BIOS borked on HP tower - can't fix

ic1male · 6 Feb 2017 at 01:30

It's a HP 280 G1 tower. The BIOS update and verification went fine but on restart I got 8 beeps which apparently means BIOS fail. Everything powers on but not the display or keyboard.

There are steps to follow on HP's website but they require holding down Win + B to start BIOS recovery. This is a problem because the keyboard is not powering up! It's a basic HP USB one. It works fine in my laptop. There are no PS/2 ports on this computer to try as an alternative.

I've tried taking the CMOS battery out, resetting CMOS with the jumpers but still get 8 beeps. What the hell am I supposed to do now? It's an old Haswell system out of warranty but I've only had it a day. I don't think the person who gave it to me will be pleased to hear I've borked it already. It's the first time in 30 years of computer ownership that I've had a BIOS update go wrong.

I have ordered a second USB keyboard from OcUK but I don't hold much hope of it powering on during POST either.

ANDARIAL · 10 Feb 2017 at 18:30

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/...357746&docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-c03101724
BUT you need a working keyboard .Hopefully a new keyboard will help you

ic1male · 10 Feb 2017 at 18:32

Thanks but I have consigned it to the virtual scrapyard. I've tried three keyboards and none of them trigger the BIOS rescue from the HDD or a USB drive. The PC is well and truly [bleeped].

ron3003 · 10 Feb 2017 at 18:53

Try one of these in it, cheap but takes a couple of weeks from China. I've used one successfully before, it might just dig you out of a hole
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Ports-P...694710?hash=item25c201e7b6:g:F5gAAOSwQTVV-txu

ic1male · 10 Feb 2017 at 18:58

I've just bought and tried a PS/2 to USB adapter. It must have worked as the lights on the keyboard flash on immediate power on but nothing else happens. There was a chap on here who had identical problems to me and he said a speck of dust had got on to one of the CPU pins. Maybe the same thing has happened here.

When I took the CMOS battery out and put it back in, the computer beeps 8 times which indicates a BIOS problem. So I switch it off and switch it on again. This time there are no beeps. But nothing on the display. So maybe there is dust on the pin(s) from the i3 which control the display. I haven't got a PCI Express graphics card to try as an alternative.

I will have to take it all apart and see but I'm not in the mood to do so currently as I have a Core 2 Duo system which will do me for now.