Can i access my eeprom options before windows boots by pressing a keyboard key

Projects General Guidance
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My original eeprom chip is on a pci card and i can access my options by pressing a key on the keyboard before the computer boots into windows. Will the Arduino Nano Every work the same way by reading through usb instead of pci with my binary code?.

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I'm not 100% sure I understand.
I think you are asking...

Is there a way on bootup that an Arduino communicate somehow with the EEPROM.

No there isn't.

Describing the Arduino bootup.

  1. The RESET pin goes high allowing the processor to start.
  2. The bootloader program in the Arduino's runs first. It checks to see if a program is trying to be uploaded.
    2a) If YES the bootloader reads the program then puts it in program memory.
    2b) If NO the bootloader passes control the program in the program memory.

To do what you want you would have to:
A) write your own custom bootloader.
B) Make the program that is running read a Digital input and if set have the program run a routine to do what you want.

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Hi John,

Thank you for your reply.

I thought that the bootloader was already programmed in my binary code.
If i wanted to do without the bootloader, would it still work?. Can i access my options in Windows through the command prompt?.

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Most (all?) Arduinos are received with the bootloader already installed. If it wasn't you couldn't program it through its USB port.
When you upload a program the bootloader stays and your program is located right after the bootloader in memory.

On your PC, holding down the Ctrl-F10 key pair will tell the computer to go to a different program (located on your mother board) instead of loading windows. The Arduino has no such program so the best you could do is to write an Arduino program to do what you need to do with the EEPROM.

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@JohnRob I think OP wants to access PC BIOS settings

@joe32585 you can enter the PC BIOS settings with Arduino. use Arduino Leonardo or Arduino Micro with the GitHub - NicoHood/HID: Bring enhanced HID functions to your Arduino! library BootKeyboard

1 Like
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Interesting I wasn't aware of the referenced library. And with a quick peruse I'm still not sure all it can do.

I was under the impression the OP wanted to have access to the Arduino EEPROM in some sort of screen like one might have on a PC. Presumably with the ability to modify the EEPROM. I'm still unsure of what in the EEPROM could be modified other than the raw data.

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