Hello all,
[TLDR - details below]
I think I destroyed my motherboard the other day after trying a BIOS update. As I am reasonably certain I killed it, I am looking for a replacement motherboard, or rather a used donor laptop off eBay, to rebuild my PC. I then woud ideally like to put my drive and larger processor back in.
[background]
I originally did the update because I wanted to upgrade to a bigger CPU (4712MQ) and as M.2 SSD where the UMTS board would have been; I have been told I need to update the BIOS before doing that.
The problem arose because my keyboard sometimes has a stuck key; after the update, I was prompted to choose an OS, but I had not noticed the key sticking. The computer disabled the keyboard entirely, even external keyboards wouldn't work; lo and behold, I was stuck.
In my naivety, I thought: "Oh, it's about to launch the OS, so the update must be done" and pressed the power button. (Yes, I know how stupid that sounds). Result: The BIOS is toast.
[troubleshooting]
What I tried so far:
- Rebooting: it wouldn't. OS only greets me with a black screen
- External monitor: Display Port monitor black as well, no VGA monitor currently at hand
- Accessing BIOS with or without main HDD: I only get a blinking underscore, doesn't go further
- Removed CMOS battery: Didn't help, don't get any further
I have currently removed the HDD to be safe, because my files are absolute priority. I do not want under any circumstance to lose the state of my OS (if it's not already too late).
I have not tried booting with the HDD and with an external monitor at the same time. I have no possibility to clone the HDD right now, and it looks like it's in good shape.
[finally - my questions]
I wondered if anyone here has another idea that I haven't tried yet, but I believe you have to agree with me, that it doesn't look good.
So if the motherboard is indeed dead, I will get a low spec donor L540 on eBay and graft my upgrades into that. (But this time I want to do it right. )
How would I go at performing those upgrades? I remember my M.2 SSD showing up in BIOS but not in the device manager. The i7-processor is used, but should be working. I have not tested it yet. Otherwise I have the i5 that is currently in my laptop. I also have 16G of RAM still in there.
I would like to keep the Win7 on my HDD and install a new Win10 on the SSD as dual boot, if that is possible.
