Weird HP login screen

Have a user who dropped off their notebook today to have some software upgraded while they are in an all day conference.

I power up the HP Probook 4510s and I do not get a chance to get into Windows. Instead I get a screen that has the HP logo on the left, a three headed charactature in the middle, and a message on the top that says select account to log into. I have never seen this before. I txt the user, they have no idea.

I get online with HP support, and was told they think its a bad HDD. I find that hard to believe. It was hard trying to explain to them what the screen looked like. I think they just gave up.

Anyone have an idea about this, and how to clear it out? Notebook is only two months old.

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Comments

tiersten

Does it have one of those fastboot media player features in the BIOS?

Bokeh

Not to my knowledge, but I cannot get into the BIOS to check. Everything I select from the start up menu takes me to this weird screen.

Oh and HP is full of it. HDD passes tests 100%.

I cannot even get it to boot from the cdrom on a XP disc or a Ghost disc. Im ready to chuck this thing off the fourth floor here.

Paul Boz

Some type of pre-boot authentication maybe? Take a picture

phantasm

Paul Boz wrote: »

Some type of pre-boot authentication maybe? Take a picture

I second this!!

gosh1976

That model definitely comes with HP enhanced pre boot security.

tiersten

How does the user not remember that they need to log into this thing?

skyline

1. Open Window
2. Throw out window
3. ????
4. Profit!

earweed

skyline wrote: »

1. Open Window
2. Throw out window
3. ????
4. Profit!

Usually when you do this to a clients computer it costs you.

skyline

Explain how it was possessed and you thought it would do harm to others. Then clearly you should be rewarded and deemed a HERO by all

OR

You could wait until you are able to get in touch the owner.

either or...

Bokeh

Ok here is the image. I showed it to the end user, she just shrugged claiming never saw it before. Trying to describe this to HP was worse than nails on a chalkboard.

jeans.jpg

Bl8ckr0uter

Bokeh wrote: »

Ok here is the image. I showed it to the end user, she just shrugged claiming never saw it before. Trying to describe this to HP was worse than nails on a chalkboard.

That's preboot security. I know it because I had it set up on one of my HPs at one point. Does it have a finger print reader?

brad-

The HP desktops we recently ordered had a boatload of bloatware just like that already preinstalled on it. All kinds of security managers and download managers...I would have just left them alone but they were all so intrusive in regular tasks it made more sense to uninstall them all. There's like 5 of them.

Devilsbane

I'm on my second HP laptop and have never seen that screen. (Granted with my newer laptop I pulled the disks out and stuck them on the shelf so that I could install bigger/better disks and loaded my own version of windows 7)