Is there a way to access BIOS on a used Lenovo Ideapad G580 2689 ?

[m654321]

Following the death of my Asus laptop, I swapped it with someone for a third-hand Lenovo Ideapad G580 model 2689 notebook. It has Win8.1 pre-installed in UEFI mode - I would like to dual-boot it with LL, in Legacy mode.

However I'm unable to access the BIOS or Boot Order to allow me to do this.
The 'novo' button doesn't work, only showing a menu with 4 options - clicking on any of the options and it just boots into the Win8.1 user account. Apparently the software that allows the 'novo' button to access BIOS or Boot Order, is on a partition of the drive that was originally shipped with this laptop - being a 3rd-hand laptop, my guess is that's long gone!

So I tried more conventional methods: F2 and F12 keys, and clicking on PC settings in the charms bar, choosing the Recovery etc option. However none of these work and it just boots into the Win8.1 user account. 

However, from the LL hardware database, I notice that LL has been installed on the Lenovo G580, but maybe these contained original drive to enable operation of the 'novo' button ... I also notice from hadrian's inxi -Fz terminal output, that he installed LL on a Lenovo G580.

Any ideas, send them this way before I throw this laptop in the bin  > > >

[trinidad]

Can you log into Windows 8.1 with an administrator account? If you can login (know the password) is the account an administrator account? If it is an administrator account i/e user name joeblow with administrator privileges hold the shift and control keys down together and open the command prompt not releasing them until the CLI opens. At the elevated prompt type: net user administrator \active:yes  This will activate the default passwordless account used for Windows installation. Restart and try the options again.

TC

[DeepThought]

[member=458]m654321[/member]

is this any good to you:

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-enter-boo...s-not-work

[m654321]

Can you log into Windows 8.1 with an administrator account?
If you can login (know the password) is the account an administrator account?
If it is an administrator account i/e user name joeblow with administrator privileges hold the shift and control keys down together and open the command prompt not releasing them until the CLI opens. At the elevated prompt type: net user administrator \active:yes  This will activate the default passwordless account used for Windows installation. Restart and try the options again.

TC

Thanks TC.
This UEFI laptop came to me with Win10 on it: the Lenovo support website showed that the G580 (made in 2012) isn't supported by Win10, only drivers & apps listed up to Win8.1 64-bit. So I installed Win8.1, using another Windows activation key that I had.

Then, I installed both a Sys Admin (password protected) and my normal daily User account (no password, set up as auto-login).
So no problem with accounts set-up.

[m654321]

[member=458]m654321[/member]
is this any good to you:
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-enter-boo...s-not-work

Yes thanks DeepThought,  I saw this too on a forum, tried it, but it failed  :-[ 
As mentioned in #1, from what I've read it seems that the software for operating the 'novo' button resides on a partition in the original drive shipped with the laptop. Apparently, Lenovo will send you the 'novo' software on request, but you'll have to pay for it!

I'm going to try something else today - I have an idea, though am unsure if it'll work:
... okay, as I can't access the BIOS I'm stuck with UEFI mode. So, I'll get a clean SSD, first create both Windows OS & LL partitions on it, using gparted from the LL4.2UEFItestbuild running live from a DVD, then install LL4.2UEFI first, then Win8.1, then sudo update-grub - worth a try - see you later (fingers crossed) ...

[DeepThought]

[member=458]m654321[/member]

  I don't have a uefi capable pc/laptop so not sure if this would work, but have you tried removing the cmos battery.
  Leave the battery out for a while and it might just reset the bios settings to factory default.
  Maybe then the F2 & F12  keys will work.

[m654321]

[member=458]m654321[/member]

  I don't have a uefi capable pc/laptop so not sure if this would work, but have you tried removing the cmos battery.
  Leave the battery out for a while and it might just reset the bios settings to factory default.
  Maybe then the F2 & F12  keys will work.

I 'll give it a go & post back - many thanks

[DeepThought]

[member=458]m654321[/member]

Found this on the Lenovo support site, seems the software for your novo button is a free download.
Might be worth a go.

https://support.lenovo.com/gb/en/downloads/ds035708

[m654321]

[member=7644]DeepThought[/member]
Problem solved - the BIOS was simply out-of-date ...
The problem was not helped by the Lenovo PC support site listing the wrong BIOS update i.e. 5ecn96ww, following entry of the laptop's serial number for a Win8.1 setup (this update is for Win7!).  >

Finally, I found the correct version, i.e. 62CN97WW, to replace the 62CN90WW already preinstalled on the Lenovo G580 2689. Once the BIOS had been flashed, the BIOS, Boot Order, etc, could be readily accessed, using either the novo button or the F2-key.

DeepThought, I did try the novo software & other link you kindly provided - many thanks for those.  Needless to say, they didn't work but the BIOS update fixed everything. Therefore, it seems that the novo button doesn't need any special software to enable it - useful to know in itself. 

For the many others out there who appear to have been confounded by the same problem of not being able to access the BIOS or Boot Order on a Lenovo G580 2689, the following link for the BIOS update 62CN97WW may be useful:
https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/gb/en/searc...n=Homepage

Now that I can access the BIOS and Boot Order, I can now go ahead and do a Legacy dual-boot install for  LL / Win8.1 ...  8)

[DeepThought]

[member=458]m654321[/member]
Glad you managed to get it sorted