How do you access the BIOS if your machine boots too fast for you to enter it, but your OS is broken?

Question

This is purely hypothetical and technically OS agnostic, but I usually see issues like this suffered by Windows 10 users who have got truly fast machines and have turned on Fast Boot. The process goes something like this:

• You have a truly fast computer that's been set up for a very fast boot.
• Your boot order options in your BIOS put your OS's storage medium first in your boot order.
• Because it boots so fast, traditional tricks for accessing the BIOS (e.g. spam F2 on boot) are impossible. The internet tells you that if you want to access your BIOS, you have to use your OS to tell your machine to boot to the BIOS on its next shutdown.
• One day, your OS breaks badly. In fact, it's broken so badly that cold boots and turning it on and off again many times change nothing. The case that I typically see is a machine that boots to a black screen after maybe a fraction of a second of showing the manufacture's splash screen.
• You'd love to use a recovery USB or a USB with your OS's ISO on it to fix this problem, but because you can't access the BIOS (to change the boot order) without accessing your unaccessible OS, you can't.
• You are now stuck in an awful position.

What is the normal procedure for fixing cases like this? I'm sure that there's a solution for Windows 10 somewhere, but is there a general fix? Nothing that I've said above is unique to Windows 10, so I'd like to hear an OS-agnostic solution if one exists.

Solution 1

Power down.
Disconnect the internal disk. Don't insert ANY bootable media.
Boot
It should now get to a "can't find boot-device" screen and give you the option to enter the bios.
When in the bios change boot-order as desired. Exit the Bios and don't forget to save changes.
Shutdown
Re-connect disk.
Problem solved.

Solution 2

Windows 10 has a really good way to get into the BIOS in a case like this.

Start the computer and make sure you can unplug the powercord quickly.

Once Windows is loading (the windows logo shows up), unplug the powercord, so windows cannot boot. Even with very fast systems on an SSD, there is always a minimum of 2 seconds. If its really quick, plug your powercord into something with a switch, so you can flip the switch to cut the power. That way, you can turn it on and off in an instant.

Plug the cord back in and repeat the steps 2 more times. The 3rd time, windows should go into automatic repair mode, and give you access to the BIOS, and other options such as command prompt, etc.

Note, it may be that you have to do it a 4th time, if your system was in hyper shutdown on the first reboot sequence, as in that case the first boot technically does not count.

If the system is not loading properly, the normal function keys should work. A last resort can be to reset the BIOS to defaults which should set a timer to access the BIOS or give you a prompt. So far in Windows 10, I never had to resort to resetting the BIOS though.

Comments

[John]

Turn OFF Fast Start. When running, select Restart - this slows down the start and allows access to BIOS

[Ramhound]

@John - The author is unable to boot into Windows, so they are unable to select Restart, can you provide detailed instructions to the author how they accomplish your suggestion?

[Moab]

As soon as you power up hold the bios key down until bios loads.

[John]

If not bootable, then often the BIOS sequence pressed quickly and repeatedly will get into BIOS. This works for my machines.

[Ramhound]

While I just realized this entire question is based on a hypothetical problem, performing a restart within the OS, or holding shift before you restart isn't going to do anything if the operating system is not functional.

[Ramhound]

I’m voting to close this question because the Super Use community can only answer practical questions that actual exists. There are to many variables left unknown in the hypothetical scenario described in the question.

[LPChip]

@Ramhound it seems you are misinformed. I'll post a practical answer. This does not need to be closed.

[LPChip]

Also, even though on SuperUser we frown upon hypothetical questions, this one I think is a good one, so +1 from me.

[GlenRunciter]

I'm pretty sure you begin holding the desired key down before even powering the machine on and it'll detect the keystroke(s) as you continue to hold it after hitting the power button

[LPChip]

@JJC8008 unless of course you use a USB keyboard and the system also has PS/2, in which case the USB is not initialized in time.

[Tonny]

This works, but only if Windows partially boots. If it is borked early enough in the boot-process this won't help. If the rescue system/fallback is corrupted (e.g. bad disk) this won't work either.

[Tonny]

Unless the disk is a non-removable eMMC flash of course... Luckily those are quite rare.

[LPChip]

@Tonny if the system is borked up so badly that the bootloader is not accessible or windows loads incorrectly, it will give you ample time to press the normal keys to get into the BIOS. I talk from experience here. I've seen many systems with problems from all degrees, and I never was unable to get into the BIOS. But I'll add a last paragraph

[J. Mini]

Don't SSDs really hate sudden power loss? I fear that this could cause hardware damage.

[LPChip]

@J.Mini Not to my knowledge. No disk likes it to lose power suddenly during a write, but with a non-functional system that is not going to be an issue anyway.

[Ξένη Γήινος]

Unfortunately as OP states, the OS boots so fast it just doesn't give you enough time for BIOS to respond to key presses.

[Gábor]

Unless it's a system that doesn't offer the option to enter the BIOS, just shows an error message. A Toshiba Satellite laptop on my table now, for instance. And not the only one I ever happened into.