May 14, 2014

BIOS Setup Utility Access Keys for Popular Computer Systems

Acer - Aspire, Power, Veriton, Extensa, Ferrari, TravelMate, Altos
  • Press Del or F2 immediately after powering on.
  • The BIOS on the Acer Altos 600 server uses the Ctrl+Alt+Esc key and the F1 key for advanced options.
  • Older Acer computers may use also use the F1 or Ctrl+Alt+Esc keys to access BIOS.
Compaq - Presario, Prolinea, Deskpro, Systempro, Portable
  • Press F10 while the cursor in the top right corner of the screen is blinking.
  • Older Compaq computers may use the F1F2F10, or Del key to give access to BIOS.
Dell - XPS, Dimension, Inspiron, Latitude. OptiPlex, Precision, Vostro
  • Press F2 when the Dell logo appears. Press every few seconds until the message Entering Setup appears.
  • Older Dell desktops and laptops may instead use Ctrl+Alt+Enter or Del to enter BIOS.
  • Older Dell laptops may use Fn+Esc or Fn+F1.
eMachines - eMonster, eTower, eOne, S-Series, T-Series
  • Press Tab or Del while the eMachine logo displays on screen.
  • Other eMachine computers may use F2 to enter BIOS.
Fujitsu - LifeBook, Esprimo, Amilo, Tablet, DeskPower
  • Press F2 once the Fujitsu logo appears.
Gateway - DX, FX, One, GM, GT, GX, Profile, Astro
  • Press the F1 key repeatedly after restarting the computer.
  • Some older Gateway computers use F2 to access the BIOS Setup utility.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) - Pavilion, TouchSmart, Vectra, OmniBook, Tablet
  • Press the F1F10, or F11 key after restarting the computer.
  • HP Tablet PCs may use F10 or F12.
  • Other HP computers may allow access to BIOS using the F2 or Esc keys.
IBM - PC, XT, AT
  • Press F1 immediately after powering on the computer.
  • Older IBM computers (including some laptops) may utilize the F2 key for BIOS entry.
Lenovo (formerly IBM) - ThinkPad, IdeaPad, 3000 Series, ThinkCentre, ThinkStation
  • Press F1 or F2 after powering on the computer.
  • Older Lenovo products allow access to BIOS using Ctrl+Alt+F3Ctrl+Alt+Ins, or Fn+F1.
Micron (MPC Computers) - ClientPro, TransPort
  • Press F1F2 or Del immediately after powering on the PC.
NEC - PowerMate, Versa, W-Series
  • Press F2 to enter the BIOS Setup.
Packard Bell - 8900 Series, 9000 Series, Pulsar, Platinum, EasyNote, imedia, iextreme
  • Press F1F2, or Del to enter BIOS.
Samsung - Series 'x' laptops
  • Press F2 to start the BIOS setup utility.
Sharp - Notebook Laptops, Actius UltraLite
  • Press F2 after the computer starts.
  • Some very old Sharp PCs require a Setup Diagnostics Disk to access BIOS.
Shuttle - Glamor G-Series, D'vo, Prima P2-Series, Workstation, X Mini XPC, Surveillance
  • Press F2 or Del on startup.
Sony - VAIO, PCG-Series, VGN-Series
  • Press F1F2 or F3 after turning on the computer.
Toshiba - Portégé, Satellite, Tecra, Equium
  • Press F1 or Esc after powering on to access BIOS.
  • Press F12 on a Toshiba Equium.
The following companies are either closed for business or no longer manufacture or support mainstream computers systems so verifying the following BIOS access information is nearly impossible. I have included what I could dig up for anyone who might be interested:
ARI / ALR / AST (Advantage) - Press the Ctrl+Alt+Esc or Ctrl+Alt+Del keys.
Cybermax - Press the Esc key.
Tandon - Press the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys.