PC fettling and repairs thread

[ColinJ]

so just... touch the radiator first?

Not if you have to walk over a carpeted floor to reach it and then recharge yourself on the way back!

I once saw a colleague walk across a carpeted office floor carrying a large and very expensive prototype board (several thousands of pounds worth!) which was not in the required anti-static bag, and he was absent-mindedly stroking his fingers across the PCB's tracks as he went...

 

[ColinJ]

To do it properly, you would use a wrist strap like THIS.

 

[DCBassman]

But, in the absence of a strap, install the psu, then plug it in to a switched-off socket. This earths the case, so by touching it every few secobds, you can avoud the problem.

 

[MontyVeda]

the radiator is directly next to where i'll be working.

What does the strap connect to?

 

[Venod]

I need some help.

The daughter in law has a HP laptop with a SSD drive that won't boot, now this is the second time this has happened, last time I re-seated the memory and all connections and it booted, but it wasn't running great so I re-installed Windows 11 and all was good for a while, now its showing three long and two short flashing LEDs on the caps lock key, this indicates a bios failed to load problem, I have followed all the steps on the HP site to restore the bios, but I can't get the bios files to load to a USB stick as per the instructions, I am not alone in this, there are a lot of people with the same problem.
Are there any suggestions on how to load the bios, the windows + b key without a USB stick doesn't work, so the next suggestion is try the same keys with the bios on a USB stick, but how do I get the bios to install on USB stick, I have tried 2 different computers and the downloaded bios doesn't run as suggested on the HP site.

 

[ColinJ]

the radiator is directly next to where i'll be working.

What does the strap connect to?

Something earthed!

Like a copper pipe to a radiator... (obviously to bare metal, not through a thick layer of paint)

Or maybe the case of a PC plugged into the mains, but switched off!

 

[Grant Fondo]

I need some help.

The daughter in law has a HP laptop with a SSD drive that won't boot, now this is the second time this has happened, last time I re-seated the memory and all connections and it booted, but it wasn't running great so I re-installed Windows 11 and all was good for a while, now its showing three long and two short flashing LEDs on the caps lock key, this indicates a bios failed to load problem, I have followed all the steps on the HP site to restore the bios, but I can't get the bios files to load to a USB stick as per the instructions, I am not alone in this, there are a lot of people with the same problem.
Are there any suggestions on how to load the bios, the windows + b key without a USB stick doesn't work, so the next suggestion is try the same keys with the bios on a USB stick, but how do I get the bios to install on USB stick, I have tried 2 different computers and the downloaded bios doesn't run as suggested on the HP site.

Not that TPM issue with Win 11 is it? If not I would try booting up with one stick of RAM. Good luck.

 

[DCBassman]

I need some help.

The daughter in law has a HP laptop with a SSD drive that won't boot, now this is the second time this has happened, last time I re-seated the memory and all connections and it booted, but it wasn't running great so I re-installed Windows 11 and all was good for a while, now its showing three long and two short flashing LEDs on the caps lock key, this indicates a bios failed to load problem, I have followed all the steps on the HP site to restore the bios, but I can't get the bios files to load to a USB stick as per the instructions, I am not alone in this, there are a lot of people with the same problem.
Are there any suggestions on how to load the bios, the windows + b key without a USB stick doesn't work, so the next suggestion is try the same keys with the bios on a USB stick, but how do I get the bios to install on USB stick, I have tried 2 different computers and the downloaded bios doesn't run as suggested on the HP site.

A great deal depends on what you mean by ' BIOS on a USB stick'. To flash a BOS from a USB stick, you need a stick formatted to boot DOS or FreeDOS, the flashing programme, and the BIOS ROM file. What concerns me is the incidence of reports. Sounds like more than just a minor problem, more like some sort of design fault.

 

[Venod]

Not that TPM issue with Win 11 is it? If not I would try booting up with one stick of RAM. Good luck.

I had to Google TPM issue, but I don't think that's the problem, tried with one stick of RAM no joy.

 

[DCBassman]

Not that TPM issue with Win 11 is it? If not I would try booting up with one stick of RAM. Good luck.

Then there is the whole can of worms that is "secure boot". On some machines, you have to disable it initially through Windows. If you can't boot Windows...
And you MUST disable it to bot your USB stick. Catch 22

 

[Venod]

A great deal depends on what you mean by ' BIOS on a USB stick'. To flash a BOS from a USB stick, you need a stick formatted to boot DOS or FreeDOS, the flashing programme, and the BIOS ROM file. What concerns me is the incidence of reports. Sounds like more than just a minor problem, more like some sort of design fault.

This is where I and several others need help, the instructions from HP to create the BIOS flashable USB don't work.

 

[DCBassman]

This is where I and several others need help, the instructions from HP to create the BIOS flashable USB don't work.

Or is it that the machine won't boot from what you've created? See "secure boot" conundrum above.
If not, can you access the BIOS at all?

 

[DCBassman]

If the machine cannot load its BIOS (and uou cannot access it), then it's a deader. You need a BIOS to update one, normally.

 

[Venod]

Or is it that the machine won't boot from what you've created? See "secure boot" conundrum above.
If not, can you access the BIOS at all?

I am unable to create a BIOS usb from the downloaded file and the instructions provided.

 

[DCBassman]

I am unable to create a BIOS usb from the downloaded file and the instructions provided.

Hmm, unusual. It's not normally a problematic process. Can uou link me to the instructions page, please?