Laptop BIOS Issue?
Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2013 10:37 am
Hey all. I hope I posted this in the right spot. If not, feel free to move it, friendly-neighborhood-moderator.
I've got a friend that came to me with some wonky laptop issues. The laptop is ~3 years old, out of warranty HP with Windows 7 64-bit, an AMD processor, and 4 GB of RAM.
The laptop will load to the screen that allows you to press F2 to enter BIOS or F12 to enter Boot Options, and then immediately reboot itself in an endless cycle. However, pressing Enter on this page will allow it to boot.
Once booted, there are other weird anomalies. For example, in the Start Menu, there is no option to shut down or restart. The only option is Log Off. Also, the mouse gets weird allowing you not to click or right click or type any characters. But hitting either Ctrl key will fix this issue for 2-3 minutes. (I tried hitting both Ctrl keys firmly several times to unstick them if one was stuck.)
I tried to enter the BIOS, but pressing F2 at the appropriate time causes the computer to crash and restart. I tried this perhaps twenty times, trying to hit the Ctrl key several times first, trying the Delete key, different combinations, etc. No luck. I tried using a USB keyboard, no chance. Before using the USB keyboard, I tried uninstalling all the keyboards in the device manager so the USB keyboard is the only option. However, the primary laptop keyboard continued to work.
I thought I'd cut to the chase by reformatting the hard drive. I backed up all my friend's files to an external, then inserted an OEM Windows 7 install disc. However, the computer instantly crashes when I press F12 to enter the boot menu. The only way out of that loop of constantly restarting is to press Enter, which causes Windows to load, at which point it is too late to reinstall Windows.
I've never heard of a computer issue that allows you to load an OS but keeps you from entering BIOS. By definition, that means it is a hardware issue? Is it an issue with the keyboard? The motherboard? The drivers/firmware for the mouse/keyboard? Something wrong with the OS?
I'm at my wit's end. Any help would be really appreciated.
I've got a friend that came to me with some wonky laptop issues. The laptop is ~3 years old, out of warranty HP with Windows 7 64-bit, an AMD processor, and 4 GB of RAM.
The laptop will load to the screen that allows you to press F2 to enter BIOS or F12 to enter Boot Options, and then immediately reboot itself in an endless cycle. However, pressing Enter on this page will allow it to boot.
Once booted, there are other weird anomalies. For example, in the Start Menu, there is no option to shut down or restart. The only option is Log Off. Also, the mouse gets weird allowing you not to click or right click or type any characters. But hitting either Ctrl key will fix this issue for 2-3 minutes. (I tried hitting both Ctrl keys firmly several times to unstick them if one was stuck.)
I tried to enter the BIOS, but pressing F2 at the appropriate time causes the computer to crash and restart. I tried this perhaps twenty times, trying to hit the Ctrl key several times first, trying the Delete key, different combinations, etc. No luck. I tried using a USB keyboard, no chance. Before using the USB keyboard, I tried uninstalling all the keyboards in the device manager so the USB keyboard is the only option. However, the primary laptop keyboard continued to work.
I thought I'd cut to the chase by reformatting the hard drive. I backed up all my friend's files to an external, then inserted an OEM Windows 7 install disc. However, the computer instantly crashes when I press F12 to enter the boot menu. The only way out of that loop of constantly restarting is to press Enter, which causes Windows to load, at which point it is too late to reinstall Windows.
I've never heard of a computer issue that allows you to load an OS but keeps you from entering BIOS. By definition, that means it is a hardware issue? Is it an issue with the keyboard? The motherboard? The drivers/firmware for the mouse/keyboard? Something wrong with the OS?
I'm at my wit's end. Any help would be really appreciated.