Bios disabled

Payton

We have an old PC that is used for college work and downloading but its gone very sluggish so I went to reinstall win xp pro on it but cant get into the bios. Ive removed the battery and switched the jumpers but to no avail, any ideas how to get it back up?

Overheal

power on the pc and immediately start mashing the Delete key

Payton

Thanks, I'll give it a "bash" later when I get home.

bhickey

If you could post the make and model then someone can find out what the BIOS setup key is for it. Sometimes it's <Delete>, sometimes <F2> - it varies depending on the BIOS in the computer.

Payton

Ive done it before and its normally F2 but for some reason its not showing when I boot up and even pressing F2 is doing nothing. I built the system myself but the motherboard is a Biostar M7NCD

bhickey

Even if the BIOS Setup prompt isn't showing up, it should still work. Have you tried tapping away on the <F2> as soon as you power it up?

Payton

Yes Ive tried pressing F2 but it just goes into the Windows bootup, where up to about a month ago I was getting the info on the screen POST screen I think with the ammount of ram and hard drives etc.

bhickey

on the verge wrote: »

Yes Ive tried pressing F2 but it just goes into the Windows bootup, where up to about a month ago I was getting the info on the screen POST screen I think with the ammount of ram and hard drives etc.

According to this, it might actually be the <Delete> key that you need to try?

MarkR

Are you using a ps2 or usb keyboard? Can you reflash the bios from windows?

Payton

MarkR wrote: »

Are you using a ps2 or usb keyboard? Can you reflash the bios from windows?

Im using a PS2 keyboard, flash the Bios? How?

Payton

bhickey wrote: »

According to this, it might actually be the <Delete> key that you need to try?

Thanks I'll try it as soon as I get back.

MarkR

Sometimes motherboard manufacturers release updates to the bios software. Modern ones can be run from windows, and be installed with a simple restart. Yours seems quite old, so I'd stick with the delete key for the time being!

Overheal

Try a CMOS reset.

Capt'n Midnight

F2, F10 , Del Esc
ctrl-alt-esc

BIOS keys vary and try BOTH delete keys (yeah they have different scan codes- don't ask)

if the system has a ps/2 then defo try it too in case usb emulation is off

do NOT flash the bios uless you are 100% certain there is a valid reason to do so , there is a chance your computer is slow from malware and this means there is a tiny chance of bricking it

(first time try 15 mins then an hour then overnight)
remove cmos battery
unplug plug pc power cable from mains
press power button for a minute
leave it over night

Payton

Thanks guys I got it going by pressing the Delete key and restored the "Default settings" in the Bios. Is it worth my while updateing the Bios?

Capt'n Midnight

on the verge wrote: »

Thanks guys I got it going by pressing the Delete key and restored the "Default settings" in the Bios. Is it worth my while updateing the Bios?

check the notes that come with the bios update and see if you need any of the new features

RoyalMarine

most bios have a one time boot menu.

it allows you to boot a device from a usb, cd/dvd, lan etc without entering the bios settings to change the primary boot device.

its usually f12 to enter the one time boot menu on standard bios.

bhickey

on the verge wrote: »

Thanks guys I got it going by pressing the Delete key and restored the "Default settings" in the Bios. Is it worth my while updateing the Bios?

Always.

Capt'n Midnight

bhickey wrote: »

Always.

I've lost one motherboard due to a failed flash

and I've had do revert back to a previous BIOS on another machine because after the 'upgrade' it would only boot if I disabled the cache and was so slow the it just wasn't funny

My acer aspire one is one of the early one's there was a flaw with the backlight, it flickered a bit at low brightness levels so the BIOS fix was to disable the lowest four levels of light so you no longer had the choice of extending the battery life that way

Dell GX270/280 (can't remember which) and a lot of Dell laptops had setting in later BIOS's that slowed down the computer to prevent overheating as a workaround to bad design / faulty components - fine if the machine is on 24/7 and you never vacuum clean the fans

If it ain't broken ....

Flashing a BIOS is something you do when there is a clearly documented reason to do so OR there is weirdness that can't be explained otherwise OR where you have an early BIOS version and there several releases since.

NB. not all bIOS upgrades allow you to go back to a previous one

bhickey

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

If it ain't broken ....

The thing about BIOS updates is that they'll often fix the little things that you don't know are broken.

Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never had an issue with a BIOS update and updating would always be the first thing I'd do when I've a machine that is suffering from any oddness.

uch

I'd agree with the Capt'n, a bad flash will fcuk up your motherboard and render it useless, I've had to buy replacement chips before because of bad flashing, if you don't need it don't do it.