HP Pavilion 15 bc400ns - Complete Black Screen - Only video on live usb

[iZakre]

Hello everybody!

To put you in context I recently replaced the battery from my HP Pavilion 15 bc400ns with a used one, everything was going good. The same day, I decided to update the BIOS, everything went good. The thing occurred after I let the battery drain iddling on Windows 11 for the second time to calibrate it that the screen did not turn on again, the computer was on but the screen did not turn, like it would not wake from hibernation. I decided to restart the computer but got no video.

The thing is that I had installed TeamViewer and could log into the computer and checked that windows was not recognising the screen but everything was working properly. I also successfuly connected the laptop to a external monitor on Windows. I was afraid that the battery replacement had someone damaged the screen and it was broken so I looked up the internet for solution and I did the following:

1. Hard reset: Disconnected the interal battery, pressed the power on for a few seconds, plug it and turn it on without it.
2. Tried to start without RAM. Tried every possible combination of RAM sticks (RAM 1 in slot 1 alone, RAM 1 in slot 2 alone, RAM 2 in slot 1 alone, ...)
3. Removed hard drive and M.2
4. Removed the internal screen cable from the motherboard and tried to get video from BIOS from external display. Nothing.

After that I decided to try and boot an external USB because windows was no longer booting, I had messed up the boot order maybe idk. So I decided to install in a usb some OS without success until I tried with Ubuntu 22.10. The screen was working again! The thing is, it just works when it has already booted the system and until then, I don't see neither the BIOS post nor the loadings. That relieves me because as I see it, it is related 100% with the BIOS not detecting properly the GPU or the screen, so now I did the following:

1. Removed the RTC battery for 5 minutes
2. Tried to install again the latest BIOS from HP using a USB. I had no video but the log apparently says that it was installed successfuly, although I'm not very sure:
   

   2017-01-01 00:15:32 EFI HP BIOS Update 3.9.4.1 Started
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 [L]> System ID: 84F7
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 Failed Loading EFI_HP_BIOS_IMAGE_INTERFACE_PROTOCOL2_GUID(Not Found)
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 HP BIOS Image Interface Protocol Version 2.0
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 [L]> EFI_HP_BATTERY_CONTROL_PROTOCOL_2010 is present.
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 Type 11 1 tables
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 Type (000000000000000Bh), Len (0000000000000005h), Handle (000000000000000Ch), String count (000000000000000Dh)
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 HPBATDET: Environment Variable not found.
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 BATDET: Date 5//30//2018 
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 BATDET: 0
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 [L]> BATDET: HP
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 [L]> Found 1 Absolute Pointer Protocol(s)
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 [L]> 0 UART device path node found.
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 All Required Protocols Located
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 Load Options Blank
   2017-01-01 00:15:33 WRITE_BB = 0
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Current Directory = \hp\BIOSUpdate\
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 [L]> System ID: 84F7
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 SMBIOS Init Success
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 SystemFamily = 2
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 [L]> PlatformLang reported as en-US.
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 [L]> Language Selected is currently (eng).
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Starting BIOS Update Process
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Setting BIOS Update Token
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Getting BIOS Detail Information
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 IsBiosSixDigits = 0
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 BIOS Returned BiosID '084F7'
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 QueryImageDetail: 4K Block Size detected.
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Skip Addresses:
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Entry 0: Address 0x0: Size: 0x275000
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Entry 1: Address 0x520000: Size: 0x1000
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Entry 2: Address 0x626000: Size: 0x1DA000
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Loading BIOS Image
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 File name constructed: HP\BIOS\New\084F7.bin
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Reading New BIOS Image HP\BIOS\New\084F7.bin
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Getting BIOS version from file image
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Bios Version = F.34
   2017-01-01 00:15:34 Verifying AC or Battery Power Status
   2017-01-01 00:15:49 Verifying Binary match
   2017-01-01 00:15:49 Loading Signature File
   2017-01-01 00:15:50 Loading Password File if required
   2017-01-01 00:15:50 BIOS Password not required.
   2017-01-01 00:15:50 Writing BIOS Image
   2017-01-01 00:16:45 Verifying Written BIOS Image
   2017-01-01 00:16:45 VerifyImage: 4K Block Size detected.
   2017-01-01 00:16:45 Skipping Verification Block 0 Address 0x0000000000000000 Size 0x0000000000275000
   2017-01-01 00:16:45 Next BlockIndex 629, BlockAddress = 0x0000000000275000
   2017-01-01 00:16:49 Skipping Verification Block 1312 Address 0x0000000000520000 Size 0x0000000000001000
   2017-01-01 00:16:50 Next BlockIndex 1313, BlockAddress = 0x0000000000521000
   2017-01-01 00:16:51 Skipping Verification Block 1574 Address 0x0000000000626000 Size 0x00000000001DA000
   2017-01-01 00:16:51 Next BlockIndex 2048, BlockAddress = 0x0000000000800000
   2017-01-01 00:16:51 Updating BIOS files
   2017-01-01 00:16:51 File name constructed: HP\BIOS\Current\084F7.bin
   2017-01-01 00:16:52 File name constructed: HP\BIOS\Previous\084F7.bin
   2017-01-01 00:16:54 File name constructed: HP\BIOS\Current\084F7.sig
   2017-01-01 00:16:54 File name constructed: HP\BIOS\Previous\084F7.sig
   2017-01-01 00:16:54 File name constructed: HP\BIOS\Current\084F7.s12
   2017-01-01 00:16:54 Read file HP\BIOS\Current\084F7.s12 failed (Not Found)
   2017-01-01 00:16:54 index 0, updating native current path...
   2017-01-01 00:16:54 File name constructed: EFI\HP\BIOS\Current\084F7.bin
   2017-01-01 00:16:56 File name constructed: EFI\HP\BIOS\Current\084F7.sig
   2017-01-01 00:16:56 index 0, updating legacy current path...
   2017-01-01 00:16:56 File name constructed: Hewlett-Packard\BIOS\Current\084F7.bin
   2017-01-01 00:16:58 File name constructed: Hewlett-Packard\BIOS\Current\084F7.sig
   2017-01-01 00:16:58 index 0, updating legacy current path...
   2017-01-01 00:16:58 File name constructed: HP\BIOS\Current\084F7.bin
   2017-01-01 00:17:00 File name constructed: HP\BIOS\Current\084F7.sig
   2017-01-01 00:17:02 EfiBiosUpdateLibEntry(): Result is 0x0
   2017-01-01 00:17:02 Setting Flash Completion Status
   2017-01-01 00:17:02 BIOS Update Process Complete
   2017-01-01 00:17:02 BIOS Update Successful

