Bios inaccessible Aspire N19C5

donlcn
donlcn Member Posts: 2 New User
edited September 2021 in Aspire Laptops
I have an Acer Aspire N19C5 and wanted to have a look at the BIOS settings.
So I restarted the laptop and pressed F2. To my surprise this resulted in a black screen with ONE underline character in the left top of the screen. The system seemed to be hanging.
The same happens when I try to access the BIOS via Windows. This also results in a black screen with that one underline.

I should like to know how i can resolve this. I need to mention that I changed the partitioning of the SSD, but I cant imagine that that has any influence on the startprocess of the BIOS.

If necessary I could reset the pc to factory settings, but I have no clue how to do that. I think that that process only restores Windows-10 in its initial setting. That process also does not change the partitioning back to the factory setting....

So, what now ?

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,873 Trailblazer
    >>>I need to mention that I changed the partitioning of the SSD, >>>
     
    What do you mean you changed the partitioning? How did you do this? It must remain GPT partitioned or you risk losing everything on the SSD.

    Jack E/NJ

  • _TheRobot_
    _TheRobot_ Member Posts: 35 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Did you have installed Linux? And which distro?
  • donlcn
    donlcn Member Posts: 2 New User
    To add some details: Yes, I installed Arch linux and later Ubuntu. To do that I shrank the Windows partition to make room for Linux, and later, after some experimenting with various Linux Distributions, when I got the message that my EFI partition had become full, I grew that to ~ 400 MB.
    The disk situation is now as follows:

    1. ESP (EFI) partition (FAT) 419 MB
    2. 17 MB Microsoft Reserved
    3. 183 GB NTFS
    4. 666 MB Microsoft Windows Recovery Environment
    5. 86 GB Ext4
    6. 86 GB Ext4
    7. 155 GB Ext4
    8. 1.1 GB MicrosoftWindows Recovery Environment
    Booting works fine via Grub in either Ubuntu (Partition 6) or Windows-10.

    I also have re-installed Windows so the necessary system-partitions are in good shape.

    The only strange thing is the fact that its impossible to get the Bios menu.

    I dont mind completely re-installing both Linux and Windows-10 to get back to a situation which 'under control'...

    Thanks very much for your thoughts and advise !

    Leo
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,873 Trailblazer
    >>>The only strange thing is the fact that its impossible to get the Bios menu.>>>

    (1) Boot to Windows.
    (2) Open Control Panel. Search 'button'. Click 'change what the power buttons do' in left. Click 'change settings that are currently unavailable'. Scroll down and uncheck the box for fast startup.
    (3) Shut down Windows normally.
    (4) Press and hold F2 key. While still holding F2 turn machine on.

    Jack E/NJ

  • BittenGamer
    BittenGamer Member Posts: 2 New User
    JackE said:
    >>>The only strange thing is the fact that its impossible to get the Bios menu.>>>

    (1) Boot to Windows.
    (2) Open Control Panel. Search 'button'. Click 'change what the power buttons do' in left. Click 'change settings that are currently unavailable'. Scroll down and uncheck the box for fast startup.
    (3) Shut down Windows normally.
    (4) Press and hold F2 key. While still holding F2 turn machine on.
    Didn't work my friend.. 
  • BittenGamer
    BittenGamer Member Posts: 2 New User
    I'm actually thinking of sending this back, why on earth would they lock out the BIOS 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,873 Trailblazer
    If  your dual booting, your bootloader needs to be fixed with boot-repair command from the terminal or with a bootable USB boot repair stick. Google search boot-repair USB plus your distro name for instructions on how to create the repair stick. If you're not dual booting start your own new thread by clicking on the green ask a question button.

    Jack E/NJ