So I think I've broken my BIOS.
A while ago I've had some problems woth my laptop. After a lot of tries I've figured out that it was the RAM damaged. I had to replace it. But when I was trying stuff I've also upgraded my BIOS, and I think something went wrong.
I was able to install Windows 8 normally, but since that everytime I boot the PC I see no Press <F2> to enter setup, so I'm unable to change the boot order and install another OS. However, if the system reboots after a Windows crash the BIOS setup text magically appears but I can't do anything with it because when I save and exit Windows 8 will boot anyway and the Press <F2>... will disappear too.
I've already tryed to downgrade the BIOS again but nothing changes.
My laptop is an Acer Aspire 4820TG.
Any ideas on how to restore the correct BIOS behavior?
Best Answer
First things - you are running Win8. Win8 by default does NOT shutdown. It does a hybrid sleep sort of shutdown. When it restarts the F-keys DO NOT necessarily work. You can boot Win8 and then try pressing the Shift key while shutting down. This is supposed to signal Win8 to do a full traditional shutdown. Then try and boot and see if you are okay. If that doesn't work...
Before assuming the BIOS is corrupted (which if you reflashed it, I can't see it being bad) have you tried borrowing a USB keyboard and plugging it in and booting and seeing if the external keyboard can do the F2 to setup? Maybe your keyboard F2 key is bad.
Did you somehow set a BIOS setup password? I would think that there would be some kind of prompt asking for the password at the F2 boot prompt, but I haven't seen the Acer BIOS, so I can't tell you.
The only other thing I can think of is that the motherboard is bad - wasn't just the RAM. You said you had bad RAM which is an indication of a fault. Now you also can't F2 to the setup. You also get Windows BSOD's which Win8 really isn't known for. You'd need to get a bootable diagnostic and try and interrupt the boot process with F12 and see if you can get it to boot. Get one from your hardware vendor, or research the built-in Win8 diagnostics and try and run the hardware tests.
Good luck!