acer aspire v3 731-4849 BIOS menu not allowing changes...

for some reason, the BIOS menu won't allow any changes, except the admin and hdd password (which I know, and have changed both for good measure)- I've updated the BIOS menu… still nothing. you can't select or move around any other option (except the 'load defaults' - 'exit'- 'exit without saving' etc.) throughout the entire bios menu. I'm at a loss on what to do… please help.

my laptop is an 'acer aspire v3 731-4849' ive recently updates the RAM to 12 gigs- the laptop belongs to my elderly landlord directly upstairs from me. I've recently started to upgrade it for her, seeing as how it was ridiculously slow- and i may not be as computer savvy as most on these forums. But I've picked up a couple tricks over the years and I get by alright enough. That being said, I'm stumped and have never seen a BIOS menu like this before.

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

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Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/699337/bios-menu-not-allowing-changes

Acer blocked some older BIOS advanced settings to prevent tinkering, try Ctrl + S if that shows the settings, remove the HDD password, the supervisor password won't be activated till you reboot to BIOS.

dev_sly

it won't allow me to remove the HDD lock password… just lets me change it. and I tried the 'Ctl + S' - nothing happened. (I assume you meant to do so inside the bios menu?) no such luck. don't suppose you have any other suggestions?

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/699337/acer-aspire-v3-731-4849-bios-menu-not-allowing-changes

You are running the wrong ram and combination for your Aspire V3-731 laptop, this laptop does NOT operate on 12GB ram or 1x 8GB and 1x 4GB mixed ram. This laptop operates with max 8GB ram @ 2x DDR3-1600 • CL=11 • NON-ECC • SODIMM • 204-pin • 1.35V • 2Rx8 • PC3-12800 type ram modules (see Crucial V3-751 ram upgrades).

I own an early released Aspire V3-571G since new that came with the MBR/Legacy bios and I moded it to the latter released GUID (GPT) bios, and my laptop is virtually the same laptop as the V3-731 with an Intel 3rd Gen i7-3610QM cpu and ram specs also, and I run my V3-571G with 8GB total ram @ 2x DDR3-1866MHz speed ram and it runs with Win-10 Pro perfectly and is not a slug also, I also upgraded the old 2.5" HDD to a Samsung 2.5" 850 EVO SSD and cloned the OS to the new SSD, so do that or if you don't have Win-10 then upgrade from Win-8 to Win-10 as its a FREE upgrade, as that is all that you need for this laptop to be quicken up, you don't need to change anything in bios, maybe the bios is locked up because you have the wrong ram inserted into the laptop. Good luck and hope this helps you out, as these laptops are probably one of the best that Acer has released as they are very durable and bullet proof. I'm still using mine with all the Win-10 updates and it works perfectly.