Need more help with Win 8 & 7 dual-boot (UEFI, GPT)

[jayrap]

Holy crap! This time even though I did not get the UEFI option... it started and isn't frozen on Windows Starting! It's still at Windows Starting but the logo is pulsating... NOT FROZEN!

This is after updating BIOS from v2.02 to v2.11

Still the same Starting Windows logo - not frozen but still the same logo. I'll keep waiting

 

[krikey]

Ok Update!!! I disabled once again Fast BIOS and this time the USB device was listed (not uEFI) and the USB windows 7 "starting windows" screen came up and has frozen once again on the animated icon.

So it seems like my BIOS does NOT recognise uEFI USB devices? There doesnt seem to be any options to enable them either.

 

[krikey]

I have success and am installing Windows 7 on the partition I carved out of the Windows 8 partition earlier. I'll post my findings and I suspect its entirely my ignorance in not seeing an option in the BIOS.

 

[jayrap]

Still in the same place... the only difference being Starting Windows is moving a bit with lighting pulse effects... but not going any further. Will try the DVD

Edit: same thing happening

 

[jayrap]

I have success and am installing Windows 7 on the partition I carved out of the Windows 8 partition earlier. I'll post my findings and I suspect its entirely my ignorance in not seeing an option in the BIOS.

Please help! I need to know what you did! Even if our systems are different I still need help!

 

[krikey]

This is the BIOS screen that became unlocked (somehow) when I fiddled around and enabled me to turn off secure boot and enable UEFI and CSM OS mode.

This seemed to do it for me.

 

[jayrap]

Not sure how to unlock the extra BIOS features you said you did - UEFI is able to turn off and on and so is Secure Boot but I'm still not getting further than Starting Windows

 

[theog]

This is for a Packard Bell.

Packard Bell iMedia L4875 how to enable legacy BIO... - Acer Support Community

1.Completely shut down your computer.

2.Power on the system. As soon as the first logo screen appears, immediately press Delete to enter the

BIOS.

3.Use the right arrow key to select Authentication.

4.With Secure Boot highlighted, press Enter and then the down arrow to select Disabled.

5.Use the right arrow key to select Boot Options.

6.With Launch CSM highlighted, press Enter and use the down arrow to select Always.

7.Press Enter.

8.Press the F10 key to save changes and restart the system

 

[jayrap]

I used F2, same stuff - different description to what I see

 

[jayrap]

BIOS: [video=youtube;fDBSsDSYFso]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDBSsDSYFso&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[theog]

Reset BIOS to default settings & Secure Boot to Enabled, all Windows 8 bootable CD/DVD will boot with those settings in uEFI mode.

Will the Windows 8 Startup Repair CD boot in uEFI mode?

 

[jayrap]

Reset BIOS to default settings & Secure Boot to Enabled, all Windows 8 bootable CD/DVD will boot with those settings in uEFI mode.

Will the Windows 8 Startup Repair CD boot in uEFI mode?

Reset BIOS settings
Did have to enable F12 for boot selection though - given a list - nothing said UEFI in front of it
Selected the DVD drive
Recovery disk booted fine.
UEFI and Secure Boot ARE enabled

Funnily enough I also tried the USB with W7 with Secure Boot enabled and it got to the same place as when Secure Boot was off - "Starting Windows" - it shouldn't let me in surely!

 

[jayrap]

Even tried to change the boot order so that the USB boots first (which it did) while UEFI mode was on in the BIOS - same problem - this is getting more and more stressful!!! I've gotta sleep! It's 5.14am now! I don't think I'll make it to my 20th birthday if this keeps annoying me!

I really don't want to wipe the drive clean, so it's looking increasingly like I'm going to have to go the more expensive route and buy a whole new HDD and just swap them out so I have one for Windows 7 in MBR and one for Windows 8 in GPT... if that would work of course! I suppose it would just mean changing the BIOS settings every time I want to use one or the other's disk - and whether it will void my warranty or not? I don't know.

WD Scorpio Blue 750GB 2.5" HDD SATA 3GB/s 5400rpm.. | Ebuyer.com

 

[jayrap]

I've thrown in the towel - I'm making myself ill over all this stress - I'm running out of time and I really need to use Windows 7 on this laptop - some programs I need to use don't work properly on Widows 8 apparently.

