I have Windows Vista Home installed on an Acer Aspire M1100 desktop. I recentlyhad problems with the PQService and since u-hiding the parttion I have been unable to get into the BIOS settings for D2D, I have tried every way to enter the BIOS, F1,F2,F10,F12, Ctrl+Alt+Esc but no luck. It is an AMD Athlon 64x2 and getting worried that I have lost the settings. I cannot open the computer tower as it is sealed by Acer and only 6 weeks old, problem obvioulsy caused by me somewhere along the line.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Hi luckydog1

Lets see if we can find out

If you know your BIOS supplier, have a look at this page: Link

If unsure, you might still have the manuel which came along with the Chipset CD for your motherboard, it can be found there.
Or look under: Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->Tools-->System info.
Your BIOS version should be listed there. Once found, check the page I linked to above, and find your command.
(Most likely you should try DEL key)
The page also list Acer PC's to use F1 and F2, CTRL-ALT-DEL, but since you already tried that, it might follow your BIOS instead of Computer vendor.

Regards Abydos

This post has been edited by Abydos: May 3 2008, 05:45 PM

Thanks for your kind advice, sadly this method does not work. I undertand that as the Acer has a hidden PQSERVICE partition this is wher my prblem might be. When I have pressed the alt,atrl,esc or F1 or F2 it brings up the boot screen = is this correct ?

Thanks for your help.

Hi Luckydog1

hmmm.

I don't know much about PQservice, other than its a hidden partition for recovery and/or diagnostic tools. It shouldn't influence your BIOS.
(Got limited knowledge on PQservice, so I might be wrong there)

What kind of keyboard are you using? If you are using USB or wireless, some drivers first boot after post if not enabled in BIOS. Try a normal keyboard with cord.
Make sure that you aint got stucked keys. A stucked key in the keyboard would render any key-commands unuseable.(Which I doubt, since you managed to get to the boot-screen, but look anyways for good measure)
Is the BIOS screen maybe to fast so you don't manage to enter the right command? Try the key combinations right after you turned the PC on.

Did you try tapping the DEL(ete) key to enter BIOS? (Keep tapping right after first BIOS-screen and/or when you hear a Beep)
If you get to the Boot-screen, you are to far, reboot and try again.

We can also hope that someone more knowledged on PQservice and BIOS would pop in with advice.

Regards Abydos

Thanks for your help Abydos - I will try your suggestions, best get my fingers working fast !!!

Will let you know how I get on.

An associate has broken 2 vista computers using a linux boot cd, one a toshiba laptop, I was able to get the vista repair function to finally engage, the other a gateway desktop I had to wipe and reload. Both computers had a small bootloader fat32 partition and a fairly large fat32 recovery partition.

Using the esc key early in the boot might get a splash disabled long enough to see the list of boot commands and a bios access command

My friend has promised me to quit using his boot cd on vista computers

AT LAST ... I finally got the DELETE key to work !!! It appears there was a problem with my keyboard, after changing it I now have access to the BIOS settings Phew !!! thanks for all your help, I thought I was finally cracking up but then a simple thought of changing the keyboard sorted things out.

Now for the problem in hand, I have to try and find the D2D to enable it .... answers on a postcard please to the local mad house !

Thanks again folks.

This post has been edited by luckydog1: May 4 2008, 09:27 AM

Hi luckydog1

on getting into BIOS. And yeah, sometimes its not all that complicated stuff and tech solutions thats needed

The placement of D2D settings/options within your BIOS I can't answer simply because I don't know the layout of your BIOS.. But try browse through the various menus, just be careful not to change anything else.

While you are there, you might want to try see if you have an option for enabling legacy drivers (for your keyboard if that was the problem)

If its just a matter of accessing and use the D2D partition, my guess would be to hit the F10 or F12 right after BIOS screen maybe in combination with the ALT key.(You might need a recovery CD for it)

Regards Abydos

This post has been edited by Abydos: May 4 2008, 09:54 AM

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This post has been edited by bedil: May 6 2008, 11:15 PM

DONT WORRY YOU ARE RIGHTS