Question Cannot access BIOS after enabling Secure Boot and clearing CMOS

Mar 8, 2023
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Hello everyone,

Yesterday I tried downloading Valorant and it required me to enable TPM 2.0 for startup and so I did. I went into my BIOS and enabled it after disabling CSM, but after I did the screen went dead and no signal was being transmitted between my PC and Monitor. After researching I opted as my final resort which was to clear CMOS by removing the battery. I did so waited for around 1 minute and even tried multiple variations. Such as connecting the hdmi cable into the integrated graphics card and pressing F2 or del and literally every F key. I also used my display port cable, did the same and nothing. After all these variations it only worked with the hdmi cable inserted into my gpu. From there I was finally able to see something display on my monitor, but never could enter the BIOS even if I spammed the designated keys during power or not. It always sends me to a dead page. Which only highlights the company of the PC, the model, and directions to press F2 or del to enter BIOS and press F1 to continue, but even after pressing such keys nothing happens at all and it continues being stuck without granting me access to my BIOS so I can from there disable secure boot. I have also tried disconnecting both the hard drive and SSD, but nothing is resolved. I cannot log into my pc or do anything. I’m stuck with the same page I mentioned. It’s really frustrating as I don’t see anyone in any forum struggling with the exact same situation. I can make my monitor display something, but I’m locked out of entering the BIOS. I’m really hoping someone here knows how to fix this! Thanks!

Specs:
CPU: I5-9400f 2.9Ghz
GPU: Gtx 1660 6gb
Ram: 16gb DDR4
OS: Windows 11

Peripherals:
Keyboard: Wired Razer Huntsman Mini
Mouse: pro x superlight
 
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The motherboard is asrock b360m xtreme. As to the format I’m not that sure. It was on UEFI and I believe it was by default on mbr as the SSD storage (primary) is less than 2tb as well as the hard drive being only 1tb. It appears the motherboard isn’t gigabyte.

i’m able to just turn it on and thats all as it quickly sends me to the page I mentioned. Aside from that I cannot login or do nothing else.

Sorry not sure about the format, actually right now learning about this.
 
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the extreme is an OEM board, meaning it was made for a company to include in their machines. So who made the PC?
Was it cyberpower?

If you go to the CPPC Discord, you should be able to find someone that can provide a link to the latest downloads/manuals? They used to be on CPPC forum before they closed it - might even find someone here?! I have all the downloads for the ASRock B550AM Gaming mobo (my mobo) from there.
link about your board

It is similar to this: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B360M Pro4/index.asp
UEFI is both the BIOS and a boot method. So being in the UEFI doesn't necessarily mean you had a GPT drive.

I don't know if they similar enough but one answer for Asrock boards is to use an app called Restart to UEFI, you can find it here: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B360M Pro4/index.asp#Download

though obviously windows needs to work.

it appears ultra fast startup skips the bios screens, it might be on by default.
 
the extreme is an OEM board, meaning it was made for a company to include in their machines. So who made the PC?
Was it cyberpower?


link about your board

It is similar to this: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B360M Pro4/index.asp
UEFI is both the BIOS and a boot method. So being in the UEFI doesn't necessarily mean you had a GPT drive.

I don't know if they similar enough but one answer for Asrock boards is to use an app called Restart to UEFI, you can find it here: https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B360M Pro4/index.asp#Download

though obviously windows needs to work.

it appears ultra fast startup skips the bios screens, it might be on by default.
So what do you suggest I do with such app? The problem is that I can’t do anything as that page is dead and doesn’t let me go into anything in my computer. This is the motherboard I have.
 
its stuck on the bios flash screen.

resetting CMOS should have cleared the secure boot setting changes. So that shouldn't be reason it won't work now. Its likely the boot order is wrong, hence it can't start. Could be it swapped boot method.

Have you tried booting up using a USB drive? disconnect the boot drive and see if it makes any difference.

i would suggest updating bios but you likely need to be able to get into it on that board, to do so, and as witnessed by the answers on here, they often don't update their bios anyway - https://blog.cyberpowerpc.com/2022/04/19/how-to-update-bios-in-your-gaming-pc/

it seems Cyberpower used to tell people to ask ASrock about the drivers... thats not how it works. https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...treme-but-i-cant-find-drivers-for-it.3433539/

I would suggest trying to find the CPPC discord and see if anyone there has an answer.

I wonder if the no DP thing is this - https://superuser.com/questions/170...s-after-enabling-secure-boot-no-screen-output
 
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its stuck on the bios flash screen.

resetting CMOS should have cleared the secure boot setting changes. So that shouldn't be reason it won't work now. Its likely the boot order is wrong, hence it can't start. Could be it swapped boot method.

Have you tried booting up using a USB drive? disconnect the boot drive and see if it makes any difference.

i would suggest updating bios but you likely need to be able to get into it on that board, to do so, and as witnessed by the answers on here, they often don't update their bios anyway - https://blog.cyberpowerpc.com/2022/04/19/how-to-update-bios-in-your-gaming-pc/

it seems Cyberpower used to tell people to ask ASrock about the drivers... thats not how it works. https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...treme-but-i-cant-find-drivers-for-it.3433539/

I would suggest trying to find the CPPC discord and see if anyone there has an answer.

I wonder if the no DP thing is this - https://superuser.com/questions/170...s-after-enabling-secure-boot-no-screen-output
I haven’t done that, but I will try it tomorrow. Wow, just making it harder for people, hopefully I can get this fixed. The link you sent isn’t the same as my issue. Mine loads and it prompts me the bios flash screen but it doesn’t give me access to it, it just immediately goes into this page that is dead and doesn’t let me go back forward, nothing, literally an unworkable page. I will try seeing on discord to see if someone knows more. Nevertheless, Thanks!
 
could try a PS/2 keyboard although most of us don't have those around.
It could be the USB slot you are using is disabled at startup. That can happen if ultra fast startup is enabled as it doesn't turn on USB until PC is in windows.
 
I did think about that, but it is a functioning port. Here I found this thread which is kind of similar to my problem but he can enter the bios menu, which in my case I can’t at all.
 
I’m currently reading about others being stuck in the bios splash screen, but I see there are limited to no solutions. I haven’t tried the pin method to clear the cmos, but I don’t think that’ll do much. Do you think removing the ram will help?