Solved Stange Issue with uEFI and Bios on Acer AO756 Netbook

Missy Vixen

New Member
Messages
9
Id like to start of by going ahead and admitting i was an idiot for doing what i did, Give a little bit of a back story etc.

I had been dual booting between Linux Mint 16 and Windows 7 x64 Ultimate in the following partition scheme on my

Acer Aspire AO756 1.4Ghz Celeron Processor, 4GB ram, 320gb HDD. (shipped with windows 7 HP)

All Primary partitions:
{sda1 Windows Boot Loader}{sda2 Windows 7} {sda3 Storage (NTFS)}{sda4 Linux Mint 16}

I managed to somehow get a virus under windows and after failing to weed it out i just formatted the partition SDA1 and SDA2 and reloaded grub : all was well at this point.

Then i got the crazy idea to try out Windows 8.1 since you can still do the 30 day evaluation, and since shortly after i bought my PC, they started shipping out the 'same' (ive found out it had a different BIOS and Processor) model with windows 8 and when i type in my serial on the Acer website for drivers, it brings up Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 drivers. Just to see if it was indeed faster on my acer. THIS proved to be a bad idea as i did not know about the secure boot implementation in windows 8.1. I had tried the RTM test build of 8 a while back and it was not impressive enough to keep. However i had hopes for 8.1. It installed fine and dandy, but during the install sequence it needs you to reboot. When the PC rebooted it could not find any bootable partitions on the drive. I hard rebooted and Hit f12 to get to the Boot selection in the bios and lo and behold there was EFI Boot Partition for windows, Selected that and it booted and continued the set up procedure.

After using it for a few minutes, i started to collect my drivers, only to find out the GPU driver did not work on windows8 for my integrated intel card... Meaning i had terrible tearing and artifacts, moving windows or watching movies would give you a head ache etc.

So i tried to REMOVE windows 8.1 and reload windows 7, simple procedure right ? WRONG
Ive formatted, even zeroed out the HDD over and over again.
No bootable device found error every time
I cannot boot from the Windows 7 Disk via USB CD drive, i cannot boot from a USB key made with it either.

I can only boot the windows 8.1 key i made, or Ubuntu in EFI mode.

If i install ubuntu, it still wont boot right away, and i have to go to f12, select the efi boot Ubuntu Selection etc.




There are no secure boot, or efi options in my bios, and i think that Secure Boot is whats locking me out of fixing my own pc >< What gives ?
I thaught maybe it wrote something to the BIOS (odd as that sounds, i figured i had nothing to loose) So i reinstalled windows 8.1 (cause thats the only damn thing i can actually install anymore) and reflashed the BIOS version 1.09 from Acer thinking that would help...

Still a no go, Im at whits end, with a Brick....
So im having to sit here and type this out on an old, barely fuctioning ibook, hopeing that someone out there knows something... Google has turned up very little other than "congratulations on your new paperweight courtesy of windows 8.1"
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OSX 10.6.8
    Computer type
    Laptop
Have you made the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks?

information   Information
We always assume you have made your Recovery Disks using the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app the first day you had your new PC.
& made the Startup Repair CD.
startup repair disc-create



Did you make the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks?

Acer001.PNG


To clean install:
1) Clean the HD Drive, using Step one in this tutorial:
SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation - Windows 7 Help Forums
than
2) clean install with the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disk.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
@theog
I tried unsuccessfully once or twice when i got the PC (it took three returns to the store to even get one that would even boot :S)
when i had too many issues with the acer preinstalled System i gave up (mouse freezing, random reboots, sluggishness etc, the third laptop couldnt stay up without blue screening long enough for me to even set up a user account) formatted it and installed the copy of win7 we had.

I also dont get why that would Work, but various other methods would Not. A defualt windows flashdrive should boot right ?
Or Xubutnu or linux mint, etc.

ive tried diskpart to clean the drive, i have Zeroed out the drive and repartitioned it under OSX, and under someone else's PC running windows XP (zeroed on that with CCleaner)

I did just try the HDD from my old laptop in there for giggles and it DID actually boot.

So it seems that any disk that even touched Windows 8 has somehow been corrupted so bad i cannot use it ? (2 flashdrives i can no longer boot from, and the main HDD from the Acer)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OSX 10.6.8
    Computer type
    Laptop

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
This one of biggest problems you get after installing Linux on HDD.
Hopefully CLEAN ALL will kill all Linux code.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Usually you get one and only one chance to make the recovery Disks, and that should be done immediately when you unbox the system.

