Toshiba Satellite P750 - AMI v2.10

[Alan Masterman]

Hi everybody, I'm having a problem with a Satellite P750 which I purchased as fully working though without a hard drive.  I've fitted a new Western Digital HDD but I cannot find a way to boot from Windows 7 installation media.

The problem:  When powered on, the Toshiba splash screen appears and seems to work though the POST okay, but it is followed by a blank black screen with just a blinking cursor in the top left corner.  There are no error messages, no boot messages.  The DVD drive can be heard winding over, if there is a disc in it, but the computer makes no attempt to boot from any device.

F2 BIOS settings and F12 Boot Order both come up normally on the appropriate key press.

On selecting either USB Boot or DVD Boot from the F12 menu, neither works, and the screen reverts to black.

Changing boot order settings in BIOS has no effect.

All boot devices including USB flash drives are fully recognised by their proper names, both in the BIOS and in the F12 boot order.

Boot speed is set to "Normal" (as opposed to "Fast") and "Legacy USB Emulation" is enabled.

There is no BIOS option to switch between UEFI and CSM boot modes, nor is there any option to turn off "Secure Boot".  Neither of these gets any mention at all in the BIOS.

The BIOS is American Megatrends Inc v2.10.  The USB flash drive was set up using the MS Windows 7 USB/DVD creation tool, and genuine Windows 7 Home Premium ISO, both downloaded from the Microsoft website.  The DVD is original Microsoft.  The computer itself is in brand-new condition and appears to be in perfect working order.

I'm surprised at the lack of UEFI/CSM and Secure Boot controls in BIOS, and I don't really know what to try next.  Any suggestions?