cant access bios setup

[michael1974]

i have a dell inspiron 1150. just recently the lcd screen went out and i had to buy a external monitor to connect to the exterior jack. each time i turn on the computer i have to press fn+f8 to switch to crt output. i am trying to access the rom bios setup but when i press f2 then try to switch the graphics to the exterior setting it wont switch and the screen stays blank. now when i press f10 it will bring boot menu up and allow me to switch to crt and the screen displays, but wont with the rom bios setup. what are the keystrokes from the windows xp desktop for my computer i need to press to gain access. or is there a simple program to download that automaticly brings up your rom bios setup. cant access it normally and i know there has to be a back door. please email your help to mike0717@yahoo.com.. please help me..

[mjc]

Probably isn't a 'back door'...The BIOS is accessed prior to Windows loading, so there won't be any help from within Windows.

As far as it goes, some laptops may not be able to put the BIOS to any but the default video source (which would be the laptop's own screen), depending on exactly how they are wired and how they pass the video over to the external screen. It could be that the external screen is not 'engaged' until AFTER the BIOS, so the setup routine may not find the external port. The boot menu selection is after the BIOS is finished (including access to setup). Basically, you are working with hardware level events, so 'software' isn't going to be much help.

[michael1974]

cries..... i cant access usb settings except for in bios... flash card wont work. have to change settings in bios.

[mjc]

Could you access the card before the screen went out?