# [SOLVED] Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS



## Yandr (Feb 11, 2011)

Hello everyone, sorry to grace all of you with my stupidity here but I have been scouring the internet for a solution to this.... here are my specs to start off

Laptop Btw
No OS currently...
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26
8GB DDR3 Corsair
Nvidia 9800 GTS 1GB GDDR3
2x Seagate Momentus 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache

I just upgraded the RAM and HDD's, I was going to throw them into RAID 0 and proceeded to do so then changed my mind half way through (lol), I had already changed the HDD settings in the BIOS to RAID.... Now when I boot I cannot enter the BIOS at all. It flashes past the screen where I would normally press F2 and get in, then it just goes to the RAID configuration utility (press CTRL-I to enter).... Any assistance in this matter would be greatly appreciated.


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## Stephen Bowles (Jan 28, 2011)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*

Are you using a USB keyboard? If so, try using an older PS/2 keyboard (the one with a purple round connector).

Your system may be booting a little too fast (nothing wrong with this), try continuously tapping the F1/F2/F10 key from the moment the system turns on.

(Yes, I am not sure which Function key it is for a Phoenix BIOS, I think it is F1/F2, but doesn't help to try those with F10).


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*

Remove ALL the RAM and clear the CMOS. Very likely a RAM issue. 4GB is more than enough RAM for any game and most all apps.


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## Yandr (Feb 11, 2011)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*



Stephen Bowles said:


> Are you using a USB keyboard? If so, try using an older PS/2 keyboard (the one with a purple round connector).
> 
> Your system may be booting a little too fast (nothing wrong with this), try continuously tapping the F1/F2/F10 key from the moment the system turns on.
> 
> (Yes, I am not sure which Function key it is for a Phoenix BIOS, I think it is F1/F2, but doesn't help to try those with F10).


It is a laptop, onboard keyboard... I tried spamming the BIOS button (F2) as soon as it boots, no luck



Tyree said:


> Remove ALL the RAM and clear the CMOS. Very likely a RAM issue. 4GB is more than enough RAM for any game and most all apps.


It came stock with 4GB, I just installed 8GB total.... The thing is that it worked with the new RAM, I could go into the BIOS just fine until I set up the RAID settings... I'll give this a shot though, thanks.


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## Stephen Bowles (Jan 28, 2011)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*

My apologies, your first post did mention it was a laptop, I somehow missed that.

Being a laptop makes it difficult, you can't try things like removing the keyboard, waiting for the no keyboard error, then reconnecting it and then trying to access the BIOS. Also, you can't easily get to the CMOS battery to remove it and reset CMOS (Though Tyree said you could do this by removing RAM).

Can you actually boot into an Operating System on one of your hard drives? A software solution might be needed.


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## Yandr (Feb 11, 2011)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*



Stephen Bowles said:


> My apologies, your first post did mention it was a laptop, I somehow missed that.
> 
> Being a laptop makes it difficult, you can't try things like removing the keyboard, waiting for the no keyboard error, then reconnecting it and then trying to access the BIOS. Also, you can't easily get to the CMOS battery to remove it and reset CMOS (Though Tyree said you could do this by removing RAM).
> 
> Can you actually boot into an Operating System on one of your hard drives? A software solution might be needed.


I could when I had an OS on there, but I got rid of it in the intention of reformatting all drives and removing it from RAID 0 in the BIOS settings... If I have to install an OS just to fix it, I would be able to do that... any ideas?


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## Yandr (Feb 11, 2011)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*

Tried removing the RAM to no avail... just flashes to RAID configuration option


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*

Whats the brand name and model of the laptop?


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## Yandr (Feb 11, 2011)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*



Doby said:


> Whats the brand name and model of the laptop?


Gateway P-7801u


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*

On some laptops underneath the network card there is what looks like a cmos battery with 2 wires attached, if you can find this disconnect the 2 wires and see if that clears the cmos


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## Yandr (Feb 11, 2011)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*



Doby said:


> On some laptops underneath the network card there is what looks like a cmos battery with 2 wires attached, if you can find this disconnect the 2 wires and see if that clears the cmos


It was exactly where described... unplugged them for a minute, plugged em back in and booted, no luck unfortunately :upset: Thanks though hehe, stuff that I didn't think to try.


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*

Did you remove the main laptop battery and have it unplugged from the wall when clearing the cmos? If not try again

Sorry I should have mentioned this before


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## Yandr (Feb 11, 2011)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*

Ok so after the RAID configuration manager you can hit F2 or F10 as apposed to doing it as soon as it turns on like before (This only occurs during a RAID setup). I was able to get into the BIOS and change the drive setting from RAID to AHCI successfully... Thanks for the help everyone


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

*Re: Cannot enter Phoenix BIOS*

Your welcome and glad you got it sorted!


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