I'm buying another HDD and installing Windows 7 on that in MBR mode in Legacy BIOS mode - forking out extra cash to get it delivered on Saturday, however, it may be snowing and I really hope it arrives - I just can't be dealing with this anymore. Sorry, I can't continue to find a solution, but I'm really angry and stressed out - I wish there was a law allowing users to pick their pre-installed OS in this country because that would have made things easier.

Screw Microsoft's Windows 8 development and marketing teams
Screw the push to Windows 8
Screw the push to UEFI

I really am fed up and getting too close the the deadline for some work I need to be completing for uni - I can't take it - feeling like I just want to smash this thing up but can't afford to.

Sorry guys - this has been a bad week - lost maybe 80 hours of sleep in the last 10 days or however many days I've had this SF thread going.

 

[kroeger111]

I've thrown in the towel - I'm making myself ill over all this stress - I'm running out of time and I really need to use Windows 7 on this laptop - some programs I need to use don't work properly on Widows 8 apparently.

I'm buying another HDD and installing Windows 7 on that in MBR mode in Legacy BIOS mode - forking out extra cash to get it delivered on Saturday, however, it may be snowing and I really hope it arrives - I just can't be dealing with this anymore. Sorry, I can't continue to find a solution, but I'm really angry and stressed out - I wish there was a law allowing users to pick their pre-installed OS in this country because that would have made things easier.

Screw Microsoft's Windows 8 development and marketing teams
Screw the push to Windows 8
Screw the push to UEFI

I really am fed up and getting too close the the deadline for some work I need to be completing for uni - I can't take it - feeling like I just want to smash this thing up but can't afford to.

Sorry guys - this has been a bad week - lost maybe 80 hours of sleep in the last 10 days or however many days I've had this SF thread going.

Did you manage to install Win 7, If so please share how you went about it.Would really appreciate the help.Thanks

 

[rodrigo]

I'm having the exact same issue as jayrap and I'm all out of ideas. Quick summary of my situation:

- Acer Aspire V5 with Windows 8 preinstalled. I want to install Win7 but don't want to erase current Win8 installation.
- I created a new partition for my Win7 installation using the Disk Management tool. It is formatted as NTFS and clean.
- I prepared my bootable USB drive by (a) formatting it as FAT32, and (b) copying the Win7 ISO with the necessary modifications to make it UEFI-enabled (i.e. copied /efi/microsoft/boot into /efi/boot and copied /sources/install.wim/1/windows/boot/efi/bootmgfw.efi to /efi/boot/bootx64.efi).
- I set my BIOS to be UEFI (not "Legacy BIOS", the only other option available).
- I disabled Secure Boot.
- I set the boot order so that USB boots first.
- Upon restart, the computer boots from the USB (I can see the LED lights blinking). It gets past the "loading files" screen and goes into "Starting Windows", and then it freezes. Exactly at the same location as jayrap showed in his video. It is deterministic; it always freezes at the exact same place.

I'm stuck and really frustrated. Please help.

Some out of the box ideas that may be related:
- In a couple other cases, the "Starting Windows" freezing problem was solved by changing the power supply. (I know it sounds crazy, but somehow the power supply was the culprit... See Windows 7 install hangs on "starting windows" screen [Solved] - Windows 7 - Windows 7 ). Maybe something similar is happening on these Acers?
- Maybe it's related to drivers? e.g. this computer has an NVIDIA GeForce card that presumably needs drivers. Could it be screwing things up this early?

 

[rodrigo]

BTW.. It's looking more and more like its an issue with Acer machines.

I've seen in some places that you should enable CSM to install UEFI Win7... But the Acer BIOS has no option to do that. More info here: Windows 7 UEFI install on Aspire E1-571 - Acer Community

 

[theog]

BTW.. It's looking more and more like its an issue with Acer machines.

I've seen in some places that you should enable CSM to install UEFI Win7... But the Acer BIOS has no option to do that. More info here: Windows 7 UEFI install on Aspire E1-571 - Acer Community

Welcome to EightForums

Is this a OEM manufacturer's PC with Pre-installed Windows 8?

1) Downgrade to Windows 7.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13326-downgrade-windows-8-windows-7-a.html
Warning you must have the UEFI/BIOS firmware setting in Step Three set.

Make sure you read the NOTE at Step three.

2) If Using a USB Pen drive on a PC with a UEFI BIOS.
USB Pen drive need to be formatted to FAT32 as in
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html
Take note of Step 11 for Windows 7.
Also you will need to use a USB 2.0 port, as there are no USB 3.0 drivers in Windows 7.


