So I did this, the cmos battery was DEAD, I have it replaced now, I have tried removing the HD, resetting with the battery hole, now I am trying the memory sticks in slot one. I have one stick left to try. Are there any hotkeys ? that will help bypass things or are their any keys that might bring up special menus for diagnostics. ? So the HDMI reacts, then it says cant find anything shutting down. I've tried to boot with the external hdmi monitor as well. It seams these laptops are finicky about booting. Like perhaps if I put a bootable flash in it might react. thing is its not getting the MSI logo - A red light comes on, two of the 3 fans come on. at first it would turn on then off then it would try to turn on it would start running the fans with the red light on on the power presser button. After replacing the Cmos battery it no longer does that.