Unable to enter bios

[Priest4Life]

Recently, my PC froze and required a hard shutdown. After that I tried to reboot the computer as normal, and attempted to enter the bios in order to check my settings and make sure that my SSD was on the correct setting., which it often is not. However, I could not enter the bios for some reason. At first I thought that I was too late pressing the key, but I soon realized that it was my keyboard not working because I have Linux installed, and I could not select windows versus Ubuntu in the GNU grub loader. Once it booted into Linix, I was able to use my mouse and keyboard again. However, no matter how many times I reboot my system, I am unable to use my keyboard or mouse to enter bios or grub loader. It is an old mobo, so I might just need to replace that, but I have to wait until one more part arrives. Any thought on how to fix it?

 

[bonou2]

Recently, my PC froze and required a hard shutdown. After that I tried to reboot the computer as normal, and attempted to enter the bios in order to check my settings and make sure that my SSD was on the correct setting., which it often is not. However, I could not enter the bios for some reason. At first I thought that I was too late pressing the key, but I soon realized that it was my keyboard not working because I have Linux installed, and I could not select windows versus Ubuntu in the GNU grub loader. Once it booted into Linix, I was able to use my mouse and keyboard again. However, no matter how many times I reboot my system, I am unable to use my keyboard or mouse to enter bios or grub loader. It is an old mobo, so I might just need to replace that, but I have to wait until one more part arrives. Any thought on how to fix it?

Hi, most probably you do not have the USB Legacy support/compatibility turned on, and you are using USB mouse and keyboard.

Did you try using a PS2 Keyboard (If the computer has PS2 ports?
Also if you are using a USB keyboard and mouse through a bluetooth dongle, use a wired mouse and keyboard instead.

If the above does not solve your issue, check if your input devices are plugged into the USB2 or USB3. Swap the ports and see what happens. Also try to swap different USB ports.

Also try to avoid front panel USB ports.

Hope my post solves your issue.

 

[bonou2]

Also what do you mean by SSD setting is not often setup properly from BIOS?

 

[Priest4Life]

you where correct. a ps2 keyboard did the trick. Thanks a lot!

Also what do you mean by SSD setting is not often setup properly from BIOS?

what i meant by my ssd doesn't always set up correctly is that my ssd only will boot if it is AHCI, but it will often switch back to RAID for no reason (I have a mass storage drive in there as well). I haven't been able to figure out why, but it did it in windows 8.1 and in the windows 10 tech preview. When this happens, I cannot boot properly, and the computer gets stuck in a reboot, error, reboot cycle. The only way to stop it is to go back into the bios and change it back to AHCI, even though i never changed it in the first place. I have gotten in the habit of just making sure it is still in AHCI every time i boot to save time, and i couldn't check the status, which was the first red flag when the previous issue popped up.

 

[bonou2]

you where correct. a ps2 keyboard did the trick. Thanks a lot!

Also what do you mean by SSD setting is not often setup properly from BIOS?

what i meant by my ssd doesn't always set up correctly is that my ssd only will boot if it is AHCI, but it will often switch back to RAID for no reason (I have a mass storage drive in there as well). I haven't been able to figure out why, but it did it in windows 8.1 and in the windows 10 tech preview. When this happens, I cannot boot properly, and the computer gets stuck in a reboot, error, reboot cycle. The only way to stop it is to go back into the bios and change it back to AHCI, even though i never changed it in the first place. I have gotten in the habit of just making sure it is still in AHCI every time i boot to save time, and i couldn't check the status, which was the first red flag when the previous issue popped up.

Hi I'm glad to know that my answer solved your issue when not accessing the BIOS.

Now, that you can access BIOS through the PS2 keyboard, you can check for the USB Legacy setting, or compatibility. If it is set to Disabled, you can enable it and can use the USB keyboard. Be mindful that if for any reason the mainboard resets its settings to factory default and this USB setting was disabled as default, you still need to use the PS2 keyboard until you change this setting again.

Regarding the SATA Setting issue, your computer won't boot into Windows from the SSD, when the setting is on RAID, because when you installed Windows, the AHCI setting was chosen. Windows cannot be booted if the original setting (when Windows was installed) is present (in this case AHCI), in fact some motherboards give you a message when you access this option.
In which case, there is nothing wrong this setting. You only need to change it to RAID (and perform an OS Re-installation in your case), if you want to use RAID.
I always setup this setting as AHCI, when RAID is not necessary.
Are you noticing if you are losing other BIOS Setting except the AHCI one? Maybe lost the time?

If yes, I think it's time that the CMOS battery needs to be changed (you stated that your mainboard is old) It is cheaper to replace the CMOS battery than the mainboard, if you're not planning to upgrade your computer system.
Hope my advice solves your other issue.