Laptop - blank screen, can't access bios.

moggsy · 21 Aug 2015 at 22:36

In need dire of some pointers on this one guys.

Made a system image of my Win 7 Samsung NP350 V5C laptop in preparation for going over to Win 10, then decided to make a bootable USB recovery pen drive to restore the image if anything went wrong, as I don't have a CD/DVD drive in the lappy. I went into the bios to see if the option to boot up off USB was there which it wasn't (just the HDD) I looked in another sub-menu and noticed another USB option (can't remember exactly what it said now as it was several days ago.) I put that to the top and F10 & exit...BIG mistake!!

On reboot, I got nothing....just a totally blank screen! No problem I thought, I'll go back into the bios and revert to previous settings....WRONG!

I can't access the bios at all, nothing. F2, F10, delete, ESC, hold power button for 2 mins, remove battery etc etc....I've tried all the suggestions I've read after Googling the problem, all to no avail.

I thought pulling the cmos battery would reset the bios, but as I don't fancy working on laptops because of my kerrap eyesight, I tried the local repair guy, but he told me that they don't always have batteries on lappy mobo's now, and as he works on a 'no fix, no fee' basis and could spend hours & hours on the problem and still not get it sorted, back-heeled the job.

Just wondering if any guru's on here could offer me some possible remedies....or is it bricked?? :confused:

Thanks

ExRayTed · 21 Aug 2015 at 23:13

Not much help I know but have you tried this:

I'll suggest resetting the laptop if you haven't tried that route yet - with no power to the laptop (battery out, unplugged) press and hold power button for ~30 seconds or even resetting the CMOS clock (you'll need to get inside to do that) before flashing BIOS. from here?

moggsy · 22 Aug 2015 at 09:32

Thanks for the reply Ted

I've tried most of the 'generic' remedies suggested on other manufacturers sites/forums, including the 'battery out/hold power button' suggestions. I guess I'm looking to see if anyone knows if there actually is a cmos battery to pull on this lappy, or is it a soldered-on bios chip which is a whole new ball game. It sure now doesn't look like an easy fix.

Then it'll be finding someone who will fit either flash the bios chip (if it's at all possible) or <gulp> a new mobo!! :eek:

ExRayTed · 22 Aug 2015 at 09:42

Shame - thought you might have already tried it.

I sympathise. I hate working on laptops now for this very reason. I had a friend give me a Windows 8 laptop she simply wanted formatting and Windows 7 put on. Wow, what a PITA that was! Took ages to simply format the drive and once I did that it was searching for individual drivers via their hardware ID tag in device manager.

I can't help with your question I'm afraid but if it was me I'd be tempted to take it apart myself and look for one.

Tear-down