A515-41G-F2SH doesn't output hdmi.

Bol_
Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
My laptop doesn't output any hdmi at all.
It's display is disconnected and the lid sensor is bypassed.
FN keys do nothing in windows or BIOS.
Windows+P does absolutely nothing.
It was working fine just 2 days ago but now it suddenly stopped working :/
I have no password on the device. JLID1 is soldered so that the laptop thinks the lid is closed.

Best Answer

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Aye!!! Other users have reported essentially the same HDMI issue due to a recent errant Win10 update and its apparent BIOS firmware changes. But they at least had a basic screen to work with and try to repair or reverse the issue. The only thing I can think of is to pickup, borrow or buy the cheapest 30-pin basic laptop screen you can get even if it doesn't physically fit the frame or not the same brand so you at least have basic video the BIOS can initialize. Do you perhaps have an old laptop with a 30-pin LCD that you could temporarily press into service?  Jack E/NJ 

    Jack E/NJ

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Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    >>>FN keys do nothing in windows or BIOS.>>>

    Can you enter the BIOS by tapping the F2 key on startup? If not, try it again by pressing & holding FN key while tapping F2. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    >>>FN keys do nothing in windows or BIOS.>>>

    Can you enter the BIOS by tapping the F2 key on startup? If not, try it again by pressing & holding FN key while tapping F2. Jack E/NJ
    I tried but nothing works. F2 does get me to the bios but without video output, it's useless

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    edited February 2021
    >>>bios but without video output>>>
    Does this mean the BIOS menu screen is black? If not, does the BIOS Main tab have an FunctionKey behavior option?  Also please not the BIOS version number in the BIOS Information tab. Jack E/NJ

    >>>It's display is disconnected and the lid sensor is bypassed.>>>

    Also what do you mean by this? Did you physically disconnect the lid screen and/or the hall sensor?


    Jack E/NJ

  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter

    >>>bios but without video output>>>
    Does this mean the BIOS menu screen is black? If not, does the BIOS Main tab have an FunctionKey behavior option?  Also please not the BIOS version number in the BIOS Information tab. Jack E/NJ

    >>>It's display is disconnected and the lid sensor is bypassed.>>>

    Also what do you mean by this? Did you physically disconnect the lid screen and/or the hall sensor?


    Yes. The screen was cracked so i removed it to use the laptop's keyboard and trackpad. I removed the hall sensor and bypassed it by soldering its in and out together.
    I do not get video output at all. My monitor says no signal. My cable and monitor is fine.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Aye!!! Other users have reported essentially the same HDMI issue due to a recent errant Win10 update and its apparent BIOS firmware changes. But they at least had a basic screen to work with and try to repair or reverse the issue. The only thing I can think of is to pickup, borrow or buy the cheapest 30-pin basic laptop screen you can get even if it doesn't physically fit the frame or not the same brand so you at least have basic video the BIOS can initialize. Do you perhaps have an old laptop with a 30-pin LCD that you could temporarily press into service?  Jack E/NJ 

    Jack E/NJ

  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    Aye!!! Other users have reported essentially the same HDMI issue due to a recent errant Win10 update and its apparent BIOS firmware changes. But they at least had a basic screen to work with and try to repair or reverse the issue. The only thing I can think of is to pickup, borrow or buy the cheapest 30-pin basic laptop screen you can get even if it doesn't physically fit the frame or not the same brand so you at least have basic video the BIOS can initialize. Do you perhaps have an old laptop with a 30-pin LCD that you could temporarily press into service?  Jack E/NJ 
    I do not have any other laptop and i plan to use this one as an ubuntu server. i just want to get the output going so i can install ubuntu.

  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    Aye!!! Other users have reported essentially the same HDMI issue due to a recent errant Win10 update and its apparent BIOS firmware changes. But they at least had a basic screen to work with and try to repair or reverse the issue. The only thing I can think of is to pickup, borrow or buy the cheapest 30-pin basic laptop screen you can get even if it doesn't physically fit the frame or not the same brand so you at least have basic video the BIOS can initialize. Do you perhaps have an old laptop with a 30-pin LCD that you could temporarily press into service?  Jack E/NJ 
    is there any way to manually change bios settings to get the output going without video?

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    >>>is there any way to manually change bios settings to get the output going without video?>>>

    The BIOS only directs basic video output to the mainboard's LCD connector or --- if the gpu is still functioning OK --- to the HDMI port via the  FN+F5 or F5 (if the BIOS Function Key behavior option got changed by the Win10 update). Since neither FN+F5 nor F5 alone work to turn the HDMI port on, my guess is that a Win10 update might've also messed with the video drivers.  Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    >>>is there any way to manually change bios settings to get the output going without video?>>>

    The BIOS only directs basic video output to the mainboard's LCD connector or --- if the gpu is still functioning OK --- to the HDMI port via the  FN+F5 or F5 (if the BIOS Function Key behavior option got changed by the Win10 update). Since neither FN+F5 nor F5 alone work to turn the HDMI port on, my guess is that a Win10 update might've also messed with the video drivers.  Jack E/NJ

    Another thing is that no external pheripherals such as keyboards, mice or phones(i just wanted to check for phones don't bully me) connected via usb get data. Yes, the light up and charge, but none of them actually detect it as a pc. (The keyboard doesn't light up its caps lock even after 10 mins of allowing it to boot up and my phone just charges, not detecting a pc). My laptop worked fine but one day when i turned it on, right after i clicked "sign in" it came up with a black screen. I gave it some time but nothing so i decided to shut it down. After that it booted once again to that same thing. I tought that maybe it just doesn't want to work so i pressed f2 while the laptop started to get into the bios and blindly reset defaults thinking it might work. After that, this issue happened. Though I'm not sure why it is not working because my dad's old hp works just fine and even displays its bios on my monitor with its internal display disconnected (yes, i went that far just to try and fix it).
    I even tried to take out the CMOS battery and power it on without it so that it resets. No luck.
    I tried FN+F5 while in the bios, still no luck.
    I even tried to boot off an usb stick with linux on it to get to atleast display something.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    >>> tried FN+F5 while in the bios, still no luck>>>

