System Recovery boot menu problem

[Dwarfer]

hi i want to recover my advent laptop. i got it from..... pc world, uurrgghh!!!!

anyway, the "the techguys recovery" comes up before initial boot but the crappy atom cpu takes a second to draw the text so i have no time to select the recovery option. the recovery is on a EISA partitioned part of the laptop hdd.

is there a special key i need to press to access the menu or did these so called tech guys not bother to even test it before releasing it.

thanks.

ps, ive tried pressing f8 but it doesnt even have a selection highlighter, im guessing its the crappy cpu taking too much time to draw the text, but im hoping someone could tell me otherwise, surely these tech guys aren't that dumb to not try it on a crappy cpu before releasing

 

[Ferg]

I think Acer recovery is alt+f10, is that your brand?

Other brands (in no particular order use some of these combinations)
f11
Alt f11
f10
f12
Basically try everything :)
And some bioses have a direct route to the recovery program that you need to select.