Problem booting from Acer Aspire?

[Emil]

My laptop is a V5-171 mfg date 2012/09/06 (replaced HD with SSD).

F12 for boot menu only showed Windows boot manager until I changed BIOS (F2) boot setting from UEFI to Legacy.
At that point I could boot & use the ReadSpeed USB stick (but could not boot HD until I restored boot setting).

Next step - get upgraded Spinrite!

 

[jdoverton]

My Acer Aspire is a desktop TC-895. I cannot change from UEFI in the BIOS. I have tried to disable Secure Boot, turning off TPM, disabling all drives but the Removable, disconnecting all external drives and peripherals. I cannot seem to get the machine to boot from USB. (My BIOS is Del, FWIW).

 

[Barry Wallis]

My Acer Aspire is a desktop TC-895. I cannot change from UEFI in the BIOS. I have tried to disable Secure Boot, turning off TPM, disabling all drives but the Removable, disconnecting all external drives and peripherals. I cannot seem to get the machine to boot from USB. (My BIOS is Del, FWIW).

I've been there with my Surface Book. If you don't have legacy boot and can only boot into UEFI, you are out of luck. Turning off secure boot or TPM won't help. Once @Steve updates SpinRite to support UEFI instead of BIOS, you will be good to go.

 

[fibar]

I have a similar problem with an Acer Aspire 5 laptop; I have the BIOS set to boot from USB. It will boot to a Kubuntu USB, is running Kubuntu. The Readspead USB will boot and run on my Win desktop but the RS USB isn't seen in the laptop BIOS....

 

[imallrite]

I've got a ACER Aspire 5 - in the F2 menu I can't change it from UEFI boot - does that mean I can't get spinrite to run?

 

[PHolder]

F2 menu

What is the F2 menu? Is that the boot choice menu? If so, it wouldn't let you change to something else if the BIOS settings aren't appropriate. On the other hand, why would they even show what type of boot they allow, if there is no chance to change it. Get into your BIOS and look for the key phrases: legacy boot, CSM, secure boot. In particular for a legacy OS to boot, it would need the CSM (Compatibility Support Module) to provide the functionality that (for SpinRite) FreeDOS relies upon.

WARNING: If you use Windows boot encryption and/or BitLocker, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE BITLOCKER KEY BACKUPS. Messing with disabling Secure Boot can initialize your TPM and erase the BitLocker keys.

 

[Steve]

I've got a ACER Aspire 5 - in the F2 menu I can't change it from UEFI boot - does that mean I can't get spinrite to run?

There is no standard for these things. So when you talk about the F2 menu we don't know what that means. If the ACER Aspire 5 is a relatively new machine, then it's more likely that it won't be able to boot DOS. Your best best would be to search the Net to see what you can learn. As Paul Holder noted, phrases like "legacy boot" or "CSM" would mean that the machine CAN boot a BIOS-based operating system.

Note, also, that GRC's newest freeware, "BootAble" allows you to experiment with this before you commit to a SpinRite purchase.

 

[Steve]

WARNING: If you use Windows boot encryption and/or BitLocker, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE BITLOCKER KEY BACKUPS. Messing with disabling Secure Boot can initialize your TPM and erase the BitLocker keys.

Yikes, Paul... do we have evidence of this? Is it the case that enabling/disabling Secure Boot will erase Bitlocker keys?

 

[ColbyBouma]

Yikes, Paul... do we have evidence of this? Is it the case that enabling/disabling Secure Boot will erase Bitlocker keys?

Yes.
https://superuser.com/questions/156...abling-secure-boot-in-bios-bitlocker-recovery
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ure-boot/0ece22c5-cf40-47f3-8275-6ac6f642e5c4
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2168554-bitlocker-secure-boot

 

[DanR]

I've got a ACER Aspire 5 - in the F2 menu I can't change it from UEFI boot - does that mean I can't get spinrite to run?

@fibar above appears to be booting his Acer Aspire 5 in BIOS mode. I suggest you go into System Setup and look at the BIOS settings for a CSM option.

 

[DanR]

I have a similar problem with an Acer Aspire 5 laptop; I have the BIOS set to boot from USB. It will boot to a Kubuntu USB, is running Kubuntu. The Readspead USB will boot and run on my Win desktop but the RS USB isn't seen in the laptop BIOS....

ReadSpeed has its own drivers to see and access internal drives. ReadSpeed does NOT have USB drivers and does NOT use the BIOS, so external USB drives are invisible to ReadSpead.

 

[imallrite]

I've got a ACER Aspire 5 - in the F2 menu I can't change it from UEFI boot - does that mean I can't get spinrite to run?

It's a ACER Aspire 5 A515-56 which does UEFI boot. I did see a procedure in the Acer forums for a A515-44 but that looks too risky to me as if I change the boot method as there is a warning that ONLY MBR/Legacy formatted drives will be recognized if the laptop was changed to legacy boot. I can try the BootAble utility but suspect I will have to wait until SpinRite supports UEFI boot. I've read the GRC Development Roadmap so can see support of UEFI is on the way.

 

[DanR]

It's a ACER Aspire 5 A515-56 which does UEFI boot. I did see a procedure in the Acer forums for a A515-44 but that looks too risky to me as if I change the boot method as there is a warning that ONLY MBR/Legacy formatted drives will be recognized if the laptop was changed to legacy boot. I can try the BootAble utility but suspect I will have to wait until SpinRite supports UEFI boot. I've read the GRC Development Roadmap so can see support of UEFI is on the way.

It may not have any CSM/legacy boot option. The only way to know is to go into the System Setup and see what's there.

Note: We are NOT talking about a permanent boot change here - only a temporary one - if it is possible.

That is . .

Change to CSM/Legacy boot (if possible)
Boot and run SpinRite 6.1
Change back to UEFI boot when done

It ought to be straightforward.

Yes SpinRite 7.0 will be UEFI/BIOS dual bootable!

This article has more information on UEFI and SpinRite 6.x booting:

https://forums.grc.com/threads/how-to-boot-and-run-spinrite-6-x-on-a-uefi-machine.968/