included a video driver. Suddenly realised that's about when these problems started.
At first it was just temporary glitches. Yesterday (Friday) I spent the whole day tryi ng to fix the display - mostly blank - but last night I managed to get it back and thought that was good. Did my weekly backup which was a relief (usally copy changed files most days between my machine and my wife's).
Then it failed again and I went to bed.
This morning nothing. I can get into the setup screens - and have reset the defauilt settings. But nothing when I try and start windows.
However, using the disk light (good) and my memory (not so good) as a guide I logged in. My wife can access my drive across the network fine. So my suspicion is that there is a problem with the video driver. I'd like to delete the drivers (there are two) and reisntall them. Problem is I can't see what I'm doing.
Does anyone have any clues to get me going again?
Thanks

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#1852961 26-Aug-2017 13:29

Tried an external monitor on it?

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sampler

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#1852972 26-Aug-2017 14:07

do you get anything like the spinning UEFI boot logo or any windows logo when booting? Does it "turn off/go blank" when you would expect it to get into where the login or desktop screens would be ?

PhilANZ

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#1852975 26-Aug-2017 14:17

it's a laptop - have tried my second monitor - although it's not normally set as a duplicate.

there is NO display on the screen at all - unless I F10 to setup, or Esc to a larger range of options - one of which is the setup.

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#1852987 26-Aug-2017 14:23

whats the model of laptop from the sticker on the bottom of the unit (might be in/under the battery area)

So your getting the prompt to press F10 (or whatever?) ... if not have a look in the bios (setup) for some kind of "slow" bios test or to turn off the "logo" etc, might be able to get it to show something before the operating system (w10) boots, If you still dont get some kind of pre windows loading screen it could be some kind of bios firmware issue related to the drivers you installed ?

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#1852988 26-Aug-2017 14:25

This link to HP's diagnostic instructions might help too ...

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/pc-diags.html?jumpid=va_r602_us/en/any/pps/pl_ot_ob_ds_pd/HP_PC_Hardware_Diagnostics_cc/dt

PhilANZ

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#1852997 26-Aug-2017 14:53

It's a Probook 470 G3.

No prompt - I just press F10 while it's still displaying the HP logo - before it starts Win.

I can check again - but of course shutting down and starting up without a display (except for the HP logo) is slow - waiting on disk light feeback - so hesitant at this stage.

The diagnotic instructions are great for a computer with a monitor 🙁

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#1853009 26-Aug-2017 14:58

Do you have a win10 DVD or usb stick?

sampler

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#1853016 26-Aug-2017 15:19

PhilANZ: The diagnotic instructions are great for a computer with a monitor 🙁

Sorry from what you have suggested the bios screens display ? so you should be able to get into the hardware diagnostics and complete the onboard tests?

pressing the Esc key should also let you into the main bios menu screen allowing you to get into the hardware tests etc.

Having said all that it does seem like your laptop is ok and it is in fact a Windows driver issue, however it would be great to confirm if you also have the latest version of your BIOS firmware running.
New firmware should be available here -> https://support.hp.com/nz-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-probook-470-g3-notebook-pc/7834620

You might also be able to use the Intel Consumer Management Engine (ME) to connect and get further information about the laptop from your other PC.

gzt

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#1853028 26-Aug-2017 15:49

Usually this occurs when the adaptor or monitor device refresh rate is set too high.

In any case getting into safe mode will automatically choose some safe settings so you can work on the issue.

Easiest way I can think of getting to safe mode on 10 is with a windows 10 DVD or usb key.

You can download the media creation tool from Microsoft to create a DVD or usb if you don't have one already, using your other pc then..

Neosmart:
1. Insert the disc in the optical drive
2. Reboot the system
3. Press any key to boot from the CD/DVD when prompted
4. Choose a keyboard layout (accept)
5. Click Repair your computer
6. Click Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings
7. Click Restart
The computer should restart with the Startup Settings screen automatically
8. Then F5 to boot into Safe Mode with Networking.

PhilANZ

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#1853039 26-Aug-2017 17:28

it came with both a Win10 and Wn 7 DVD.

The tests (ran yesterday) confirmed the memory and disk are OK. That's all - no display test.

The BIOS was a year old - I updated it today - quiite impressed - it did that (cabled to netowork) without starting up.

It seems like I'm about to try the original DVD. Shame it's not like my old OS (pre my stroke) - loved (by comaprison with other OS'es) OS/2. In the worst situation I'd run it without a shell and just use the command line. But it never got that bad - no wonder MS did all they could to destroy it. Of course these days I have to run what clients use - although if they run cloud systems it often doesn't need an OS (some still do).

Thanks for the help. I'll leave that on this old laptop I've resurrected for this, and try the original DVD.

gzt

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#1853094 26-Aug-2017 21:01

When you get in, enabling remote desktop could prove useful, if the problem happens to recur.

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PhilANZ

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#1853343 27-Aug-2017 17:57

Will take the laptop back tomorrow - juat hopw it won'r be too long. Thanks for the help with this never before seen problem.

Oblivian

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#1853498 27-Aug-2017 21:47

In all honesty, if it started after the driver update. Passes the video/ram tests and inside BIOS and such. Be prepared for them to simply factory restore it and you lose all your data/setup.

SW on HPs only come with a short warranty period, but the general rule is if it can be fixed by going back to factory image, or caused by incompatible hardware/drivers they don't cover it as a 'fault'

Best bet is to do the same as the other video issue threads and get it into VGA/Safe mode and downgrade them again. (possibly while blocking it from auto updating with show/hide driver update tool https://support.microsoft.com/en-nz/help/3073930/how-to-temporarily-prevent-a-driver-update-from-reinstalling-in-window https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/disable-automatic-driver-downloads-on-windows-10 )

Going black just after passing to boot is nearly always the video driver or Driver update phase being performed. With UEFI doing this using the advanced recovery boot option is easiest.

PhilANZ

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#1853704 28-Aug-2017 09:21

I'd love to be able to get into safe mode - but can't see anything to do that.

gzt

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#1853728 28-Aug-2017 09:28

Use dvd as below...

gzt: Usually this occurs when the adaptor or monitor device refresh rate is set too high.

In any case getting into safe mode will automatically choose some safe settings so you can work on the issue.

Easiest way I can think of getting to safe mode on 10 is with a windows 10 DVD or usb key.

You can download the media creation tool from Microsoft to create a DVD or usb if you don't have one already, using your other pc then..

Neosmart:
1. Insert the disc in the optical drive
2. Reboot the system
3. Press any key to boot from the CD/DVD when prompted
4. Choose a keyboard layout (accept)
5. Click Repair your computer
6. Click Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings
7. Click Restart
The computer should restart with the Startup Settings screen automatically
8. Then F5 to boot into Safe Mode with Networking.

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