I have had no luck yet in getting this solved, any ideas would be highly appreciated:
My current symptoms after changing BIOS settings from "Legacy boot" to "UEFI boot" (nothing else was changed!):
1) System (WITH graphics card installed) is booting right into black screen saying "A bootable device has not been detected. Please refer to the Product Guide at [Intel URL]"
2) System (WITHOUT graphics card) is freezing with 2 beeps + 2 beeps ("no graphics options available")
And to complicate things somewhat:
- the BIOS is not accessible at all in any of the two cases (via F2 or any other F-key)
- BIOS reset (battery out for an hour) and BIOS recovery (with latest 320) do not change the situation
Any idea how I could access the BIOS in this situation and return to "legacy boot" again?
Here is some more background:
- I built a brand new system one week ago with these components:
Desktop Board: DH87RL, board revision is -400 (first version, the latest version now being -403)
Intel processor: i5-4570 with Scythe Muygen 4 cooler
Samsung SSD 840 Evo Basic (250 GB)
LiteOn DVD writer iHAS524
Power supply: Enermax ETL300AWT
Casing: Corsaire Carbide 200
Screen: Fujitsu 17" via DVI
Wireless USB mouse + keyboard
Initially run with integrated graphics Intel 4600, then upgraded to PCIe graphics card (XFX AMD 7790 1GB)
(This system was a recommended configuration in a PC magazine recently - and it is extremely silent and power saving, yet quite powerful when you need it, so making perfect use of the new Haswell processors)
- After building the system I updated the BIOS to 320 and adjusted some BIOS settings: fans + CPU low power mode
- I installed Windows 7 Professional successfully
So the integrated graphics worked fine, benchmarks where according to the magazine which had recommended this PC configuration (c't magazin Germany).
- After 5 days (daily operating time about 4 hours) I installed a graphics card (XFX AMD 7790 1GB) into the PCIe x16 slot
- To avoid collision of internal and external graphics I changed the BIOS setting:
Internal graphics -> "always disable"
- I then saved BIOS settings and installed the latest AMD graphics drivers in Win 7
- Everything worked fine, benchmark results were as expected
Then I had a very stupid idea which caused the current situation ("never change a running system" - I know...):
- Just for curiosity I went into the BIOS and looked for settings to further improve system performance
- I had heard a lot about the new UEFI mode, so I activated "UEFI boot" (hoping system start would be faster - ok, now I learned that more changes are needed for UEFI to work)
- To make things worse I deactivated "Allow legacy boot"
I saved the new BIOS settings ("UEFI = on" and "Legacy boot = off") and rebooted.
Then for the first time a black screen appeared with the text stated above ("No bootable device detected...").
And no BIOS splash screen beforehand and no reaction to any key (F2 or anything else).
The system just stayed there with the black screen - all fans and lights on, but no more.
I was not worried at that time since I thought that a BIOS reset would easily bring me back to start.
But I got more and more worried while I tried everything I could imagine but nothing improved the situation:
- I tried a basic BIOS reset: removed BIOS battery and waited for an hour (still the same black screen)
- I removed the BIOS recovery jumper and loaded version 320 again via USB stick (recovery worked but still the black screen)
- I removed the graphics card and tried another BIOS reset: interestingly "two times two beeps" stated "system is missing graphics"
So BIOS reset obviously had not worked - the system still searched for a graphics card, and did not use the internal graphics!
- I re-installed the graphics card again: the beeps disappeared and the black screen appeared again
- I offered a bootable DVD - no boot, still the black screen
- I offered a bootable USB stick - no boot, still the black screen
- I removed all SATA devices (SSD, DVD) - no change
- I left battery and graphics card and power away over night (~8 hours) - and no change still !
Of course I tried BIOS recovery every time upon any change via USB stick.
The recovery always concluded "Successful, shut-down power, re-install the recovery jumper and power on again for full system reset".
So I re-installed the jumper, powered on and still the same black screen "no bootable devices detected".
So the current status is as stated in the two lines at the top:
1) WITH graphics card I get to the black screen ("no bootable devices detected")
No key seems to work - not F2 or any other F-key regardless when pressed during system start.
So I can not enter the BIOS in any way (the USB keyboard works fine though during BIOS recovery and also if used with another computer!)
2) WITHOUT graphics card the system beeps twice ("no graphics installed")
So the BIOS seems to remember that internal graphics had been deactivated - but why is it still remembering after several BIOS resets and recoveries?
It also does not matter, where I connect the DVI cable to:
- the screen will always show the black screen only when I attach the DVI cable to the first port of the graphics card (so integrated port does not work)
- only when I activate BIOS recovery (via jumper) I can connect to the integrated graphics port and it nicely shows the recovery progress
So this is really frustrating:
BIOS reset: seems not to make any difference (so no reset seems to happen), not even after removing the battery for several hours
BIOS recovery: successfully passes, but does not change anything as well (specifically resulting not in a reset, since the system is still searching for a graphics card)
What else can I try to return to "legacy boot"?
Certainly the only issue is the change to UEFI boot (perhaps together with the setting "internal graphics = always disable") and now the BIOS is not letting me in anymore...