I am embarrassed

[patl]

I was going to pay a mate to clear my computer and put Linux on it and everything but decided to try and do it myself and learn a bit. Now I have just got off the phone to some schmuck assistant support for my HP laptop because I have been trying to enter the BIOS setup. The maual for my lap top says;
1. Turn on or restart the computer, and then press esc while the “Press the ESC key for Startup Menu”
message is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
2. Press f10 to enter Setup Utility.

The "message" is never displayed so I randomly press escape and f10 and tried so many times now it's ridiculous - something obviously isn't right but I am fully aware the that something is probably me!?!

Any suggestions?

 

[arochester]

What is the MODEL of your HP laptop?

The HP instructions say nothing about pressing ESC. See http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=uk&lc=en&docname=c00364979

Follow the steps below to configure the boot order on most computers.

1. Turn on or restart the computer.
2. While the display is blank, press the f10 key to enter the BIOS settings menu.
   
   
   
   NOTE:The BIOS settings menu is accessible by pressing the f2 or the f6 key on some computers.
3. Select the Advanced tab using the right and left arrow keys.
4. Use the up and down arrow keys to select Boot Order.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to change the boot order

 

[atanere]

That is exactly the way my HP laptop works (Pavilion 11-010dx).

After pushing the Power button, hold down the ESC key (don't let up on it) until it shows at the bottom, "ESC... Pause Startup." It then presents the Startup Menu with 5 options. You have to do this before the HP logo or Windows screen starts.

F9 gives boot options which are needed to select between dual-booting Windows and Linux. F10 gives "BIOS Setup" which is misleading.... it is UEFI, not BIOS. I guess it's too hard to get consumers to learn new words.

When you say you want to "clear your computer and put Linux on it".... let me say that the (UEFI) Setup screen is not always where you begin. If you in fact have UEFI instead of the older BIOS firmware, it takes some trial and error sometimes to get Linux going properly.

As @arochester says, we need to know what model your laptop is. Then we can help you Google for solutions, or maybe someone with your exact model will chime in and help. If you want to get rid of Windows, that can be done. But if you want to keep it and dual-boot with Linux, then I highly recommend that you make a set of Recovery DVD's (or USB) from the HP Recovery Manager before you begin. It is quite possible that you will have to reinstall Windows if you want to keep it. In the trial and error of getting Linux working, things can break sometimes... but they are fixable if you have recovery DVD's.

Good luck!

 

[VP9KS]

PATL,
I can relate. I have the Model V5101US and it does not have an option for booting from USB. I just use the live cd to boot to Puppy. Good luck with yours.
Paul

 

[Videodrome]

With some computers, I've run PloP Boot Manager from CD which allowed me to then boot from USB. PloP can be very handy if the BIOS does not include USB as a boot source.

 

[ryanvade]

My HP DV6t-7000 works the same way. ESC until I get into the EFI/BIOS.

 

[patl]

Sorry so long coming for thanks for replies - holding it down worked!

 

[VP9KS]

With some computers, I've run PloP Boot Manager from CD which allowed me to then boot from USB. PloP can be very handy if the BIOS does not include USB as a boot source.

Yeah, I have that on my list of things to try, I saw it on Spatry's cup of linux. It looked cool!