Unsolved
1 Rookie
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3 Posts
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49
March 24th, 2025 18:34
POST/BIOS on secondary display ?
I've recently bought a Optiplex 5490 AIO, from a carboot sale "as spares or repairs" (the display was in a very bad condition and since the seller was only asking for a £10 id decided to get it either for parts or to try and repurpose it as either a little media centre or a homelab environment. Got home, connected a monitor on the DP ,plugged it in and surprise Windows booted. So far so good, since everything apart the display seem to work, got my flash drive to install linux on it. but surprise again :( there is no output on the second monitor whilst booting or bios. I have tried all the Fn+Fx or all the Fs but no luck on changing outputs. I've then open it up and completely removed the broken screen including the LVSDS and backlight cables thinking if it wont see any display it will automatically switch to external but no luck with that wither :(.
Is there any way to force video output on the secondary display ?
I need to go in bios and change settings and also boot from a flash drive to install a OS. So far it's only blank and external display only shows something when windows is fully loaded and asks for login.
redxps630
9 Legend
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14.4K Posts
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March 25th, 2025 01:10
I do not think it is possible to project BIOS video on external display. the bios is written in such a way that only the built in display is used for BIOS video.
bradthetechnut
7 Technologist
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8.9K Posts
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March 25th, 2025 02:52
You can still try your flash drive. If you haven't already, plug in flash drive, turn on, and see if it boots from flash drive.
Something I've seen on display when booting from DVD (I can't remember if flash drive too for sure) is it'll say "Press any key to boot from DVD within [so many] seconds." So another thing to try is when booting, try hitting the space bar a few times. Wait a few seconds for it to get past the (invisible to you) Dell splash screen. Or just keep pressing it until you get something on your 2nd screen.
As redxps mentioned, you won't be able to see BIOS or any of its menus on the 2nd screen.
Supported OS's:
chrsdm3
1 Rookie
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3 Posts
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March 25th, 2025 10:09
@redxps630 I have an idea of how BIOS are designed, but I'm pretty sure there are some fail safes or workarounds to get it on a secondary display. Especially for this particular case. I don't want to spend £200 on a aftermarket replacement display panel for this model :( It's simply not worth it.
@bradthetechnut I have already tried to boot directly from the USB Windows and Linux but no result. Any other ideas that i can try ?
I was looking online for a 30 pin LVDS to HDMI converter but people say you need to find the right one and since they are not so chap I don't intend on testing them out :(.
I also tried removing the SSD and replacing it with a bigger one that i had linux installed on but think it failed to boot due to Secure boot being enabled. I really need BIOS access :(.
bradthetechnut
7 Technologist
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8.9K Posts
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March 25th, 2025 16:42
It's not your main PC, right? So may be settle with having Windows on it as long as that booted. Unless now it doesn't boot from trying to load/reload OS.
chrsdm3
1 Rookie
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3 Posts
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March 25th, 2025 16:45
@bradthetechnut no, its not my main pc. I just bought it to repurpose it considering the asking price of £20. And also no, i cant use the windows install on it because it password protected. And no again since i cant boot into anything i cant get rod of the password either 😂. So any approach would need post/bios video output 😆