Acer Aspire A515-56G - Beware of new BIOS Upgrade !

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Answers

  • @listentwiceHow is sata mode configured?
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  • Thomas_blr
    Thomas_blr Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    I have same problem on A515-56 laptop. I upgraded BIOS from v1.13 to v1.24, and now I am in boot fail loop (BSOD). "Inaccessible Boot Device".
    I have let it boot fail and loop many times, and tried going into BIOS and pressing F9 and then F10, more than once. I turned of secure boot.
    The first screen of the BIOS shows the internal SSD, but when I boot from USB Win10 install the System does not see the SSD. Even in recovery Cmd prompt shell, the diskpart command shows no disks.
    I did faced this same issue while booting from a recovery Win10/11 OS disk for repair. This is because the driver for the onboard PCIe SSD disk is not present on this boot disk. I googled and downloaded a driver for this Acer Kingston SSD or something ( do not rememeber where I found  them -- just google for this model )  -- and loaded this driver during that Win boot ( you can load third party drivers ). The Acer OS disk was subsequently recognised.
  • listentwice
    listentwice Member Posts: 4 New User
    @listentwiceHow is sata mode configured?
    System setting is UEFI, there is no SATA option in the UEFI settings. The laptop was just purchased yesterday, everything was fine before the BIOS upgrade.
  • listentwice
    listentwice Member Posts: 4 New User
    I have same problem on A515-56 laptop. I upgraded BIOS from v1.13 to v1.24, and now I am in boot fail loop (BSOD). "Inaccessible Boot Device".
    I have let it boot fail and loop many times, and tried going into BIOS and pressing F9 and then F10, more than once. I turned of secure boot.
    The first screen of the BIOS shows the internal SSD, but when I boot from USB Win10 install the System does not see the SSD. Even in recovery Cmd prompt shell, the diskpart command shows no disks.
    I did faced this same issue while booting from a recovery Win10/11 OS disk for repair. This is because the driver for the onboard PCIe SSD disk is not present on this boot disk. I googled and downloaded a driver for this Acer Kingston SSD or something ( do not rememeber where I found  them -- just google for this model )  -- and loaded this driver during that Win boot ( you can load third party drivers ). The Acer OS disk was subsequently recognised.
    If it only failed when booting the Install Media I would agree, but the system is failing to boot as well so I am unsure. However, I will search for a driver.
  • listentwice
    listentwice Member Posts: 4 New User
    I have same problem on A515-56 laptop. I upgraded BIOS from v1.13 to v1.24, and now I am in boot fail loop (BSOD). "Inaccessible Boot Device".
    I have let it boot fail and loop many times, and tried going into BIOS and pressing F9 and then F10, more than once. I turned of secure boot.
    The first screen of the BIOS shows the internal SSD, but when I boot from USB Win10 install the System does not see the SSD. Even in recovery Cmd prompt shell, the diskpart command shows no disks.
    I did faced this same issue while booting from a recovery Win10/11 OS disk for repair. This is because the driver for the onboard PCIe SSD disk is not present on this boot disk. I googled and downloaded a driver for this Acer Kingston SSD or something ( do not rememeber where I found  them -- just google for this model )  -- and loaded this driver during that Win boot ( you can load third party drivers ). The Acer OS disk was subsequently recognised.
    If it only failed when booting the Install Media I would agree, but the system is failing to boot as well so I am unsure. However, I will search for a driver.
    That fixed it! Thanks!
  • stunahr
    stunahr Member Posts: 1 New User
    I have same problem on  A515-56 after flash 1.24, double boot loop) I used cloned nvme from old notebook but now w10 crashed when load on unknown driver (nothing in log file  on log, can someone tell me which intel chipset is on a515-56 with i3-1115G4 hwinfo/speccy ? ideaa is deinstall al driver on another machine with same intel chipset 
    Thank You 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,870 Trailblazer

    Best to post your own new thread by clicking on the green ask a question button in the upper right hand corner of this webpage

    Jack E/NJ

  • Lord_N
    Lord_N Member Posts: 98 Fixer WiFi Icon
    JackE

    As I saw your Post, Microsoft and other Laptop vendor do push some Security Update on Insyde UEFI Utilities (Yes, the BIOS with a Muscle)

    There's a Vulnerability and the Industry (Including Microsoft) are doing their job to stop the loophole.

    Site Reference: UEFI firmware vulnerabilities affect at least 25 computer vendors (bleepingcomputer.com)

  • Lord_N
    Lord_N Member Posts: 98 Fixer WiFi Icon
    edited February 2022
    listentwice

    I have the same problem once but the culprit is not the SSD or the OS, just a driver problem.

    If you cant see the SSD on Windows install prompt, install the Intel IRST Driver first, afterwards, your Laptop will now show your SSD Drive.

