Asus BIOS Corrupted

User2468 · 03 May 2023

It's probably booting fast so you don't have the opportunity to see post.

Once past post its probably trying to boot a dud EFI partition that never got deleted from the get-go. Thus the dark screen.

Taking the hard drive out and booting to UEFI/BIOS will confirm...

Also, using last known good Config. may help if UEFI was screwed over...

Malneb · 03 May 2023

Possible and they can go fast sometimes that is what fast boot setting is in the bios.

All though even if it is set to fast boot they should still see a splash screen at least because fast boot usually means it puts that up instead of the full post screen it would be detriment to not display anything when powering on as its also part of user feedback we need to know that the computer is doing stuff when it turns on like initializing the keyboard the display etc.

yeah they can go fast but it should still have an initial screen that is visible up until boot loader and then at some point here after boot loader the bios hands the display over to the OS which in turn means hard drive comes into play as it was not even in the scope before this point.

The context given so far it sounds like OP is getting black screen after these things have already initialized but getting stuck at the boot loader, resulting in black screen, removing the hard drive would not validate anything at that point just produce the exact same outcome.

I did ask OP to clarify when the black screen occurs because it is easy to assume without further context.

BrutalMoose · 03 May 2023

F22 Simpilot said:

I am very, VERY familiar with Veracrypt and Truecrypt. Have been using Truecrypt for years and years and was a member on their forum before the "lavabit situation" and all went to hell. Seriously, lookup lavabit on Wikipedia...

Okay, your issue is most likely NOT UEFI/BIOS related. If you can boot a live disk such as that PE Windows, it's obvious your UEFI/BIOS is fine. Having said that, and as a test, get into UEFI/BIOS with the shortcut key on bootup and try last known good configuration. Of course you can't see anything on bootup, so just keep pressing the shortcut key as the computer starts and hopefully you can get into UEFI/BIOS.

Apparently you press and hold F2 until BIOS/UEFI shows up. [Notebook/Desktop/AIO] How to enter the BIOS configuration | Official Support | ASUS UK

Or keep pressing the Delete key. How to Remove Inactive Accounts on Twitter | Small Business - Chron.com

Thank you, I am glad to have your experience and support of Veracrypt here. I booted to USB before this issue happened, now that is not possible. The key to get to the UEFI on this Asus is F2, that no longer works now. The screen is always black, never anything else. I purposefully deleted the disk partitions, that went well. This issue only started after I went into the UEFI, and removed the Veracrypt boot option.

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F22 Simpilot said:

This is true for most laptops. In fact, I have a very old Intel Atom CPU based Dell Mini 910 Netbook who's CMOS battery died that I needed to replace. I had to tear down the entire Netbook to get to the CMOS battery! Once I did that I fixed that crap with a retro fit CR2032 CMOS battery holder that is easily accessible in the back of the computer. I'll post a picture, it's quite kool...

Anyway, remove the hard drive, get into BIOS and try a last known good config. If you now have video with the HDD removed before eve getting into BIOS, it means there is still data remnants on the drive that was apparently wiped. You can use a HDD tool on Hiren's boot CD to fully wipe the drive. Or you plug the drive into another computer and full erase that way. I think you missed a small partition when you said you deleted partitions. Maybe the EFI partition.

There is no problem with the SSD, I succeeded in removing all partitions, including the EFI, and the hidden MSR. I cannot get into the UEFI, and I cannot see anything on the screen. This started after going into the UEFI, and removing the Veracrypt boot.

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F22 Simpilot said:

As promised...

Attachment 390131

Yes I did eventually find the CMOS and remove it. Didn't solve the black screen.

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Malneb said:

Going to have to mention this as this is not the right methodology

post > bios > boot loader

So there is always display before the computer makes it to step 3 and if there isn't then that means its a hardware issue like dead components.

Removing the HDD like you are implying is not going to reflect anything of worth, the computer will either display up until boot loader or it doesn't removing the hard disk would just automatically display up until boot loader and then black screen still.

Not looking for an argument again just stating that your response is not entirely correct.

Thank you, that is correct. The hard drive is not the issue, and anyway I have removed the SSD, the RAM, CMOS battery, had no effect. CPU fan spins fine. Keyboard lights up, DVD bay starts and stops normally.