You will need to buy Windows 7.


On some Acer, Gateway, P. Bell, Windows 7 x64 will not install in UEFI mode.

Windows 8 Desktops - How to Disable Secure Boot - YouTube



Enabling the boot device menu

On most Acer systems, you can use the F12 key on boot to select the drive or network from which loading the operating system. In case the F12 option does not work, you may need to enable this function.

SOLUTION

Enabling the F12 function:

1.Power on the system. As soon as the first logo screen appears, immediately press the F2 key, or the DEL key if you have a desktop, to enter the BIOS.
2.Press the right arrow key to select Main.
3.Use the arrow keys to navigate to F12 Boot Menu, and press ENTER.
4.Select Enabled, and press ENTER.
5.Press the F10 key to save changes and restart the system.

How to Enable or Disable Secure Boot

This article only applies to: Windows 8 Desktops

Bootable media from previous versions of Windows may not be recognized in Windows 8. You can change the Secure Boot setting and it should recognize the bootable device.

Use the following steps to change Secure Boot:

1.Completely shut down your computer.
2.Power on the system. As soon as the first logo screen appears, immediately press Delete to enter the BIOS.
3.Use the right arrow key to select Authentication.
4.With Secure Boot highlighted, press Enter and then the down arrow to select Disabled.
5.Use the right arrow key to select Boot Options.
6.With Launch CSM highlighted, press Enter and use the down arrow to select Always.
7.Press Enter.
8.Press the F10 key to save changes and restart the system

ACER Related Videos.

Windows 8 - Access to Uefi Firmware Settings - Option - YouTube
Iconia W700 - How to Enter the BIOS - YouTube
Windows 8 Desktops - How to Disable Secure Boot - YouTube

 

[rodrigo]

Is this a OEM manufacturer's PC with Pre-installed Windows 8?

Yes.

1) Downgrade to Windows 7.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13326-downgrade-windows-8-windows-7-a.html
Warning you must have the UEFI/BIOS firmware setting in Step Three set.

Make sure you read the NOTE at Step three.

2) If Using a USB Pen drive on a PC with a UEFI BIOS.
USB Pen drive need to be formatted to FAT32 as in
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html
Take note of Step 11 for Windows 7.
Also you will need to use a USB 2.0 port, as there are no USB 3.0 drivers in Windows 7.

I did all of this already. See my earlier post with all I did (which includes what you pointed to).

You will need to buy Windows 7.

Yep, I did.

On some Acer, Gateway, P. Bell, Windows 7 x64 will not install in UEFI mode.

Windows 8 Desktops - How to Disable Secure Boot - YouTube

...

How to Enable or Disable Secure Boot

This article only applies to: Windows 8 Desktops

Bootable media from previous versions of Windows may not be recognized in Windows 8. You can change the Secure Boot setting and it should recognize the bootable device.

Use the following steps to change Secure Boot:

1.Completely shut down your computer.
2.Power on the system. As soon as the first logo screen appears, immediately press Delete to enter the BIOS.
3.Use the right arrow key to select Authentication.
4.With Secure Boot highlighted, press Enter and then the down arrow to select Disabled.
5.Use the right arrow key to select Boot Options.
6.With Launch CSM highlighted, press Enter and use the down arrow to select Always.
7.Press Enter.
8.Press the F10 key to save changes and restart the system

ACER Related Videos.

Windows 8 - Access to Uefi Firmware Settings - Option - YouTube
Iconia W700 - How to Enter the BIOS - YouTube
Windows 8 Desktops - How to Disable Secure Boot - YouTube

Yes, Secure Boot is disabled. However, there is no option to enable CSM in my BIOS, so I can't do step #6 in the Acer guide above. Note that I saw the Acer video too; the BIOS they show in their video is different than mine. Theirs is for desktops. I have a laptop. Looks like I'm out of luck.

 

[Devon411]

Hey guys, I joined to specifically tell you that I solved this problem a few minutes ago. Windows was freezing at the boot logo itch out fail. It IS because you are not running in compatibility mode. Csm or legacy mode is needed for all systems before win8 on newer uefi supported systems. Simply look for an option in you bios for legacy or compatibility mode if you don't see Csm. I was stuck for 2 days until now. There must be an option somewhere in your bios (boot options category) . Really hope I helped, good luck.