Cannot save boot order in BIOS

I have a weird problem - on my Lenovo Z570 I cannot change the default boot order.

I am trying to load a bootable DVD and I have two hard drives. The boot sequence has the DVD drive as last, but when I bring it on the top, hit F10 and reboot, the changes seem to be neglected, as the PC boots from the hard drive anyway. When I open the BIOS after I'd changed it, it's back at the defaults.

I can boot from the DVD using F12 and choosing the appropriate boot medium, but that won't allow me to finish installation from the DVD as I need the DVD to boot again after restart.

What could be causing this?

Martin Melka

Posted 2012-09-10T11:10:49.077

Reputation: 213

Similar problem for me, can't save partition boot order on Lenovo tower. Device order saves, but windows partition always comes up first upon boot. – Kzqai – 2017-04-06T15:49:13.843

are you saving the changes you made to BIOS boot order, many times exiting the BIOS directly after making changes to settings, Resets the factory default. – Ankit – 2012-09-10T12:30:14.327

Answers

Two possible answers.
1. The settings are not being saved on save and exit selection. Try to save, navigate to some other options and then save and exit. I ran into this bug with an Lenovo R500.

The CMOS battery may be going or completely shot. For a $2 part, it can sometimes be aggravating to troubleshoot.

DaBaer

Posted 2012-09-10T11:10:49.077

Reputation: 754

1I don't think it is the battery, since my system clock is just fine. I will measure it though, just in case. – Martin Melka – 2012-09-10T12:58:56.123

Some BIOS manufacturers have a separate save action for user preferences. This could be because the boot order is maybe considered to be user preferences by those BIOS manufacturers. It does make it a bit confusing as they also have a regular option called 'Save and Exit' or 'Save and Reset' which don't seem to save the boot order preferences.

After you make the change to the boot order it is simply not sufficient to 'Save and Exit' or 'Save and Reset'. You need to first save the changes as User Defaults and then any one of the above 2 options. Boot back in to the BIOS and you should see the boot order stick to what you wanted.

This is most commonly seen in AMI BIOS -- I have seen this in many server boards like TYAN S5533, Supermicro X9, X10 & X11.

See if you have an option similar to 'Save User Defaults' or 'Save Defaults' somewhere in your BIOS and try it out.

Inxsible

Posted 2012-09-10T11:10:49.077

Reputation: 121

I have v570 and same problem. Still, boot order can be changed via efibootmgr on Linux, and I use this way.

Pavlus

Posted 2012-09-10T11:10:49.077

Reputation: 528