Accessing BIOS/UEFI with keyboard & USB disabled

[Alan Sundry]

Hello. Well, I know all the obvious stuff and they're not options.

I misguidedly disabled USB3 in my Archos Cesium 140's BIOS thinking it
would help with something, the less said the better. Instead now the
laptop passes through its opening screens with no way to access the BIOS
(which will prevent my trying to see if Linux Mint will install once the
Linux kernel has caught up). Approaching the BIOS from Windows 10's
recovery options shows the USB slots of course as disabled. There are no
visible CMOS battery or jumpers inside. The large main battery is
attached with a connector but also some gummy stuff which ideally I
wouldn't remove (though I gather it's just reinforcement and a way of
discouraging people like me from fiddling about?) I did wonder if
removing the battery for a time would help reset the BIOS just as remove
a CMOS battery would. It's one of those laptops that are like a tablet
with built in keyboard - slim, cheap, eMMc hard drive. Should I/ can I
safely remove the gum and pull the battery connector out for a few
minutes, or does this gum do other things? (Does this almost clear, not
quite solid-feeling gummy adhesive have a name? I could do with some for
something else.)

But my main question is, surely there are key combinations that will let
me get into the BIOS, surely there's a way? I had an Acer Aspire once
that frize a few times at boot. I learned about a procedure that enabled
me to flash the BIOS - there was a key combination to begin with, and I
wondered if American Megatrends firmware screens can be accessed like
this, some kind of failsafe. F1, F2, esc, Delete - none of this works,
not on the internal keyboard, not via USB. Archos won't reply to emails
(thus ensuring they sell nothing else to me, additionally).

If a later BIOS is made available presumably I'll be able to flash it
from Windows, but I'd thought we were advised to reset a BIOS to
defaults before flashing?

Does it look like I'll be sticking with Windows or does anyone here
have some ideas?

Thanks.

[tovi...@gmail.com]

I tried to install Linuxmint as well as windows make this Cesium 140 amazingly slow. I can get in Bios by pressing "Del". but it will pass the USB booot and jump straight to Win10, even if I change and save boot order. Anybody smart how to get rid of this annoying Win10?
Thanks,
J.T.