Windows Update broke Display Port

[Tunnelcat]

I just performed the regular Windows 11 update today and when it rebooted, the monitor no longer received a signal from the display port. No other port works and no other monitor works either and this system doesn't have an HDMI port to connect to. Any way to access Windows to uninstall the damn update or is it bricked? Effing Microsoft.

[Krom]

Does the display still work before windows starts?

[Tunnelcat]

The monitor doesn't wake up, no BIOS screen, no Windows. Display Port is not communicating with the monitor. I hooked up the old system and the monitor works fine. No HDMI on the new system, so I don't know how in the hell I can get into Windows 11 to troubleshoot or even uninstall the damn update.

[TigerRaptor]

I wounder if something got messed up with the refresh rate. Did you try Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B?

Edit: Never mind, ignore that.

[Krom]

A windows update cannot make your BIOS screen stop working. The problem is somewhere else.

Check all the connections to the GPU, make sure nothing has worked free. Try a different GPU if you have one, or try the GPU in a different system.

[Tunnelcat]

It's a small form factor workstation. The GPU is an Nvidia T1000, but I don't have another that will fit. There is an Intel integrated GPU on the motherboard because there are 2 other DP connectors on the I.O. on the back. I tried plugging the cable into one of those, but not luck. Should I pull the Nvidia card and try again?

[Jeff250]

A windows update cannot make your BIOS screen stop working.

I don't believe that's strictly true though. I've seen BIOS updates pushed through Windows Update. They were shoehorned into the rest of the driver updates.

[Krom]

CPU Microcode or firmware updates are often included in windows update because they can be applied at runtime like most anything else, but unlike a real bios flash they do not persist through a reboot and have to be reapplied again every time the OS loads. Also actually flashing your BIOS is like a 3-5 minute process that will typically reset all your BIOS settings to default which would be pretty hard to miss for any gaming/home built PC.

TC: yes, try removing the GPU, which if the system is working should automatically kick it over to the onboard display (assuming the CPU isn't a KF variant that doesn't have the iGPU).

[Tunnelcat]

Thanks. I do believe the motherboard has onboard Intel graphics. I bought the extra Nvidia card as an add on. There are 2 other DP ports that go to the motherboard specifically. I'll pull the Nvidia card and see if I can get a display. By the way, the BIOS screen is so quick, unless I mash F10 key right when I power on, I'll miss it.

[Jeff250]

CPU Microcode or firmware updates are often included in windows update because they can be applied at runtime like most anything else, but unlike a real bios flash they do not persist through a reboot and have to be reapplied again every time the OS loads. Also actually flashing your BIOS is like a 3-5 minute process that will typically reset all your BIOS settings to default which would be pretty hard to miss for any gaming/home built PC.

You're right concerning the microcode updates, but (e.g.) Dell pushes persistent BIOS updates through Windows Update that flash upon reboot and persist across reboots (they don't reset the BIOS settings). I don't know what other motherboard vendors do this, but I doubt they are the only one.

[Krom]

Yeah, I was going to say it sounded like something Dell or one of the other big OEMs would do.

[TigerRaptor]

I think Hewlett-Packard does this too.

[Tunnelcat]

Yeah, this is an HP workstation. I tried hitting ESC key to go to just the BIOS screen, still black, although I can tell it's in the BIOS by the key beeps.

I pulled the graphics card and plugged into the motherboard's DP port and got into the blue troubleshoot screen, but uninstall recent updates doesn't work, automatic repair doesn't work, system restore doesn't work and safe mode doesn't work. I'm left with trying to reinstall Windows, but the Nvidia card is now out, so the configuration is now different. I'm not sure what to do because I still can't get into Windows.

[Tunnelcat]

Plugged the card back in. No display. No tone either when I click on the screen like Windows does when you want to show the login screen. No BIOS screen either if I hit ESC, even though it's clearly in the BIOS.

[Krom]

Windows shouldn't really care if the GPU changed, the nvidia driver would just nope out during boot and it would switch to the generic vga/intel driver once it reached the desktop.

