T530: Cannot enter BIOS [ Edited ]

[MD12345]

I am unable to enter the BIOS (or the boot device and application menu) of my T530. When I press Enter at the 'Press Enter to interrupt normal startup' prompt, nothing happens. It just ignores my input completely. F1 doesn't do anything either.

Otherwise my ThinkPad is working fine, but I would like to change some settings (especially change the boot device, to boot from USB).

Could anyone help me?

[jpou]

Did this happen after changing boot method to UEFI?

[MD12345]

I think I selected UEFI as first boot option to see if it made my laptop boot faster, but I haven't tried to change any settings for a while, so I'm not sure. So yes, it probably did.

[crwnc]

When you first power it on try pressing escape and then F2 or DEL (pretty sure it's one of those) and it may work.

I have seen that on some think pads - when you press escape, the initial Thinkpad / Lenovo screen will close and you will see a more detailed POST screen where you can press the appropriate key to enter bios or change boot order.

Not 100 percent sure it will work for you but I have seen this before. Let me know if it works.

[MD12345]

Thank you for your sugestion, but unfortunately, it does not work. When I press ESC (or F2, or DEL), nothing happens. There is no more detailed post screen, and my ThinkPad just boots as usual.

[sarbin]

F1 is the correct BIOS-entry key for Think products.

just to be sure... you're starting from a powered-off state, and pressing F1 when the Lenovo splash screen is displayed, correct?

regards.

[MD12345]

Yes, I am. I'm sure I'm doing this correctly, since a friend of mine has the same laptop, and I can enter the BIOS of his laptop without any trouble.

[zoltanthegypsy]

Hey, I'm just tossing stuff at the wall here...

Is this some kind of rapit boot thing?  ISTR a similar thread over in another forum.  The rapid boot options basically ignores everything in the interest of getting Windows booted.  The option is controlled from WIndows.

What is the Rapid Boot extreme feature on ThinkPad T420s?

Like I said, no experience with this, just tossing it out as a possibility to check.

Z.

[MD12345]

I disabled Rapidboot, but that was not the solution. Nice try though...

[sarbin]

ok, i'm really stretching here... what are the chances your F1 key is just dead?

does the key work after you're booted into Windows? if you have MS Word, pressing F1 brings up Help, for example.

what's your current BIOS version? you should be able to see it on the System Summary page when running msinfo32.exe.

regards.