can't get into bios or windows F2 and F12 do not work

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drsantafe

drsantafe

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Sep 11, 2010
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My Dell Precision M6800 hangs and does not start.
What I've done so far

1. removed all storage/hard drives one at a time. Primary, secondary, optical, mSATA

2. pulled memory, tried each stick by self.

3. unplugged coin battery with power plug disconnected and laptop battery removed. Left unplugged for more than a minute.

4. cleaned everything with compressed air.

So now what happens when I press F2:

1. I briefly get the yellow "entering setup" on the upper right of the screen

2. Then I get three lines of text:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Initializing Intel(R) Boot Agent GE v1.5.50

PXE 2.1 Build 092 (WfM 2.0)

Control + I to configure
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Hitting Control + I does nothing.

The same thing happens when I press F12 except the yellow text changes to "Preparing one-time boot menu"

I've tried putting a freshly made windows 10 usb install media in a usb slot and the same thing happens

I will appreciate any suggestions! REMEMBER I CAN'T GET INTO BIOS

 
Solution
Roland Of Gilead
did you try the different variations? Specially the FN +F2, or the power button restart? If neither keyboards are working, it sounds like it could be the mobo. If your USB keyboard, and standard keyboard aren't working, your kinda screwed. Did you have a short/power surge or anything like that?

How old is the laptop? Laptops, and you may call me cynical here, have a short warranty. They are designed that way, so should it fail, you go out and buy a new one, as often it's too costly to repair.

you could spend a while troubleshooting it and get no-where.
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Roland Of Gilead

Roland Of Gilead

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Aug 8, 2008
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have you tried all of these combo's? :

'Press "F2" when the first screen appears. Timing is difficult, so you may wish to continually press "F2" until you see the message "Entering Setup." Pressing the key several times has no detrimental effects. In older Dell models, you might need to press either "Delete," "Ctrl" + "Alt" + "Enter," "Fn" + "F1," or "Fn" + "Esc." When in doubt, you can press several different combinations without any ill effects.'
 
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captaincharisma

captaincharisma

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Oct 13, 2004
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not necessarily, that boot agent is it attempting to boot via a network so that may be part of the boot order

 
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Roland Of Gilead

Roland Of Gilead

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that's true, but to get into the agent, a key needs to be pressed. So the OP should 'in theory' be able to access the bios.
Dell lappie's are a pain in the rear end.

Another option for the OP is to take out battery and put the power cable in. If he then holds (continuously holds) the power button, until the laptop starts to post, I think (and I can't be certain, since it's been a while since my last Dell unit) it should power to give options for the bios and/or an option to do a system reset. it may help.

 
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Roland Of Gilead

Roland Of Gilead

Titan
Aug 8, 2008
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did you try the different variations? Specially the FN +F2, or the power button restart? If neither keyboards are working, it sounds like it could be the mobo. If your USB keyboard, and standard keyboard aren't working, your kinda screwed. Did you have a short/power surge or anything like that?

How old is the laptop? Laptops, and you may call me cynical here, have a short warranty. They are designed that way, so should it fail, you go out and buy a new one, as often it's too costly to repair.

you could spend a while troubleshooting it and get no-where.
 
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Solution
drsantafe

drsantafe

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Sep 11, 2010
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Lots of responses...great community. Keyboard does flash and it does say it is going into setup. But...nothing that works yet. From other forums it seems like the problem may be that the PXE prompt along with the Control + I to configure may prevent the computer from entering into bios.

It is a strong workstation, albeit a tad on the humongous side with the large screen. My current guess is that the motherboard is messed up some way.
 
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R

rcmansid

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Dec 15, 2017
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To fix this problem , remove the CD rom drive from the computer. Then start the computer and hit F2 again quickly several times.
When the Bios opens, make your changes to the boot sequence. I changed mine to boot from the USB port USB HDD first then Internal HDD second. Now I can use RUFUS to setup a USB flash drive to Boot and install Win10, Ubuntu or similar.
The CD rom seems to load down the power supply of the ACER and cause a glitch when the motor starts up and Boot starts all over again . I recommend you just pitch that old CD drive and install what ever you want from the USB flash drive. The power supply should be at least a 90 watt unit also. When using Win10 on the ACER the Edge browser seems to be the fastest.
That is how I turned two ACER lemons into lemonade. Have fun guys.
 
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