Switch 10 Impossible to Boot from External Media

I have been totally unsuccessful in being able to boot my Switch 10 (Windows 8.1) from external media such as USB flash drive, or USB optical drive.

I have installed the latest BIOS/UEFI update, I think 1.20.

I have searched the web, including these forums, and have found no solution.

I am very technicially proficient, and have tried all the normal things, BIOS/UEFI settings, etc. (including disabling Secure Boot). I always get a message no USB option available. (even though the option is listed in the UEFI/BIOS settings, for boot order.

The same occurs if I plug the USB stick directly into the tablet with an OTG adapter, or into the USB slot on the keyboard dock.

The drives are readable by the computer if read from Windows, from either slot. In fact, I have tried it with multiple boot drives, including UEFI ones. Boot manager always says "No USB options".

Is there any way out of this? Or a bug in that model, that cannot be fixed? (One would think that Acer should be able to fix it with a BIOS update though?)

Please only reply if you know how to deal with this specificaslly on the Switch 10. General laptop info on how to do it would not help, as I already know that, and have tried everything. There seems to be a particular problem with this model.

Thanks in advance for your assistance. :-)

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billsey

There are a couple of things that have to be right before you can boot a Switch 10 from USB media. First is the USB needs to be a GPT drive with a FAT32 partition for UEFI boot. I don't know if MS has fixed their media creator, but you used to have to use Rufus in order to properly prepare for UEFI boot of a USB device. Next the install (and therefore the boot) image has to be 32bit, no 64bit and no 32/64bit. The UEFI BIOS requires a signed 32bit boot loader to work.

maiki

Thanks, I will look into it. I don't know why Acer makes it so difficult. Not the case with other 32 bit laptops.

maiki

Thanks again, Ace. I tried this, and it works.

However, I had a further problemk.

Using those directions, I was able to create a Acronis True Image 2016 Boot Disk, which I was able to boot from on the Switch 10.

However, in booting into that disk and trying to use the program to back up the main disk (SSD) of the Switch 10-- a major problem. The app could not even read that drive. It gave all kinds of error messages in trying to read it. The only drive it actually showed was the boot USB stick it booted from.

I tried that same Acronis boot USB disk on a different computer. It also booted up, but with the other laptop had no problem showing both the HDD, and an SSD on that other computer.So nothing wrong with the disk.

I tried it again on the Switch 10. Same problem as before. It could not read the Switch 1o's main disk.

Any idea why?

billsey

Does it boot normally on the SSD, or is there a chance there really is a problem with the SSD in your Switch?

maiki

Thanks for the reply, Ace.

Yes, the computer boots fine from the SSD.

hgmartin9

Sugestions in your other thread:

Boot from external

maiki

That other thread is actually where I asked that previous question first, and got no reply.

I don't see anything there that would address this second question.

hgmartin9

It has been a couple of years since I have used Acronis. I do remember having a similar problem with another brand laptop. I am not sure but I think I had to reset the cmos because setting bios to factory defaults didn’t help. The reset must had cleared further than defaults alone.

billsey

If you boot from the internal SSD, can you run the Acronis software from it's USB stick? You shouldn't need to be booted from an external drive to do a backup, I wouldn't think...

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