[SOLVED] ACER M3400 won't get to BIOS menu

[Username_loves_you]

Hi all,
I've been trying to get my dad's ACE Desktop computer working with reinstalling Windows 10 on his hard drive and now that it's ready, the BIOS on the desktop won't come up with I hit DEL or F12. I need to get to the BIOS to map the hard drive as the boot.
Currently, it splashes the ACER logo with the hit DEL or F12 but when I do, nothing happens.

Then a blinking underline sits blinking.

I've tried to download and burn CD's with PLoP, Create recovery disk from Macrium and Windows...but nothing has worked.
Any ideas on how to:

1. force the BIOS to come up or the UFEI page now?
2. anyway to force the boot menu to come up?

Thank you

 

[Mooons]

If you hit PAUSE/BREAK on the ACER logo does it pause the post? If not then your keyboard may not be working while its posting.

Have you tried F1, F2, F8, F9?

F12 is usually the default network boot key in Post.

 

[Username_loves_you]

If you hit PAUSE/BREAK on the ACER logo does it pause the post? If not then your keyboard may not be working while its posting.

Have you tried F1, F2, F8, F9?

F12 is usually the default network boot key in Post.

I've tried all the other Function key and nothing. I'm actually typing on the same keyboard now. so it should be working fine.

 

[Mooons]

Does he have multiple hard drives?

 

[Username_loves_you]

Does he have multiple hard drives?

I've got the original hard drive that I took out and connected it to a hard drive adapter to clone the disk. It's got my content on it, but not recognized in the boot order on the ACER desktop.

 

[Mooons]

If its the only drive in the system it doesn't have to be marked as the boot drive. It will by default be the boot drive.

 

[Username_loves_you]

If its the only drive in the system it doesn't have to be marked as the boot drive. It will by default be the boot drive.

hmmm.. then something else is wrong. I remembered when this system was a Windows 7 and I upgraded it to Windows 10 it had odd boot up issues due to my dad not shutting down properly.

What should be done to check that the hard drive has the right boot files and get the BIOS or UEFI to recognize that boot order?

 

[Mooons]

I've seen lots of issues with Windows 7 users upgrading to 10 and keeping their files.

I assumed you erased and partitioned the drive before you cloned the drive?

His drive should be good if you had a good copy of windows without issues. Just make sure you run windows updates so that he can get the correct drivers and updates for his hardware.

 

[Username_loves_you]

I've seen lots of issues with Windows 7 users upgrading to 10 and keeping their files.

I assumed you erased and partitioned the drive before you cloned the drive?

His drive should be good if you had a good copy of windows without issues. Just make sure you run windows updates so that he can get the correct drivers and updates for his hardware.

THat's correct, I partitioned the drive and it has a working version of windows that I'm on as I type. I think i found an ACER forum to address bios issue...but 'm weirded out by the idea of updating a BIOS when I can't even get to the BIOS page. How would you go do that?

 

[Mooons]

Try this:

Does your system start with an ACER motherboard image, or Splashscreen? If so, You can (usually) use the ESC key to remove the "Splash" and view the "normal" DOS-like display. The "Splash" can be disabled within the BIOS, and doing so should allow you to see all of the initial, DOS-like system start-up. At any time, you should be able to press the "Pause/Break" key and completely halt the system start-up, which should easily give you time to "press DEL" to enter the BIOS.

 

[Username_loves_you]

I was able to get the BIOS up now once I took the battery out of the motherboard over night. I've looked at the BIO setup and it looks all good. But it still doesn't boot up to the hard drive. I can't seem to change the "Hard Disk Drive Priority". When I enter that menu, the only options for 1st Drive is RAID: RAID READY or Disabled...which it shows it's RAID: RAID READY...but on the screen still shows [Press Enter].