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Need help: Cannot boot out of BIOS on my W540

W530/W540/W541/W550 Series
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CharlieDog
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Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2019 5:14 pm
Location: Bristol, Tennessee

Need help: Cannot boot out of BIOS on my W540

#1 Post by CharlieDog » Fri Mar 06, 2020 5:32 pm

Sad to say, but at times I am my own worst enemy. I went into the BIOS setup to check if the SSD with the OS on it is the first thing in the boot order, and I somehow changed something, so now when I power on, the laptop goes into a screen with two options-Boot Menu & App Menu. The Boot Menu has three options: ATAPI CD0: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GU90N, ATA HDD0: Samsung SSD 860 EVO 250GB, and PCI LAN. The PCI LAN has two options LAN, a long # then IPv4 or LAN, the same long #, then IPv6. It doesn't matter which line or option I highlight, when I click on it, the screen goes black for a few seconds then returns to the original, two-tab image.

If I switch to the App Menu, the options are: Setup, Diagnostic Splash Screen, or Lenovo Diagnostics. I've clicked on Startup and gone into the main ThinkPad Setup. Under the Startup tab the options are: Boot, Network Boot-set to PCI LAN, UEFI/Legacy Boot-set to UEFI only & I cannot change it, the highlight just skips over that, Boot mode-Quick, Option key enabled, Boot device list-enabled, Boot order lock-disabled. The final tab is Restart, but none of the options there have helped me. The only way to turn off the laptop is to force it off.

TIA for any ideas or suggestions.
Larry aka CharlieDog
Bristol, TN

RealBlackStuff
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Re: Need help: Cannot boot out of BIOS on my W540

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sat Mar 07, 2020 1:34 am

You could go here: https://download.lenovo.com/bsco/index.html and select W540 to play with the BIOS.

AFAIK the UEFI/Legacy only looks greyed out, you should be able to set the cursor on it and press Enter.
You could perhaps try changing Network Boot to e.g. [ATA HDD0:] and then try UEFI/Legacy set to [Both].
After that change Network Boot back to [PCI LAN].
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
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CharlieDog
Posts: 43
Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2019 5:14 pm
Location: Bristol, Tennessee

Re: Need help: Cannot boot out of BIOS on my W540

#3 Post by CharlieDog » Sat Mar 07, 2020 3:26 pm

Thanks for the suggestion, however there is no curser visible when in the BIOS Setup. I can only move around the BIOS screen with the arrows, and the highlighted value just jumps over the UEFI only spot. If I just change the Network Boot to ATA HDD0, or HDD1, or HDD2, save and exit, it comes back to the beginning of the BIOS Setup-still in the endless loop. There just does not seem to be a way to change from UEFI only.
Larry aka CharlieDog
Bristol, TN

RealBlackStuff
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Re: Need help: Cannot boot out of BIOS on my W540

#4 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sun Mar 08, 2020 1:39 am

Have you been in that BIOS before?
Is Security/UEFI BIOS update allowed?
Is there a Supervisor password under Security/Password?
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

CharlieDog
Posts: 43
Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2019 5:14 pm
Location: Bristol, Tennessee

Re: Need help: Cannot boot out of BIOS on my W540

#5 Post by CharlieDog » Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:27 pm

Thanks, again.
This is the first time I have been in the BIOS since I got the laptop (used) a few months ago.
The Flash BIOS updating by end users is Enabled.
There is no password in Supervisor Password, the Status is: Disabled.

Just curious if there might be software that could be downloaded on another computer, transferred to a USB drive, and loaded into my W540 to 'correct' the settings in the BIOS.
Larry aka CharlieDog
Bristol, TN

RealBlackStuff
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Re: Need help: Cannot boot out of BIOS on my W540

#6 Post by RealBlackStuff » Mon Mar 09, 2020 1:21 am

In BIOS, try F9 followed by F10, reboot.
Go into BIOS to check if you can change things now.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

CharlieDog
Posts: 43
Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2019 5:14 pm
Location: Bristol, Tennessee

Re: Need help: Cannot boot out of BIOS on my W540

#7 Post by CharlieDog » Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:53 am

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried that, but no change. The screen flickers from black (like power off), to grey (like power on), to the screen with two tabs-Boot menu & App Menu, just as before. Sorry.
Larry aka CharlieDog
Bristol, TN

CharlieDog
Posts: 43
Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2019 5:14 pm
Location: Bristol, Tennessee

Re: Need help: Cannot boot out of BIOS on my W540

#8 Post by CharlieDog » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:15 pm

File under the heading of learn something new every day: I had posted this on a Windows 10 Help forum and was able to resolve my problem. Basically someone mentioned I couldn't change the 'UEFI only' setting in the BIOS if Secure Boot was enabled, so I went in and disabled it. Then I changed the UEFI only setting to 'Both/Legacy first', saved and exited the BIOS setup, and the laptop booted into Windows immediately. Turns out my SSD drive with the OS on it does not have an EFI partition, so-for better or worse-it's Legacy only.

The next step is find what the differences/benefits of UEFI vs. Legacy are.

For now, this thread can be marked Solved. Thanks.
Larry aka CharlieDog
Bristol, TN

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