Windows 8 How to enter UEFI with no screen available?

[Slatey]

The Nvidia video driver on my daughter's computer is continually getting corrupted in W8.1. Have re-installed it twice, but each time it only lasted a week. Now there is no screen at all. The supposed failover that Microsoft has developed to access UEFI [now that key strokes at boot are supposedly too slow], does not bring up the boot options menu. In fact it brings up nothing! Thus I cannot even boot from a flash drive. Anyone have a solution to this? Everything I have found on the web so far assumes the screen is working.

 

[Neemobeer]

You can power it off and on several times and it should automatically enter the advanced startup menu so you can get to safe mode.

 

[ussnorway]

Wow not much to go on;

• Have you got another monitor to even plug in?

• Is this a desktop | laptop and what make/ model?

1. In my experience the 8.1 boot issue was mainly caused by installing on top of a laptop designed to take Vista… in that case the sleep | Hibernate aren’t supported by the bios in the motherboard and the obvious work around is to tell Windows NOT to sleep or Hibernate but just shut down the old fashion way without trying to access special storage.
2. Other things that can really slow a system down such as bloated start up routines and older anti-virus programs can certainly cause a Windows boot to fail due to time outs but they are simpler to fit.

 

[Slatey]

You can power it off and on several times and it should automatically enter the advanced startup menu so you can get to safe mode.

Have done that a few times this morning whilst trying to get keys to work, but no go. Makes all the normal start-up noises and light sequences, seems to settle into run mode ok, just no screen.
To USSNORWAY, have tried another monitor - no difference. Unit is an HP Pavilion P6-2413a desktop, which came with a video card, but I believe no on-board video. Even so, UEFI access is not dependent on the video working as far as I know.

 

[Neemobeer]

BIOS/UEFI should show up regardless of the video driver. If you get nothing then it's probably a bad video card

 

[Slatey]

HP

BIOS/UEFI should show up regardless of the video driver. If you get nothing then it's probably a bad video card

HP specs tell me the MOBO does have on board video, however there is no outlet for it, so even if I remove the video card to try to confirm it as the suspect, I still will not get a screen. The only video connections are on the card. Problems started when I got error messages stating that the driver did not respond. This current card was a replacement for the original, so as to improve some of my daughter's gaming experience. I still have the original [was working OK], so if I re-install that, you are intimating that the UEFI should appear?

 

[Neemobeer]

It looks like it has a built-in VGA port (looks like a blue rounded trapezoid with 15 holes in it)

 

[Slatey]

It looks like it has a built-in VGA port (looks like a blue rounded trapezoid with 15 holes in it)

Found it, plus a DVI outlet, under little black covers with "Do Not Remove" on them, and no indication of what was under them. Hooked up to that, worked OK, re-installed the nvidia driver, but still nothing when I went back to the graphics card. Replaced the card with the previous one, that worked OK, so possibly the card failure plus the driver error messages were one of those maddening co-incidences. Or maybe another of W8.1's numerous bugs, as despite the error messages, I still had screen functionality. Think I'll upgrade this PC to W10 as well, not perfect, but on my own computer it is less problematic, so far! Thanks for your interest.

 

[ussnorway]

it could just be that the new g-card wants to draw more power than the system has to give but I see you have it resolved so back to gaming.

 

[Slatey]

it could just be that the new g-card wants to draw more power than the system has to give but I see you have it resolved so back to gaming.

Had also installed a larger power supply than required, card worked well for five months. The old card I put back in is too slow for her latest game, even the rendering in Sims is a bit retarded. Now MSI and the card's retailer are telling me to contact the other to obtain warranty assistance!