Laptop stuck at "Press F2 to enter setup" while booting - Acer Aspire 5810T

Dear Community,

My Acer laptop is getting stuck at "Press F2 to enter setup" when I power on. It does not respond to any key strokes after this. I have attempted following tests. Appreciate if community gives pointers to resolve the issue.

1) Pressed different keys (F2, F10, etc) immediately after powering on. But, system did not enter BIOS setup. But, it proceed further to above mentioned error.

2) I experienced the same error when I connected a external wireless keyboard. I confirm that external keyboard is working as system reboots when I entered ctrl-alt-del, not with inbuilt keyboard.

3) I repeated test 1 and 2 with and without the battery connected. When battery was not connected, the laptop was directly powered through the AC adaptor.

4) Thinking that OS might have been corrupted, I tried to reboot with a bootable USB stick. But, system is getting stuck at "Press F2 to enter setup". I confirm that the bootable USB is working after testing with another laptop.

5) I removed the internal HDD wherein OS was installed. And, performed step 4. Same error.

Model: Acer Aspire 5810T

Processor Name: Intel Pentium SU4100

OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home

BIOS Manufacturer: Acer, Insyde Software

BIOS: 08/17/2009

BIOS Version: V1.28.

//Edited the content to add model name on title.

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philetus

This laptop is 8-10 years old. I have seen a few references to failure to access bios and boot as weak or
dead CMOS battery. It's not that hard to get to so, you may want to give it a try.
Remove the battery and the lower cover. You probably know how to di it.
Remove the four captive screws and four screws (H) securing the lower cover.
For battery reference: http://www.genuine-cmos-battery.com/acer-aspire-5810t-cmos-battery.html

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/zn/a1nxgh2su9cm.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/u8/8obndodyptbz.jpg

MurthyN

Thank you philetus. I have removed the CMOS battery and rebooted the laptop. Same issue - laptop get stuck at "Press F2 to enter setup".

Pressed different keys (F2, F10, etc) immediately after powering on. But, system did not enter BIOS setup. But, it proceed further to above mentioned error.

Any other pointers?

philetus

Not just remove the battery, get a new battery. The old battery has been in there for a long time and could be weak or dead, which could be causing your problem.
You can also find the battery with this number: GC02000KH00

MurthyN

philetus once again.

Due to Corona, it has become difficult to get the new battery.

So, I would like to verify and confirm that CMOS battery has gone bad. As I understood, one way to verify is to see whether laptop retains system date & time after reboot. But, I had seen my laptop retaining data & time before started facing this "Press F2 to enter setup" issue. Do you suggest some approach to confirm this fact?

When I press F2 in response to the message "Press F2 to enter setup", laptop responds sometimes and moves to a new message "Please wait". But, it gets stuck again there and does not reboot.

Also, I see RAM and nearby area getting heated. Is this the cause of the problem?

johntech

Good Day, we have the same issues, my Acer laptop stuck in Press F2, i had replaced new RAM, NEW CMOS and HDD but its not gonna work out..We hope somebody can help us to resolve this problem.