The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    F2 and F12 don't work on boot up.

    Discussion in 'Alienware 18 and M18x' started by MasterIvoree, Mar 17, 2014.

  1. MasterIvoree

    MasterIvoree Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    27
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    6
    On boot up of my brand new Alienware 18 I should be presented with the option to press F2 to go into the BIOS setup, F12 to get a boot menu, or CTRL-I to go into the RAID setup, and those options do not appear.

    I have received the options once or twice, and I did get into the BIOS, and I was able to run the diagnostics once. But have not been able to do so consistently, nor have I gotten in at all for the last 3-4 days.

    Configuration:
    Alienware 18
    32 Gigs RAM
    80 Gig caching mSATA
    Dual 1 TB mechanical drives in a RAID 0 array
    Dual NVIDIA 780M
    Windows 8.1

    Any advice is welcome.
     
    MasterIvoree, Mar 17, 2014
    #1
  2. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

    Reputations:
    37,255
    Messages:
    39,354
    Likes Received:
    70,777
    Trophy Points:
    931
    Is your system configured to use Secure Boot/Fast Boot? I ask because you could be too slow to the drawn on the keystrokes, as you were able to access the BIOS at one point. You probably already tried it, but if not try pressing F2 rapidly and repeatedly from the moment you press the power button and don't stop until the BIOS opens or POST completes. I had two different systems with Fast Boot enabled and it had to be very rapid-fire keystrokes or I would miss it every time, and accessing the Intel Option ROM menu (Ctrl+I) was even more challenging.
     
    Mr. Fox, Mar 17, 2014
    #2
  3. MasterIvoree

    MasterIvoree Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    27
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    6
    Thanks, Mr. Fox

    Your suggestion of pressing the F2 immediately allowed me to get into the BIOS set-up.

    Yes, it was set for both "Secure Boot" and "Fast Boot". I have disables both, but that really has not changed the behavior. (I can still get in if I am fast enough after pressing the power button.)
     
    MasterIvoree, Mar 17, 2014
    #3
    Mr. Fox likes this.
  4. MasterIvoree

    MasterIvoree Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    27
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    6
    Here is a reply that I got from Alienware tech support ...

    Since you get the system with Windows 8.1, in order to access to the Bios, there is a way to do it from Windows itself. Windows 8 and 8.1 were built to work with UEFI Bios. The new Alienware systems are coming with UEFI Bios. You just need to follow the next steps to open the Bios from Windows:



    1- Open the charms Bar.

    2- Click Settings

    3- Click Change PC Settings

    4- On the bottom of the page, click Update and Recovery

    5- Click Recovery

    6- Under Advanced Startup click Restart Now

    7- After a moment you will get a new screen, click on Troubleshoot

    8- Click Advanced Options

    9- And Finally click on UEFI Firmware Settings

    10- This will restart the system and load the Bios.

    This worked well.
     
    MasterIvoree, Mar 18, 2014
    #4
    shompa likes this.
  5. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist®

    Reputations:
    37,255
    Messages:
    39,354
    Likes Received:
    70,777
    Trophy Points:
    931
    My goodness, what a bunch of rigmarole to have to go through instead of pressing F2 at POST, LOL. But, Windows 8/8.1 is all about inefficiency and wasted motion. If you use it the way it was designed to use by Micro$lop everything takes longer and involves more effort than necessary.
     
    Mr. Fox, Mar 19, 2014
    #5
    sy5tem likes this.