Why can't I change BOOT MODE from UEFI to LEGACY on my Aspire 5 A514-54G-51AS

When I try to turn on my laptop Aspire 5 A514-54G-51AS it's not booting straight to OS instead it shows a "Choose your keyboard layout" then it will show me the "Choose an option: Troubleshoot/Turn off your PC", and when I tried to boot to UEFI Firmware settings and go to the Boot tab I can't change the boot mode to Legacy. I can't see any bootable devices in "Boot" tab other than "Windows boot manager" but I can still see the HDD on the "Information" tab. I'm stuck in the WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER. I'm wondering if I can maybe boot to OS using the command prompt? Can somebody help me? I'm a newbie here, I need answer ASAP as I can't start my project my deadline is in 3 days. Thank you all in advance.

//Edited the content to add model name.

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William_mk2

@rad01

I understand it shows a "Choose your keyboard layout" then it will show the "Choose an option: Troubleshoot/Turn off your PC"

On the advanced options, instead of going to uefi go to startup settings - click on restart - It will show you the list of options. chose 5 to go to safe mode with networking.. Please check whether you are able to start the computer in safe mode with networking . You can always chose no 5 or f5 on keyboard to go to safe mode with networking on the list of options. It will show you the login screen. Type the password and it will show you all the icons. Now you are in safe mode with networking..

Try windows x - click on shutdown - restart. It will start the computer to regular mode now.

If you are not able to see the startup settings on advanced options then please try system restore..

On the advanced options , click on system restore, chose a date you would like to restore and restore your computer to an earlier date on which it was working fine..

If both the options are not working, click on troubleshoot, click on reset this pc

It will show you keep my files and remove everything

chose keep my files
chose the account - type the password - click on local reinstall - click on reset
It will be in progress..
login to computer and start using the computer.

If it is still not working try the step 2

Step 2

chose remove everything
click on local reinstall - just remove my files - click on reset - It will be in progress

If you do refresh ( keep my files ) - all your personal files like pictures, music , documents , videos will still be intact. Only the applications will be lost

If you do reset ( remove everything ) - you are doing a factory default. It will become like a day one computer. It will wipe out everything and take your computer to day one like a new computer.

Note: If you want to change the uefi to legacy on bios you need to press f9 - load the bios defaults - save the changes. Go to bios again. Go to security - set the supervisor password and disable the secure boot. Restart the computer. Go to bios. It will ask for supervisor password while logging into bios. Now try to change the uefi to legacy. It will work now..

rad01

William_mk2 said:

@rad01

Note: If you want to change the uefi to legacy on bios you need to press f9 - load the bios defaults - save the changes. Go to bios again. Go to security - set the supervisor password and disable the secure boot. Restart the computer. Go to bios. It will ask for supervisor password while logging into bios. Now try to change the uefi to legacy. It will work now..

Step 1 and step 2 didn't work because it only shows me this options. I tried the last one (which is this quoted text) but I still can't change the boot mode to legacy. It is still disabled. If I can enable this one then the problem is solved but I can't. My prof extended the deadline for me. I'm still helpless. I'm desperate. I just bought this laptop last August. Thanks for the answer anyway.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/8r/98s4laz7nvbu.jpg

Leostat

What are you trying to achieve with legacy mode?

I'm afraid the lappy won't support it, but unless you are trying to boot soemthing from the XP era like XP, Fedora 2 or Ubuntu 5 you should be able to boot in UEFI

rad01

@Leostat
If I can change to legacy mode maybe it will boot to windows. The hard drive won't show every time I'm trying to install an OS. I tried to boot in USB to format it but I can't see any hard disk, I can't select any hard drive to install the OS. i have an SSD m.2 and a 2.5inch hard drive on my laptop

Leostat

Gotcha, it's an Intel 11th gen right?

I think it's missing drivers, the laptop has something called a vmd which changes what controls the drive, makes it faster and use less power

You want to grab the vmd f6 flpy driver from
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19512/intel-rapid-storage-technology-driver-installation-software-with-intel-optane-memory-10th-and-11th-gen-platforms.html

Unzip it, and drop the folder into the root of the install usb drive

At this point, boot up, and on the select drive screen click at the bottom where it says load driver / a driver may be required, or hit f6, navigate to that folder and ok. It should then appear

You can install it without it , if you head to the UEFI and hit ctrl+s as the first keys you hit after interning the UEFI, another option called RST or vmd controller will appear. Set that to off and you can install anything

Really would recommend leaving it on and using the driver though

I'm popping into work, but will check back in a bit and will pick up any @s then

JackE

Please don't start multiple threads on the same issue. You will just delay resolution with multiple unrelated responses. If you're trying to dual boot Linux, the mode should stay UEFI or you risk losi ng and corrupting the boot system drive. If you're trying to install Win7 or earlier Windows version, device drivers will probably not work for many of the peripheral hardware like networking. If you insist on changing it anyway, you must first set and save a BIOS supervisor password. Then re-enter the BIOS with the password to disable secure boot and change to Legacy BIOS. You're boot drive will then no longer boot.

