Legacy Boot on HP EliteBook x360 G2

[RAN]

Dear friends,

I have for a long time wanted to get SpinRite, but my EliteBook x360 G2 seems to boot only from UEFI. But now I have discovered that it is actually possible to set it up to legacy boot. Furthermore, it seems that the System BIOS is from 2018, so I think there should be a chance that I could run SpinRite.

To be clear: At the moment, secure boot is disabled, and legacy boot is enabled.

I don't want to purchase SpinRite until I am sure that I can run it. So, I have BootAble flashed to a thumb drive. So far, I have had no luck getting the success message from BootAble.

Current situation: When trying to boot from the USB (i.e. BootAble), the USB option only appears in the UEFI boot options, not the legacy options. In the legacy options, the USB option is simply left blank. (SEE ATTACHED FILE)

Has anyone encountered this issue before and found a solution? Any ideas how to "move" the USB boot option to the legacy part?

FYI: I am running Pop!_OS Linux on my laptop.

I would appreciate any ideas or feedback. Thank you

 

[PHolder]

Aside from enabling Legacy Booting, you also need to disable secure boot, which you said you did, and also enable the CSM (compatibility support module), which I would have assumed would have been done automatically when you enabled legacy booting, but perhaps not. I asked ChatGPT specifically about your model, and it gave some ideas and a WARNING (see bullet 5) at the bottom.

3. Boot Menu Access on x360 G2
Press ESC at startup
Then F9 for Boot Menu
Select the USB manually (it should appear under “USB Hard Drive” or similar)

If it doesn’t show:
Go back to BIOS and check:
“USB boot” is enabled
“Legacy Boot” is enabled
Try a different USB port (use USB-A, not USB-C)


4. BIOS Quirk on Some EliteBooks
Some EliteBooks require a Legacy Boot Order entry for USB:
BIOS → Advanced → Boot Options → Change Legacy Boot Order
Make sure USB Drive is above internal HDD


5. Controller Compatibility: IDE vs AHCI
DOS and older OSes don’t understand AHCI mode.

Unfortunately: EliteBook x360 G2 BIOS does not offer an option to switch to IDE/ATA mode — it’s hardwired to AHCI.
🧩 Workaround: DOS will still boot, but won’t see the internal SSD. It will only operate from RAM disk or USB drive.

WRT to that warning, SpinRite can do AHCI, but it may not work on a device it can't enumerate from the BIOS, so I can't guarantee you'd get results you'd be happy with... you'd probably have to try to be sure. I will note that GRC does offer a bullet proof refund option, so if you can work out how to boot it and decide to purchase SpinRite, but then it doesn't end up working, you can ask for a refund without much hassle.

 

[RAN]

Hi PHolder,

Thank you so much for your input! I was a bit intrigued by the idea that it might work if I simply put the flash drive in a USB-A port instead of a USB-C. Only problem is that my laptop does not have a USB-A port...

What it does have, however, are two USB-C ports. And just for the fun of it, I tried sticking the flash drive into the second port. And it did the trick!

Apparently, using one port will have the flash drive boot from UEFI, and using the other port will have it boot from Legacy. Not easy to know or guess!

Thank you for leading me in the right the direction

Long story short: I got the desired BootAble message (see attached picture for general celebration), so I guess I will now finally be a new, proud SpinRite owner

 

[peterblaise]

"... Try a different USB port (use USB-A, not USB-C) ..."​

​

Great reminder!

​

"... two USB-C ports ... I tried sticking the flash drive into the second ​

port. And it did the trick! Apparently, using one port will have the ​

flash drive boot from UEFI, and using the other port will have it boot ​

from Legacy. Not easy to know or guess! ..."​

Wow, thank you for reporting, this is great news and a useful
recommendation:

Move a boot drive around to any and all ports where it fits just to​

exhaustively confirm if it will boot or not.​

This is why I consider USB sux.

Actually HP and other BIOS programmer sux.

One HP tech even asked me why I'd need to boot from USB.

=8^o​

"Because it's a COMPUTER" never crossed their minds - they expect
them to boot from the as-assembled internal OS boot drive, and that's
the end of their testing and support.

- - - - -

Now, on to the SpinRite 6.1 testing!

Keep us informed - thanks.