Can't get to BIOS

KnightPlutonian

Commendable
Jun 8, 2016
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So I built my computer a few weeks back and I'm finally thinking about overclocking my 6600k. However, whenever I restart my computer, I get to the motherboard splash screen (where I believe the options to go to the BIOS are suppose to be shown at the bottom) but it doesn't have any options to get there. I've tried hitting delete repeatedly as it loads up, in case the first splash screen is a placeholder for when the real splash screen should show up, but that didn't do anything either. There is a cycling ring of circles, which I'm assuming is Windows booting up, but it immediately cuts to the Windows 10 login screen without sending me to the BIOS. I have Windows on an SSD to cut down on restart time, which is nice, but is it loading up too fast for me to get into the BIOS?

Specs:

Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 5
i5-6600K
EVGA GTX 1070 SC
Silicon Power Silm S55 480GB
 
Solution
The first splash screen you remember when you first built the machine would definitely have the way to access the Bios because there would have been no OS present to boot into.
Thus disconnecting the OS boot drive will definitely be a solution to get in initially. The easier workaround solution for you is below though.

Once in Bios you can then go over the basic startup options listed and set it up for easier access to the Bios.
Your specific motherboard I am not familiar with though I do own and have owned quite a few Gigabyte motherboards in my lifetime. I have never seen accessing the Bios ever be an issue unless in the Bios it was set to bypass it if there is an OS present to boot from first. And this would definitely not be due...

justajohn

Honorable
Feb 23, 2013
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10,660


This quite possibly is the issue.
The white circling dots animation is windows booting up.
So I am wondering just how many seconds go by before you are seeing this.
Some computers if they are set to the quickest boot up priority can be really fast here like 2 seconds.
If this is the case pressing and holding Delete might be the trick.
But in the off chance that your keyboard is a USB and not PS2 style it just might be plugged into a USB3 port or some other extra USB port that requires the OS to be loaded in order to function. In that case your keyboard may not be registering until the OS boots at which point you'll never get in. LOL
Most time at post the keyboard Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock lights (if so accessorized) will flash on at some point.
Your Num Lock light may or may not stay lit at this point depending on if it is set to be in engaged at startup in Bios or not. But if you have any lights that can light up on your keyboard you should see something happen with these before the dreaded white dots begin spinning. If there are lights lighting up on the keyboard after the windows loading animation then this is probably the case.
So first thing I would check is whether or not the keyboard if USB is plugged into a standard USB 2.0 port which if your unsure you can look up your motherboard specs and determine the best ports to use for this.
USB 3.0 are the blue ones so definitely don't use those for a keyboard if there are other options.

If this is not your issue then you can always force the Bios to be a given option by unplugging your SSD temporarily from it's SATA and power plug. I would do this at the drive usually so I don't rearrange the order of my drive at the SATA ports later on when I reconnect it.
At this point it should return Operating System not found error with an option to boot to Bios... or if you have a spiffy new UEFI it may just drop you straight in depending on how it is configured.
As panathas said there are different ways to access UEFI in win8 and 10 with some systems as well. This could very well be your issue.

So first thing I would do once in the Bios is to set the options for your System Startup to be accessible more easily. Usually just switching off the Startup Splash Logo (My gigabyte 990fx has the option listed as Full Screen Logo Show under Bios Features heading and this can be either Enabled or Disabled) or whatever your option is called would be the quickest best option for this as then you can see the post routines running (however quickly) and your keyboard options hopefully will be listed on the screen as well. If yours is the newest of new UEFI's it may be you can't access Bios the old fashioned way at all. I'm not sure as I don't have any systems like this myself.

Whether or not you can see the keyboard options at post they should still be accessible unless there is some other option set in Bios blocking this. And Del would be the commonest key to perform this action usually.

In any case disconnecting your OS boot drive should get you in the door as a last resort.

Hope this helps if not tell us what it did instead.
Good luck.
-John
 


Catching the Bios by continually depressing the Delete key can be a hit and miss affair. however it should work if post has recognized your Keyboard. Sometimes you have to use a PS2 keyboard initially.
Some later model USB keyboards are not recognized and a Bios update is required.
 

KnightPlutonian

Commendable
Jun 8, 2016
36
0
1,540
So I measured the amount of time that it took for my computer to show the Gigabyte splash screen to booting into Windows login to be about 11 seconds, the first half or a bit more of which is simply spent on the screen without the cycling Windows 10 circle. I tried holding down the Delete key, but that didn't work and it simply just booted into Windows normally. I didn't change anything in the BIOS, and though I do have a USB keyboard, it is plugged into the USB 2.0 port and I used it before I had Windows to look through the BIOS when I was building my computer. The Num Lock indicator does light up when the splash screen starts, so I'm assuming it works there. I suppose I could unplug my SSD with the OS, but I really don't want to do that, especially since my cable management solution was just to squish everything down as safely as possible and shove my side panel back on, since I was building in my old case and didn't have any zip ties or twist ties to manage them. From my memory, however, the splash screen that I saw before I had the SSD plugged in did have instructions to get to the BIOS. Did something go wrong, or do I need a firmware update or something?
 

justajohn

Honorable
Feb 23, 2013
80
0
10,660
The first splash screen you remember when you first built the machine would definitely have the way to access the Bios because there would have been no OS present to boot into.
Thus disconnecting the OS boot drive will definitely be a solution to get in initially. The easier workaround solution for you is below though.

Once in Bios you can then go over the basic startup options listed and set it up for easier access to the Bios.
Your specific motherboard I am not familiar with though I do own and have owned quite a few Gigabyte motherboards in my lifetime. I have never seen accessing the Bios ever be an issue unless in the Bios it was set to bypass it if there is an OS present to boot from first. And this would definitely not be due to a firmware issue.
This more then likely is a setting within the Bios which is set to perform this function.
So just find the setting and change it if given the option and this behavior should no longer be an issue.

There is the in OS solution of - holding down shift while choosing Restart PC - option which will get you to an option Menu. From there you can access the UEFI easily as well by choosing
Troubleshoot --->
Advanced Options --->
UEFI Firmware Settings
and then clicking Restart.
I got this from reading panathas' handy post where he linked to the article that outlines this and then I tried it myself.

So that should get you there for sure no fuss or muss with cables.
 
Solution