Klaus Knopper answers your Linux questions

Ask Klaus

Article from Issue 174/2015
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Klaus Knopper answers your Linux questions

BIOS Reaction

Klaus: I purchased an HP Notebook 15 AMD. The BIOS was corrupted soon after. Here is how various distros reacted with secure boot and UEFI disabled:

  • Mint – Installed okay with a fuzzy screen appearing in the bootup process. The error message said "the hardware acceleration is disabled and this mode should only be used for troubleshooting." I could use the OS. Mint did not allow me to su to root.
  • Fedora – The install process crashed when a notice appeared saying KVM is disabled.
  • Tisquel – The install was successful, but it reported that I was not root during the install process and tried to fix the problem. I never saw the message again.
  • Yet Another Distro – Reported that the SMBIOS was disabled and crashed.
  • Mageia – Crashed during install.
  • Korora – Reported the KVM message and crashed during install.

With secure boot and UEFI enabled, Windows 8 booted up okay and reported nothing. I have tried flashing the BIOS, but it is blocked using the HP BIOS tool from Windows and Wine.

[...]

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  • Ask Klaus!

    Klaus Knopper is the creator of Knoppix and co-founder of LinuxTag expo. He currently works as a teacher, programmer, and consultant. If you have a configuration problem, or if you just want to learn more about how Linux works, send your questions to: klaus@linux-magazine.com

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