3. Also tried to install a previous BIOS version without success, it seems like there are some signatures missing. I think I read that it is because I'm trying to rollback:
   

   2017-01-01 00:26:12 EFI HP BIOS Update 3.9.0.0 Started
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 [L]> System ID: 84F7
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 HP BIOS Image Interface Protocol Version 2.0
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 [L]> EFI_HP_BATTERY_CONTROL_PROTOCOL_2010 is present.
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 Type 11 1 tables
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 Type (000000000000000Bh), Len (0000000000000005h), Handle (000000000000000Ch), String count (000000000000000Dh)
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 HPBATDET: Environment Variable not found.
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 BATDET: Date 5//30//2018 
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 BATDET: 0
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 [L]> BATDET: HP
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 [L]> Found 1 Absolute Pointer Protocol(s)
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 [L]> 0 UART device path node found.
   2017-01-01 00:26:13 All Required Protocols Located
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Load Options Blank
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 WRITE_BB = 0
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Current Directory = \hp\BIOSUpdate\
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 [L]> System ID: 84F7
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 SMBIOS Init Success
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 SystemFamily = 2
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 [L]> PlatformLang reported as en-US.
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 [L]> Language Selected is currently (eng).
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Starting BIOS Update Process
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Setting BIOS Update Token
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Getting BIOS Detail Information
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 IsBiosSixDigits = 0
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 BIOS Returned BiosID '084F7'
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Skip Addresses:
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Entry 0: Address 0x0: Size: 0x275000
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Entry 1: Address 0x520000: Size: 0x1000
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Entry 2: Address 0x626000: Size: 0x1DA000
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Loading BIOS Image
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 File name constructed: HP\BIOS\New\084F7.bin
   2017-01-01 00:26:14 Reading New BIOS Image HP\BIOS\New\084F7.bin
   2017-01-01 00:26:15 Getting BIOS version from file image
   2017-01-01 00:26:15 Bios Version = F.30
   2017-01-01 00:26:15 Verifying AC or Battery Power Status
   2017-01-01 00:26:30 Verifying Binary match
   2017-01-01 00:26:30 Loading Signature File
   2017-01-01 00:26:30 Failed Reading BIOS Signature File HP\BIOS\New\084F7.s12
   2017-01-01 00:26:30  New Bios Verify Signature Return Result not handled (Not Found)
   2017-01-01 00:26:30 Verify Image signature: Bios Verify Signature Not Succeed (Not Found)
   2017-01-01 00:26:30 EfiBiosUpdateLibEntry(): Result is 0x3
   2017-01-01 00:26:30 Setting Flash Completion Status
   2017-01-01 00:26:30 BIOS Update Process Complete

And I am stuck here, because I couldn't find any more information in the internet but this forum and people in Youtube reprogramming the BIOS physically.

What do you think I should do? The computer is working properly in usb Ubuntu but I cannot see anything from the display nor external display until Ubuntu is running, not BIOS, not any boot details.

Sorry for my poor text abilities and English.

Thanks in advance,
iZakre.


Edit: Here is a dump from dmidecode that could be useful. I think I removed all the serial numbers for privacity, if not let me now please. https://privatebin.net/?7a95c37af31f...4QJKFgDq7aDPyg I put it there because of length limitations. I may be wrong but this part seems odd:

Handle 0x000F, DMI type 41, 11 bytes
Onboard Device
	Reference Designation: Onboard IGD
	Type: Video
	Status: Disabled
	Type Instance: 1
	Bus Address: 0000:00:02.0

It is not saying that the integrated graphic card is disabled?

[iZakre]

Re: HP Pavilion 15 bc400ns - Complete Black Screen - Only video on live usb

Just for the record. One or two days after publishing this I decided to just install Fedora and keep using my laptop without having access to bios and so on. After a long night copying files to my other compute, the next they after rebooting to Fedora's live usb I found that the problem was solved. I had again video from the BIOS as if nothing had happened.