Help booting a new Acer

[Jack]

I have no idea which one I have a Dell inspiron 1525 and everything seem to work the Hard Drive can unplug from the side so I can change it any time.

I did buy a Acer with Windows 8.1 and I can't even boot from my USB. I like to get help if it can but I don't who can help me.

[raja]

Go to BIOS;
Look for Supervisor Password;
Enter your password and note it down for reference;
If you forget your password ,you will not be able to enter BIOS again***
Look for "secure boot" - Select "Disable";
Change "Boot order" to DVD Drive, USB HDD, HDD;
Save and Exit BIOS.

Enjoy booting from USB!

*** WARNING

[brokenman]

Wow raja! How did you assume that? I thought secure boot only began with the UEFI implementation and I don't think this unit is UEFI nor hybrid. Hopefully this works for you and we can get to the next problems you will have with this laptop.

If it didn't work then please try hitting F2 during the boot procedure to get into the bios.
One there use the arrow keys to navigate to system/boot sequence. Make sure the USB option is highlighted on the right.
Use the "U" key to move the USB into a position above the hard drive. If the correct key to move is NOT "U" then the correct key will be explained at the bottom of the screen.

Once done hit F10 key to save and reboot.
------------
The other option is to simply hit the F Key during boot that allows you to enter the boot options (probably F12) and choose the USB to boot from for one session.

[Ed_P]

Wow raja! How did you assume that? I thought secure boot only began with the UEFI implementation and I don't think this unit is UEFI nor hybrid.

Actually I think this was a good assumption on raja's part. When I bought my wife's Ace several yrs ago it was 8.1 and had EFI on it.

[brokenman]

http://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-p ... _en-us.pdf
The only place I see a mention of EFI in this document is in the word definition.

Again it may well be that secure boot started earlier but we are troubleshooting here guys.

Actually I think this was a good assumption

When troubleshooting, there are NO good assumptions and opinions mean little. Please add value.

When I bought my wife's Ace several yrs ago it was 8.1 and had EFI on it.

Great, but you don't specify which model the Ace is and exactly how many years ago 'several' really is.

[Ed_P]

Great, but you don't specify which model the Ace is and exactly how many years ago 'several' really is.

But my description of my wife's netbook matches the OP's description of the one he is having problems with. Other than the Acer typo.

[Jack]

My Acer is a E15 and it came with Windows 8.1. Is it the boot order I need to change? It was built 2014 and it old but not that old.

I booted into the bois and went to boot.

Boot Mode UEFI or I can pick Legacy
Secure Boot: [Disabled]
Boot priority order:

1. USB HDD:
2. Windows Boot Manager
3. HDD: WDC WD10JPVX-22JC3TO
4. ATAP I CDROM: MATSHITADVD-RAM UJ8E2Q
5. USB FDD:
6. Network Boot-IPV4:
7.USB CDROM:
8. Nework Boot-IPV6:

[raja]

Touch wood. I 'm lucky. Brokenman, the trigger to my assumption was 'windows 8.1'. Seen EFI boot, even during 'windows 7' time.

jack, still could not boot from USB?. If you have copied boot,EFI,porteus folders to the disk and installed the 'syslinux' boot information from the usb disk(Porteus-installer-for-Windows.exe), porteus never fails to boot.( atleast in my case) You may copy the 'porteus' folder to one of the HDD partitions also since all mounted disk are enumerated.

Thumbs up..cheers or try legacy BIOS boot.

[Jack]

On my USB here what is on it.

EFI
boot
porteus
USB_INSTALLATION.txt

And it is format ext4 and to make it boot I use Porteus-installer-for-Linux.com. And I been using this setup for years.

The Dell Laptop I'm using now I don't know if I'm using the EFI setup.

[Ed_P]

And it is format ext4

EFI must be on a FAT32 formatted drive.

So, your options are:

1. Set the BIOS to run in Legacy mode.
2. Format the USB drive as FAT32.
3. Partition the USB drive to have a FAT32 2nd partition and move the EFI folder to it.

[Jack]

So if I pick option #3 can format the USB with 2 partitions #1 format FAT32 with a 5mb for EFI and #2 format the rest with ext4 for the OS.

Why I use ext4 I am trying not to use any MS-Dos. I have ext2 and ext4 since I left MS-Dos.

So if I have to do it I will just to be able to use the new laptop.

Can I use Porteus-installer-for-Linux.com like before?

[Jack]

First I had to create a 35mb FAT32 and I had to copy EFI and boot into the FAT32 to make it work. That great that works. And it first booted up it gave me 2 choice Windows or Porteus that good if you like that.

Now I have a new problem my touchpad dose not work. Can that be fixed?

[Ed_P]

Now I have a new problem my touchpad dose not work. Can that be fixed?

Probably. Try running a script like this one:

touchpad.sh

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
# To auto run at startup 1. Make a desktop file to execute this script.  2. Add file to /etc/xdg/autostart.

if [ ! -z "$1" ]; then
  synclient -l | grep -i Palm
  echo
  synclient -l | grep -i Edge 
  echo
  synclient -l | grep -i RightButtonArea
  echo
  synclient -l | grep -i Tap
  exit
fi

# https://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=1955
# https://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=5096&p=37761#p37761
synclient PalmDetect=1 PalmMinWidth=4
synclient MinSpeed=.2

# Acer 722
synclient LeftEdge=30   RightEdge=1385 TopEdge=0    BottomEdge=600

# Acer Aspire One
#synclient  LeftEdge=0   RightEdge=1408 TopEdge=0    BottomEdge=640

synclient MaxDoubleTapTime=180 

Before running the script run a synclient -l command and save the output. This will show you all the current touchpad settings for your system.
Then run the script with an argument, something like:
sh touchpad.sh x
and note the values for the key parameters. Then run the script without an argument, this will change the key values of some of the touchpad settings. Then test your touchpad.

If not perfect tweak the settings in the script to fit your netbook. The ones in the script are for an Acer 722 model.

[Jack]

I try to run syclient -l and it show

Couldn't find synaptics properties. No synaptics driver loaded?

I'm glad I have 2 laptop because I couldn't do what I'm doing.

[Jack]

How can I fine out what driver or module do I need?