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I have rewritten my original post with more info.

Asus 2012 UEFI 16GBDDR3 Laptop N56V(z) Veracrypt version from april 2023 Win10 22H2 Pro PC and screen working well last 1-2 years, until I was in the UEFI, and saw the boot menu list, with a Veracrypt boot entry option, and removed it, after exiting UEFI, screen permanently black. It is always 100% black, nothing else for even 1 second. Prior to removing the UEFI Veracrypt boot entry, I had encrypted C Windows system partition with Veracrypt, then I booted to WinPE USB, and purposefully deleted all partitions on PC system disk to clean disk. No other recent changes or damage.

I have tried removing battery, holding power button for 30 seconds. Downloaded UEFI EC update, extracted file, put onto MBR FAT32 32GB USB 3.0, had no effect. HDMI to external monitor is black too. Removed RAM.

Asus made it as difficult as possible to remove CMOS battery, I won't forget that when buying a laptop in the future, CMOS battery removal did not have any affect.

What are the next troubleshooting steps? Is this a Veracrypt super secure blank mode? I did read about that in a couple of places, but I never explicitly gave it permission to do that.

My goal is to fix the blank screen that happened after changing Veracrypt UEFI setting.

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F22 Simpilot said:

It's probably booting fast so you don't have the opportunity to see post.

Once past post its probably trying to boot a dud EFI partition that never got deleted from the get-go. Thus the dark screen.

Taking the hard drive out and booting to UEFI/BIOS will confirm...

Also, using last known good Config. may help if UEFI was screwed over...

No, normally I can see the POST. But now I cannot see the POST, and the UEFI key F2, and the temporary boot menu key, ESC, do not do anything. This Laptop worked well for 1-2 years, but after removing Veracrypt from UEFI, it is always black screen. 6 months ago I updated the UEFI with a stick, worked well, and for troubleshooting I did the same stick again, but had no effect.

Malneb · 04 May 2023

i don't think VeraCrypt is on the table at this point.

If VeraCrypt was effecting the outcome before any HDD loads then there would need to be a custom flashed bios from Veracrypt that you flashed on there or VeraCrypt would need to alter the bios in some manner. I don't think this is the case and buy looking at the docs it does not mention anything like this its all about disk encryption.

From what i can tell VeraCrypt is OS bound so its going to get loaded when the disk loads meaning it won't be effecting anything before that like when the computer first turns on and the bios etc.

I think it might be coincidence that the screen went black when you removed the VC entry in the bios and is possibly caused by something else.

VeraCrypt - Free Open source disk encryption with strong security for the Paranoid

Looking over the docs there is no mention of effecting the CMOSS or Bios or the initialization procedure before the computer gets to loading hard drives.

I could be wrong but logically i can't see anything in those docs that would effect or corroborate black screen on startup.

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if you also note the procedures to remove VeraCrypt then this is also OS bound.
VeraCrypt - Free Open source disk encryption with strong security for the Paranoid
VeraCrypt - Free Open source disk encryption with strong security for the Paranoid

if it wasn't then it would be saying stuff like you need to reflash your manufactures bios back onto the computer etc.

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Not a exact 1:1 reflection but just generalization. You display issue is happening on the blue area of the map where VeraCrypt has no grounds. What is causing that will be hard to diagnose generally its hardware issues on the blue side and is a lot harder to diagnose.

User2468 · 04 May 2023

Seems like your BIOS/UEFI is corrupted.

Here's a similar issue: N56VZ BIOS Update failed, now Black Screen... - Republic of Gamers Forum - 148003

Here's the possible solution: [SOLVED] - Asus n56vz black screen no bios | Tom's Hardware Forum

You can also use a BIOS/CMOS/EEPROM programmer to program the BIOS chip. This one is pretty popular, but requires a small wired bypass modification because the chip puts out 5 volts and not 3.3 volts. There are videos on YouTube and Github has the software called Asprogrammer.

Volt-modding the CH341a Mini Programmer - LFC#278 - YouTube

Using CH341a to recover a mobo I bricked - LFC#279 - YouTube

https://www.onetransistor.eu/2017/08...schematic.html

Amazon link