Acer Aspire 5830T - Advanced settings in BIOS enabled for UEFI priority, only reloads W10 Legacy

Properjob

I recently revived my old Aspire 5830T laptop to update it to W10 as a backup machine as it was gathering dust.

I planned to migrate it to GPT disk layout and enable UEFI. My BIOS didn't have these options but found a thread on 3830T and 4830T laptops that use the same Insyde 3.5 and V1.12 BIOS but with advanced options available and got the advanced menu working.

No matter what UEFI options are selected (UEFI enabled and EFI priority over legacy), no matter what media (W10 media creator, Rufus with UEFI only, DVD-ROM) it will only load Windows in legacy mode (MBR, no UEFI).

I've tried converting the unallocated disk to GPT with a partition manager and W10 installer writes over it with MBR.

I've tried creating partitions on the GPT disk with the partition manager and W10 installer errors out because "disk partition style is GPT"

Rufus with the UEFI only option on it refuses to boot and comes up with a common error screen

Trying to convert the MBR Windows to GPT/UEFI just makes it unbootable. Tried that with a couple of partition managers and the Windows MBR2GPT tool. Even MBR2GPT, which lists its errors, was not able to do it - basically it is unable to recreate the Recovery Environment e.g. REAgent .XML and any rabbit hole I went down, even formatting the EFI partition and re-adding the BCD manually wouldn't solve the problem.

I've put my Vortexbox (Linux Fedora OS) on it which brute force cleans the disk to GPT and that works fine in UEFI mode. I've also tried loading Windows after Vortexbox (seeing as a UEFI boot OS was already working - easily!!) and that throws up the GPT error again...

There is a thread on Tomshardware where the guy was having similar problems with an HP laptop and after re-flashing the firmware (same version just second go around) the UEFI install worked

TIA

StevenGen

Acer Aspire 5830T - Advanced settings in BIOS enabled for UEFI priority, only reloads W10 Legacy

Properjob

Feb 17, 2023

I recently revived my old Aspire 5830T laptop to update it to W10 as a backup machine as it was gathering dust.

I planned to migrate it to GPT disk layout and enable UEFI. My BIOS didn't have these options but found a thread on 3830T and 4830T laptops that use the same Insyde 3.5 and V1.12 BIOS but with advanced options available and got the advanced menu working.

No matter what UEFI options are selected (UEFI enabled and EFI priority over legacy), no matter what media (W10 media creator, Rufus with UEFI only, DVD-ROM) it will only load Windows in legacy mode (MBR, no UEFI).

I've tried converting the unallocated disk to GPT with a partition manager and W10 installer writes over it with MBR.

I've tried creating partitions on the GPT disk with the partition manager and W10 installer errors out because "disk partition style is GPT"

Rufus with the UEFI only option on it refuses to boot and comes up with a common error screen

Trying to convert the MBR Windows to GPT/UEFI just makes it unbootable. Tried that with a couple of partition managers and the Windows MBR2GPT tool. Even MBR2GPT, which lists its errors, was not able to do it - basically it is unable to recreate the Recovery Environment e.g. REAgent .XML and any rabbit hole I went down, even formatting the EFI partition and re-adding the BCD manually wouldn't solve the problem.

I've put my Vortexbox (Linux Fedora OS) on it which brute force cleans the disk to GPT and that works fine in UEFI mode. I've also tried loading Windows after Vortexbox (seeing as a UEFI boot OS was already working - easily!!) and that throws up the GPT error again...

There is a thread on Tomshardware where the guy was having similar problems with an HP laptop and after re-flashing the firmware (same version just second go around) the UEFI install worked

TIA

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The Aspire 5830T bios version 1.12 is an official Acer MBR/Legacy bios only and needs a completely different UEFI programed bios to be flashed so that the bios can work with windows in GUID (GPT) UEFI format, which your laptop does not have, all these workaround mods in bios don't work and whatever you read on the web don't take them seriously or as any solutions.

I've had an exact bios problem with an early released Aspire a V3-571G that I bought brand new, and Acer only had an MBR/Legacy bios, afterwards Acer released an update, and a completely different bios version for the then newley introduced GUID (GPT) UEFI formatted laptops,

With my V3-571G running MBR/Legacy bios version 1.13 there was a bios reprograming mod for the UEFI bios version 2.21 titled "BIOS - UEFI for Windows 8 (Not for Upgrades)" that I reprogrammed with a Hex Editor, to change the GUID (GPT) UEFI bios to be able to flash and upgrade the then V3-571Gs MBR/Legacy bios version 1.13 to the new version 2,21, which was a very simple mod and it worked 100% as then I could do a clean install of Win-10 in UEFI format (I could have done a conversion of MBR to GPT also but I decided to do a clean install) as that is why you are having these problems. Your Aspire 5830Ts bios does not have a specific programed UEFI bios and that is the only way you could make things work, as its only got an MBR bios from Acer, you can't do a mod to a GPT UEFI bios as you don't have that bios like I did and no matter what you do you will have the problems that you are having.

