I'm having a frustrating issue with my PC where I just can't access the BIOS. It seems like the system skips right over it and goes straight to booting Windows. Here are my specs: I'm running Windows 10 on a Gigabyte Z390 UD motherboard with an Intel i7-9700 CPU and Nvidia GeForce 3060 Ti graphics card, and I've got 48 GB of Corsair DDR4 RAM. The BIOS is American Trend and set to UEFI mode.
I've already tried a bunch of things: I've disabled fast startup, toggled it on and off numerous times, and repeatedly pressed the boot key specific to my motherboard (along with every other key I could think of). I've even tried a system recovery to enter UEFI but it just boots back into Windows.
I've unplugged everything from USB ports except my keyboard, which I've plugged into various ports. I did a clean boot through system config, reseated my GPU and RAM while testing different combinations of the RAM sticks, and even removed and replaced the CMOS battery. Recently, I used a command line to try and reboot directly into BIOS, but no luck.
I haven't seen my motherboard's logo on boot for quite a while, so I'm starting to wonder if something else might be going on. I'm feeling pretty lost and would appreciate any advice or help!
4 Answers
You might want to try shorting the CMOS jumper. I had success with that on my Asus board.
Sorry to hear that it didn’t work for you. Keep experimenting!
Have you tried disconnecting your hard drive before powering on? It should fail the POST check and prompt you to enter BIOS.
I did that yesterday actually. I wanted to change the boot drive, but when I unplugged it, the PC powered on and off a couple of times. Then it stayed on but still showed a black screen.
Have you considered making a BIOS desktop shortcut? It’s a handy way to shut down your PC and boot straight into BIOS to avoid using F2 or Delete.
I tried the command "shutdown /r /fw" from command prompt, but it just booted into Windows again.
Are you using DisplayPort for output? Sometimes that can cause issues with getting to BIOS.
I’ve tried both onboard graphics and my GPU, but nothing changed.
I was worried about that too, but it seems like it's a legit method. I’ll look into it!