2013 Archives

[quietlytrying]

Is it possible to install Win7 on an Aspire S3-391 Ultrabook with UEFI?
Microsoft themselves say that Win7 64bit can be installed on UEFI (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463525.aspx), but I am having no success trying to load it onto the Acer Aspire S3-391.
I have read many posts here that indicate you can do it to "Legacy BIOS" on an Acer, but none that say "UEFI".  I have also read many, many posts on many forums that explain how to install Win7 64bit in UEFI on other brands of computers, but those approaches do not seem to work on the Acer (ie: Asus apparently identifies UEFI devices separately in their bootmenu, but I have seen nothing like this on the Acer when it boots or in the UEFI screens).

Misc Details:
-I have upgraded the Acer Ultrabook to the latest UEFI (version 2.17) already.
-I can install Win7 in "Legacy BIOS" mode as it recognizes and boots from either my USB Optical drive, or my USB Flash Drive, but I can not get the Ultrabook to recognize either the same optical drive or Flash drive when in UEFI.
-"secure boot" already shows as "disabled" and is already greyed out when I boot in UEFI mode (I saw an Acer article on "http://acer.custhelp.com" that said to set a "Supervisor Password" in order to disable "secure boot", but mine already shows as disabled so I have no reason to do that).

Is there something I am missing?

[Acer-Tommy]

I can see the same behavior on a unit here.

With UEFI v2.17, I can disable Secure Boot, leaving UEFI in place and boot from a Windows 7 ISO on optical media.

I get to the Starting Windows screen, but no further.

Changing UEFI to Legacy, I can boot into Windows 7 setup, see all of the driver partitions, etc.

We do ship versions of this system preinstalled with Windows 7, with BIOS, not UEFI.

Is there a specific reason that you are attempting to load Windows 7 on the system with UEFI?

[quietlytrying]

Thank you for your reply Acer-Tommy.

Yes, I would like UEFI mainly for the "Secure Boot" feature with the added security if offers against some rootkits.

Since my original posting, I have managed to get it to boot from USB Flash drive in UEFI mode but it indeed hangs at the "Starting Windows" screen (part way through the Windows icon coalescing) just as you describe.

I have since also slipstreamed the USB3 drivers (from the Acer website), and the Win7 Service Pack 1, into the Win7 Install Disk, hoping either SP1 would have an updated driver, or the Acer driver would help (assuming iw was a driver issue), but I get the same result still (it freezes during the "Starting Windows" screen when booting from USB Flash drive).

There are a few more things I intent to try, such as using the “Ultimate Boot CD” to test the DRAM etc for problems, but my last resort is to remove the mSATA SSD card and see if that helps (some reports indicate that Win7 is very particular when it detects hardware during install and that some mSATA SSD cards can cause freezing, so I will test that theory).  I have anti-static mats, wrist straps, and static bags so there is no risk to the hardware, but I really hope it does not come to this and I can find a software fix instead.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.