The HP Pavilion I just set up made a 6 DVD backup set, and I backed it up on 2 computers just to be safe. Didnt have 3 DL DVDs.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
@ alphanumeric
[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]i already have cleaned the disk with diskpart as stated in my second posting.[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]@ theog [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]This is not an issue with linux code, this is an issue with windows and its implementation of secure boot.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]I can even take out the HDD, i still cannot boot anything from USB unless its EFI. Windows 7 Boot disks, while containing EFI loaders, always seem to default to the old scheme and will not even show up as EFI boot devices[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]@ XweAponX[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Yes and i stated i tried to do that, however the acer recovery service failed to make working backups. It would freeze or crash and never complete making the backup USB key.[/FONT]


[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]***************************************[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]My windows 7 and linux USB keys Boot fine on other computers. Something happened after installing [/FONT]windows 8.1[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif] that is preventing me from booting any USB devices, unless its a EFI device, im dead in the water. *no bootable device found* even though the USB keys work on my families desktop, and they worked on the laptop BEFORE installing windows 8, same drives. I can set USB to be the first boot device, i can even take out the HDD of the laptop, but i still cannot get anything else to boot VIA usb other than the windows8.1 Flash drive.[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]I have cleared out the CMOS memory[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]I have refreshed the BIOS[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]i have Zeroed out the hard drive many many times
[/FONT]i have run memtest of a ubuntu key to rewrite everything on ram (though it should clear when it looses power anyways)

[FONT=verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]there should be nothing left of the windows 8 and the EFI Secure boot implementation, Yet there is somewhere.
Basically its like the 'Fastboot' part of EFI is implemented, but i have no options in BIOS to turn it off. Its almost like it does not even check the USB drives for a partition to boot from.

[/FONT]
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OSX 10.6.8
    Computer type
    Laptop
OK, you mentioned diskpart but I wasn't sure if you did a clean or clean all. I would think zeroing the drive should have done the same thing anyway. I've installed just about every version of Windows 8 and had no problem going back to 7. Haven't tried it after installing 8.1 though, as I actually like 8.1. If you haven't already, I would reset your BIOS to defaults and try booting from one of your thumb drives again. On my ASUS laptop I get two listings for my thumb drive in the boot menu, one with UEFI in front of it and one without. You should be able to turn UEFI off in the BIOS.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
OK, you mentioned diskpart but I wasn't sure if you did a clean or clean all. I would think zeroing the drive should have done the same thing anyway. I've installed just about every version of Windows 8 and had no problem going back to 7. Haven't tried it after installing 8.1 though, as I actually like 8.1. If you haven't already, I would reset your BIOS to defaults and try booting from one of your thumb drives again. On my ASUS laptop I get two listings for my thumb drive in the boot menu, one with UEFI in front of it and one without. You should be able to turn UEFI off in the BIOS.


I have done the following to the BIOS.
I have Reflashed them to versions 1.08 and 1.09
I have reset the bios to default settings in the bios.
I have HARD reset the bios using the Cmos Jumper on the Motherboard.

no Dice : i still cannot boot from anything other than the Windows8.1 and the UFI Ubuntu Stick.
EVEN if i install them to the systems hard drive, they will not boot unless i hit f12 at boot and select the UFI Loader in the list (ufi drives are also, not listed in my bios as a item to enable or disable, or even change the load order for)

There are NO uEFI settings in my bios, there are no Secure Boot settings in my bios. Im honestly not understanding how windows even implemented secure boot on my machine
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OSX 10.6.8
    Computer type
    Laptop
For my ASUS its listed as UEFI Boot in the Boot section. On my wife's Acer laptop its set under the "Boot Mode" option in the Boot section. There are also some Secure Boot options in the Security section of the BIOS on her Acer.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
@ theog
This is not an issue with linux code, this is an issue with windows and its implementation of secure boot.
I can even take out the HDD, i still cannot boot anything from USB unless its EFI. Windows 7 Boot disks, while containing EFI loaders, always seem to default to the old scheme and will not even show up as EFI boot devices

How to install Windows 64 bit on a uEFI/BIOS firmware:

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Help Forums
or
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...e-firmware-interface-install-windows-8-a.html

Windows 8 Downgrade-006 SB for posting.PNG

For Windows 7/8/8.1 USB UEFI:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html

There are NO uEFI settings in my bios, there are no Secure Boot settings in my bios. Im honestly not understanding how windows even implemented secure boot on my machine

Secure Boot was added for ACER Windows 8 Pre-installed PC's.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
To clear up some issues and to prevent me from having to explain in response to every post I have loaded a few pictures to IMgur


So Weird Bios ISSUE, NO EFI Settings ? - Imgur

AS you can see no selections for uEFI or Secure Boot anywhere....
I cant even Boot from the HDD, i must boot from the EFI bootloader selections.
It cannot even boot without user assistance....


