Yeah I admit, this is nerdier than my usual nerdy stuff.... but I was having trouble getting into the BIOS on my Gateway Laptop, apparently because Windows 8 or the manufacturer had the BIOS set up to be totally skipped.
The user manual / guide stated to push F1 or F2. Some forum users said one or the other should be pushed repeatedly. Others said to hold it down. One dude even said use a morse code SOS pattern.
Eventually I got in touch with tech support, and found a video that included working steps, but they had nothing to do with what I expected up until this point. I think I need to start learning Windows 8.
Anyway... I'm going to list the steps here, both to help others and also to help myself when I inevitably forget how while I'm past my free tech support period lol.
1. Go to lower-right corner of Window 8 to select the "Charms Bar", and click "Settings".
2. On the bottom right, select "Change PC Settings"
3. In the "PC Settings" menu, click "General"
4. Scroll to the bottom, find the "Advanced Startup" section, and click "Restart Now"
5. The next screen should say "Choose an Option". Click the "Troubleshoot" button.
6. On the "Troubleshoot" page, click "Advanced Options"
7. On the "Advanced Options" page, click "UEFI Firmware Settings"
8. On the "UEFI Firmware Settings" page, click the "Restart" button.
At that point, the computer should restart and load into the BIOS.
Please note: I did this before making any changes to windows, or updating the BIOS (I believe mine started at version 2.08).
Also as of yet, I can't seem to figure out how to set the BIOS to give me a longer POST message, with the option of hitting a function key to get directly into BIOS (without having to use that ugly Windows 8 trick). If anyone knows how to do this - please tell me!
~Mike Peralta