    As a precaution, I always put it inside my Windows 11 installation flash drive.



    Hope this help.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,870 Trailblazer
    edited February 2022
    Thanks for report. I have yet to run into an HDD or SSD that won't function or be recognized with ordinary AHCI BIOS mode & standard drivers. If indeed an internal drive will only function in iRST or iVMD BIOS mode with iRST drivers, it will reduce its utility for many users.  

    Jack E/NJ

  • AndreasOne
    AndreasOne Member Posts: 4 New User
    I have same problem on A515-56 laptop. I upgraded BIOS from v1.13 to v1.24, and now I am in boot fail loop (BSOD). "Inaccessible Boot Device".
    I have let it boot fail and loop many times, and tried going into BIOS and pressing F9 and then F10, more than once. I turned of secure boot.
    The first screen of the BIOS shows the internal SSD, but when I boot from USB Win10 install the System does not see the SSD. Even in recovery Cmd prompt shell, the diskpart command shows no disks.
    I did faced this same issue while booting from a recovery Win10/11 OS disk for repair. This is because the driver for the onboard PCIe SSD disk is not present on this boot disk. I googled and downloaded a driver for this Acer Kingston SSD or something ( do not rememeber where I found  them -- just google for this model )  -- and loaded this driver during that Win boot ( you can load third party drivers ). The Acer OS disk was subsequently recognised.
    If it only failed when booting the Install Media I would agree, but the system is failing to boot as well so I am unsure. However, I will search for a driver.
    That fixed it! Thanks!
    Hi, could you please explain step by step what you have done because after I upgraded my bios through Windows update (Insyde Software), I cannot load the OS and I constantly get an error - "Boot Device not found". Thank you in advance and much appreciated!
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,870 Trailblazer
    AndreasOneUnplug charger. Press & hold power button for about 30 seconds. Plug charger back in. Press power button  once to turn machine back on.

    Jack E/NJ

  • TooMuchWork
    TooMuchWork Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    Hi ALL,
    I am having the same issue as well but my bios version is 1.26, I can see the HDD0 in BIOS but am not able to locate drivers from vendor: HDD0 Disk: HFM512GDJTNI-82A0A (512 GB) - just the other day after running ok in Windows Pro 11 for 2 months - Inaccessible Boot Device. None of the options like repair or adding in the Acer -IRST Utility_Intel_18.1.1015.0_W11x64_A or IRST_Intel_18.6.1.1016.2_W10x64W11x64_A. works for me - "Boot Device not found".  So if you can be so kind as to let us know the steps for resolving this issue, please? 
  • TooMuchWork
    TooMuchWork Member Posts: 5

    Tinkerer

    Fixed!

    So I got to thinking: how was I able to install a fresh copy of Windows 10 Pro before - Of course, there was a post up here before on what to do:
    https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/623583/cant-install-any-system-on-acer-aspire-5-a515-56

    This is how I got my hard drive back just by changing the setting in bios - the original person that came up with it mentioned how and another user wrote up better instructions on how to implement it: (I summarised it)

    AaronPorsche:
    " So yes you have to CTRL+S on the main tab of the UEFI BIOS settings which then makes a new setting show up with "VMD Controller" and have to disable that setting and go from there. "

    This is what I did.
    Rebooted and Windows 11 Loaded up OK for me...
    Thanks all and take care.
  • Mason1988
    Mason1988 Member Posts: 1 New User
    Hi,
    My Acer 515-56 started to update the windows that the bios update was also involved in. The CPU's fan went over its maximum speed for a while, and I did not know I can turn it off by resetting the battery. The results of the update was destroying the bios such that the laptop does not turn on at all. It tries to turn on for a second but it turns off suddenly and again tries to turn on for a second and again turns off. The acer support agent said you should reset it to factory, but it did not work. Finally, I understood that the the bios should be re-programed on its chip by a repairman. I really do not understand why such a ridiculous problem happens for Acer laptops. Why updating should cause such a problem which needs a kind of hardware programming requiring an expert.    
  • @Mason1988 The the acer logo appear or not?

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
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    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
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  • ProfTrev1
    ProfTrev1 Member Posts: 1 New User


    VMD Controller is now a setting in the Main menu of the new INSYDE BIOS. So you can disable the VMD Controller. And YES it works for getting the Acer Aspire 5 to recognize the SSD on start-up. Getting you out of the dreaded "Inaccessible Boot Device" blue screen.

    I had tried everything else on the web and nothing worked. I most of the BIOS settings and no difference. I opened up the laptop to check the cables and no difference.

    So you can imagine how relieved I am to find this solution! Of course, I have no idea WHY it works, or what a VMD Controller is. But it works :)

    So thank you!

  • @ProfTrev1 I advise enabling safeboot through msconfig on windows, before disabling vmd controller. This will avoid the blue screen issue.

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :)