In my experience of troubleshooting booting issues on various operating systems such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, even older ones like 98, Me, there are a lot of times when users have to get into the BIOS of the computer. However, there is no standard key stroke that will allow access to BIOS. I have made a list of some comptuers and BIOS manufacturers along with ways to enter BIOS on such computers. I hope the table below will help you.
| Computer Type | BIOS Setup Key(s) for Entry |
| Acer | F1, F2, CTRL+ALT+ESC |
| AST | CTRL+ALT+ESC, CTRL+ALT+DEL |
| Compaq 8700 | F10 |
| CompUSA | DEL |
| Cybermax | ESC |
| Dell 400 | F3, F1 |
| Dell Dimension | F2 or DEL |
| Dell Inspiron | F2 |
| Dell Latitude | Fn+F1 (While Booted) |
| Dell Latitude | F2 (On Boot) |
| Dell Optiplex | DEL, F2 |
| Dell Precision | F2 |
| eMachine | DEL |
| Gateway 2000 1440 | F1 |
| Gateway 2000 Solo | F2 |
| HP (Hewlett-Packard) | F1, F2 |
| IBM | F1 |
| IBM E-pro Laptop | F2 |
| IBM PS/2 | CTRL+ALT+INS after CTRL+ALT+DEL |
| IBM Thinkpad (newer) | Start|Programs|Thinkpad CFG |
| Intel Tangent | DEL |
| Micron | F1, F2, or DEL |
| NEC | F2 |
| Packard Bell | F1, F2, or DEL |
| Sony VIAO | F2 |
| Tiger | DEL |
| Toshiba 335 CDS | ESC |
| Toshiba Protg | ESC |
| Toshiba Satellite 205 CDS | F1 |
| Toshiba Tecra | F1 or ESC |
| Toshiba Notebook [Newer models] | 1. Turn on computer by Holding down power button while pressing the ESC key. |
| The machine will beep, then display: | |
| Check System, then press [F1] key. | |
| 2. Release ESC key | |
| 3. Press F1 key | |
| Bios Suppliers
|
Keyboard Commands |
| ALR Advanced Logic Research, Inc. PC / PCI | F2 |
| ALR PC non / PCI | CTRL+ALT+ESC |
| AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.) BIOS | F1 |
| AMI (American Megatrends, Inc.) BIOS | DEL |
| Award BIOS | CTRL+ALT+ESC |
| Award BIOS | DEL |
| DTK (Datatech Enterprises Co.) BIOS | ESC |
| Phoenix BIOS | CTRL+ALT+ESC |
| Phoenix BIOS | CTRL+ALT+S |
| Phoenix BIOS | CTRL+ALT+INS |
