Okay, so here's what happened:
I clean installed Windows 8, I changed some settings in BIOS (I'll explain later) and BANG my computer will power up, but the display remains off and it shuts down with a single press of the power button (Which leads me to believe that it's not just the monitor acting screwy, because it should take several seconds to force a shutdown)
Process:
I used the Windows 7 USB-DVD tool to put my Windows 8 (clean installation .iso) onto a flash drive. I installed it onto my computer successfully [Some background: I've read that the tool I used formats the data with the NTFS filesystem, and that some computers that use UEFI can't boot from a USB formatted as such. This was kind of true with my computer (Which was a Lenovo U410) because when I first tried to boot from the USB it couldn't, so I changed the boot priority in BIOS from UEFI to Legacy, and it worked. I'll try to explain why I think this is significant later.]
After I put the .ISO on the USB and installed Windows 8, I installed a WiFi driver (For the Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230, it did not cause any problems), I installed AVG, Chrome, and was going to finish installing other drivers later (only one device did not have the proper drivers, I'm thinking that it was the Nvidia GPU, but that's pretty much just a guess)
Up to this point, I have only done the listed changes to my computer, nothing more, nothing less. Then, I rebooted to change some BIOS settings.
What I did that broke everything:
I was running a distro of Linux prior to this clean installation, so I had BIOS set to prioritize Legacy boot, I had optimus turned OFF (so only my chipset would run, not both (Chipset and dedicated gpu)) and I had changed one other little thing for the defaults to be optimized for "Other OS." I changed these back to what it had been: So, I changed priority to UEFI not legacy, to Optimus not UMA, and to optimize defaults for Windows 8 64 bit not "Other OS." I hit F10 to save changes, and rebooted.
What happens now:
1. I turn on my computer
2. It powers up (the lights, and I definitely hear the fan. I'm using an SSD so... no disks spin up)
3. The monitor stays off, the spinning slows (doesn't stop) and it stays this way until I press (not hold) the power button and it immediately shuts off.
What I think happened:
1. Like I mentioned before about the NFTS formatting not being compatible with UEFI booting systems (I'm not actually sure of the reason why, just that this supposedly happens. Correct me if I'm wrong), me changing the boot to prioritize UEFI first makes it so that there is no UEFI OS to boot, so nothing happens. This is only a guess, and I don't really think it's the case because Windows 8 uses UEFI to boot by default, right?
2. I had no drivers for my Nvidia gpu, so when I changed the graphics setting to optimus, it tries to use my GPU but can't, so the monitor stays off and nothing displays.
What I have tried:
To fix this, I try to enter safe mode with fn+f8, shift +fn+f8. Nothing happens, it still powers off with the touch of the power button.
I tried accessing BIOS with fn+f2, nothing happens, same thing as trying to enter safemode.
I tried resetting the BIOS by removing the MOBO battery, but I either didn't disconnect the battery and just unplugged and replugged something else (it was a circular shape with two wires, red and black, coming from underneath a black plastic wrap that plugged into the MOBO (I waited the recommended 1 minute) OR nothing changed because the factory default settings are identical to the settings I personally changed.
I also tried removing the OS to force it into BIOS, still nothing.
So yeah, I have never screwed up a computer so badly before, and I'm kinda' stuck. I don't know how to word the google search to get my exact problem, so if you guys can help in any way, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
-DonQuixoteMC
I clean installed Windows 8, I changed some settings in BIOS (I'll explain later) and BANG my computer will power up, but the display remains off and it shuts down with a single press of the power button (Which leads me to believe that it's not just the monitor acting screwy, because it should take several seconds to force a shutdown)
Process:
I used the Windows 7 USB-DVD tool to put my Windows 8 (clean installation .iso) onto a flash drive. I installed it onto my computer successfully [Some background: I've read that the tool I used formats the data with the NTFS filesystem, and that some computers that use UEFI can't boot from a USB formatted as such. This was kind of true with my computer (Which was a Lenovo U410) because when I first tried to boot from the USB it couldn't, so I changed the boot priority in BIOS from UEFI to Legacy, and it worked. I'll try to explain why I think this is significant later.]
After I put the .ISO on the USB and installed Windows 8, I installed a WiFi driver (For the Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230, it did not cause any problems), I installed AVG, Chrome, and was going to finish installing other drivers later (only one device did not have the proper drivers, I'm thinking that it was the Nvidia GPU, but that's pretty much just a guess)
Up to this point, I have only done the listed changes to my computer, nothing more, nothing less. Then, I rebooted to change some BIOS settings.
What I did that broke everything:
I was running a distro of Linux prior to this clean installation, so I had BIOS set to prioritize Legacy boot, I had optimus turned OFF (so only my chipset would run, not both (Chipset and dedicated gpu)) and I had changed one other little thing for the defaults to be optimized for "Other OS." I changed these back to what it had been: So, I changed priority to UEFI not legacy, to Optimus not UMA, and to optimize defaults for Windows 8 64 bit not "Other OS." I hit F10 to save changes, and rebooted.
What happens now:
1. I turn on my computer
2. It powers up (the lights, and I definitely hear the fan. I'm using an SSD so... no disks spin up)
3. The monitor stays off, the spinning slows (doesn't stop) and it stays this way until I press (not hold) the power button and it immediately shuts off.
What I think happened:
1. Like I mentioned before about the NFTS formatting not being compatible with UEFI booting systems (I'm not actually sure of the reason why, just that this supposedly happens. Correct me if I'm wrong), me changing the boot to prioritize UEFI first makes it so that there is no UEFI OS to boot, so nothing happens. This is only a guess, and I don't really think it's the case because Windows 8 uses UEFI to boot by default, right?
2. I had no drivers for my Nvidia gpu, so when I changed the graphics setting to optimus, it tries to use my GPU but can't, so the monitor stays off and nothing displays.
What I have tried:
To fix this, I try to enter safe mode with fn+f8, shift +fn+f8. Nothing happens, it still powers off with the touch of the power button.
I tried accessing BIOS with fn+f2, nothing happens, same thing as trying to enter safemode.
I tried resetting the BIOS by removing the MOBO battery, but I either didn't disconnect the battery and just unplugged and replugged something else (it was a circular shape with two wires, red and black, coming from underneath a black plastic wrap that plugged into the MOBO (I waited the recommended 1 minute) OR nothing changed because the factory default settings are identical to the settings I personally changed.
I also tried removing the OS to force it into BIOS, still nothing.
So yeah, I have never screwed up a computer so badly before, and I'm kinda' stuck. I don't know how to word the google search to get my exact problem, so if you guys can help in any way, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
-DonQuixoteMC