Can't access BIOS

[turkleton]

Win10 doesn't tell me the model but I think it was something like h8-1160t - it's a late 2011 model.

I had to do a clean re-install recently, and my keyboard isn't recognized until too late to enter BIOS settings. A keyboard error message is displayed. Any ideas how to fix?

Thanks,

CC

[Chimney_83]

Greetings @turkleton,

I see you are unable to access BIOS. Happy to help. 

Are you facing any issues with your computer?

To enter BIOS on your computer, there are 2 ways. Please use USB keyboard for this purpose, wireless keyboards would get detected after POST.

1. On startup keep tapping F10 on the keyboard.

2. On startup keep tapping ESC key on the keyboard. This should boot the computer to the Startup Menu and you can select BIOS from the startup menu. 

Let me know if this helped.

If the information I've provided was helpful,

Please give us some reinforcement by clicking the "Accepted Solution" and "Kudos" buttons,

That’ll help us and others see that we’ve got the answers!

Good Luck.

[turkleton]

Neither <esc> nor F10 works. <esc> always did in the past.

Since I get a Keyboard Error message every boot whether I press any keys or not, it looks to me like it's not recognizing the keyboard at all. It's the same Logitech G105 that I've been using for years. I've re-installed its gaming software, but it appears to use the standard Microsoft driver.

The computer works fine otherwise - the only reason I'm even trying to access the BIOS is to see if I can fix the keyboard error message...

Thanks,

CC

[Chimney_83]

Thanks for the reply and providing the details. Now I understand that you are getting an error for the keyboard on startup. Would it be possible to connect a different keyboard and check if you still get the error or can access BIOS on startup?

Recommend you to uninstall the keyboard driver from device manager, delete the driver when prompted and restart the computer couple times. 

Let me know if this helped. Without the keyboard responding on startup, you will not be able to boot the computer to BIOS. 

If the information I've provided was helpful,

Please give us some reinforcement by clicking the "Accepted Solution" and "Kudos" buttons,

That’ll help us and others see that we’ve got the answers!

Good Luck.

[turkleton]

Thank you for trying to help me with this.  I've identified the cause and can work around it fairly easily. I'll outline it in case someone else runs into it, though maybe it's unique to older models like my Sandy Bridge.

I've been running for more than a year with 2 5TB Seagate drives on a USB3 hub. I recently added a 8TB Seagate "hub" model with 2 USB3 ports and reconnected the 2 5TB drives to those ports, with only the 8TB connected to the old hub.

With those drives powered up at boot time, something about the configuration was preventing the BIOS from recognizing the keyboard. When I tried switching those drives to a power bar and left it off until after booting, the keyboard was again recognized and I could access the BIOS.

I thought setting a post delay might be another solution, but 20 seconds made no difference, so I'll just use this workaround for now.

[Chimney_83]

Thanks for the reply and glad to hear that disconnecting the external HDD during startup resolved the issue. 

Yes, sometimes the computer might try to boot from different drives if connected. Please have only the drive with the OS connected during startup. 

Please do post on our forums for any technical assistance. 

If the information I've provided was helpful,

Please give us some reinforcement by clicking the "Accepted Solution" and "Kudos" buttons,

That’ll help us and others see that we’ve got the answers!

Good Luck.