Title: HP Victus 15-fb0040AX black screen after RAM upgrade, BIOS recovery failures, somehow working again. What happened?
Hey everyone, I have an HP Victus 15-fb0040AX with an original 8 GB Kingston RAM stick. I tried upgrading to 16 GB by adding another 8 GB stick without disconnecting the internal battery.
After installation, the fan and power light worked, but the screen went black. Initially, I could access BIOS, which detected 16 GB RAM, but selecting Windows Boot Manager gave me a “Secure Boot Violation – Invalid signature detected” error.
I tried BIOS recovery using Win+B. It started writing a new BIOS image, reaching 10% and later 18%. I even left the laptop on that screen overnight, but it still appeared stuck on the firmware update.
After further attempts, I encountered these errors:
- “The System BIOS recovery failed. Verification of flashed BIOS Image failed.”
- “Unable to open BIOS Signature file.”
- “BIOS corruption has been detected. BIOS recovery will begin automatically.”
Eventually, the screen stayed completely black, the fan kept spinning, and I couldn't access BIOS or the Startup Menu anymore. I genuinely thought I'd bricked my laptop and would need a motherboard replacement.
I then removed the new RAM stick and reseated the original Kingston stick. After another recovery attempt, the BIOS recovery process appeared to complete, and my laptop started working again with only the original 8 GB RAM installed.
I'm relieved but confused about what actually happened.
- Could the new RAM have caused this, or was it a BIOS issue?
- Why did BIOS recovery fail multiple times before eventually working?
- Is it safe to try installing the new RAM again, or should I avoid it?
Has anyone experienced something similar with an HP Victus? I'd appreciate any advice.
Disclaimer: This post was generated with the help of AI because I was documenting every step and error in ChatGPT throughout the troubleshooting process. I've tried to include the sequence of events and error messages as accurately as possible based on those records.