[mcm.himself]

Hi all, so a friend of mine has an all-in-one PC by Lenovo with a broken display so portions of the screen cannot be seen. As a workaround, he hooked the all-in-one up to a TV to use that as an external monitor.

 

Recently, the PC refuses to boot to the desktop, and because it cannot get to the desktop the TV can't be used as an external display. I'm unable to troubleshoot the issue because I can hardly see anything on the all-in-one's built-in display which I am now forced to use. 

 

I wanted to ask if there was any way to trick the all-in-one into thinking that the TV is its primary monitor so that I can get this computer back into a usable state. Any advice would be appreciated!

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You don't say what model you have but most of the Lenovo All-In-Ones use the same BIOS and there appears to be an option to set the Boot Display Device to something other than the LCD.  Reboot and tap F1 or F2 to get into the BIOS then under Config you will see the option:

 

 

https://pcsupport.le...deos/nvid500343

 

 

[RKinner]

You don't say what model you have but most of the Lenovo All-In-Ones use the same BIOS and there appears to be an option to set the Boot Display Device to something other than the LCD.  Reboot and tap F1 or F2 to get into the BIOS then under Config you will see the option:

 

 

https://pcsupport.le...deos/nvid500343

 

 

[phillpower2]

Recently, the PC refuses to boot to the desktop, and because it cannot get to the desktop the TV can't be used as an external display.

 

 

 

I wanted to ask if there was any way to trick the all-in-one into thinking that the TV is its primary monitor

 

 

Not the answer I`m afraid, you need to find out why the computer will not boot every time, it is not the damaged screen that is causing the issue but instead something that can interfere with the boot process, this includes a failing or full boot drive, Windows being corrupted or even a loose or failing add on card or memory stick.

 

Do the below while you have the PC working;

 

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here, this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s. 

 

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

1. In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.
2. In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.
3. Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.

[mcm.himself]

Thank you both for your responses!

 

Unfortunately, I don't think either of the proposed next steps will be feasible -- the monitor is completely busted, and for some reason a separate issue prevents the PC from booting to the desktop. Because it can't get to the desktop, it refuses to display to the external TV that's plugged in through HDMI, and because I can't even do that, I am unable to access the BIOS or download Speccy.

 

I tried to remove the drive from the all-in-one and then install it into a separate PC with a working monitor to see if I would be able to find a solution to the issue preventing the PC from booting to the desktop, but unfortunately I cannot use the drive on a different machine because of a BitLocker. It's asking for an access code that I don't have.

[RKinner]

You don't need the desktop to go into BIOS.  Just reboot and start tapping F1 or F2 depending on your model.

[mcm.himself]

Would going into the BIOS allow the PC to display to the TV through HDMI? If not, I'm afraid I'd still be at a loss since I can't navigate the BIOS using the broken built-in display.

Edited by mcm.himself, 19 June 2022 - 08:12 PM.

[RKinner]

If you can get to the config page and make the change it ought to always use the TV.  Since you can't see what you are doing you may need to do it blind.   Watch the video and figure out which keys you need to press.