How to get to BIOS at startup?

[Organground]

Unusual problem I first noticed today. Running Win 7 64 bit, ASUS P6X58DE motherboard. Needed to get into BIOS on startup for something so repeatedly hit Del as per normal procedure when the Asus splashscreen came up. PC went straight to "Starting Windows". Tried other keys just in case, like F8 (wouldn't access Windows Boot Menu), F2 or F12. It's like the keyboard has suddenly today stopped working, or is being ignored by the PC, until Windows login. But keyboard works fine once Windows has started otherwise I wouldn't be sat here typing this. Tried the keyboard in several different USB slots on the PC - no difference.

I'm sure I haven't made any changes like putting it into Fast Boot or whatever it's called that disables access to BIOS. So how do I get back into the BIOS anyone? If I ever need to make any system changes or reinstall Windows for instance, I'll be goosed since I have no way to set the machine to boot up from the DVD drive.

 

[baron75mk2]

you wouldnt be using a wireless keyboard would you ? , lots of them dont work properly untill windows loads & the drivers load up , others will sometimes work at bios level & not , others like mine will always work at bios level , try a usb wired keyboard

 

[Organground]

My keyboard is most definitely USB wired, always worked (ie allowed me to get into the BIOS) until yesterday. Have tried plugging into a USB hub, into several different USB ports on the desktop PC itself, and I even plugged it into the purple PS2 socket via a (green) USB to PS2 connector (hmmmm, not sure if my keyboard is PS/2 compatible). Anyways, in every case I booted up, it went straight from Asus motherboard splash screen (the one that says, hit Del to access BIOS, F8 for Windows boot menu etc) to "Starting Windows".

I tried a hard power reset which was a near disaster, PC booted up with "Overclocking error, hit F1 for BIOS, F2 to load default settings" message and wouldn't go any further as it didn't respond to F1 or F2 from the keyboard. I hard powered down and rebooted and fortunately on the second attempt it booted right up into Windows.

So I'm stuck with either a keyboard that all of a sudden won't get recognised by the PC until Windows has loaded, or a PC that won't allow access to my BIOS. How can I find out which (I don't have another keyboard). The motherboard handbook talks of resetting to default values if you switch jumper leads around, but if I do that and then have to enter BIOS to get the PC to start and the keyboard still won't let me then I'm stuffed...any further suggestions?

 

[paul1224]

Some settings in the BIOS may have been enabled/disabled with regards to 'USB Devices' so in your case to boot faster the BIOS may not be enabling these devices until it boots fully into Windows.

I have heard of this being amended via powering the PC down and then holding in the power button until the system 'beeps'. Normally to my knowledge the system should give something like 3 beeps and should then come up with a message asking if you would like to enable fast boot on the next boot. You would want to say 'N' to this and then the next boot should enable the keyboard to work.

I'm not sure you should try the above however until someone better qualified than me or maybe PCS can comment as I know this has worked with Intel MOBO's but wouldn't want you to try this with your ASUS MOBO and then it cause issues with the whole boot process.

 

[Organground]

Some settings in the BIOS may have been enabled/disabled with regards to 'USB Devices' so in your case to boot faster the BIOS may not be enabling these devices until it boots fully into Windows.

I have heard of this being amended via powering the PC down and then holding in the power button until the system 'beeps'. Normally to my knowledge the system should give something like 3 beeps and should then come up with a message asking if you would like to enable fast boot on the next boot. You would want to say 'N' to this and then the next boot should enable the keyboard to work.

I'm not sure you should try the above however until someone better qualified than me or maybe PCS can comment as I know this has worked with Intel MOBO's but wouldn't want you to try this with your ASUS MOBO and then it cause issues with the whole boot process.

Thanks - only documentation I've seen for this is with Intel boards but thought I'd try it anyway. All that happened was the PC briefly booted then shut down again before POST, and the next time it got stuck on "Overclock failed, press F1 or F2" which of course I can't do because the keyboard isn't working (until Windows has booted up). Fortunately a second cold boot took me into Starting Windows.

Please can anyone confirm something about the Asus (P6-X58DE) motherboard. The guidebook says to change settings back to default (I stress I have no idea why settings have suddenly changed), move a jumper on the m/b and move it back again. So if I do this will my USB keyboard definitely work again during bootup so I can get into BIOS? Or do I need to go out and buy a PS2 keyboard so I can hit the delete button during startup and hope the PC enters BIOS? Are there any reasons why if I connect a PS2 keyboard to the motherboard, the motherboard might still ignore the keyboard and go straight to "Starting Windows"? (I already connected my USB keyboard, which is supposedly PS2 compatible via PS2-USB connector, to the PS2 socket but couldn't get into BIOS so either the PC is ignoring PS2 or my keyboard isn't really PS2 compatible).

 

[paul1224]

I would assume that if it is set back to default it hopefully will have enabled the USB devices however probably a PS2 keyboard would be best if that was possible as I can't see any reason why that wouldn't work.

Only other advice I could give would be to consider posting on a Asus forum to see what response you get there or call PCS and see if they can offer you any help.

EDIT: only other option I can think of is that if for some reason your keyboard has gone into a 'F Lock' mode, just as a precaution if you have a 'fn' key can you please press that then the relevant F key just in case this helps resolve it.