BIOS ACCESS

[TOOP]

Hello, I had a RAID1 issue and during the process of problem-solving, I discovered that I could not access BIOS during boot. The keyboard and mouse were not fired up until after the boot process, and the windows splash screen finally appeared. For anyone seeking a workaround, I also discovered that I could get power to my USB peripheral keyboard and mouse if I plugged them in at my USB 3.0 hub, which has a dedicated AC/DC power source. Hmm.
MOBO-ASUS P8Z77-V LK
WINDOWS 10-UPGRADE

I checked the BIOS setting for USB devices, there seem to be 3 options, I changed it from the one that was supposed to detect my keyboard and mouse selectively for power during boot...to the one that is supposed to power up all USB ports.
No change on the boot issue.

Then I checked the "fast startup" issue and turned that off. (Control Panel/hardware and sound/power options/system settings...)
No change on the boot issue.

So, as of now, if I want to access BIOS, I have to plug my keyboard (and mouse for the mousable UEFI interface) into an external, AC-powered USB 3.0 hub, and reboot. Then the keyboard shows lights on during boot for the F2 or DEL key stroke into either the RAID stuff (CRTL-I) or my BIOS.

So strange. I have not had to access BIOS for awhile, and I think it worked normally before the WIN10 upgrade.

 

[BigBadBiologist]

Do you have the keyboard plugged into the USB2 or USB3 ports? Some motherboards seem to require the keyboard to be in the USB2 ports in order to be detected properly at POST.

 

[TOOP]

BigBadBiologist, thanks for the reply. I have fiddled since posting this thread, and the results seem random.
I have 6 USB ports on the back panel, 4 low that are all blue inside, and 2 high that are black. Maybe the black ones are USB2.0
I also have 2 on the front panel of my case that are blue.

It does not seem to make any difference. What I have determined is that the USB hub is not the factor. Sometimes that does not work. And sometimes other ports do work.

Another interesting quirk is related to the HDMI cable. I usually have that running to a TV, for streaming and putting videos up on the TV from my PC. If that cable is plugged into the PC, I never see the splash screen and prompts to get into BIOS, on my monitor. First thing I see is the desktop.
The monitor is connected by DVI to the PC. The motherboard seems to prioritize the HDMI path, even if the TV is powered down. If I turn on the TV, then I see the splash screens there, provided I have selected the proper HDMI source, and if the keyboard is lit up, I can keystroke into BIOS....waaa.

 

[RLGL]

Black is USB 2 and Blue is USB 3

 

[Ketchup]

Are you running the Asus AI Suite? The USB tools in that software (such as the charger and boost) really mess up USB functionality with the latest versions of 10. Uninstall the entire AI Suite and see if functionality returns to normal.

 

[TOOP]

Huh. Who knew? Thanks for the suggestion, I checked. I believe that I removed that suite awhile ago, it's gone.

 

[bbhaag]

Have you tried rebooting to BIOS from within Windows? It might be worth a shot and save you the headache of usb swapping.

Click Start>settings>update&security>recovery>restart now>troubleshoot>advanced options>UEFI firmware setting>restart

Follow those steps and see if you are able reboot into BIOS. Kind of a pain to remember but might be something to try.

 

[TOOP]

For some reason, my win10 install has selected legacy BIOS instead of UEFI. So there is no UEFI option through the troubleshooting steps you describe. The BIOS does open to the UEFI interface when I access it via F2 or DEL during the boot.

 

[bbhaag]

Is your boot drive formatted as GPT or MBR? If it is MBR that might explain why your BIOS opens to the UEFI but you are unable to access it through Windows. Anyway, that's a bit off topic and doesn't really help you with your current situation. Sorry I can't be more help man but I hope you figure it out.

 

[TOOP]

My boot drive is a 250GB SSD, so I am guessing I formatted this MBR.
I am obviously a bit green on observing these details.
The SSD contains the OS and all vital software but no data.
I set up a RAID1 for data storage and redundancy, and it worked.
One of the 1TB drives failed, which led me into this, ahh, complexity.
I am also backing up the 1TB RAID1 onto a another RAID1 which consists of a pair of 2TB drives.
And, my important files are backed up in a couple of other ways.
Anyway, I am happy with the results of the 1TB array, served its purpose so far. One of the drives failed, and I am not suffering a data loss.
The 1TB drives were both deployed in 2013. WD blue drives.
Since the beginning of this post, I think I am more confident, haha, at accessing my BIOS during boot. Unnerved, but confident.
Something is not exactly right, but on the other hand, maybe that is exactly right by today's standards.

 

[RLGL]

I gave up trying to run a Raid setup years ago becuse of "drive failures". Now I use an external drive for continuous backup and Acronis for redundancy to several platters in my network.