AMI 5.30 BIOS issues, USB boot freeze

[AciD]

As I'm writing this I'm on a laptop at a friends' place, trying to fix his stationary tower computer. In layman terms, "it freezes on startup before the windows load screen". In a bit more detail, I've determined that it freezes during POST, right after checking for USB mass storage devices and detecting 4 of them (despite there being none connected, of course - my best educated guess is that it looks for each unique usb mass storage device that has been in the computer on boot once, and if "detecting" them when they're absent is what causes the problem goes beyond my expertise).

A quick googling on the subject gave me the solution to disable loading USB devices. Easy, simple and firm. Except his BIOS settings don't seem to offer that option. He's got the AMI bios, revision 5.30 09/05/08, core version 08.00.14, model number m9441sc, product number FZ133AA-UUW and build ID 84PNv6PrA1... which is pretty much all the info I can gather from the BIOS setup screen.

Furthermore, the computer is a HP Pavilion, hence the model number stated above.

I'm welcome to any solution. A way to disable loading usb devices on boot with his bios? A way to bypass POST altogether? A different boot loader? Just about anything that allows him to load Windows properly is a viable enough solution.

Thank you for any support given in advance,
//Acedis

 

[seph ir oth]

Search harder? There's gotta be a way to disable USB drives via your BIOS menu. Try viewing through every menu.

 

[AciD]

So I did before posting (including pressing enter on every option available to see if it opened up a dialogue box related to USB drives), and trust me, if there was a setting in that abomination of a BIOS setup screen, I feel confident in saying I'd have noticed it.

If I am indeed wrong, and someone else with a similiar model and bios setup screen can confirm that, I'd be happy but surprised.

 

[tooltiperror]

Try booting up from a recovery CD and looking for something there.

 

[Slapshot136]

I also have an HP laptop that can't disable USB drives in the bios, but my problem is in reverse - it won't boot up if it detects a USB drive, but otherwise works fine

I think the HP bios might just not support it

 

[AciD]

Try booting up from a recovery CD and looking for something there.

I'll be unable to do so myself for the next three weeks, but I'll ask him to do that.

I also have an HP laptop that can't disable USB drives in the bios, but my problem is in reverse - it won't boot up if it detects a USB drive, but otherwise works fine

I think the HP bios might just not support it

For the record the problematic computer in this case is a tower PC, as I said. But yeah. I guess there's a HP trend about not enabling that option.