Win 10 BIOS Mode boot/restart

[xtcmax]

Hello.

I have upgraded Win 8.1 Ent into Win 10 Enterprise. While upgrading I had an older version of BIOS. Since then I have upgraded to the latest BIOS version available for my MOBO. My MOBO is ASUS's P8H77.

I can not boot or restart into BIOS from Win 10. I have googled the problem and it was mentioned something about new UEFI method of OS installation. When I am trying to restart/boot using the Advanced Boot option my OS is missing the "UEFI Firmware Settings" option, therefore I can't get into my BIOS.

My questions are:

- All this is happening because I had an old version of BIOS and when I upgraded something got screwed up?

- Does my motherboard support Win 10 UEFI option at all?

- Do I need to do clean install? Is it possible to avoid such option?

Reason for all these trouble:
My PC freezes when I leave it working overnight. I do not know how to troubleshoot it because no reason for the freeze is indicated in the Even Viewer. Perhaps someone could help me to find out why the heck my PC freezes? I do not get any BSOD or errors, just a freeze and the only way to reset the PC is to hold down the power button.

Please help,
thank you in advance.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Is it a ASUS's P8H77-i, -m, -v, -m Pro, -i LE, or what? There are a variety of ASUS's P8H77 sub models and they're all somewhat different. Looks like they are all UEFI though, so you should be able to access the bios without any issue and Windows 10 has the same UEFI support that was in Windows 8. Your windows partition type, whether MBR or GPT shouldn't have anything to do with being able to access the bios through the function keys (Start mashing the appropriate key as soon as or before you hit the power on button) or through windows.

Upgraded systems have been exhibiting a lot of issues though. It's kind of hit or miss on that, so a clean install is probably not a bad place to start if you are having system issues. Making sure every single driver related to your motherboard and graphics card is up to date is also a very good idea.

It's pretty much all covered if you read the stickies, but here's my recommendations for doing a clean install.

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2784691/resolve-unresolvable-issues-upgrading-windows.html

 

[xtcmax]

This is the exact name of my MOBO from amazon.com (where I got it from)

ASUS P8H77-M/CSM LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

 

[Darkbreeze]

^^^^Above post was edited. Looks like Delete is your access key for the bios. If you start repeatedly punching the delete key at the same time you power on the unit, and keep doing so until you see that it has entered the bios, you should not have a problem. I have ultra fast boot enabled on several systems and while it requires fast fingers to do it, you CAN get into the bios that way.

 

[xtcmax]

Some strange event is happening.

- I press reset button or restart
- Computer restarts and I start pressing "del" button
- Computer fails to boot, hard disk stops loading data, PC just sits there as if the process was interrupted
The only reason to boot up from that hanged state is to reset PC again and do not press del button.


Update
Whatever was done to my poor baby has been solved by resetting the BIOS by removing the battery. Old school,son.
plz advise.

 

[Darkbreeze]

On UEFI systems, especially if fast boot is enabled, you'll have a hard time accessing the bios from a restart. Accessing the bios from OFF/Cold start is much more probably if fast or ultra fast boot settings are set. If you are able to access the bios now, after resetting, then I guess problem solved.

 

[xtcmax]

Update 2

Yesterday I thought I fixed the problem, but today Win 10 still boots into Secure boot. I did another CMOS reset, went into BIOS made sure that Secure Boot is turned off, CMS is set to Legacy boot, changed UEFI to Legacy Boot and Win 10 still uses Secure boot.

I went into the MSCONFIG and wanted to boot into safe mode, and I noticed that my msconfig/OS does not remember the settings I put there. I check the box with NORMAL STARTUP and after I re-open the msconfig or restart the settings are back to Selective Startup.

The Fast Boot is disabled in the Power Options.

I checked my OS for Malware using MBAM (anti malware) and NOD32 for the viruses - clean.

Is clean install the only damn option left for me? No way to tweak reg or any other little "smart people" hacks?

plz advise.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Are the bios settings staying as you select them, or are they changing back to defaults too? You might have a weak or dead cmos battery.

 

[xtcmax]

In CMOS
The settings are reset, the system time is set back to 1/1/09, everything is changed. (not as I left it) But i can't verify because the only way I can get to CMOS is by removing the battery.

The OS settings are normal, except msconfig ones.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'd install a new battery, just to be sure. Especially since they're only a couple of bucks and your motherboard is definitely old enough for the cmos battery to have sold the farm by now.

 

[xtcmax]

The MOBO came from RMA very recently and they included a battery.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Sounds like a bad RMA then. Probably gave you a refurbished board or determined nothing was wrong with yours and sent it back. If you can't access the bios, something is wrong. I'd try the clean install first, then turn OFF fast boot in the power options applet in control panel, and if you still have issues, I'd RMA the board again.

 

[xtcmax]

When I got the board back from RMA, I had old bios and I remember I was able to access it to update. I am swaying towards that I got some soft changing my OS settings. Will do clean install.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You may have got a bad flash job as well. You might download the bios file again and reflash the current bios again to see if that helps. I'd also make sure the bios you installed was for the P8H77-M/CSM and not one of the other P8H77 models.

