[SOLVED] Screen is dark during BIOS/GRUB access?

13" 11th gen MB. I did the battery upgrade a while back.

My system will boot eventually, coming up to either a login or the primary account’s desktop. The panel usually ‘flickers’ in that time frame, the backlight turning on and off a few times - Though not always.

I realize the window in which to spam F2/esc is narrow - I think I’ve gotten into the BIOS several times (System does not boot, pressing the power button causes it to shut off immediately), but the built in panel does not display the INSYDE BIOS screen.

I’ve tried this with a HDMI-out dock attached (No video) or a graphics card dock (doesn’t show connection until the desktop login starts)

The NVME boots into GRUB fine when plugged into a desktop.

I’ve tried resetting the mainboard (Fully Resetting the Mainboard State - Framework Guides) several times - Enough that I’m definitely getting my money’s worth out of the included screwdriver. :confused:

I haven’t tried reflashing to the new bios, mainly because I can’t figure out how to get the machine to boot to a WindowsOTG thumbdrive without being able to see the bios - and I can’t get “fwupdmgr downgrade” to shift back to an earlier version, despite several attempts.

Any ideas are welcome - I’ve been repairing laptops since god-knows-when, but this has got me stumped.

Did you try to reseat the display cable?
Does plugging in an external display show the BIOS?

I’ll try reseating the cable, but it doesn’t seem like a connector issue (I’m using the laptop right now, there’s never been any post-boot flicker to the image.)

I’ve tried using both a HDMI-dock (little plug in thing) and a full blown USB-C graphics card dock, with the results in the original post. Should I use another way to attach a display?

How about connect it directly without a dock in between?

I dug out my HDMI module, connected it directly to a TV and pressed fn-F9 until the external display was the only one lit, then powered down, restarted, and the result was the same as above. :frowning:

Maybe you need to force the display?

(Sorry about the delay, work is overflowing)
…I don’t see how changing GRUB’s settings is going to allow me to access my BIOS. :confused: But I’ll try it when I have the equipment around to cope with GRUB locking me out of the machine.

Feels like screen screen issue, would you know if you’re still under warranty?
Might be worth filing a support ticket if you’re still eligible for parts replacement.

I was Batch 5 on the on the original shipment (Nov 2021), so I doubt I have hardware support - and I’d need a MUCH more exhaustive proof of what’s wrong before buying a new screen for what seems like a firmware glitch - The backlight on the panel works fine, it just dosen’t turn on for the BIOS.

Going to temporarily install Windows and update the firmware to latest/greatest to see if the included BIOS wipe fixes what ails it.

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Thanks for the update, let us know if you are able to update you BIOS with that path.

I stuck an NVME in another machine and did a windows 10 install on it.
Swapped the NVME, reset the display connectors since I was in there, and did another mainboard reset. BIOS screen once again refused to light up, but the NVME eventually came up in Windows Install/Recovery mode.
On a whim I used the Windows recovery options to force BIOS on reboot, and this worked. No splash screen or anything, but the BIOS eventually came up. I turned off the quick boot options, set the BIOS to boot from external media if installed, then reset it.

Got the Windows 10 install up to desktop, then ran the Insyde BIOS update utility.

Next reboot showed the memory check, and allowed me to F2 into BIOS settings, F10 into disk settings. “All fixed” - although during the innumerable hard bios resets, I apparently broke my RTC Battery socket. :confused:

Hi @Matt_Atkins , It looks like a hardware issue then if it doesn’t update BIOS even on windows, can you file support ticket and see if they can go over the steps and so that they can also check if you’re still covered by warranty?

It’s actually fine now - The firmware update went through successfully and fixed it.
My problem now is figuring out how to replace the RTC Socket - I’ll open a second thread on that, though.

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Glad to hear it, thanks for the update. :slight_smile: