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18478
Can't enter BIOS after changing from Secure/UEFI to Legacy
I had to go into the BIOS and change the type from Secure Boot / UEFI to Legacy Boot in order to get the firmware program for my SSD to run from a removable USB drive. No big deal, I figured after the firmware is updated, I'll go in to change it back to Secure / UEFI, right? Wrong.
So, hours later now, I cannot enter the BIOS at all. During the POST screen, I see the "Press F2 for Setup / F12 for Boot Options" and I even notice that the "F2 for Setup" become highlighted/selected after holding the F2 key down. But, instead of going into the BIOS, it goes to a DOS menu in which you can either select the OS or Windows Memory Diagnostic.
I ended up doing a clean install of Win 10, and disabled fast boot. That didn't help. Then I thought installing Win 7 would fix it. Nope. Same deal; can't get into BIOS. I did some googling and found one suggestion to press Alt+F2 and all combinations thereof including F8, ESC, DEL etc - no luck. Another suggestion I tried was removing the CMOS battery / unplugging the SSD / laptop battery in order to force it to a hold POST screen. What happened then after pressing F2 was lots of beeping and a Boot from PXE menu came up (Bizarre).
Any other suggestions? I can use Windows but Win 10 doesn't have full functionality without UEFI / Secure Boot enabled. And I'd hate not being able to access the BIOS or boot menu forever. I hope some Dell expert can help me get in to the dang BIOS. I might add that the reason for me updating my SSD's firmware is crashing issues related to the Win 10 Anniversary update... separate complex issue lol...
Appreciate the help. -Dave
Inspiron 11 3137 - Win 10 x64 - 128GB Transcend SSD - 8GB G.SKILL RAM
727stretch
140 Posts
4
November 16th, 2016 23:00
Posting this just in case anyone has the same issue I had. I had to open up the laptop and disconnect the regular battery, the BIOS battery (the round one for those that don't know) and ***LEAVE IT DISCONNECTED OVERNIGHT***. When I turned it on the next day, and pressed F2, it brought me to the BIOS. Back in business.
727stretch
140 Posts
0
November 7th, 2016 18:00
Bump
Any help would be appreciated. I'm stuck.