Secure Boot was added for ACER Windows 8 Pre-installed PC's.
Thats nice, if Windows 8 came pre-installed, however it did not.
With the windows 7 disks i get no EFI options to boot :S
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OSX 10.6.8
    Computer type
    Laptop

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2598-screenshots-files-upload-post-eight-forums.html
Could you post a screen shot of your expanded Disk Management screen. I'm curious to see if there is an EFI partition.
Yup there is a EFI partition.png
Here is Disk Management
There is a Blank EFI partition


I know How to upload Images BTW, its just that on Older versions of Chrome on OSX, there is no multi Load options, so i went to somewhere that was easier than uploading 6 images individually, or Via uploading elswhere and embedding with image tags....
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OSX 10.6.8
    Computer type
    Laptop
OK, your system is installed in UEFI mode. I have no idea why there are no configuration options listed in your BIOS. The EFI partition isn't blank, It has no drive letter to make it hidden like the System Reserved Partition. I have some errands to run but when I get some free time I'll have a look at my Wife's Acer laptop and see if I can figure something out. This UEFI stuff is all new to me.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Option 3 is a UEFI bootable device. (OS unknown)

Capture20.PNG

Your Windows 7 x64 will need to be UEFI bootable. (DVD or USB)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
I might try booting into the Recovery environment and running the bootrec /rebuildbcd command to see if it recognizes the Windows install. If it sees one, then you might allow it to be added to the options.

I am sure you already covered this, but if you have a Windows 8 recovery drive attached during the boot, it should show up as UEFI. If it does not, the bios setting may be for Legacy Devices Only and not showing the UEFI options.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Option 3 is a UEFI bootable device. (OS unknown)

View attachment 33689

Your Windows 7 x64 will need to be UEFI bootable. (DVD or USB)
I can in fact, read.
Yes you are right, BUT that is the Windows 8 Loader on the internal hard drive.
and as stated before, it will not load automatically, the BIOS does not know what to make of the drive, i must manually select it to even boot windows 8
Its not exactly helpful...




@ saltgrass
Yes i am aware that the USB key for installing windows 8 shows up both as a USB HDD (will not boot) and a EFI device which will boot.

If legacy devices are enabled, it should then in turn be able to boot anything... since it would not hand off the boot process to EFI

And again, there are No legacy boot options, there are no uefi options etc etc. Nothing, nada, zilch, zero...Not sure how many times i have to say that, i posted the pictures of all the BIOS tabs, you can look for yourself
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OSX 10.6.8
    Computer type
    Laptop
All UEFI bootable devices will boot from F12.

Capture21.PNG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
All UEFI bootable devices will boot from F12.

View attachment 33690

Im not sure what you are getting at here ...
Or what you are even saying, with any relevance to my issues. You are posting what in essence seems to be dribble restating the obvious with no real explanations in order to increase your post count.... Please let someone with actual experience, or helpful expertise suggest something and keep these things to yourself.
I am well aware i SHOULD BE ABLE to boot stuff... however the experimental data concludes i cannot boot anything other than as follows :

I should not have to hit f12 every time i want to boot the OS installed on the HDD, or EFI on memory sticks.

ONLY the Windows 8 Stick, and the Ubuntu stick, and one manual EFI set up too, will boot.
I have tried other Distros that support EFI, and other memory sticks, even an external HDD that boots on my other PCs refuses to boot.

I cannot boot the Windows 8 ISO from a CD drive, i cannot boot windows 7 from a CD drive.
I cannot Boot anything from the Internal HDD by default, i must select it from the F12 boot menu.

I have even booted a image to manually reconfigure secure boot, and it states that Secure boot is Disabled, and that all the boot Keys are blank, so nothing should be limiting what i can boot...

I should be able to eliminate these issues from the system. I had none of these issues before windows 8.1
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    OSX 10.6.8
    Computer type
    Laptop
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