boot Hewlett-Packard 810-170st 818 to BIOS

[Wayne0825]

I am trying to create a recovery DVD and Flash Drive.  I think I've done so, but can't test it.  I can't boot from either, or get to the BIOS screen to look at the boot options.  The machine boots normally, but when I try hitting ESC, or F9 while powering up, it just sits there with a black screen.  Booting with the flash drive plugged in, or the DVD in the drive, proceeds normally, ignoring both.  Once booted, I can read both the DVD and the flash drive with no problem, so I don't think there is anything wrong with them.

Thanks!

[Wayne0825]

MORE INFO: It seems that even when trying to boot from the DVD or the USB Flash drive from within windows, it fails.  After choosing the device to boot from, it goes ahead and reboots from the C: drive as usual.  I can boot from the USB flash drive on another computer, so I know the image on the USB is okay.

[Wayne0825 · Accepted solution]

Problem turned out to be operator (ME) error... sort of.  I have the desktop monitor connected to the DVI-D port, and our television to the HDMI port.  I only switch to the HDMI port to watch the occassional movie or whatever, otherwise, I work exclusively on the monitor connected to the DVI-D port.  It seems that the HP logo and POST stuff goes to the HDMI port, so I wasn't seeing any of that on the desktop monitor.  Once I switched the TV source to the computer HDMI feed, voila! Eureka! Success.

Case closed.  Hope this helps someone else one day.