Motherboards BIOS won't display (windows boots fine)

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Carl Marten, 26 Feb 2014.

  1. Carl Marten

    Carl Marten Forget Dremels, buy angle grinders.

    Joined:
    24 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    13
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hi,

    When I boot my computer the BIOS doesn't display. First thing to show on the monitor is a fully booted desktop. Its been happening since around patch Tuesday but I think this is just coincidence.

    For now I can live with it but I can't boot into Linux (separate drive accessed from boot selector) and a planned HD upgrade has been delayed.

    The Mobo is an Asus P6X58D-E with a i7 930 @4.1Ghz. 6Gb ram, AMD 7950 Gfx, Boot SSD and a couple of mech drives.

    The system is water coold and has been stable for years.

    Any suggestions on getting back into the BIOS appreciated.
     
  2. StaticFX

    StaticFX What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    4 Feb 2014
    Posts:
    39
    Likes Received:
    0
    have you tried hitting the setup key <DEL> or whatever? just keep hitting it for the 1st 15 seconds after turning it on... it will prob start beeping. then stop. see if it shows?
     
  3. Carl Marten

    Carl Marten Forget Dremels, buy angle grinders.

    Joined:
    24 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    13
    Likes Received:
    0
    Yep.

    Just get a blank screen.
     
  4. spolsh

    spolsh Multimodder

    Joined:
    4 Feb 2012
    Posts:
    1,569
    Likes Received:
    836
    Try using the del key on the num-pad ... apparently this helped some people before with an issue like this.
     
  5. IvanIvanovich

    IvanIvanovich будет глотать вашу душу.

    Joined:
    31 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    4,870
    Likes Received:
    252
    While certainly odd if it just started... I have the same problem on 2 different systems also. On one, I need to have my display attached to a specific port on the gpu as it is the only one that will display bios. On another... it's silly uefi will only display on a monitor with a 1080 native res and I have a 1440.
    So, try other display output on the gpu, if none work perhaps try a different gpu? If that dosen't work either... maybe try flashing the bios as it may have a problem. Though... clearing the cmos could be risky. If the no display problem isn't resolved you will be stuck if you can't get past post from not being able to change a setting to boot like setting ahci or something.
     
  6. murraynt

    murraynt Modder

    Joined:
    6 Jun 2009
    Posts:
    4,234
    Likes Received:
    128
    Can you get into the boot selection screen by pressing F10?
    You could try a different keyboard either.
     
  7. Carl Marten

    Carl Marten Forget Dremels, buy angle grinders.

    Joined:
    24 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    13
    Likes Received:
    0
    The boot selector is F8 (and that doesnt work), both Dels don't work and I have swapped the DVI cable around.

    Since the computer will boot into windows (I am typing on it now) I wan't to avoid resetting the BIOS (the order of drives is important since not everything that runs on start-up is on the SSD. and the SSD is not the default boot option when CMOS is cleared).

    I have thought about flashing a new BIOS but it is recommended to do this from within the BIOS on this mobo.
     
  8. Flibblebot

    Flibblebot Smile with me

    Joined:
    19 Apr 2005
    Posts:
    4,907
    Likes Received:
    416
    Try doing a full shutdown - from a command prompt, type
    Code:
    shutdown /s /t 0
    this may give you a bit of extra time to get into the BIOS as it is different from the normal Windows 8 hybrid shutdown/reboot.
     
  9. Pookie

    Pookie Illegitimi non carborundum

    Joined:
    4 May 2010
    Posts:
    3,631
    Likes Received:
    237
    Disconnect the hard disk. You should be able to look in the BIOS then and see what's going on.
     
  10. faugusztin

    faugusztin I *am* the guy with two left hands

    Joined:
    11 Aug 2008
    Posts:
    6,953
    Likes Received:
    270
    As IvanIvanovich said - the boot screen is on a different port, which has no display connected.
     
  11. Deders

    Deders Modder

    Joined:
    14 Nov 2010
    Posts:
    4,053
    Likes Received:
    106
    Yeah try a different display output.
     
  12. murraynt

    murraynt Modder

    Joined:
    6 Jun 2009
    Posts:
    4,234
    Likes Received:
    128
    +1

    If that doesn't work the bios on them boards can just be flashed from a flash drive, even if you can't access the bios. :clap:
     
  13. YEHBABY

    YEHBABY RIP Tel

    Joined:
    22 May 2010
    Posts:
    3,635
    Likes Received:
    1,640
    I had a similar issue in the past where my usb keyboard wouldn't turn on quick enough for the keys to work and it would pass by the delete key function. I found using an old non usb keyboard worked.
     
  14. StaticFX

    StaticFX What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    4 Feb 2014
    Posts:
    39
    Likes Received:
    0
    I have 2 monitors.. 1 will immediately fires up and shows boot screen, the other is very slow and wont show till the bios is actually up.. as stated above, maybe a different port? vga cable?
     
  15. Flibblebot

    Flibblebot Smile with me

    Joined:
    19 Apr 2005
    Posts:
    4,907
    Likes Received:
    416
    I'd assumed because it was an i7 motherboard that it wouldn't have PS/2 ports, but it does. Definitely try using a PS/2 keyboard like YEHBABY suggested - I've had problems in the past where the USB keyboard wasn't recognised by the BIOS.

    According to the manual, you need to press the Delete key to get into the BIOS.
     
  16. Carl Marten

    Carl Marten Forget Dremels, buy angle grinders.

    Joined:
    24 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    13
    Likes Received:
    0
    Its working now.

    Removing the gfx card, booting then re-inserting it and booting cleared it.

    A guess would be that the card/bios level drivers were failing and the card would only initialize when the windows drivers kicked in. It would explain why Del/F8 left a blank screen and windows safe mode wouldn't display.

    Thanks for you help guys, hope it doesn't happen again and I can put it down to random computer weirdness.
     

Share This Page