Aspire TC 120 - BIOS Information

Hello, everyone!

I currently have BIOS version P11-A2 installed in my Aspire TC-120 desktop, but I am having great difficulty in getting bootable discs to work in my PC. I have tried

Darik's Boot and Nuke
Memtest86+
Hiren's BootCD 15.2

and also a few Linux 'Live' DVD's. All seem to be ignored and the computer will only load Windows 8.1.

I have used the above discs in an eleven year old HP Pavilion desktop and they all work perfectly.

I have turned "Secure Boot" off and set the boot order to 1st: CD/DVD, 2nd: Removable Device, 3rd: Windows OS, but it makes no difference. I have also tried a Linux OS which I put on a USB flash drive using UNetbootin, but this is also ignored by the system.

There are two BIOS updates available for my PC

Can one of your Tech' team tell me if BIOS P11.A2L is likely to fix the problem that I'm having? There doesn't seem to be any release notes that tell me what problems A2L fixes.

Thank you for your help.

bios_aspire_tc120.png

Accepted answers

IronFly

L BIOS are for linux only systems (without OS or with Linux from factory), so you can't use it to flash a non L BIOS.

you need to upgrade to 11.A3 to be safe.

Since you mentioned secure boot, your BIOS has UEFI setting and you need an EFI compatible bootable media to be able to boot.

Darik's Boot and Nuke
Memtest86+
Hiren's BootCD 15.2

these are not EFI compatible and you need to set your BIOS to Launch CSM or Legacy if these options are available.

have a look if XC-603 settings can work on your system too:

http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/33958/~/how-to-enable-launch-csm-on-the-aspire-xc-603(g)

About Linux, most distro are EFI compatible but you need to burn the iso files in the correct way, try to use Rufus to create an EFI USB bootable flash drive:

http://rufus.akeo.ie/?locale=en_US

set options like on the mainpage screen.

All comments

IronFly

L BIOS are for linux only systems (without OS or with Linux from factory), so you can't use it to flash a non L BIOS.

you need to upgrade to 11.A3 to be safe.

Since you mentioned secure boot, your BIOS has UEFI setting and you need an EFI compatible bootable media to be able to boot.

Darik's Boot and Nuke
Memtest86+
Hiren's BootCD 15.2

these are not EFI compatible and you need to set your BIOS to Launch CSM or Legacy if these options are available.

have a look if XC-603 settings can work on your system too:

http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/33958/~/how-to-enable-launch-csm-on-the-aspire-xc-603(g)

About Linux, most distro are EFI compatible but you need to burn the iso files in the correct way, try to use Rufus to create an EFI USB bootable flash drive:

http://rufus.akeo.ie/?locale=en_US

set options like on the mainpage screen.

Xanadu

Thank you for your help IronFly.

Just to complicate things even further...

I managed to find a Linux Mint 17.0 Xfce disc that I made some months ago before I bought the Acer PC. This was able to boot and I have successfully installed it (Losing Windows 8.1 is no great loss to me). Does this now mean that I should upgrade the BIOS to the "L" version or should I go straight to 11.A3 ?

Sorry if I am being a pain. Smiley Embarassed

IronFly

11.A3 if it has a DOS BIOS flash utility.

Xanadu

IronFly wrote:
11.A3 if it has a DOS BIOS flash utility.

Okay, thanks.

Regarding my earlier question about not being able to boot those three discs I made...

I followed your advice and enabled "Launch CSM" and they worked. Initially I was clicking the "Restart" button and the discs were being bypassed again, but when I performed a Cold boot with each disc, they booted.