Can not access BIOS HP Pavilion G6 - i5 CPU running in 32bit is it under-clocked?

[Jardaz]

Tried all the usual, Fkeys, Delete, esc, W10 recovery options what else is there? A little bit of background. HP Pavilion G6 upgraded from W7 to W10 (then clean re-install of W10) the laptop was super slow in W7 and still is in W10. I ran a few tests and according to Parted Magic the i5 CPU is running in 32bit. I want see what is in BIOS but can not get in any of the ways mentioned. In fact W10 recovery options does not show any way to BIOS. W10 command msinfo32.exe show that BIOS is running in Legacy mode, could that be the issue? Or any other BIOS settings can under-clock the CPU? Is it even possible to have Intel i5 running in 32bit?
Thank you all help appreciated

 

[Natsukage]

Hello.

First of all, you are running a 32-bit version of windows because you upgraded from (i assume) Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit. Usually, you will need to do a clean install to upgrade to a 64-bit Win10.
But...32-bit or 64-bit does NOT affect your computer speed at all, with such a low power laptop. So this is besides the point.

The source of your PC being slow is most probably your HDD. Slow is highly subjective. What do you mean by slow? Slow loading apps? Lagging? Or slow in games?

 

[Jardaz]

Hello.

First of all, you are running a 32-bit version of windows because you upgraded from (i assume) Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit. Usually, you will need to do a clean install to upgrade to a 64-bit Win10.
But...32-bit or 64-bit does NOT affect your computer speed at all, with such a low power laptop. So this is besides the point.

The source of your PC being slow is most probably your HDD. Slow is highly subjective. What do you mean by slow? Slow loading apps? Lagging? Or slow in games?

first of all thank you for taking time on Saturday night to answer my post. However my question is about access BIOS on this laptop. The fact about slow is secondary. I have had seen many PCs w/ W7 and W10 both 64 bit on i5 CPU and they were running much faster. So Please read carefully the post above. especially the part about upgrading.
Now I have to correct my self about the testing this PC. I may have ran the CPU benchmark test in Parted Magic 32bit not in 64 bit version. That would explain the results of CPU in 32 bit. I totally agree the "slow computer" term is very relative so I will go to detail. HP Pavilion g6-1c33ca Notebook PC, Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2401 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s), RAM 6GB, HDD is slower but normal for laptop of this age @5400rpm.
Any app to open takes forever. even typing in word or here in browser would delay easily 4 seconds after I hit the key. Boot takes a long time. Clicking an exe file to install took 3 minutes to open and continue.
However the main issue here is to access BIOS. Believe me and as said above none of the usual tricks nothing works!

 

[Natsukage]

Hmm, usually, such a lag can be because of a failed HDD, RAM or overheat.
First of all, run CrystalDiskInfo to verify without a doubt your HDD is okay. Then I suggest trying an app such as Speccy, HW Monitor or Speedfan and check your temps.

But to access your BIOS, have you tried this:
Power down the pc. This has to be a hard power down. Either restart then press power off at boot, hold power for 5-10 seconds when in windows, or unplug the power cord and battery while it is on.

Then hold the ESCAPE key, and power on the PC. There will be a choice available. Click F10 to load the bios.
This should allow you access to the bios.

 

[Jardaz]

Hmm, usually, such a lag can be because of a failed HDD, RAM or overheat.
First of all, run CrystalDiskInfo to verify without a doubt your HDD is okay. Then I suggest trying an app such as Speccy, HW Monitor or Speedfan and check your temps.

But to access your BIOS, have you tried this:
Power down the pc. This has to be a hard power down. Either restart then press power off at boot, hold power for 5-10 seconds when in windows, or unplug the power cord and battery while it is on.

Then hold the ESCAPE key, and power on the PC. There will be a choice available. Click F10 to load the bios.
This should allow you access to the bios.

Alright tried this again made sure to power down the PC and nope that ain't it.
Thank you

 

[Natsukage]

Do you have the exact model number of your laptop? It's usually either underneath the pc or under the battery. Something like "g6-2248ca" for example.

 

[Jardaz]

Do you have the exact model number of your laptop? It's usually either underneath the pc or under the battery. Something like "g6-2248ca" for example.

HP Pavilion g6-1c33ca Notebook PC
Model #: A1Z90UA
Serial #: 5CG1350PCC

 

[Natsukage]

It should be the ESC key, then F10 as mentioned above.
Read the manual, at page 97:
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02968637

 

[Jardaz]

So here it is, and thank you Natsukage you were right and I will recap in detail. And bay the way there is nothing to be modified in BIOS on this laptop. Just system clock, Bios password and boot order nothing else. So to get to the BIOS most important is to "kill" the PC. NOT shut down, NOT take the battery out and unplug from power after shutdown, NOT restart W10 with Shift+Restart to get to W10 recovery options, NOT with W10 boot disk.This is how to get to BIOS on this
HP Pavilion g6-1c33ca
1. While running and having Windows 10 active. Not Sleep mode. Kill the machine by unplugging from power and pull out the battery. Then leave the battery out and plug power back in.
2. Push and hold Ecs key and F10 key then push the power button. Let go when you see BIOS screen.
For diagnostics, detail system info, hardware components testing do the same as above just push and hold Esc+Fn keys together then push Power button
Thank you for following and helping with this issue. The slowness is intermittent and one part of it probable was Windows 10 upgrade to 1607 build and I thing the second issue may be RAM, DDR3 being 2GB and 4GB chips from two different manufacturer. Other then that I do not have a decent explanation for that. Right now it seems to be running just fine for this older PC.

 

[Natsukage]

Kill is exactly what I meant by hard power down.

Power down the pc. This has to be a hard power down. Either restart then press power off at boot, hold power for 5-10 seconds when in windows, or unplug the power cord and battery while it is on.

With Windows 10, you actually are not ever "shutting down". A shut down is always a "Hibernate", but only of windows itself. Your BIOS is not accessible from a restart or a a hibernate. It has to be a real shutdown. I think actually pressing SHIFT while clicking "Shutdown" in windows should do the trick though.

All in all, the single best update you can do for your pc would be an SSD. Your CPU and RAM are top notch.

 

[robert600]

" I think actually pressing SHIFT while clicking "Shutdown" in windows should do the trick though."

I was just messing about with a Hp pavilion g6 1d18dx laptop running Win 10 and couldn't get into the bios and stumbled upon this old thread. I can confirm that pressing SHIFT while clicking "Shutdown" in windows works perfectly. After doing this, hitting ESC repeatedly immediately after hitting the power button takes me right to the menu that allows me to enter the bios. So ... thanks for that!