    Did you also try F5 alone without FN key just in case the function key behavior got changed? Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    >>> tried FN+F5 while in the bios, still no luck>>>

    Did you also try F5 alone without FN key just in case the function key behavior got changed? Jack E/NJ

    I did. I also pressed f6 by mistake but without the integrated lcd i don't think it does anything
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    >>>Another thing is that no external pheripherals such as keyboards, mice or phones(i just wanted to check for phones don't bully me) connected via usb get data. >>>

    How about the laptop keyboard itself? Just to be sure, are you using the laptop keyboard for FN+F5 and F5? Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    >>>Another thing is that no external pheripherals such as keyboards, mice or phones(i just wanted to check for phones don't bully me) connected via usb get data. >>>

    How about the laptop keyboard itself? Just to be sure, are you using the laptop keyboard for FN+F5 and F5? Jack E/NJ

    Yes, I was using the laptop keyboard for FN+F5. I even tried with an external keyboard that had a dedicated button for display output switching.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    >>>Yes, I was using the laptop keyboard for FN+F5.>>>

    Not good. This additional information does suggest more BIOS involvement since the laptop keyboard is a basic input device initialized by the BIOS. While I'm still not convinced, some users have claimed that Win10 updates seems to have also automatically updated the BIOS firmware to versions that aren't even shown yet on the ACER download page. I guess it's possible. And if so, it's also possible that your machine got bricked. Maybe not. There are ways to re-flash the BIOS chip firmware via the FN+ESC cold boot method but only if the firmware FD extension binary  can be extracted from the downloadable ACER  Windows BIOS firmware zip file. This has become harder to do lately even with the correct binary.  Jack E/NJ 
     

    Jack E/NJ

  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    >>>Yes, I was using the laptop keyboard for FN+F5.>>>

    Not good. This additional information does suggest more BIOS involvement since the laptop keyboard is a basic input device initialized by the BIOS. While I'm still not convinced, some users have claimed that Win10 updates seems to have also automatically updated the BIOS firmware to versions that aren't even shown yet on the ACER download page. I guess it's possible. And if so, it's also possible that your machine got bricked. Maybe not. There are ways to re-flash the BIOS chip firmware via the FN+ESC cold boot method but only if the firmware FD extension binary  can be extracted from the downloadable ACER  Windows BIOS firmware zip file. This has become harder to do lately even with the correct binary.  Jack E/NJ 
     

    FN+ESC? You mean hold it while it boots? I will try that to see if that atleast shows up

  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    >>>Yes, I was using the laptop keyboard for FN+F5.>>>

    Not good. This additional information does suggest more BIOS involvement since the laptop keyboard is a basic input device initialized by the BIOS. While I'm still not convinced, some users have claimed that Win10 updates seems to have also automatically updated the BIOS firmware to versions that aren't even shown yet on the ACER download page. I guess it's possible. And if so, it's also possible that your machine got bricked. Maybe not. There are ways to re-flash the BIOS chip firmware via the FN+ESC cold boot method but only if the firmware FD extension binary  can be extracted from the downloadable ACER  Windows BIOS firmware zip file. This has become harder to do lately even with the correct binary.  Jack E/NJ 
     

    I'm going to record a video to show exactly what is happening, what works and what doesn't
  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    JackE said:
    >>>Yes, I was using the laptop keyboard for FN+F5.>>>

    Not good. This additional information does suggest more BIOS involvement since the laptop keyboard is a basic input device initialized by the BIOS. While I'm still not convinced, some users have claimed that Win10 updates seems to have also automatically updated the BIOS firmware to versions that aren't even shown yet on the ACER download page. I guess it's possible. And if so, it's also possible that your machine got bricked. Maybe not. There are ways to re-flash the BIOS chip firmware via the FN+ESC cold boot method but only if the firmware FD extension binary  can be extracted from the downloadable ACER  Windows BIOS firmware zip file. This has become harder to do lately even with the correct binary.  Jack E/NJ 
     

    Thanks! Atleast now i know that it's not dead. When i turned it on with FN+ESC the fans started going crazy.
  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    I got the files. What do i do with them? There's no flashit.exe or things like that
  • Bol_
    Bol_ Member Posts: 26 Troubleshooter
    the>>> firmware FD extension binary  can be extracted from the downloadable ACER  Windows BIOS firmware zip file<<<
    well i extracted it somehow. its size is 9.04 MB and has the name isflash.bin



  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    edited February 2021
    >>>its size is 9.04 MB and has the name isflash.bin>>>

    That seems to be about the right size.

    (1) Rename the .bin file C5V09x64.fd. Copy the file to the root directory of a FAT32 formatted USB stick preferrably with an activity LED. It must be the only file on the stick.

    (2) Reset the mainboard. Unplug charger. Press & hold a paperclip into the reset hole on the bottom for about 60 seconds while at the same time pressing and holding the power button. Plug charger back in. Wait for battery charge LED to turn from steady orange to steady blue.

    (3) Insert the USB stick.

    (4) Press & hold the FN + ESC keys. Then while still holding the keys press the power button to turn the machine on.

    (5) Wait for 3~5 seconds to make sure the system fan kicks in to full speed and see USB LED activity. Then release FN+ESC. If successful, it should take about 5 minutes and then shut down automatically.

    If unsuccessful repeat steps 2-5 or another USB port. Sometimes takes more than one try.

    Jack E/NJ.

    Jack E/NJ