Cannot access BIOS setup on laptop

Installing Zorin OS
#11

Did you try using Boot Repair Disk I think is mentioned in one of those posts. You can find it on sourceforge.
That got me out of a problem back in my Z12.4 days.

#12

Hi all, thanks for the responses. Sorry I've not responded, been busy this week so haven't been able to try the suggestions.

I'll have a go at some of them this evening

#13

Updates for you.

After reading through and implementing the solutions in the threads provided I am still not sorted. It seems that there is a bug/incompatibility that causes the Bios F2 and F12 access to be broken when installing Ubuntu.

Fujitsu blame Ubuntu for messing with the BIOS stuff when installing. And the Ubuntu guys says Fujitsu's BIOS causes the issue. Also Fujitsu say they don't support installing any operating system except from Windows on the laptop, so they won't help. And besides it's well out of warranty. It seems that flashing the BIOS is the way forward.

The issue I have is I can't change the boot order at all to flash it via USB or CD, and flashrom doesn't support the laptop architecture. Fujitsu's bios tools are only available for Windows and DOS.

So last night, I attempted to configure grub2 to boot from a FreeDOS iso in the boot folder in Zorin. I tried both the FreeDOS LiveCD and LegacyCD isos. These both failed. I simply get a grey screen with dots all over it (very strange).

I then installed FreeDOS onto the USB stick using UNetbootin. Rebooted and tried to manually boot to FreeDOS from grub. This loaded the Windows Boot Manager but had the error: "A Required device isn't connected or can't be accessed" and wouldn't boot into FreeDOS.

#14

I recognise that the only way to fix the BIOS and get dual booting working, is to plug the laptop HDD into my PC and wipe it and try to start again.

My plan:

  • Remove all partitions.

  • Create a 10GB partition, and split the rest of it between Windows and Zorin.

  • Using YUMI, install the Windows 10 installer into the 10GB partition.

  • Install HDD back into laptop and run the Windows 10 installer.

  • In Windows - download and run the Fujitsu BIOS flashing utility.

  • Reboot. Check BIOS is working now.

  • If it is, download create Zorin Installer USB.

  • Using Zorin Installer, move the Windows 10 partition to the beginning of the HDD, and absorb the 10GB Windows installer partition into the Zorin partition.

  • Install Zorin into the partition.

  • Reboot. Check if BIOS is broken again (probably will be!)

  • If it is, boot into Windows 10. Run the Fujitsu BIOS utility to flash it again.

  • Reboot. Check if BIOS is working again.

  • Check that boots properly.

  • If it doesn't run a boot repair tool.

Hopefully this might resolve my issues!

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#15

I am a bit confused.
Do you have any operating system on your internal drive?

is a Windows error message - indicating you still have Windows on your internal drive.

#16

I have (had) Zorin installed only. That message came up when I tried to boot to a FreeDOS LiveCD installed on a USB, from GRUB2.

#17

So at the moment your internal disk has no OS?

#18

Yes I have fully wiped the laptop's HDD. Just partitioning now.

#19

A few years ago, similar thing happened on Lenovo laptop:

There was a lengthy discussion at launchpad and I remember helping at least 2 people to get their BIOS out of read-only status.

Unfortunately this kind of situation happens time-to-time since manufacturers test their products only with Windows OS and nothing else :frowning_face:

As a side note, I have a Gigabyte dual BIOS M/B on my testing machine. BIOS flashback function got me out of tight spot at least once.

#20

I read and reread your strategy.
It seems a good one.

Please report back the results here. I am sure it will benefit feature readers coming here by searching for solutions.

#21

Yeah it's a bit of a hassle, but I enjoy the challenge! :grin:

The experience of the other person who had the same issue, speaking to the Fujitsu engineer in Thailand seemed to be almost open hostility towards the Ubuntu guys.

I'm just happy after using YUMI it was able to load the Windows installer absolutely fine. So I'm hoping it may solve the issue.

#22

I'll definitely report back :+1:

#23

Attaboy :man_dancing:

My understanding was that Fujitsu sold two lines of Lifebook; one with Windows and other with no OS. Apparently this caused an accidental flashing with wrong BIOS and bricked many Lifebook. Fujistu then discontinued no OS version of Lifebook.

