F8 on boot doesn't bring up advanced boot options

Singleton

New Member
I'm running Home Premium x64 on an Acer Aspire 6935 (Core2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2GHz, 4GB RAM) and Vista is running just fine. Knowing that won't always be the case, though, I decided to check out the Advanced Boot Options.

Problem is, I can't. No amount of F8-ing on boot does anything, be it continuous pressing or tapping every second or two. And I start from the BIOS screen itself.

I know Vista can do it on its own -- it went to the Advanced Boot Options once on its own volition, after the system froze on me (only happened once), so the ABO itself is not damaged.

What am I doing wrong here? What alternatives are there to F8, besides setting the relevant option in MSCONFIG? (That's something I won't be able to do if I ever need the advanced boot options because Vista won't load on its own).

Thanks in advance!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 6935
    CPU
    Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2 GHz
    Memory
    4 GB DDR3 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel 4 Series Express
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Def Audio, Intel High Def HDMI
Has your desktop got a fingerprint scanner?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers
    Trust Graphics Tablet
Has your desktop got a fingerprint scanner?

It's a notebook, actually, but yes, it does indeed have a fingerprint scanner.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 6935
    CPU
    Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2 GHz
    Memory
    4 GB DDR3 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel 4 Series Express
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Def Audio, Intel High Def HDMI
Can you turn off the fingerprint scanner in your BIOS?
If so turn it off then try the F8 option.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers
    Trust Graphics Tablet
No such luck. Being an OEM notebook BIOS it has about 3 things that can be configured.

What's the deal with the fingerprint reader, anyway? Is Vista mistaking it for the keyboard or something?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 6935
    CPU
    Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2 GHz
    Memory
    4 GB DDR3 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel 4 Series Express
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Def Audio, Intel High Def HDMI

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 r09/2013
    CPU
    Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.2GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
    Memory
    4 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (16GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX770 Gaming OC 2GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition on board solution (ALC 898)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic VA1912w Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    OCZ Agility 3 120GB SATA III x2 (RAID 0)
    Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II x2
    Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1TB SATA II
    Iomega 1.5TB Ext USB 2.0
    WD 2.0TB Ext USB 3.0
    PSU
    XFX Pro Series 850W Semi-Modular
    Case
    Gigabyte IF233
    Cooling
    1 x 120mm Front Inlet 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 (USB)
    Mouse
    Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business (USB)
    Internet Speed
    NetGear DG834Gv3 ADSL Modem/Router (Ethernet) ~4.0 Mb/s (O2)
    Other Info
    Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray
    Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB)
    WEI Score: 8.1/8.1/8.5/8.5/8.25
    Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
Has acer provided you with emergency disk, if so then you may have to boot from cd to get to the recovery screen manually.
The reason I asked about the fingerprint scanner is because pressing F8 may be a way around security that acer does not want to happen.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers
    Trust Graphics Tablet
Ah, I hadn't thought of the possibility that this might be intentional on Acer's part. I suppose that's possible, though.

I still can't help but wonder if my keyboard is even being recognized properly by Vista at that early stage of the boot process -- there are more than a few other devices on the USB bus, such as the trackpad, the fingerprint reader, the built-in webcam and an external mouse. And the only thing I can remove is the external mouse.

The time I did get the advanced boot options screen --due to a system freeze-up-- I could navegate the menus just fine. But that was quite a bit later than the period when you're supposed to hit F8.

Perhaps the best thing would be to always have a menu offering the ABOs show on boot, and giving it a short time-out, like 5 seconds.

Can I just modify boot.ini for that?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 6935
    CPU
    Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2 GHz
    Memory
    4 GB DDR3 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel 4 Series Express
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Def Audio, Intel High Def HDMI
I asked aloud: "Can I just modify boot.ini?".

As I started researching that, I decided to have a look at my current boot.ini. Well, it turns out I have no boot.ini! I can find it neither by looking (with view hidden and system files turned on), nor by searching, nor through EasyBCD, which complains that it can't find boot.ini either.

Now, I've only recently switched over from XP to Vista, so maybe there's something I'm missing, but as I understand it I should not be able to boot up at all without this file.

And yet, here I am... How can that be accounted for?

(And by the way, I've scanned my entire system for viruses and malware with several different apps).
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 6935
    CPU
    Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2 GHz
    Memory
    4 GB DDR3 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel 4 Series Express
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Def Audio, Intel High Def HDMI
Putzing around here and elsewhere, I managed to find an acceptable (though not perfect) solution. I used EasyBCD to create a new boot entry (where it's stored I don't know, as it seems Vista doesn't use boot.ini), and I set the automatic selection delay to 5 seconds.

Now, when I boot I get a brief menu allowing me to choose between the two Vista boot options (to give them a bit of usefulness, I set one to normal and the other to SOS). If I hit F8 *there*, I do get the advanced boot options to show, and if I do nothing the boot process continues as normal in a few seconds.

F8 still doesn't work before the boot menu appears, nor after it's gone, but now I have a practical workaround that lets me control the system better.

Many thanks to you both for your help!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 6935
    CPU
    Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2 GHz
    Memory
    4 GB DDR3 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobile Intel 4 Series Express
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Def Audio, Intel High Def HDMI
Click on the start orb, then type msconfig into the search pane.
This will allow you to configure the startup including safe boot, under the boot option.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers
    Trust Graphics Tablet
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