BIOS Setup Utility Access Keys for Popular Motherboards

DEL and F2 are common, but each manufacturer uses a different procedure

By
Tim Fisher
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Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

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Updated on July 26, 2022
Reviewed by
Ryan Perian
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Reviewed by Ryan Perian
  • Western Governors University
Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions.
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If you've tried the basic steps for accessing your motherboard's BIOS and haven't been successful, this list of keyboard commands to enter BIOS should be of some help.

Illustration of a person entering a literal key into a computer monitor
Lifewire / Tim Liedtke
BIOS Setup Utility Access Keys
Brand Chipset Instructions
abit ab9, an7, an8, av8, aw9d, be6, bh6, ic7, in9, ip35, kn8, kn9, etc. Press Del while the PRESS DEL TO ENTER SETUP message is displayed to access the BIOS setup utility.
ASRock 4coredual, 775dual, 939dual, k7s41gx, p4v88, k7vm3, etc. Press F2 right after the computer starts up.
ASUS p5b, a7v600, a7v8x, a8n, a8v, k8v, m2n, p5k, p5n, etc. Press Del right after starting the computer to enter BIOS. Some other ASUS motherboards use Ins and some, like the p5bw-le, use F10 instead.
BFG 680i, 8800gtx, 6800gt, 7600gt, 7800gs, 7950gt, etc. Press Del when the ...enter setup message briefly displays at the bottom of the screen after powering on the computer.
Biostar 6100, 550, 7050, 965pt, k8m800, p4m80, ta690g, tf7050, etc. Press the Del key while the full-screen logo is showing on screen, immediately after starting the computer.
DFI LANParty Ultra, Expert, Infinity 975x, NF3, NF4, cfx3200, p965, rs482, etc. Press the Del key when the Press DEL to enter setup message appears, immediately after the memory test.
ECS Elitegrou k7s5a, k7vta3, 741gx, 755-a2, 945p, c51gm, gf7100pvt, p4m800, etc. Press either the Del or F1 key to enter the BIOS Setup Utility.
EVGA 790i, 780i, 750i, 680i, 650i, e-7150/630i, e-7100/630i, 590, etc. Enter BIOS by pressing Del immediately after powering on the computer.
Foxconn c51xem2aa, 6150bk8mc, 6150bk8ma, c51gu01, etc. Press Del to enter the BIOS Setup Utility.
GIGABYTE ds3, p35, 965p, dq6, ds3r, k8ns, etc. Press Del during POST, right after the computer is turned on.
Intel d101ggc, d815eea, d845, d850gb, d865glc, d875pbz, d945gccr, d946gtp, d975xbx, etc. Press F2 during the initial boot process to enter the BIOS setup utility.
JetWay jm26gt3, ha04, j7f3e, hi03, ji31gm3, jp901dmp, 775gt1-loge, etc. Enter BIOS setup by powering on the computer and pressing Del immediately.
Match Speed Viper, Matrix, pm800, 917gbag, v6dp, s755max, etc. Press Del after the boot process begins to enter the BIOS configuration utility.
MSI (Micro-Star) k8n, k9n, p965, 865pe, 975x, k7n2, k9a2, k8t neo, p7n, p35, x48, x38, etc. Press Del while the Press DEL to enter SETUP message displays on screen after powering on the computer.
PCChips m810lr, m811, m848a, p23g, p29g, p33g, etc. Press Del or F1 to enter the BIOS utility.
SAPPHIRE PURE CrossFire 3200, a9rd580Adv, a9rs480, CrossFireX 770 & 790FX, PURE Element 690V, etc. Press Del after powering on to get into BIOS.
Shuttle "bare bones" and motherboards including ak31, ak32, an35n, sn25p, ai61, sd37p2, sd39p2, etc. Press Del or Ctrl+Alt+Esc at the Press DEL to enter SETUP message that appears right after turning on the computer.
Soyo   Press Del during POST.
Super Micro c2sbx, c2sbm, pdsba, pdsm4, pdsmi, p8sc8, p4sbe, etc. Press the Del key at any time during the boot process.
TYAN Tomcat, Trinity, Thunder, Tiger, Tempest, Tahoe, Tachyon, Transport and Bigby motherboards including K8WE, S1854, S2895, MP S2460, MPX S2466, K8W S2885, S2895, S2507, etc. After starting the system, press the Del or F4 key to start the BIOS setup utility.
XFX nForce 500 Series, 600 Series, 700 Series, etc. Press Del during the boot process to enter BIOS, immediately after the computer is turned on.

BIOS isn't the same thing as UEFI. Most modern computers use the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, which is a more-advanced infrastructure for computer bootup.

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