Question Black screen when trying to start UEFI BIOS

[crowbarska]

I have a problem: my PC will not boot Windows 10, and when I try to load UEFI BIOS I just get a black screen.

Display seems to be working OK (I can see the ASUS logo on startup) and keyboard works too.

I've reset the CMOS battery and I'm now prompted to run Setup again:

But when I press F1 the screen goes black and nothing displays.


Some background...

Every now and then my SSD fails to boot into Windows 10. I bought this PC pre-built but added the SSD myself, so maybe I did something wrong while installing it? I'm not sure, but it's been this way for about 3 years and fails intermittently. Recently it's worked fine. And UEFI BIOS has always worked whenever the SSD failed.

Anyway, I recently restarted my computer and my SSD failed, so I looked into the UEFI BIOS. I can usually resolve the issue by powering down for a while, then booting into UEFI BIOS and making sure the boot order is correct. But it didn't work this time. I tried disabling and re-enabling the boot devices a few times, rebooting, etc. Nothing worked.

Then all of a sudden, UEFI BIOS stopped loading too.

I tried resetting the CMOS battery by taking it out for 5 minutes and replacing it again. I've also tried unplugging the power and holding the power button for 30 seconds. Neither worked.

Now when I boot my PC I'm prompted to run Setup to recover BIOS settings. I need to press F1 to do that, which works (that's how I know the keyboard still works). But after the screen goes black at this moment, it stays black forever.

Please help!

 

[jason201]

If you disconnect the SSD, does it make any difference?
Also, try replacing the CMOS battery with a brand new one!

 

[crowbarska]

Thanks for the reply! I did disconnect the SSD while I removed the battery, just to see if that would help. But I plugged it back in afterwards. Should I try booting with it disconnected?

And I'll try a new battery too. I think we have some knocking about in the house.

 

[crowbarska]

Update: I tried replacing the battery with another. I've also unplugged the SSD. Neither has helped.

In fact, my situation is a little worse now. I read in other threads that the video output might be the issue. Well I tried an HDMI cable instead of the DVI and VGA connections I have, but it didn't help. But now, I don't even see the setup prompt any more. Just the ASUS logo, then black screen regardless of whether or not I press F2/Del to load BIOS.

 

[crowbarska]

Hold up! (and sorry for the triple post)

I put the original battery back in and reconnected the SSD and it just started working.

massive shrug

I'm now back in Windows. Looks like the main issue of the thread was resolved I guess?? I'll update it it comes back!

 

[Petek16]

I'm having the exact same symptoms @crowbarska And have tried everything that fixed yours. Did you ever find out the cause?

 

[crowbarska]

Hi @Petek16. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to dig into the cause of the problem. I still have intermittent problems where my SSD fails to boot (I just get a black screen after startup screen, and have to restart a couple of times to get it to boot into Windows). No idea why I'm afraid.

 

[valinor61]

@crowbarska @Petek16

I solved the problem it comes from nvram faulty you need to reflash your nvram but in asus devices bios upgrade installing into bios itself so if you want to reflash from windows you need to install it with ami bios tool
First of all its a reinstalling bios from AMI for all AMI bios devices if something goes wrong I am not responsible for any of that. But I test it almost 10 times. It happens on me because of hackintosh for you reason might be different.
Solution:
1-) Download latest bios for your device from asus web site
2-) Download AMI bios tool from bios mods link is in here: AMI BIOS
3-) Open that with administrator privilages Aptio\afuwin\64\AfuWin64\AFUWINGUI.exe
4-) Click open chose all files for file type from down right and select your ACCURATE BIOS FILE FOR YOUR DEVICE FROM ASUS.
5-) Click Setup Select Main Bios Image, Boot Block and NVRAM( You can choose just NVRAM but I dont recommended)
6-) Click Flash and make sure you have connected your PC to AC power.
7-) Restart. It takes few restart to install bios wait for 1 or 2 min top. Then all will be ok

 

[bpixels7]

@crowbarska @Petek16

I solved the problem it comes from nvram faulty you need to reflash your nvram but in asus devices bios upgrade installing into bios itself so if you want to reflash from windows you need to install it with ami bios tool
First of all its a reinstalling bios from AMI for all AMI bios devices if something goes wrong I am not responsible for any of that. But I test it almost 10 times. It happens on me because of hackintosh for you reason might be different.
Solution:
1-) Download latest bios for your device from asus web site
2-) Download AMI bios tool from bios mods link is in here: AMI BIOS
3-) Open that with administrator privilages Aptio\afuwin\64\AfuWin64\AFUWINGUI.exe
4-) Click open chose all files for file type from down right and select your ACCURATE BIOS FILE FOR YOUR DEVICE FROM ASUS.
5-) Click Setup Select Main Bios Image, Boot Block and NVRAM( You can choose just NVRAM but I dont recommended)
6-) Click Flash and make sure you have connected your PC to AC power.
7-) Restart. It takes few restart to install bios wait for 1 or 2 min top. Then all will be ok

Thanks very much for this, resetting my nvram worked, I can now get into the Bios!

Another way I used to reset the nvram is OpenCore bootloader, which has a wipe nvram option