rad01

@Leostat

I tried it bro but it didn't work. I'm just wondering bro, what will happen if I choose to "Erase all Secure Boot Setting" under the "Security" tab? Will I be able to change the "Boot Mode" to Legacy? Cause If I can't change the Boot Mode from UEFI to Legacy then why is the Boot Mode there in the first place? Maybe there's some kind of way I can enable this one so I can change the Boot Mode. Hope you see this. Thank you for responding.

rad01

JackE said:

Please don't start multiple threads on the same issue. You will just delay resolution with multiple unrelated responses. If you're trying to dual boot Linux, the mode should stay UEFI or you risk losi ng and corrupting the boot system drive. If you're trying to install Win7 or earlier Windows version, device drivers will probably not work for many of the peripheral hardware like networking. If you insist on changing it anyway, you must first set and save a BIOS supervisor password. Then re-enter the BIOS with the password to disable secure boot and change to Legacy BIOS. You're boot drive will then no longer boot.

@JackE

No I'm not trying to dual boot linux and no I'm not trying to install windows 7 or any earlier version of windows. I just want to boot to windows 10. The drive C turned into drive X. I don't know why did it happened. Well to be clear here's what really happened

I tried to maxed out all the Number of processors and RAM in the MSCONFIG advance boot options and after I restarted it, it became laggy/unresponsive upon signing in. I can't even see the cursor move so what I did was press the power button long enough to shut it down then this happened. After the boot logo shows there's a progress bar at the bottom of the logo after that I am directed to "Choose keyboard layout" and yeah after that I'm stuck. Still here trying to figure out how to boot again to windows 10. Thanks for the response. I apologise if I'm starting multiple threads, I'm just so desperate for answers as I can't start my project my deadline is within 2 days. Thanks for responding.

Leostat

The X drive is a pre boot mapping of it, letters are just how windows does things but it doesn't mean anything

Erase all secure boot will wipe the Tpm config, you don't want to do that! I assume it will go back to factory setting but not too sure. (Though unless you are on windows 11 not much will be in it) . The boot option is there I belive just as a hangover to when you could change it, so a visual sign that it can't be changed rather than its a hidden setting like the vmd stuff

When you say it didn't work, what part

? And what did you do?

Changing the RST or installing the driver is just for when you install , from the recovery it would be a different processes, pretty much undoing the changes you did

JackE

(1) You must leave BIOS in UEFI mode or you will disable or corrupt your laptop. The only thing to check is that the F12 boot and D2D options are enabled in the BIOS Main tab.

(2) Go to this link and re-make the Win10 installation USB stick using Microsoft's media creation tool.

(3) Insert the Win10 installation stick. Turn the machine on and immediately start tapping the F12 key. Then choose to boot from the USB stick.

(4) Choose install Windows. Don't try to troubleshoot or go to advanced options at this point.

rad01

JackE said:

(1) You must leave BIOS in UEFI mode or you will disable or corrupt your laptop. The only thing to check is that the F12 boot and D2D options are enabled in the BIOS Main tab.
(2) Go to this link and re-make the Win10 installation USB stick using Microsoft's media creation tool.
(3) Insert the Win10 installation stick. Turn the machine on and immediately start tapping the F12 key. Then choose to boot from the USB stick.
(4) Choose install Windows. Don't try to troubleshoot or go to advanced options at this point.

The problem is I can't boot to other devices. I mean I can't boot to the two hard disk in this laptop but I can boot to USB. I tried removing the 2.5 inch HDD and install a windows 10 in it and try to boot but no luck, I can't boot to this 2.5 inch HDD. Note that this laptop has 2 hard drives, the other one is an m.2 SSD. Now it shows me this error (see picture) when I try to boot to safe mode using the command prompt.It says "The configuration registry database is corrupt". What does it mean? Thanks for the response

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/6w/puxa3fxrdg1c.jpg

rad01

@Leostat

@JackE

I used HIREN's and it worked. I can see the drive C now my next question is what can i do next to finally be able to boot to drive C? Here's a picture for reference

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/sa/3czjd0utzixa.jpg

JackE

>>>I can boot to USB>>>

That's all we want right now. Boot from the Win10 installation stick made with Microsoft's media creation tool. Then post a phone photo of the Win10 installation menu. Then we will try to repair the boot drive from the Win10 installation stick.

JunrieB

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1068520#Comment_1068520

Hello brother, it also happen to my laptop. Can you help me. Do i also need to use hiren? OS is currapted . Tnk u

Commodore_1995#

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1183950#Comment_1183950

Hello! I suggest you ask a new question and inform the computer model.

Tinysiva

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1067804#Comment_1067804

Go to Asus support page and go search irst

And download rst rar file extract pendrive and load drive in os installation page

GVS103

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1067810#Comment_1067810

Hi i have the same issue with my 11th gen acer,,, i tried to install the irst drivers but it says error installing,, and then if i turn vmd off in bios then it wont show the rst drivers,