[Durham] MINT & BIOS

[Barry Titterton]

On 04/12/17 11:19, A Pearson via Durham wrote:
> Hello all
>  
> My question is can mint lock the BIOS in a dual boot situation?
> I set up a new desktop computer some while ago with Windows 7 on one
> hard drive and Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon on a separate hard drive. Each
> was installed with only one drive connected at the time of installation.
> I would go into the BIOS and select boot priority depending on which OS
> I wanted to run.
>  
> I did this to avoid using a boot loader such as GRUB as I had been
> caught before and found when I uninstalled Linux due to the boot loader
> I could no longer run Windows. That was many years ago.  This system has
> been operating successfully for many months but I now find I cannot
> access Windows as the normal Del key is not  bringing up the BIOS
> screen, it just boots to Mint.  I have operated other computers like
> this in the past but offline.
>  
> The only difference is that I ran updates on the MINT whereas I had not
> done this previously. I cannot confirm if I got into Windows since then
> or not.  No other changes have been made to MINT system.
>  
> Why am I bothering with Windows you ask?   I aim to phase out XP on my
> existing main desktop as software support diminishes and replace this
> with Win7 on this later desktop which will become the new main one. This
> will become the prime one whilst I learn the Linux system and assess my
> existing software requirements in relation to stored data.
> This latter one is currently the dual boot. If there is no way round
> this I may have to accept the boot loader or keep it just for Windows
> and run Linux on the recently received laptop. I am about to try to
> access the Windows disk to see if I can get in with the Linux disc
> disconnected but not hopeful
> Has anyone got any ideas please on this one or come across it before? 
> All I can assume its maybe to do with the Mint updates when both drives
> were in circuit.  If there is no other way round this  if I update to
> Mint 18 will this install the GRUB boot loader as I wish the Windows
> disc to remain in an operable state?
>  
> Thanks & Regards
> Alan Pearson
> 

Hi Alan,

Have you tried the obvious and tried a different keyboard? It may be the
DEL key itself that is at fault.

Barry T