[A315-56] BIOS Freezes (F2), F12 Works - NVRAM Corruption after efibootmgr?

Imnotapro

Hello Acer Community,

I'm facing a very specific issue with my Aspire A315-56 and would appreciate any expert advice.

The Problem:

I cannot enter the BIOS setup. Pressing F2 during boot causes the system to freeze indefinitely on the Acer logo.
The F12 Boot Menu, however, works perfectly, and I can successfully boot into both my Windows 11 and Arch Linux installations.

Sequence of Events:

Everything was working perfectly when I had a Windows / Ubuntu dual-boot setup. I could access the BIOS with F2.
I manually formatted the Ubuntu partition and installed Arch Linux.
From within Arch Linux, I used the efibootmgr utility to delete the now-obsolete "ubuntu" boot entry.
Immediately after this action, the F2 freeze issue began.

Troubleshooting I've Already Done:

Checked the drive: The SSD's S.M.A.R.T. status is "PASSED" with zero errors. The issue is not the drive.
Tried to flash BIOS: The latest BIOS version is already installed. Attempting to re-flash it from Windows fails with a file signature check error ("FIshook.exe")
Used the battery reset pinhole: I have pressed the reset button on the bottom of the case for 20 seconds, but the issue persists.
efibootmgr changes are not permanent: Any changes I now make with efibootmgr (deleting entries, changing boot order) are reverted after a reboot.

My Conclusion:
It seems that using efibootmgr has caused some form of NVRAM corruption on the motherboard. The firmware can no longer correctly read its own boot entries, causing it to freeze when trying to load the full setup utility (F2), but the simpler boot menu (F12) can still function.

My Question:
Given that I cannot flash the BIOS from Windows and the pinhole reset was not sufficient, is the only remaining solution to physically open the laptop and disconnect the main battery for a full CMOS reset? Or is there any other software-based method I might have missed?

Thank you for your time.

Accepted answers

All comments

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/727344/a315-56-bios-freezes-f2-f12-works-nvram-corruption-after-efibootmgr

The Acer Aspire A315-56 laptops are not designed for Linux OS systems, its designed around the Win-11 OS system, by installing Arch Linux, you have corrupted the boot sector of this laptop and that is why you have damaged the F2 bios entry procedure of this laptop, I suggest that you use the initial working Windows / Ubuntu dual-boot setup and not the Arch Linux. What you are experiencing is a common fault with the Arch Linux OS and for any solutions, consult Arch Linux solutions or its forums. Good luck.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

Imnotapro

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1349203#Comment_1349203

Thank you for your reply and for taking the time to help.

I appreciate your point regarding officially supported operating systems. I would like to provide a few more technical details to clarify my situation, which I hope will help us find a solution.

The key point is that the F12 Boot Manager still works perfectly. I can still select and boot into both Windows and Arch Linux without any errors. This seems to indicate that the bootloader files on the EFI partition itself are intact and functional.

The problem only occurs when I try to access the main BIOS setup utility (F2). This issue began immediately after I used the efibootmgr utility to remove an old boot entry. Another important symptom is that now, any change I make with efibootmgr (like reordering the boot sequence) is lost after a reboot.

Based on these symptoms, my hypothesis is that the issue may not be with the operating system or the drive partition, but possibly an instability within the firmware's NVRAM, which stores the boot entry list.

Therefore, my question remains: Is there a known method to force a full reset of the NVRAM on this specific A315-56 model, besides physically opening the laptop to disconnect the battery?

Thank you again for your assistance.

I have also posted this problem on the official Arch Linux forums to get an expert OS perspective.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1349229#Comment_1349229

I'm not quite sure about that, so I will let other community members answer your question that have more experience in this regard than me. Good luck.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

Imnotapro

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1349235#Comment_1349235

Thank you for the follow-up and for letting the discussion open for others. I appreciate your time.

Imnotapro

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1349203#Comment_1349203

Hello everyone,

I'm posting a final update to confirm that this issue is now completely solved, and I want to share the full story and solution for the benefit of the community.

First, I want to thank you. After much troubleshooting, it seems the initial diagnosis was partially correct: the issue did indeed begin immediately after I installed Arch Linux. It appears that the way the new EFI boot entry was created conflicted with this specific Acer firmware, causing the F2 key to freeze. This seems to be a recurring issue for users trying to install certain Linux distributions on these laptops.

The crucial breakthrough came after I continued my research right here on the Acer community. I found another thread which was the key to solving my problem:
https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/603201/cannot-enter-bios-stuck-on-acer-logo

That user described the exact same problem and confirmed that deleting the Linux partitions allowed him to access the BIOS again. This proved that the freeze was directly related to the firmware's inability to handle the Linux EFI entry.

Here is the non-destructive workaround that I developed based on that information:

Instead of deleting the entire partition, I simply made the Linux boot file "invisible" to the firmware to trigger the same effect.

Boot into Windows and open Command Prompt as Administrator.
Mount the EFI partition to access it: mountvol S: /S
Navigate to the Linux boot folder. For me, it was S:, then cd EFI\arch.
Temporarily rename the boot file: ren grubx64.efi grubx64.efi.bak
Reboot and press F2. The BIOS was now accessible! The firmware, unable to find the target file, had cleared the problematic entry from its list, fixing the freeze.

After accessing the BIOS and enabling Secure Boot, I was able to boot into a live environment, rename the file back, and create a new, working boot entry for Arch Linux using efibootmgr. The F2 key continues to work perfectly even after the new entry was created.