Installing Win8 on laptop w/ no main screen, won't reboot

Jawn

New Member
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I've got a laptop that has no screen (not just broken, but removed from the device), which I normally connect through HDMI. While going through a system wipe and fresh Windows 8 install, during a reboot prompted by the installation, the laptop refused to reboot. It is plugged in and at full power, and whenever I press the power button, the power light flashes briefly before shutting back off so quickly that I can't even try to boot into bios or press the FnF5 key to switch to the secondary monitor.

My only guess is that maybe the laptop thinks the lid is closed, keeping it in sleep/hibernation now that my setting to do nothing with the lid closed was overwritten by the new installation, but I could've sworn that I'd reinstalled my OS before with the laptop in the same condition. Googling has been a little difficult, since results get flooded with issues that occur between monitors or with those that have a way to boot into bios before the computer shuts itself down.

Laptop is an old Acer V5-171 from 2012ish.

I'll be attempting to boot from a Debian LiveCD when I get the chance as well, but in the meantime, I'm hoping to compile a list of troubleshooting options.

Any suggestions? Thanks
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
I was unable to boot from USB media. In that case, my best guess is still that the computer is considering the screen shut, keeping it in sleep mode. Is there any way to override this on a fresh Win8 install that hasn't been set up yet?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
This is something you can try. I don't know if it will work. Take out the hard drive and put it in a working computer. Install Windows. Remember to tell Windows to do nothing with the lid. Then remove the hard drive from the working computer and put it back in the broken one. If it works for Windows To Go, it should work for you.

If it works, I'm not sure what to do about activation. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
Sounds like a plan. I'll let you know how it goes when I get a chance to work on it this weekend. Time to finally deal with that stripped screw... :think:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
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