Random Tech Questions you want answered.

Can't access my bios. The manual says I have to hit F2 at boot but that doesn't work. I tried holding F2 and rapidly pressing it during boot but neither worked. I also tried the same using esc. I tried both using two keyboards. Any ideas?

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Can't access my bios. The manual says I have to hit F2 at boot but that doesn't work. I tried holding F2 and rapidly pressing it during boot but neither worked. I also tried the same using esc. I tried both using two keyboards. Any ideas?

Usually bios is accessed by pressing Delete or Insert keys at boot. Try those.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Can't access my bios. The manual says I have to hit F2 at boot but that doesn't work. I tried holding F2 and rapidly pressing it during boot but neither worked. I also tried the same using esc. I tried both using two keyboards. Any ideas?

Try different USB ports with a wired keyboard. Sometimes the USB 2 ports work better for BIOS access and a lot of people seem to have issues accessing it with wireless keyboards. Start from power off and press the power button and immediately start tapping the button, don't wait for the post screen.

Fredrik_S wrote:

Usually bios is accessed by pressing Delete or Insert keys at boot. Try those.

It is different from brand to brand and even between different models of the same brand. I have seen F2, F8, F10, F12, and Forward Delete plus volume buttons on things like the Microsoft Surface and other tablet-like PCs.

Rykin wrote:

It is different from brand to brand and even between different models of the same brand. I have seen F2, F8, F10, F12, and Forward Delete plus volume buttons on things like the Microsoft Surface and other tablet-like PCs.

I stand corrected.

Rykin wrote:

Try different USB ports with a wired keyboard. Sometimes the USB 2 ports work better for BIOS access and a lot of people seem to have issues accessing it with wireless keyboards. Start from power off and press the power button and immediately start tapping the button, don't wait for the post screen.

I once had to break out a PS/2 keyboard to access my bios. The USB keyboard wasn't initializing until after the "hit key for BIOS" window had passed. I think I was able to change a setting that told the machine to wait longer so the keyboard had time to initialize.

Anyone know of a good program to record phone calls on an iPhone?

If you can get into Windows, you can have Windows boot into bios on next boot up.

Step 1. Access your Windows settings
Navigate to your Windows start menu and select “Settings” located on the left panel. You can also access your Windows setting by using Windows shortcut keys Windows + I.

Step 2. Select “Update & security”
Within this window, you may need to scroll down to find the “Update & security” button.

Step 3. Select “Recovery"

Step 4. Click “Restart now”
Under “Advanced startup” you will see a “Restart now” button that allows you to reboot your PC for configuration or restoration.
After your PC boots back up, you will be met with a special menu that gives you the option to “Use a device,” “Continue,” “Turn off your PC,” or “Troubleshoot.”

Step 5. Select “Troubleshoot”
Within this window, select “Advanced options” then select “UEFI Firmware Settings.” This will allow you to enter BIOS on your Windows 10 PC.

Step 6. Confirm your restart

Vargen wrote:
Rykin wrote:

Try different USB ports with a wired keyboard. Sometimes the USB 2 ports work better for BIOS access and a lot of people seem to have issues accessing it with wireless keyboards. Start from power off and press the power button and immediately start tapping the button, don't wait for the post screen.

I once had to break out a PS/2 keyboard to access my bios. The USB keyboard wasn't initializing until after the "hit key for BIOS" window had passed. I think I was able to change a setting that told the machine to wait longer so the keyboard had time to initialize.

Yea the use a USB 2 port thing is sort of the modern version of that because now USB 2 bus is usually initialized earlier than the USB 3 bus. It blows my mind that most motherboards still include a PS/2 port.

I used to always use a PS/2 keyboard back when USB ports weren't plentiful. Of course this was more than 10 years ago... Plus PS/2 was more reliable at that time because USB was supposed to be hot swappable but always required a reboot.

Shoot, I used that PS/2 keyboard for several years after I plugged it back in to access the bios. It has a calculator built into the numpad and a row of macro buttons that I found handy (though most of of the macros are still programmed for various Ultima Online functions, tbh). A couple months ago I got tired of Windows 10 losing track of the thing and I replaced it with a modern USB Logitech. I still miss the calculator function, but pinning Windows' calculator app to the taskbar has mostly scratched that itch.

Ever since I replaced my AMD RX580 graphics card and replaced it with an Nvidia 3060Ti, I get this error message when booting Windows 10:

No AMD graphics driver is installed, or the AMD driver is not functioning properly. Please install the AMD driver appropriate for your AMD hardware.

I uninstalled the AMD drivers of course, but am not sure if that was before or after installing the Nvidia drivers. I also uninstalled the RX 580 manually from Device Manager (it was still there for some reason).

Then I tried to update my AMD drivers in general, as I figured that maybe my Asus 370xPrime Mobo and Ryzen 2600x CPU needed something from the Radeon package that got deleted in the process as well. Some chipset drivers were indeed installed or updated, but the error message remains.

When I try to reinstall the Radeon drivers, he gives an error message that the graphics card is not compatible, which yeah of course. My motherboard does not have integrated graphics, even though there is a HDMI port for some reason.

