Can’t Access HP Compaq 6200 Pro BIOS

I spent quite a bit of time trying to access the BIOS on my new HP Compaq 6200 Pro. I needed to enable the VT-x extensions to run some virtual machines. All the documentation says to use ESC or F10 at the splash screen. However, no matter what I did, the computer was not recognizing the button presses.

Here’s what I’ve tried (which did not work):
1. ESC or F10
2. Pulled all USB devices (except for the keyboard).
3. Made sure I was using the USB keyboard provided by HP.
4. Updated BIOS from Windows to the latest version (v2.14 at the time of this writing).
5. Disconnected all SATA hard drives and optical drives.
6. Pulled power to clear CMOS using the button on the motherboard.
7. Also pulled the battery…

I was lucky to have another HP 6200 Pro sitting around to try it out on and much to my surprise I was STILL NOT ABLE TO ACCESS THE BIOS! WTF? But there’s one thing I’m not telling you.

I have added a video card to the computer for dual monitor capability. Specifically, a NVIDIA Quadro FX 380 LP card. Once I pulled the card and connected my monitor to the on board video, I was able to access the BIOS and make the changes I needed.

With the BIOS settings FINALLY changed, I added the video card back and couldn’t access the BIOS again. But at least now I can access it when I need to. I would love to know an ultimate solution to this so I do not have to pull the card so if anyone else out there knows, please share!