Acer Aspire Switch 10 & Ubuntu

reggiehg
reggiehg Member Posts: 3 New User

Hi,

 

I'd like to liveboot ubuntu on my Switch 10 before installing it. The best reference I could find is http://community.acer.com/t5/2012-Archives/UEFI-and-quot-Secure-Boot-quot-W510-and-maybe-W7xx/m-p/17707#M6215.

 

But this was back in 2012. From my own experience, disabling SecureBoot doesn't do anything. I've tested my ubuntu usb & it works on my Acer Aspire 1825ptz. Directing my bios to boot from usb says system doesn't have usb boot capability.

 

I don't want to install Ubuntu yet until I've tested it on the hardware of my Switch 10.

 

Any advice?

 

Thanks.

 

Reggie

 

Answers

  • silizium
    silizium Member Posts: 239 Enthusiast WiFi Icon

    Yeah! Install it. If Ubuntu is not working, you simply delete it from your hard drive with the next installation of whatever OS.

  • ClairelyClaire
    ClairelyClaire Member Posts: 2 New User

    I'm having the exact same problem. Doesn't matter if I use MBR or GPT formatting on the thumb drive I'm trying to use. I just cannot get the machine to boot anything but Windows.

  • KNGP14
    KNGP14 Member Posts: 19 New User

    I'm from Germany and have the same issue. But I have to notice:

    On my first Acer Switch 10, I had installed a clean Windows 8.1 via bootable USB-Setup. (I've used the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool to mount an Install-ISO on the USB-Stick). It worked at the first time via activating F12 Boot Menu in Bios and boot from this USB.

     

    Because of an hardware defect in the keyboard, I send this Switch 10 back to Acer and got a new one.

    The Problem now, I can't boot from USB (It's the same USB, I allready tried another ones). After restart it says System doesn't have any USB boot Option. Please select other boot option in Boot Manager Menu".

    Compared both BIOS Settings (from the old and the new one) and they are the same, it's the same BIOS version,, too.

     

    Only the USB Drive with the exported ACER Recovery (Control Panel/Recovery/Create a recovery drive) boots up. Nothing else boot (I've tried Android X86 Live OS).

  • Cool_Fire
    Cool_Fire Member Posts: 2 New User

    I'm having the same issue. I've tried a myriad of 32 and 64 bit UEFI bootable live operating systems and installers on external USB disks, USB DVD drives and microSD cards but nothing seems to boot. I've tried updating the BIOS too but no luck.

     

    Is there any information on exactly what external devices and under which configuration this thing CAN boot?

  • reggiehg
    reggiehg Member Posts: 3 New User
    Guys, check this out! It might help, or you may help :-)
  • ClairelyClaire
    ClairelyClaire Member Posts: 2 New User

    A few things:

     

    1. You need to boot using a 32-bit UEFI bootloader. The file must be named bootia32.efi in order for the firmware to recognize it.
    2. If you are trying to boot any Linux distribution other than a recent version of Ubuntu (with a bootloader and kernel digitally signed with MIcrosoft's secure boot key), you must disable Secure Boot in the EFI.
    3. You can't boot off the SD slot. You can, however, boot off the keyboard dock's USB port and the micro USB port on the side of the tablet itself (using a USB OTG adapter).
    4. Getting Linux up and running on this is difficult. The keyboard doesn't work, nor does wifi.

    Best place to track progress on this is here:

     

    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2234219&page=2&p=13079145&posted=1#post13079145

  • reggiehg
    reggiehg Member Posts: 3 New User
    Oops, that's the link I meant to post hehehe.
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