If you find that the BIOS on your Windows computer has been corrupted, you can restore BIOS defaults easily. A corrupted BIOS could result from a BIOS Update gone bad, a malware infection, a sudden power outage, over-tweaking, etc. In any of these cases, or if you encounter problems with Windows booting, installing, or loading, you may want to consider resetting your BIOS.
To those who do not know, BIOS or Basic Input Output System is a firmware, stored on a chip on a part of the computer motherboard that is basically a set of instructions that run to help load the operating system. When you turn on the computer, the BIOS instructions are executed, and upon completion, the operating system is loaded.
The procedure to restore BIOS default settings is more or less the same for all computers, whether it be a Dell, HP, Lenovo, Sony, Acer, ASUS, Toshiba, Panasonic and so on.
Start your computer, and as soon as you hit the Power On button, keep pressing the F10 key. This works on most laptops, including Dell. On an HP laptop, it could be the F2 key. You will see the keys that work for your hardware during boot in the bottom-left or bottom-right corner next to Boot Options or Setup.
You have to use that key to enter BIOS Setup.
Once you do this, your BIOS options will load. Remember that when in BIOS, you have to navigate using the arrow keyboard keys.
How to reset BIOS settings
You can simply hit the F9 key to display a blue screen that says Load Setup defaults? Clicking on Yes will restore the default BIOS settings. On my Dell laptop, under the Security tab, I could also see an entry – Restore Security settings to Factory Defaults. If you see it, you could use this option too. Select it using the arrow keys and hit Enter.
FIX: BIOS Power-On Self-Test (POST) errors.
Restore BIOS to default values
On my HP laptop, I had to press F2 to boot to BIOS setup options. Once here, under the Exit tab, I could see a Load Setup Defaults options. You could select it using the arrow keys and hit Enter. Or you could simply hit the F9 key to display a white screen that says Load default configuration now? Clicking on Yes will reset the BIOS settings.
Remember to press F10 to save and exit.
Resetting BIOS will revert all custom configurations (boot order, overclocking, etc.), so double-check if you rely on specific settings.
What is the BIOS Key for HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, MSI, and Asus computers?
Here are the most common keys you have to press right after powering on your computer to enter BIOS:
- Dell – F2 or F12
- HP – F10 or Esc
- Lenovo – F1 or F2
- ASUS – Del o F2
- MSI – Del
- Acer – F2 or Del.
Read next:
- How to recover BIOS on laptop?
- How to use BIOS settings on Windows computers.
