Windows 10: No BIOS Post and Blank Screen

I've got a Dell Inspiron One 2205 All-in-One computer that shows no signs of life except that it is receiving power. It was working fine one moment then, later on in the day when I started it again, nothing happened. When the power switch is pressed, it turns orange but that's all that happens and the monitor is completely blank. The CD tray is operable but no other signs of life appear. I removed the hard drive and connected it to a USB adapter - I couldn't see the drive in File Explorer on my other computer so I'm assuming it is dead. Would that alone cause the computer not to show anything on the monitor when started? I've ordered a replacement hard drive but I'm wondering if there could be other problems as well. It's about 10 years old and was running perfectly fine; I wondered whether the CMOS battery could be dead (but would that cause a blank screen?).

:)

 

Blank screen after Windows 10 update on 9/12/2017

I got the meaning of "hard shutdown".

FYI as stated in problem, the blank screen covered the (1) BIOS post screen and (2) Manufacture Logo screen and (3) Sign-in screen. I heard the Windows Start-up Sound.

In my case blank was blank.

What I left out of the original, is I tried a Recover Disk but due to blank screen I could not navigate it.

Again, thanks for your help.

 

Blank screen after Windows 10 update on 9/12/2017

Windows 10 applied 9/12/2017 updates to HP Pavilion dv7-6123cl Notebook, and the restart shows a blank screen.

When I power on the PC, the BIOS screen does not post (???), the wireless light comes on, and I hear the Startup Sound.

BUT, screen is blank.

Now and then the finger print reader flashes but the fingerprint reader that has been turned off for years, and have not had a problem in the past (going back to Windows 7).

How do I get beyond the BLANK SCREEN ?

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***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

 

• Short answer yes. With a dead CMOS battery the BIOS loses its settings so it would be very possible to get a blank screen. If it is a CMOS battery, change it and Load Optimized defaults in BIOS and see how that goes.

• It's also possible its a hard drive issue though you should at least get something on the screen telling you the system can't find a boot drive.

• There's also the possibility of a dead GPU. Here, as you noted, you wouldn't get anything at all. Simply a blank screen.

That said, are you absolutely sure there's nothing on the screen? No warnings, notices, or written text? If you have any text on the screen that's BIOS related, there's a good chance it's not a video card problem.

Unfortunately there are a few things that can cause your issue so you'll have to isolate first to see what's what. Checking the hard drive the way you did is a good start. You could also try installing another hard drive (if you've got one handy) to see what the system does.

Let us know.

 

Could try a ATX reset. unplug ALL devices including external hdd's, printers and any other USB devices and such as.

hold the power button down for 20 seconds and then connect ONLY the Power, Monitor cable KB and Mouse and nothing else and give it a try matey

 

For a normal desktop PC I would suspect a faulty PSU. When you press the PC on button there are handshaking signals between the PSU and motherboard which need to operate for the PC to power on. These signals rely on the proper operation of the +5V standby signal output by the PSU. I've had the exact symptoms you have which were caused by a PSU having a faulty +5V standby circuit. I had to replace the PSU to fix the problem. You can test normal PSUs using the 'paperclip test' but I don't know if this is possible with your all-in-one PC.

 

I've seen a CMOC/BIOS battery that has died to a dead short cause a situation like that. Removing it fixes the issue. You can boot a PC with no CMOS battery, and use it like that. All is fine until you reboot or shutdown. With no battery to save the settings the BIOS will just revert to defaults. Date and time will be off too. PC is still usable while you go get a new battery though. If you remove the battery and nothing changes you have other issues you need to sort out.

 

With that other drive in your second computer, open disk management and see what it shows. Might only be a corrupt file system.

 

Thank you all for your responses. I haven't gotten very far as I'm still waiting for the replacement hard drive to arrive. However, I can answer some of your questions and comments. Firstly, absolutely nothing appears on the screen - no cursor, no print, nothing - very odd to begin with! I tried the ATX reset but that resulted in no change. The All-in-One has a power connector similar to a laptop with no proper PSU. The computer is receiving power so I can't see the PSU as an issue. I haven't tried removing the CMOS battery yet as I thought it should still work with a dead or weak battery however, I will try the above suggestion if replacing the hard drive does not work. I'll also look at disk management with the old disk in my other computer. I'll keep you all posted.

 

Please update the system specs in the "My Computer" section:

How To Fill Out Your System Specs
System Specs - Fill in at Ten Forums:
System Specs - Fill in at Ten Forums General Tips Tutorials
In the left corner below in your post you find 'My System Specs'.
After clicking it you can find a link a little below that says 'Update your System Spec', click on this link to get to the page where you can fill in your system specs.
System Info - See Your System Specs - Windows 7 Help Forums


Include PSU. cooler, case, peripherals and anything attached to the computer by wired or wireless (mouse, keyboard, headset, printer, xbox, etc.)

 

A fully functional PC will boot to BIOS even with no hard drive installed. You'll get a no bootable device found (or similar) message with an option to enter setup.
A PC will normally Boot to BIOS even with a dead battery. It just loads the defaults on every boot. On rare occasions though, like if the battery has shorted out. The PC won't POST. It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen.

 

What sounds do you hear when the computer is turned on?
1) beep code?
2) fan?
3) drive spinning?
Run though these links especially the posting check list and report into the thread the findings:
No power or computer does not turn on
POST troubleshooting steps
Computer POST and beep codes

 

zbook, I hear a fan turn on, probably CPU fan but no beep codes or drive spinning. As I said previously, I believe the hard drive is dead because I took it out and connected to a USB adapter and tried to read it on my laptop. It wouldn't appear in File Explorer and I couldn't feel or hear the drive spinning. Also, the CD tray works and the power button is lit.

 

The drive not showing up when connected with a USB adapter doesn't necessarily mean its dead. It may not be getting enough power to run via the USB adapter. Does that adapter have a separate power supply? Does the drive show up in disk management? The drive has to be formatted and have a drive letter assigned for it to show up in file explorer. If its file system is corrupt it may not show up. You may also want to have a look in device manager to if the USB adapter is detected. Is it a full sized desktop drive or a slim small laptop drive? Spinner or SSD?

 

alphanumeric, the drive is a full-sized desktop drive. The USB adapter has 2 usb connectors to plug into the laptop; the drive does not show up in disk management when connected by USB. I'll have to check whether Device Manager shows the USB connected. In the meantime, I've changed the CMOS battery but it did not cause any change to the computer. It's looking more and more like a motherboard or graphics problem but we shall see.