Very helpful article from http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/a/biosaccess_pc.htm
This will help you access Tails or any other LiveCD operating system.
Having trouble getting in to your computer’s BIOS setup utility? If you’ve tried the basic steps for accessing your computer’s BIOS and haven’t had much luck, trust me when I say you’re not alone.
There are hundreds of computer manufacturers out there and each seem to have their own idea when it comes to designating a key sequence to enter BIOS. There are often even huge differences in BIOS access methods between different models made by the same company!
This list of BIOS access keyboard commands is a work in progress – meaning I need your help! If you have any additional BIOS access information to pass on or if you find a mistake, please let me know.
Note: If you have a custom built computer or one from a very small company, one of these two resources may help you out a bit more than the list on this page:
BIOS Access Keys for Popular Motherboards
BIOS Access Keys for Major BIOS Manufacturers
Acer – Aspire, Power, Veriton, Extensa, Ferrari, TravelMate, Altos
Press Del or F2 immediately after powering on.
The BIOS on the Acer Altos 600 server uses the Ctrl+Alt+Esc key and the F1 key for advanced options.
Older Acer computers may use also use the F1 or Ctrl+Alt+Esc keys to access BIOS.
Compaq – Presario, Prolinea, Deskpro, Systempro, Portable
Press F10 while the cursor in the top right corner of the screen is blinking.
Older Compaq computers may use the F1, F2, F10, or Del key to give access to BIOS.
Dell – XPS, Dimension, Inspiron, Latitude. OptiPlex, Precision, Vostro
Press F2 when the Dell logo appears. Press every few seconds until the message Entering Setup appears.
Older Dell desktops and laptops may instead use Ctrl+Alt+Enter or Del to enter BIOS.
Older Dell laptops may use Fn+Esc or Fn+F1.
eMachines – eMonster, eTower, eOne, S-Series, T-Series
Press Tab or Del while the eMachine logo displays on screen.
Other eMachine computers may use F2 to enter BIOS.
Fujitsu – LifeBook, Esprimo, Amilo, Tablet, DeskPower
Press F2 once the Fujitsu logo appears.
Gateway – DX, FX, One, GM, GT, GX, Profile, Astro
Press the F1 key repeatedly after restarting the computer.
Some older Gateway computers use F2 to access the BIOS Setup utility.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) – Pavilion, TouchSmart, Vectra, OmniBook, Tablet
Press the F1, F10, or F11 key after restarting the computer.
HP Tablet PCs may use F10 or F12.
Other HP computers may allow access to BIOS using the F2 or Esc keys.
IBM – PC, XT, AT
Press F1 immediately after powering on the computer.
Older IBM computers (including some laptops) may utilize the F2 key for BIOS entry.
Lenovo (formerly IBM) – ThinkPad, IdeaPad, 3000 Series, ThinkCentre, ThinkStation
Press F1 or F2 after powering on the computer.
Older Lenovo products allow access to BIOS using Ctrl+Alt+F3, Ctrl+Alt+Ins, or Fn+F1.
Micron (MPC Computers) – ClientPro, TransPort
Press F1, F2 or Del immediately after powering on the PC.
NEC – PowerMate, Versa, W-Series
Press F2 to enter the BIOS Setup.
Packard Bell – 8900 Series, 9000 Series, Pulsar, Platinum, EasyNote, imedia, iextreme
Press F1, F2, or Del to enter BIOS.
Samsung – Series ‘x’ laptops
Press F2 to start the BIOS setup utility.
Sharp – Notebook Laptops, Actius UltraLite
Press F2 after the computer starts.
Some very old Sharp PCs require a Setup Diagnostics Disk to access BIOS.
Shuttle – Glamor G-Series, D’vo, Prima P2-Series, Workstation, X Mini XPC, Surveillance
Press F2 or Del on startup.
Sony – VAIO, PCG-Series, VGN-Series
Press F1, F2 or F3 after turning on the computer.
Toshiba – Portégé, Satellite, Tecra, Equium
Press F1 or Esc after powering on to access BIOS.
Press F12 on a Toshiba Equium.
The following companies are either closed for business or no longer manufacture or support mainstream computers systems so verifying the following BIOS access information is nearly impossible. I have included what I could dig up for anyone who might be interested:
ARI / ALR / AST (Advantage) – Press the Ctrl+Alt+Esc or Ctrl+Alt+Del keys.
Cybermax – Press the Esc key.
Tandon – Press the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys.
BIOS Access Information
How To Enter the BIOS Setup Utility
BIOS Access Keys for Popular Motherboards
BIOS Access Keys for Major BIOS Manufacturers
Related BIOS Resources
What is BIOS?