Hell, in a lot of cases you can take your windows drive and put it in an entirely different computer (like going from intel to amd) and it will survive and boot. I've seen it done quite a few times in the forums, usually there are some hiccups to overcome but eventually it works.

You could test the GPU in a different system to see if the problem is the card or if its the motherboard/PCIe slot.

[Tunnelcat]

No, this is really bad. It's not the card. I can't even get into Windows or even Safe mode using the Intel graphics. Even HP repair can't fix it when it boots and I can't even uninstall the most recent update to Windows because it says something is in progress. I can get into the BIOS, but it thinks everything is A OK and it has the most recent firmware. Even the diagnostics thinks everything is fine.

It seems there are others that have the same issue with this most recent update looking at the HP forums, so it's a damn firmware update. HP has done this before too. I also do not have a repair disk or USB stick, so If I reinstall Windows, I lose all the HP Software. Maybe that's a good thing? I also have to go through the BS of creating a local account again. Time to use Rufus this time if HP cannot give me a solution from their support site.

[Tunnelcat]

OK, using the Intel Onboard Graphics, I opened a Command Prompt from the troubleshooting page (still no OS) and ran sfc /scannow, which found some corrupted files and fixed them, ran CHKDSK and it found no issues, but upon a reboot, still no OS. I then bit the bullet and used a restore point from before the KB5041585 update install last week, I finally got the OS back. I created a new restore point and then tried to install the same update. It then got into a restart loop and it wouldn't install. Since it's a serious IVP6 fix, I went to the MS catalog and downloaded the update and ran it manually. It finally was installed. What a hairball. I'm still not sure about the Nvidia card. I uninstalled the driver and the Nvidia Control panel to make things clean. Do I dare try to reinstall the card and and then install the driver? Do I unplug the internet so it won't try and install some generic driver? I downloaded the drivers from both Nvidia and HP. The Nvidia driver is slightly newer than the HP version.

[Krom]

Really curious how that system managed to fry a GPU and corrupt data on the drive because of a windows update. Something like a billion computers install windows updates every month and don't have problems like that...

[Tunnelcat]

I'm not sure it's fried. I'm going to try to re-install it. I also don't know how that update triggered this whole mess however. Maybe some embedded HP update? Usually HP has a seperate little update notification the shows alongside the MS update and I can see it, but not this time. Plus, that update would not install the second time I tried after getting the OS back. I had to download it from the MS Catalog to get it to install and even then, it took a long time.

One other program that was also messed up was Wolf Security, HP's anti-virus utility. At first, it claimed it had an issue and needed repair. Then it seemed to have fixed itself, except it couldn't download malware definitions. I never wanted it in the first place, you know how these corporate comp builders shove bloatware on their new systems, so I outright uninstalled it as per HP's instructions. Windows Defender is active and shows no issues. I intend to reinstall the OS clean after a year to get rid of all their bloatware. I'm also wondering if Wolf Security played a part in this mess.

[Tunnelcat]

OK, the Nvidia card does function. I installed an Nvidia driver this time. A part of my original issue remains. HP uses auto detect on ALL the motherboard DP ports to switch between the onboard graphics and discreet graphics. So when the Nvidia card is plugged in, it shows as active in the Device Manager. When using the onboard graphics, the HP BIOS splash screen shows and the boot time is longer. When the Nvidia card is plugged in, there's no splash screen at all and booting is much faster. But, if I try to go into the BIOS by hitting F10, no display signal and a black screen is all I get, even though it's clearly in the BIOS. I'm almost to the point of removing the Nvidia card and sticking with the onboard Intel graphics this has been so frustrating. I might just try my other 27 inch ASUS monitor and see if it wakes faster. The current Dreamcolor IPS HP monitor is from 2014 and may have a slower wake time from sleep, but I don't think that's it.

[Tunnelcat]

I think I found the problem with the Nvidia card not showing the BIOS splash screen. The Intel graphics doesn't have this issue and will show the BIOS splash screen when booting. Nvidia released a DP firmware update a year ago for many of their cards in order to fix this.