 

[xtcmax]

I am pretty sure it is the correct bios :

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8H77M/HelpDesk_Download/

This is killing me ....

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you have version 1306 installed, then yes, both the M and M/CSM have the same bios so it should be fine. Could be a buggy bios version too, that's not unheard of. You might go back and flash one version older.

 

[xtcmax]

I must be smoking crack

After I selected different boot option in the Advanced Boot Menu of Win 10 I had my Win loading without sound and network support. Then I went to msconfig and selected the Original Boot Config and now I gained the access to Bios upon booting/rebooting.

But I wanted to do a clean install and I have 2 bootable Win 10 DVDs. One is working because I installed Win 10 from it and the other I just got. Both DVDs give me I/O error while I try to boot from DVD. At the same time when I boot from Win 8.1 DVD everything is fine. I am confused. I can't even format my HD to start fresh.

Unexpected I/O error has occured. Status: 0xc00000e9 - This is the error I get from both Win 10 CDs.

DVD-Rom works fine, it reads DVDs and boots from win 8.1 DVD. What is going on?

How does one installs Win 10 clean If I get this weird error? I am thinking about installing 8.1 (clean) , then install Win 10 on top of it (clean as well). I was able to boot from Win 10 DVD while my pc had Win 8.1 on it.

 

[Darkbreeze]

It's probably due to a bios setting. I would NOT install 8.1 first. We've seen too many issues with this, even with a clean installation of 8.1 first. I'd probably recommend that you create different media for installing Windows 10, using the method outlined in the tutorial I posted. This problem with the bootable media is one of the reasons I created that tutorial and you will want to use the method exactly as outlined. Use the mediacreation tool to download the ISO and THEN use the Windows 7 DVD/USB download tool to actually create the media. Using the mediacreation tool to create media has resulted in a variety of problems in some cases plus it only gives you the option to create USB media or install at that time, not the option to create DVD media so use the Windows 7 DVD/USB download to create, and ONLY to create, the installation media. The exact instructions are here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2784691/resolve-unresolvable-issues-upgrading-windows.html

 

[xtcmax]

Update on the PC with bare essentials connected.

- Mouse
- Keyboard
- Sound
- DVD
- Primary HD

1.Removed BIOS battery
2. Changed boot sequence to ATAPI CD/DVD
3. Booting from Win 10 bootable disk - FAILED. The boot process gives me I/O error Status: 0xc00000e9
4. Turned off PC and put in Win XP bootable DVD
5. Process is successful, My DVD-Rom can boot from Win 8.1 and Win XP bootable media.

Question: Is it possible that ISO I used to make bootable DVD was meant to be for USB drives only?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes. They are two different ISOs. That's why I said to go through the process of creating media again by using the tutorial and then installing. USB and DVD ISO images are different, incorporating different boot data, which is why the mediacreation tool asks you which method you are going to want to install from before it links you to the appropriate ISO download.

OR, it could also be the fact that the regular mediacreation tool isn't intended for use with a DVD disk, which is why we've been recommending using the Windows 7 DVD/USB download tool, which should really be called the Windows installation media creation disk, since it works with any version of windows since 7 and with both USB and DVD. If you follow the instructions on the link above and do exactly as outlined, it will either boot and install or you have a separate issue, which is doubtful since you say other media will install.

 

[xtcmax]

One more question about bootable meadia:

When I was upgrading Win 8.1 I did not boot from the DVD, I was told to run the .exe file and upgrade process would start. So, the USB bootable media can still be used to upgrade, but not too boot from DVD?

I have bookmarked the tutorial, will continue tomorrow.

P.s. I can't believe that the problem is so simple )))

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, if you want to create USB bootable media, you can do that too, but you'll need to create USB bootable media using the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool, same as if you wanted to create DVD media, only choose the USB option instead since you already apparently have downloaded the USB ISO. I'd really suggest just determining which method you are going to use, running the mediacreation tool to download the correct version, selecting "save for use on another computer later", run the other tool and create your media, then install.

 

[xtcmax]

It comes down to downloading the correct ISO because I want to use DVD.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok, then go through the full process. That's the best, most recommended method anyhow. The process I mean, not necessarily DVD or USB. Either works fine.

 

[xtcmax]

Darkbreeze,
thank you for taking your time and helping me to get to the bottom of the problem. The Windows USB/DVD tool and the manual helped a lot and it is a great source of info. So, I tip my hat.

On my second issue, me not being able to access the bios, I would like to admit that sometimes I am just purely tarded. I have 2 monitors connected, the second being used only when I stream games and I stream not too often. It turned out that the second monitor was being treated as the primary and when system was booting up I simply did not see the BIOS prompt or if I pressed DEL and I said my PC would simply stay frozen, the second monitor did not turn on. Everything is working fine and I do have access to the BIOS. Holly mama of god, I feel stoopeed.

Once gain, thank you for helping me and taking your time. I wish you all the best.

max.