It doesn't let me edit the original post. Here is a rewrite, clarifying parts, and adding info.
Asus 2012 UEFI 16GB DDR3 Laptop N56V(z)
Veracrypt version 1.25.9
Win10 22H2 Pro UEFI non-CSM GPT 2.5” SSD
PC and it’s display worked well for the last 1-2 years, until I was in the UEFI, and saw the boot menu list, with a Veracrypt boot entry option, and removed it, after exiting UEFI, screen permanently black. It is always 100% black, nothing else for even 1 second.
The Veracrypt boot option was put there when I had encrypted C Windows system partition with Veracrypt. The encryption was successful, and worked well. After that, I booted to WinPE USB, and purposefully cleaned entire disk of all partitions, including EFI, MSR. No other recent changes or damage.
The disk had no personal files, data recovery or windows recovery is not my goal. I am trying to get the POST, UEFI, or anything to appear on the screen. Normally I can see POST, and I could press F2 for UEFI, or ESC for Temporary Boot Menu, but no buttons do anything now. It is no longer possible to boot to USB stick utility, or DVD utility.
After the black screen issue started, to troubleshot the issue, I have tried removing battery, holding power button for 30 seconds. Downloaded Asus UEFI EC update correct version for this model, extracted file, put onto MBR FAT32 32GB USB 3.0, had no effect. HDMI / VGA to external monitor is black too. Removed RAM. Removed CMOS battery for several minutes. Removed SSD. Performed steps to boot from USB/DVD utility, no effect.
DVD bay works, spins disc. Keyboard lights up, power button lights up when turned on. CPU fan spins when on.
I read in 2 places, that Veracrypt has a super secure blank screen startup mode that can be activated, but I am not aware of having activated that setting.
My goal is to fix the blank screen that happened after removing the Veracrypt boot option in the UEFI setting.
What are the next troubleshooting steps? Thank you.