Asus x551m keeps booting to black screen

[katz]

An odd one here, been at this for too long, lol.

I have an Asus x551m which keeps booting to a black screen, no cursor. I have done a system refresh, was Win 8, and it has since updated to Win 8.1.

Funny thing is, if I enter the bios on boot, and then exit, it will boot normally to the desktop and run fine all day.

HD tests okay, have had the laptop completely apart, replaced CMOS battery. Could this be simply a case of a flaky bios? or flaky motherboard? I'm tempted to update the bios - it has an entry titled "Start Easy Flash," but then again, I am hesitant in case I brick it completely.

What do you guys think?

 

[Larry Sabo]

Does it boot a WinPE (or HDD with Win10 preinstalled) normally, consistently? If so, I guess it's a toss-up between bios update and a Win10 upgrade. High risk in both scenarios, so perhaps let your customer decide if it's worth taking.

 

[katz]

I can't get it to boot from USB or DVD, no matter what settings I use. It simply refuses, which makes me suspect a flaky bios.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Sounds like no choice but to update the BIOS, once you get it to boot normally by entering then exiting the BIOS. This after the customer agrees that without that, it's probably a write-off. The alternative is to declare it irreparable without a MB change, which is also not recommended.

 

[katz]

She already took it to big box store, and they gave her a diagnosis of "hardware fault." So, she knows there is a chance of it not working. Attempting easy flash now...

 

[Porthos]

bug box store

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Plastic-Fish-Bug-Box/178433087

 

[katz]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Plastic-Fish-Bug-Box/178433087

LOL - corrected.

 

[katz]

....and more hassles, lol.

I've downloaded several fimware updates from the ASUS website, and I am getting the message that they are corrupted/damaged/ my zip program will not open them. The laptop doesn't recognize them with easy flash either. Could one of you guys check the file to make sure it isn't something wonky on my end? I've never had an issue with bios update like this - maybe I got lucky in the past.

https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/X551MA/HelpDesk_BIOS/

 

[Larry Sabo]

Downloads and opens in 7zip with no issues for me.

 

[katz]

Downloads and opens in 7zip with no issues for me.

Thanks - I am using WinRAR, it must not like the file.

 

[Sky-Knight]

People still use WinRAR?!?

 

[fincoder]

I can't get it to boot from USB or DVD, no matter what settings I use. It simply refuses

Laptops from the Win8 era (also when UEFI bios was introduced) can be notoriously difficult to boot from USB. Since you can get the laptop booting, you can then use Settings > Recovery options to restart and boot from USB.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Screw that era... I've had a Gen 7, Gen 8, and a Gen 9 machine all on my bench in the last month and to install Windows 10 fresh on each of them, I had to disable secure boot, enable legacy boot, install Windows 10 in BIOS mode, then boot it once more onto the install media, get into the command line to use mbr2gpt tool to convert the installation type to EFI, then go turn all the security bits back on in the bios and let the install finish.

Getting things to "boot" to installation media is the least of our troubles.

 

[katz]

I removed the cmos battery, let sit overnight, and now I am able to get the bios settings to cooperate. Booting from usb & dvd have both been successful.

I had replaced the battery in the beginning, but it was only out of the holder for maybe a minute or so. Looks like it took longer to clear the "fuzzys" out of the system.