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On 03/04/17 15:03, Neil via list wrote: > I have had a chat with the chap who set it all up. He also thinks that > the problem is that, on boot, it is not seeing the keyboard in time. He > has suggested that I try a PS2 keyboard, either by borrowing one or via > an adaptor. This should be seen more quickly than a USB one. > > He also thinks that fast boot is on, and initialisation may be set to > partial. So, once I can get to the BIOS, disable fast boot and make > initialisation full. But it is getting to the BIOS first. > > So, does anyone have a PS2 keyboard I can borrow? Otherwise I could get > an adaptor. And there is definitely a PS2 port at the back of the tower. Ok, interesting... Something still feels a little "off" though here and whilst I've no reason to doubt the guy who set it up I'd bet that I've fiddled with just as many BIOS/UEFI/etcs as he has. And I've literally never seen a system that flat out refused to respond to all pre-boot hotkeys to this extent, even when you're trying different keyboards across multiple USB ports too! Normally after double checking the manual, having a quick google and trying some hearty keyboard mashing you eventually get in and make a mental note to yourself to never forget what arcane invocation eventually worked (which needless to say I usually manage to forget by the time I next need it). Of note, these are from some of the first Amazon reviews of your board I stumbled across: "Seems i couldn't get into the bios to change in the settings" "I feel like i should have been able to change the bios easier" "There is even a mega fast boot option which as it says - runs past the bios megafast. So fast you cant get into the bios!" And it goes on... Seems like you have a genuinely 'odd' motherboard in this regard, and you're by far not the first to run into it. Several people ended up returning their boards, if you can take anonymous Amazon reviewers at face value that is. But there are also lots of perfectly happy reviewers and lots of respectable hardware sites carry articles going into overclocking details on this SKU at length, so they presumably didn't have any issues accessing the UEFI. This is starting to seriously wind me up now (I know, I know, it's not even my computer - but it's the principle of the thing) so I'll continue digging a little bit. You know how it is - eventually you run into just the right obscure forum post or UEFI errata update text and the lightbulb comes on. Maybe the PS2 trick would work and it certainly won't cause any harm to try I guess, but my feeling is that it won't make any difference. I've got a buggy MSI motherboard here that had a whole series of crappy UEFI updates when it was first released and I eventually discovered by complete chance that the UEFI setup screen would *only* display when plugged into a random 17" CRT I happened to have to hand, despite the fact that it would boot happily to full Linux with perfectly working graphics on the normally attached 24" LCD panel. Very weird... If I was you, I'd do both of the following immediately and before mucking about with PS2 keyboards: 1: disconnect ALL internal drives temporarily This will either drop you at the dreaded "no operating system found" screen of death or hopefully by default will dump you straight into the UEFI setup or alternative boot menu. Quick, easy and not risky. 2: You've got a dual BIOS system. Check the manual and flip to the backup BIOS (probably a jumper on board or a teeny tiny switch, I'll check) which hopefully the setup guys have left in its default state. I'd also find the CMOS reset switch (again, I'll check the manual for you) and just nuke the current BIOS completely to defaults. I'd actually do this first personally but this is considerably more hands-on than the first option. My guess is that the UEFI it shipped with is a little buggy and needs updating and the guys who setup your system aren't as used to Linux boxes as they might think they are. These "super-fast"/"no-full-init" type boot modes are designed to work with Windows8.1/10 installs which never fully shutdown, instead relying on a combo hybrid/hibernate/fast resume type thing - they don't play well with cold booting Linux systems frequently (a lot of this comes down to the rolling cluster**** that is ACPI, a kludge on top of a hack on top of a kludge). For the moment I'm presuming you're going to take things a little more slow and steady than I would as you probably don't want to accidentally render your main PC even temporarily out of action. Cheers -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG https://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq