Thursday, March 18, 2021

Lenovo 3306G2U Start BIOS Keyboard Fix?

Info:

Keyboard: Lenovo KB1021

Windows 10 

System Information App -> System Summary -> BIOS Mode = Legacy

Control Panel App -> Power Options -> Choose what the power buttons do -> Turn on fast startup (recommended) = checked


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 -wanted to enable virtualization in BIOS to run VM to help my professor debug a lab assignment





These didn't work, even if they seem both for Legacy BIOS mode:

1. How to enter the BIOS on most Lenovo ThinkCentre desktops - The easy way!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfugRhKbFBU

2. Computer Can't Enter BIOS? | How to Force It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMr5-mEbhTs








https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd024422-detailed-specifications-thinkcentre-m92-m92p-and-m82-small-form-factor

--> Hardware Maintenance Manual --> pg. 57 --> BIOS key is F1

                                 [[[In my edit below, it's a --different-- page.]]]

(

Edit 9/3/21 11:10 PM Link was broken. I searched "lenovo thinkcentre m82 hardware maintenance manual" in Google. I found this as the first result. It has the pdf: https://www.manualslib.com/download/462274/Lenovo-Thinkcentre-M82.html

In this pdf, pg. 59 has "Chapter 6. Using the Setup Utility Program" at the top. And it's there I can infer that "BIOS key is F1".







After a lot of trying F1 with "Restart" and "Shutdown", I unplugged a USB external drive and a USB hub from the front ports. I re-plugged the keyboard from the back port to the top front port. I did "Shutdown". I then tried F1 on "Startup", and now it magically worked. 

-However, after that, I plugged the keyboard to the back port again. I didn't re-plug the other devices. And now, after "Shutdown", that worked too. I'm pretty sure that didn't work before, as I said earlier. Maybe I wasn't pressing the right keys then?

-I plug the 2 other devices to the front ports now. Once again, I can't use F1. I called it a night. But now this morning, with the keyboard in the back port and the 2 devices in the front ports (the --original setup--), F1 works. 






I have no idea what's going on. I'm not sure if I even "fixed" anything. Some ideas:

-Maybe I really didn't repeatedly press F1. I was a bit frustrated when it didn't work at first. Maybe when I mashed multiple buttons, F1 did work, but another button caused some "Exit"/"Cancel" to run instead.

-I had a pending Windows update. I tried starting BIOS w/ it still pending. Maybe the update was important.

-When I plugged the keyboard into the top front port, when I started Windows, I got a notification about some "NETVISTA" driver being installed. When I plugged it to a back port, I noticed one time a "Lenovo Preferred Pro" driver was being installed. Now w/ this new driver, using F1 always works now?

-Sometimes I don't repeatedly press F1 fast enough or early enough. So sometimes it works, sometimes not.  

-On startup, maybe the computer needs to dedicate a lot of energy to purely startup. If I have multiple USB devices connected, let's say the computer prioritizes giving power to the front port devices over the back port devices. If the front port devices use a lot of power, a keyboard connected to a back port for example wouldn't get any power, so I couldn't press F1. 



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