Leave your Aspire 5830T bios alone and do a clean install Win-10. as your laptop with its oem Aspire 5830T specs and its 2nd Gen 2410M/NVIDIA GT540M/8GB DDR3-1333MHz and maybe add a 2.5"SSD will make your laptop work perfectly as a second laptop. Good luck and hope this helps you out.

JackE

Please show a phone photo of your BIOS Information & Boot tabs if possible.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/679700/acer-aspire-5830t-advanced-settings-in-bios-enabled-for-uefi-priority-only-reloads-w10-legacy

The Aspire 5830T bios version 1.12 is an official Acer MBR/Legacy bios only and needs a completely different UEFI programed bios to be flashed so that the bios can work with windows in GUID (GPT) UEFI format, which your laptop does not have, all these workaround mods in bios don't work and whatever you read on the web don't take them seriously or as any solutions.

I've had an exact bios problem with an early released Aspire a V3-571G that I bought brand new, and Acer only had an MBR/Legacy bios, afterwards Acer released an update, and a completely different bios version for the then newley introduced GUID (GPT) UEFI formatted laptops,

With my V3-571G running MBR/Legacy bios version 1.13 there was a bios reprograming mod for the UEFI bios version 2.21 titled "BIOS - UEFI for Windows 8 (Not for Upgrades)" that I reprogrammed with a Hex Editor, to change the GUID (GPT) UEFI bios to be able to flash and upgrade the then V3-571Gs MBR/Legacy bios version 1.13 to the new version 2,21, which was a very simple mod and it worked 100% as then I could do a clean install of Win-10 in UEFI format (I could have done a conversion of MBR to GPT also but I decided to do a clean install) as that is why you are having these problems. Your Aspire 5830Ts bios does not have a specific programed UEFI bios and that is the only way you could make things work, as its only got an MBR bios from Acer, you can't do a mod to a GPT UEFI bios as you don't have that bios like I did and no matter what you do you will have the problems that you are having.

Leave your Aspire 5830T bios alone and do a clean install Win-10. as your laptop with its oem Aspire 5830T specs and its 2nd Gen 2410M/NVIDIA GT540M/8GB DDR3-1333MHz and maybe add a 2.5"SSD will make your laptop work perfectly as a second laptop. Good luck and hope this helps you out.

Properjob

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1181612#Comment_1181612

Comprehensive answer and thanks.

Well that explains why the advanced menus now available to me aren't actually doing anything despite setting UEFI Boot and EFI priority....

TBH it would function perfectly well as an MBR/Legacy running W10 and I can run the Vortexbox music server software (which will be its main function from now on) as a Virtual Machine from within Windows. Because W10 is not server software I'll just have to work out how to stop W10 from sleeping and turning the server in the Virtual Machine off.

My initial idea was to set up a dual boot system and boot into Vortexbox with W10 as the alternative boot. However Vortexbox sets iteslf up as GPT with several partitions so I'm going to hit the MBR primary partition limit even if I image the partitions and try to copy them back after installing W10.

I'll see what Vortexbox support says about forcing a legacy/MBR installation, then I can clone the partitions back to W10 and it should dual boot.

Properjob

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1181605#Comment_1181605

Photos of InsydeH20 info screen & boot screen attached.

As mentioned the UEFI Boot & EFI device priority choices make no difference as far as Windows set up is concerned

[Edited the content to hide sensitive information.]

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/679700/acer-aspire-5830t-advanced-settings-in-bios-enabled-for-uefi-priority-only-reloads-w10-legacy

Glad to help you out, I'm using my V3-571G'in Win-10 Pro and running Oracle Virtual Box Win-10 for a few eManuals for my daily driver and to restore motorcycles which is my prime hobby and this laptop is a very handy laptop and a great tool in that regard in my workshop. Good luck

Properjob

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1181626#Comment_1181626

The laptop as essential workshop equipment is a mature feature now! Thumbing through one of a shelf full of oily workshop manuals used to be the feature 🚲️

Properjob

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1181626#Comment_1181626

Hey - thanks for the VirtualBox heads-up. The Vortexbox software wouldn't load on the W10 built-in Hyper-V VM software, nor VMWare. Virtualbox just did it, plug & play, no messing.

It's been a frustrating time but I have a ready-to-go W10 +Vortexbox-in-VM backup laptop; that also dual boots into Linux to run Vortexbox/Logitech Media Server quietly & power efficiently as server software. The bulk of its life.

No wonder I didn't want to take on this project - but the resources on the web for dealing with all the dead ends & rabbit holes are very valuable.