HP Laptop Powers On & Screen Goes Black

A friend of my brother's has asked me to look and see if I can fix his HP Laptop that he just bought at Walmart. He told me over the phone that it will boot up/power up but the screen eventually goes black after it's powered on. I will have the computer on Tuesday. I am starting this thread now on the safe side if I need help with troubleshooting.

This is a long shot to ask since I don't have the computer now with any technical details, but do y'all know what would cause the computer to boot up and then go black?

He (The Customer) also wants me to put a good antivirus program on it.

Download and install: HP UEFI hardware diagnostics version 7.9.0.0:
https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/.../pc-diags.html

Plan to run overnight.

Power on the computer > repetitively click F2 > click extensive > loop until error > run overnight > the next day if it has made 2 or more loops > click esc > take a picture of the tests performed with results > click component tests (many are interactive) > run GPU tests > take a picture > post images into the thread



Run: Tuneup.bat - Click here to go to the BSOD batch repository to download and run this batch file.


Run V2 and DM: BSOD - Posting Instructions

zbook said:

Download and install: HP UEFI hardware diagnostics version 7.9.0.0:
https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/.../pc-diags.html

Plan to run overnight.

Power on the computer > repetitively click F2 > click extensive > loop until error > run overnight > the next day if it has made 2 or more loops > click esc > take a picture of the tests performed with results > click component tests (many are interactive) > run GPU tests > take a picture > post images into the thread



Run: [FONT="]Tuneup.bat[/FONT][FONT="] - Click here to go to the BSOD batch repository to download and run this batch file.[/FONT]


Run V2 and DM: BSOD - Posting Instructions

@zbook, thank you for the helpful suggestions. I was able to figure out what was wrong on my own. The BIOS was corrupted. So I downloaded the latest BIOS from HP to a USB Flash Drive and fixed it.

- - - Updated - - -

Do y'all know of any free antivirus programs for Windows 10 of 2020 that are the best? So far, Avira looks to be good. They don't want Windows Defender on it.

There is no best antivirus.

Anytime a survey or test is done they may vary every few months for the same tests or with different tests.
New viruses and other malware types will modify prior results.

They all have:

true positives
true negatives
false positives
false negatives
accuracy

It probably wouldn't have helped in this instance, Jesse, but if both of you have wifi you should remember QUICK ASSIST exists.

How to use Windows 10 Quick Assist to Remotely Troubleshoot PC problems - YouTube

I hope all has had a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!! My family and I sure did.

Update on this Computer that I have been working on:

It wasn't a Laptop after all. It is an HP (Hewlett-Packard) Desktop almost like mine, but not as expensive as mine. Aside from the Corrupted BIOS, all is well now after disinfecting it from the viruses that it had. It had an upgrade to Windows 10 1909. But I upgraded it to the Windows 10 October 2020 Update. It is actually a fast PC. I used HP Support Assistant to update it's drivers, followed the tutorial (Improve Performance of Windows 10) and put Avira Free Antivirus on it, and it seems to be performing well now. Fixed threats with Avira and Malwarebytes and cleaned up computer with Ccleaner.

Nice work.

If you post results from post #2 the logs can be screened for problems.

If your confident that there are no problems then consider making free backup images.

i would scan it with the tool zbook listed to be on the safe side , that way you wont get it back anytime soon :) also happy thanksgiving hope yours was well.