While it is not easy to find PC with no OS here in France, consumers can purchase a system with OS (i.e., Windows) and request a de-installation plus refund.

I took an advantage of this programme and shipped Acer Aspire to their service centre - got 25 Euro refund :moneybag: The shipping cost was also covered by the manufacturer.

There is a lengthy story and court cases behind this refund programme. I will not go on about it but the information can be easily found by searching in French language.

#24

That's interesting. I noticed that on the other support thread.

Updates!

I reinstalled Windows 10. And managed to (finally) flash the BIOS using Fujitsu's utility.
The newest version 2.09 isn't compatible with BIOS below 2.X (mine is 1.10), and the highest one listed for windows was 1.0.4!

So I tried it anyway, and the tool wouldn't downgrade, so I had to run configure it to skip version checks etc. (that took a while to work out how) and then it blue screen errored TWICE whilst trying to flash it.

I went back to Fujitsu's website and checked under the "Admin" type which includes DOS and Windows versions. And the highest there was 1.08, so I tried that. This used a non GUI utility and didn't seem to care that it was less than version 1.10.

I wonder whether 1.10 was discontinued due to bugs? :thinking:

After it flashed successfully and rebooted, BIOS is available again! Huzzah!

I'm currently installing Zorin into the rest of the HDD and will see if it kills the BIOS this time.

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#25

Zorin is now installed, and it did indeed kill the BIOS again.

So, I'm going to flash the BIOS a second time and hopefully be done!

#26

I checked Fujitsu site and it is a dog's breakfast :frowning:
Extremely difficult to find anything. Fujitsu is a good name for office machine and server market but I've never own their consumer product nor recommended it to anyone.

As for your question about BIOS version, unless BIOS prohibits to flash with older version, it is OK to flash it with any version as long as it is compatible. More recently, for security reasons, newer BIOS let you flash only with same or higher version though.

I keep my fingers crossed that your tactics work.

#27

It is a good thing that you pin pointed the root cause of the problem :slightly_smiling_face: You are doing a great service for anyone who will find this thread in future!

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#28

Restoring the BIOS worked, but then this also automatically boots into Windows now. So, I ran boot-repair from my live CD, which let grub2 load again. But now BIOS is lost again!

It seems grub causes the issue here. I'm going to run Windows startup repair now, and then run EasyBCD to boot Zorin via Windows Boot Manager instead of using grub2.

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#29

I agree with you 100%. It is way easy to handle Boot options in Windows than Linux and EasyBCD** is my go-for tool.

Windows is not a bad operating system. It is easy to use. It is just lacking security. :bomb: That is why I prefer using VM Windows protected within Linux.

** I just realized that you might be using UEFI mode rather than legacy BIOS. If that is the case, EasyBCD would not work, You need EasyUEFI. It is not a freeware, but there is a free trial period which should be long enough to set the boot order.

#30

I have finally got everything sorted!

That was a marathon. You're right EasyBCD isn't compatible with UEFI. EasyUEFI (Free trial) was excellent for what I needed. After flashing BIOS a couple of times, the boot failed to load the windows boot manager either, so I was left in the grub cli.

So, in the end I needed to perform these additional steps:

  • Run boot-repair from the Zorin Live USB. (this corrupts BIOS)

  • Reboot into installed Zorin.

  • Install rEFInd to replace grub as boot manager.

  • Reboot into Windows.

  • Reflash the BIOS using Fujitsu's utility (this fixes BIOS)

  • When it loads into grub cli, manually boot into windows efi, like this, but replace hd0,gpt1 with the correct partition:

insmod part_gpt
insmod chain
set root=(hd0,gpt1)
chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
boot

When Windows loads:

  • Run EasyUEFI

  • Click Add Item > Select Linux or other OS > name it rEFInd

  • Check the partition containing the rEFInd boot loader

  • Browse to "/EFI/refind/refind_x64.efi" for the file path

  • Click OK to create the rEFInd entry in BIOS boot options.

  • Move the entry to the top of the list.

Reboot and you're done!

I now have both a dual booting system with Zorin and Windows AND a BIOS that I can configure and boot from USB sticks :sweat_smile:, seems like such a simple thing at first....

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