Sooo... How do I get into the bios setup?

[JiJi808]

Now before you get out the pitchforks and torches, I know I'm supposed to continually press or hold a certain Function key when I first power on a computer.

My cousin left me his old Pavilion a410e.  I figured I'd set it up for when family or friends needed to use a computer.  Well... when I got everything together and started it up, I got an error.  "CPU Fan Failure".  (Now you see why my cousin gave the computer to me.)  I popped open the case and saw the fan spin up fine when powering the computer.  The fan's power connecter and the heatsink/fan are all properly in place.  I tried to google for a solution, and came across suggestions to turn off the fan check through bios.  The computer came into my hands with the 3.06 bios, and while in that bios menu, the cpu fan options were greyed out (unchangeable).  I thought maybe a bios update would change that, so I went ahead and downloaded/installed the 3.10 bios update from HP.  It installed fine (I guess), but now I can't get into the bios menu, no matter which key I press.  Windows boots up fine, so long as I bypass the CPU fan failure warning by pressing F2.  I'd really like to kill that warning.  How do I get into the bios menu now, guys?

[20YearsHPUser]

How about the F1 key?

[JiJi808]

Well...if you read my message, you would realize I'm not able to get into the bios setup, no matter which key I press.  Including the F1 key.  I was able to get into the bios menu with the bios that was already on the computer, but after updating the bios, I can no longer get into the bios menu.

[frprinterwiz]

Any of the PC's I've built myself have used the delete key to enter the BIOS - have you tried that?

[ComputerzEast]

just a thought. . . works on some systems. . . unplug the keyboard and turn on the computer. Some computers will then say "keyboard error - press F1 to continue or XX to enter setup". . . then you would just plug it back in and try that.

[JiJi808]

Nogo with the Delete key. Nogo with having the keyboard unplugged. (Boot screen goes through, then I get the "CPU Fan Failure" screen...computer powers down.) --- I went ahead and did another bios update, but no luck with that either. Even tried 2 other keyboards. Is it possible to downgrade the bios? Are older versions of a bios available on the site? Thanks for the suggestions, by the way, guys.

[ComputerzEast]

You may be able to go back to an older bios revision. . . some computers let you and others do not. I don't have experience with this particular model to know for sure.

[20YearsHPUser]

In windows, what bios version does it report? -- you said you were able to boot into windows.

[nazcar4u]

Ihis may sound stuipid but have u tried hitting the ESC key to enter BIOS?

[JiJi808]

---

ComputerzEast wrote:
You may be able to go back to an older bios revision. . . some computers let you and others do not. I don't have experience with this particular model to know for sure.

---

I wouldn't mind trying.  I'm not sure where I'd find older bios updates, tho.  HP doesn't seem to archive their bioses on the site.

---

20YearsHPUser wrote:
In windows, what bios version does it report? -- you said you were able to boot into windows.

---

I'm...not sure what you mean, but if you're asking me which bios version I have installed currently, it's: 3.10.  For Pavilion a410e.

---

nazcar4u wrote:
Ihis may sound stuipid but have u tried hitting the ESC key to enter BIOS?

---

ESC takes me to the "Boot Menu", which works, oddly...  The boot screen says to press F1 to get into the bios setup, but it just won't work.