Solved Can't get to BIOS - goes directly to Win boot

alternety

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Location
Pacific NW
I have had not problems in the past entering the BIOS. Del key does the trick. I am finally looking at Win 10 since the free window is getting close.

When I reboot the Del key will not get me to the BIOS. F2 and F8 do nothing.

I was sure I had hibernate disabled, and according to my research on the problem should also disable fastboot. My understanding is that using fastboot can cause this issue.

There is no hiberfile on any of my drives. I went through power settings, but could not find entries for fastboot or hibernate. I used some methods from sevenforums and nothing changed. I used both the hibernate an fastboot disabling procedures.

I have not found anything else I can try. One errant thought hit me; is MS messing around with < win10 machines to "get them ready for Win 10)? I have seen suggestions they are doing something alond these lines. I have noticed a couple of times in the recent past that my explorer views changed from details to icons without me doing anything I thought might impact that.

One possible change I can think of that would cause this is if secure boot was enabled. I believe that is a "requirement" for Win 10. Although other sources say enabling it is not actually required; simply that the machine has to be capable of it to get a Win 10 sticker on the case.

I am not an expert. Any suggestions (except that I should become an expert :D)?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 3770
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    embedded
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2408WFP
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1200
    Hard Drives
    Various 500GB - 4TB
    PSU
    Seasonic 760W
    Case
    Fractal Define XL R2
    Cooling
    be quite! Dark Rock Pro 2
    Keyboard
    OmniKey/Ultra
    Mouse
    Logitech with Win generic drivers
    Internet Speed
    35Mb
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender and Malwarebytes
Try using a Win8 recovery CD boot disc which should give you the options to open BIOS instead of going through the recovery process.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.0
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP
Thanks. Unfortunately my DVD drive is not available. Used to be; but not for a long time. No idea why, but used so infrequently I have not tried real hard to figure out why.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 3770
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    embedded
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2408WFP
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1200
    Hard Drives
    Various 500GB - 4TB
    PSU
    Seasonic 760W
    Case
    Fractal Define XL R2
    Cooling
    be quite! Dark Rock Pro 2
    Keyboard
    OmniKey/Ultra
    Mouse
    Logitech with Win generic drivers
    Internet Speed
    35Mb
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender and Malwarebytes

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
I am looking at the links above. I had to fix my wife's computer to get back here. Her monitor fell off it's base. She moves the monitor back and forth using the monitor to do it. Unscrewed it from the mount; sigh. I had to fix her printer. Hair salon appointment card jammed in the back of the paper feed; yet another sigh.

I believe fast boot is deactivated. No hiberfile. I have a Reflect recovery USB. Trying to just test if it was bootable caused the failure to boot. It was not responsible for the not being able to get into the BIOS. Something else is screwed up there. My guess on the boot problem is that when I disconnected the C drive to test the recovery USB drive, a process marked the C drive as not a boot drive. I don't believe Reflect can make that change to a drive, but I may be able to fix it by restoring the the boot partition.

Something that would help is a way to add applications to the recovery drive or make a new one with tools like partition managers. That would let me change drive C to bootable and at least fix that problem. I will look at that.

A full restore of the last Reflect backup would probably fix the problem. I could try booting from USB with C removed, and then reconnect C. See what I get. I am very paranoid about doing some of this. A while back I really messed things up fooling around with stuff like this. If I can just get to the BIOS, I can deal with the boot device order and make life a lot simpler.

I will let you know what happens as I try things. In the meantime, please feel free to provide input on what I should do.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 3770
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    embedded
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2408WFP
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1200
    Hard Drives
    Various 500GB - 4TB
    PSU
    Seasonic 760W
    Case
    Fractal Define XL R2
    Cooling
    be quite! Dark Rock Pro 2
    Keyboard
    OmniKey/Ultra
    Mouse
    Logitech with Win generic drivers
    Internet Speed
    35Mb
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender and Malwarebytes
If you disconnected the hard drive fast boot will be disabled/bypassed anyway. Leave it disconnected and boot up and you will get BIOS access. If no boot device is found you will be left in the BIOS. You should see a message saying hit X key to run setup.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Disconnecting your hard drive will not change its boot marker. It may shuffle the BIOS boot options around though. Also be sure you connected it back to the same port it was originally connected too.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
alphanumeric - unfortunately that is not how it is working. It goes to a message to install a proper boot device. That's it.

Drive was returned to the same port.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 3770
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    embedded
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2408WFP
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1200
    Hard Drives
    Various 500GB - 4TB
    PSU
    Seasonic 760W
    Case
    Fractal Define XL R2
    Cooling
    be quite! Dark Rock Pro 2
    Keyboard
    OmniKey/Ultra
    Mouse
    Logitech with Win generic drivers
    Internet Speed
    35Mb
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender and Malwarebytes
Wireless keyboard? If yes try a USB keyboard.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
It is working now. I am not absolutely sure why.

I built a bootable USB on another machine to get an application loaded that could look at/fix a problem with the boot flag on the C drive. I booted from it twice. The first time I got lost in the somewhat confusing menus. I booted it a second time and was not seeing options to address the boot flag. On the third boot, I (just for the Hell of it) took out the USB stick and it allowed me to get to the BIOS. The entries in the BIOS about boot devices and boot order were strange. I don't think I knowingly set the parameters to where they were.

I went through and rationalized the boot order lists and Presto! It worked. And I had forgotten about the small mammal that was standing by. So it does not appear that it was magic. Aargh.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7 3770
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    embedded
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2408WFP
    Screen Resolution
    1920 X 1200
    Hard Drives
    Various 500GB - 4TB
    PSU
    Seasonic 760W
    Case
    Fractal Define XL R2
    Cooling
    be quite! Dark Rock Pro 2
    Keyboard
    OmniKey/Ultra
    Mouse
    Logitech with Win generic drivers
    Internet Speed
    35Mb
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender and Malwarebytes
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