Everything works by the way, but it's still weird to get this error message again and again.

Any ideas on why this keeps popping up?

I would use DDU and wipe out all vestiges of AMD and NVIDIA drivers both, then clean install the latest NVIDIA driver afterward.

Anyone have a three monitor setup they like? I'm thinking I want wall-mounted arms to hold my monitors to allow for desk and writing space.

I'm not sure whether it would be better to buy three singular arms, something like this: Single arm Amazon link

or to buy something like this which comes with three mounts in the apparuts:

Three arm mount on desk

I recognize the above example is mounted to the desk and not the wall. Either option seems fine. It's more about is single arms more flexible for setup or too confusing. Would a triple mount be easier but have less movement among the arms?

I realize that this is a long shot posting here, but here goes.

I'm having troubles sourcing a replacement keycap mechanism for a Gigabyte Aorus 5 KB laptop. The left arrow key got bumped hard and the key fell off. The spring mechanism under the key cap seems to have launched itself into oblivion as well. We're still digging behind the furniture to see if we can find it, but I have no clue whether if/when we find it that it will even be functional and can be snapped back into place.

So, here's what I'm trying to figure out:

Does anyone know where I can source replacement key mechanisms for this particular laptop? I've done some searching online in the usual places (Amazon, Newegg) and have come up empty. I've found some other 3rd party websites that sell keycap and mechanism replacements for other vendors but not for this model. Does anyone know whether other Gigabyte models share the same mechanism that I could use? Or does anyone have any experience with fixing Gigabyte keyboard hardware?

Does Windows have a native PDF viewer? I mean one that comes with the OS, I know there are plenty of third party PDF viewers. If you double click on a PDF on a new Windows 10 (or 11) install, what happens?

(All my computers here are Macs; I have remote access to a couple of Windows PCs but they already have a ton of software installed so I can't check what's available out of the box.)

CaptainCrowbar wrote:

Does Windows have a native PDF viewer? I mean one that comes with the OS, I know there are plenty of third party PDF viewers. If you double click on a PDF on a new Windows 10 (or 11) install, what happens?

(All my computers here are Macs; I have remote access to a couple of Windows PCs but they already have a ton of software installed so I can't check what's available out of the box.)

I don't have any PDF reader installed, and if I try to open a PDF file on my Win10 machine, it opens in the Edge web browser. I have no idea if it's possible to fill PDF forms though, I haven't tried.

Since it's one of the thorns in my side at work, I'll say that yes you can fill out pdf forms on Edge, but you may get odd behavior depending on how complex the form is and what the fields are named.

There used to be a Microsoft Reader app for PDFs but it was deprecated and they recommended everyone move to Edge. It wasn’t fully featured or anything just basically the same as you get from Edge but as a dedicated app.

Edge works ok but make sure your using the official release, the beta version lady I checked wasn't showing comments for me.

Thanks everyone. Just to be clear, I wasn't looking for recommendations, or whether specific features like form filling worked - I just needed to know what would be opened by default.

*Legion* wrote:

I would use DDU and wipe out all vestiges of AMD and NVIDIA drivers both, then clean install the latest NVIDIA driver afterward.

Finally got around to trying this, and the error message disappeared after wiping AMD drivers with DDU. So I didn't wipe/reinstall the NVIDIA drivers afterwards, they are up to date.

ZombieCoyote wrote:

I'm having troubles sourcing a replacement keycap mechanism for a Gigabyte Aorus 5 KB laptop.

Quick update. I found this site:

https://www.quikfixlaptopkeys.com/

and while they didn't have my laptop model in their listings, I reached out to them anyway to ask whether they knew if any of the mechanisms that they sell were compatible. They asked me to send some pictures of the remaining pieces and after I did that, they suggested that this model might be compatible:

https://www.quikfixlaptopkeys.com/?p...

I ordered the key I needed and now will see whether it works!

Still no word from Gigabyte tech support though. Perhaps they'll respond this week.

So this is gonna be weird but I am trying to find a high cubic feet per minute (60 to 100) fan for a miniature wacky wavy arm guy my wife gave me. The fan he came with was so loud and I figured I could rebuild him to be funny and not annoying. I am coming up dry on trying to find the right miniature blower fan that can pump enough air through him to make him happy and wavy again. I have had fans that push 35ish CFU but nothing is bringing him back to life yet.

Thoughts or suggestions on where to look?

Maybe this? How big is your floppy guy?

Vornado lists CFPM for their fans. They're also very good at throwing air long distances.

Robear wrote:

Maybe this? How big is your floppy guy?

I think that may be just a bit of overkill lol.

Here is what I have. He is about 1 foot tall and inch diameter. This sounds more and more like a penis commercial....

Hobear wrote:

Here is what I have. He is about 1 foot tall and inch diameter. This sounds more and more like a penis commercial....

He may be small, but you still really gotta blow him good.

This is one giant penis joke unfortunately.

With a one inch diameter, he’s gonna be loud no matter what fan you find, because it’ll have to be high RPMs… That’s kind of what I was getting at…

Fans do make enthusiastic sex partners...