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???? How to enter BIOS [Octubre 2022]

 

Whether you are an advanced user or not, you have probably heard of the BIOS from a computer on occasion. At the end of the day it is an element that is present in all computers in the world, whatever brand it is and it is essential for them to work. In this guide we will teach you the different ways that exist to access.

BIOS is the acronym for Basic Input Output System, a system in charge of managing the start of the different hardware elements of a computer (Board, CPU, RAM, graphics, storage, etc.) and allowing the loading and starting of the Operating System, such as Windows 7 or Windows 10 for instance. We explain more fully here what a BIOS is and what it is for.

Traditionally, the interface of the different BIOSes of computers consisted of a rather crude menu with options that are not very understandable to the laymen of the field and touching or modifying any section or value of them was something that produced (and with good reason) a lot of respect. .

Today few computers maintain the traditional BIOS and practically any PC from the last 10 years has replaced the old BIOS with the more modern ones. UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface), a more advanced, faster system with improvements in both functionalities (higher capacity disks, 64 bits, screenshoots system, profiles, etc.) and security (Secure Boot) as well as in the graphical interface.

A BIOS UEFI they usually have a much more modern interface and easy to use, with a friendlier design that even supports the use of the mouse in a generalized way, something that in traditional BIOS was not so common to see.

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Either way, enter both the BIOS as the UEFA it can be very useful in various situations. For example, we may want to define the boot order of the different hard drives, SSD or USB memories that we have in the computer; It also allows us to configure the operating speed of components such as the memoria RAM, either manually or by uploading perfiles XMP for the memories, or even the processor, allowing the realization of overclock manually and the activation or deactivation of functions that affect the consumption or performance of the computer in general.

Even tasks such as updating the BIOS / UEFI itself tend to be done more safely and effectively if done from within the BIOS itself.

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It depends on each computer, the options that its BIOS / UEFI will give us can range from basic things to hundreds of options that only the most expert users will control and use.

Whatever the motivation for entering the BIOS (From now on we will call BIOS interchangeably if it is BIOS or UEFI), there are several methods to enter this system depending on the type of computer and also its manufacturer.

For example, the BIOS of a laptop is not accessed in the same way. Dell than a laptop HP, nor is it the same to access the BIOS of a computer with a motherboard of ASUS.

What key should I press to access the BIOS?

In this little guide we will teach you how to access the BIOS of most PCs, whether laptops or desktops, of the best-known brands in the industry, in addition to teaching you the odd trick to be able to access in a generic way whatever your computer is.

All computers, be they desktop PCs or laptops, have a BIOS hotkey. Although these keys are not the same for all systems, they are generally reduced to three keys, although there are exceptions.

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The most common keys to access the BIOS are: DEL, ESC or F2, although, in general, the most common key to access is usually DEL, or DEL in English. With these keys you can possibly access the BIOS of the vast majority of computers.

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Many computers show for a short time on the screen, as soon as the PC is turned on, the keys from which the BIOS can be accessed. However, depending on the system and even our monitor, we may not see it or, directly, it passes too quickly.

There are specific computers that can use other keys such as F1, F10, F12 or even some laptops include a specific key on the keyboard to access the BIOS. In the following table we will show you the Most common BIOS access keys from various manufacturers:

Maker Usual BIOS access key Additional Keys
ACER F2 SUPR, F1
ASROCK F2 SUPR
ASUS F2 SUPR, Insert, F12, F10
Dell F2 SUPR, F12, F1
GiGABYTE F2 SUPR
HP ESC ESC, F2, F10, F12
Lenovo F2 F1
MSI SUPR F2
TOSHIBA F2 F12, F1, ESC
ZOTAC OF THE F2, SUPR

When should we press the key to access the BIOS?

The exact moment to press the key that will give us access to the BIOS is during POST, that is, during initial system startup when all internal components are being checked. Some PCs display some information during POST, others simply display the motherboard logo.

The only thing common to all is that the POST occurs right after turning on or restarting the computer. That is the moment in which we must press the access key to the BIOS (possibly, as we have said, F2, DEL or DEL). As there are cases where we will not see the complete POST or others, especially after restarting, where it happens very quickly, it is advisable to repeatedly press the access key after restarting or turning on until we enter the BIOS.

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In the event that a small circle formed by small rotating dots appears on the screen, it means that we have not hit the key in time (or we have hit the key that was not) and, therefore, it will load directly Windows 7, Windows 10 or the operating system we have. We will have to restart or turn off the PC to start again.

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Universal method to access BIOS from Windows

If we still cannot find the necessary key to access the BIOS on our PC but we have installed Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, there is an easy way to access the BIOS directly from the operating system.

Access BIOS from Windows 10

From Windows 10 we will only have to go to the system recovery menu or, if you want to go faster, simply write BIOS in the Windows start menu to show us the “Change advanced startup options ”.

In that window we will see a section that says: Advanced startup. Pressing it will restart the PC in a special mode from which we will have access to different options.

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We must press the option Solve problems.

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Later, we will have to click on the option Advanced Options.

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Finally, we will see an option that reads: UEFI firmware configuration. This is the option that we must press so that the system restarts and enters the BIOS directly.

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Access the BIOS from Windows 8 / 8.1

The mechanism is similar to that of Windows 10, only instead of looking for the option to change advanced startup options, we must directly click on the shutdown icon and press Restart while holding the SHIFT key until we get the special Troubleshoot menu. . This way of accessing the advanced options menu also works in Windows 10.

In older versions like Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP we must use the key directly when starting the PC since it is not possible to access the BIOS from the start.

A tip before touching the BIOS

We have seen practically all the ways to access the bios on any PC, whether laptop or desktop, through the direct access keys to the BIOS during the PC power-up or through Windows.

As you have seen, accessing the BIOS is quite simple, even so we would like to make a small recommendation to finish this article. BIOS is a very powerful environment that allows you to change system options at a very low level, As we have seen, we can change basic elements such as the boot order of hard drives, but we can also change voltages, protections and speeds of the processor itself and of other components thatIf configured incorrectly, they could damage certain components of your computer. For all these reasons, before changing any BIOS parameter, it is advisable to inform yourself in advance of its function and the consequences it may have for our system.

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