Asus N56V BIOS problem

Greetings. I bought an Asus N56VV(I7-3630QM, 8GB RAM, GT750M) on Friday, but I was busy and only able to check it out today.

Naturally, I went into BIOS(UEFI?) to check the parameters and see what's good and nice in there. I came across something called "Asus Animated BIOS logo" or something similar. I'm normally a form over function guy, but here I went for more aesthetics and paid the price for it. I turned on the animation thing, saved changes to BIOS and restarted. Lo and behold, it starts to a black screen, and nothing happens, not even the ASUS splash screen that normally comes on during POST, that screen where you can press F2 to get into BIOS. From what I understand, it's "bricked", in some way or another.

I regret this stupid decision, but I think it's even more stupid to have something in the BIOS that can upset the system so easily even though it seems as harmless as changing boot priority.

The computer is basically the same as a N56VZ/VM/DP/VJ/JR, just with different components. I'm pretty sure BIOS is either the same or very similar, so I've tried troubleshooting for the mentioned models also.

Anyway, things I've tried:
-taking out the battery, pressing and holding the power button to drain any residual electrical current. Did no less than three 15 second holds, no change.
-frantically pressing F2 after turning on the computer, holding F2 before turning it on. Also tried this with pretty much every F key and Esc/Del.
-taking out the HDD and booting without it, no change.
-connecting an external monitor.
-blindly trying to reset BIOS settings, no change.


I've come to a conclusion that it's either something that could be fixed by removing the motherboard battery to reset the BIOS. Or the motherboard somehow died.

Neither of which I can or want to fix myself. It's a brand new laptop, so I've got warranty. But it's Sunday and the service center won't work until Monday. I've searched for a solution, and I've found several, none of which worked for me. But it's hard to find someone with the exact same problem, so perhaps that's why.

I've now calmed down, but initially I was very upset, somewhere between angry and sad. It would make me very happy to find a solution that doesn't require me to bring it it for warranty repairs - it's a brand new laptop and I would rather avoid having it completely disassembled and re-assembled. Besides, it would take precious time, I'd be left without a laptop for a few days at least, for sure.

BIOS version is American Megatrends 2.15.xxx - didn't get the last numbers, unfortunately, because I didn't expect to not be able to get back into it.

 

Wow. Yes. That sounds like Asus' bios tweaking at work.

Since you can't reset the cmos without opening up the entire laptop, you have to have it done by an authorized repair shop, and so on, or you'll lose the warranty.

That's how it is. Asus thinks it's convenient for all of us that they don't know how to configure bioses.

 

Thanks for the reply, nipsen. I've since talked with someone who has a much better knowledge of computers than myself, and they said that they had it happen to them in practice. Their theory is that the BIOS/motherboard came with a factory defect and pretty much any change made would incorrectly save and in the process corrupt the BIOS.

They also said not to bother with the service doing a CMOS reset and to opt for an exchange.


EDIT: also, wanted to ask something unrelated. When plugged in, but the laptop is turned off, the power adapter brick makes a weird, rhythmic, clicking or crackling sound, several instances per second. Once the power draw increases (laptop is powered on, monitor is turned on from sleep), the sound disappears.

I haven't noticed anything of the sort on my old laptop's power adapter, except for some almost inaudible high pitched hums and beeps. This one, however, is louder. I've read reports that other N56 users experience this, but I haven't got a clear view of whether it's dangerous and harmful or not.

 

You can get weird harmonics that build up at certain loads and the battery charger will be at a set level.

 

Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but... English?

I study thermal engineering and one mandatory course of electronics was arguably my weakest one, and is not enough to fully understand your post.

Bottom line, is my described crackling/popping/sparking noise within the norm?

EDIT: I should mention that the noise is more prominent when the battery is taken out or is at full charge.

 

It's to do with the capacitors inside usually (though inductors can do it to). It's not a sign of failure just annoying.

 

Thanks for clarifying. Yes, it is indeed annoying. I have a stronger sense of hearing than most of my relatives and I would usually use the laptop in a quiet environment, so I can imagine the annoyance it could create. Luckily, the sound would not appear(I hope) while the laptop is being used. And when it's powered down, removing the plug from the socket would work. But would hinder efficiency and convenience.

I'll be sure to inquire about this when I go there to solve the BIOS problem. If it's the same for all laptops of this family, I'll grit my teeth and accept that. If not, I'll try to get it exchanged along with the laptop if it can't be repaired.

 

Hello again. I went to the reseller and they replaced the computer with a new one. In this one I refrained from changing anything in the BIOS(UEFI) and just booted from USB to install the OS (it came with FreeDOS). I deleted the 918 GB FreeDOS partition and the weird 13.5GB second empty partition and created two partitions, a 150 GB one for Windows and the rest for data.

Windows is now installing, but so far everything looks fine.

Do you think it's worth trying the same thing again to check if it happens again? I'm understandably apprehensive about this, and there isn't something I really NEED to change in the BIOS to use the computer, so I'm more inclined to go with the "why fix what's not broken" route.