Linux Lite Forums
Hardware - Support => Start up and Shutdown => Topic started by: pelouk on June 01, 2019, 06:09:01 AM
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Hello,
I'm using an old Asus laptop with 3 GB RAM and 250GB hard disc and LL 3.8 installed. Been running for months without any real issue but hit a snag today.
I closed down properly last night but on booting up this morning, it opens up (immediately after the Asus logo) to BIOS. I can't see anything there which indicates a fault but each time I try to exit - whether by f10 or ESC - the laptop closes down. On booting up I'm instantly back to the BIOS screen. Just can't seem to get out of it. Any ideas/advice would be much appreciated.
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Just guessing but it sounds like a hdd problem, did a google search and got a number of different hits, something might help:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=asus+laptop+booting+to+bios&oq=asus+laptop+booting+&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.8159j0j8&client=ubuntu&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
I would also try booting using a live usb/dvd to see if it will boot past the BIOS screen. :)
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Also had that problem in the past, most of the time it's what Deepthought mentions, but, just in case check that you don't have a key stuck on your keyboard(s) too, could save you lots of time, hehe.
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Many thanks. I'll give those tips a go when I get home tonight.
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Good answers so far: Stuck key, failing or nearly full HDD, and to add one more, some laps had a CMOS coin battery which upon failure sends you to BIOS default.
TC
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LOL...
Lets see if we have a winner! All bets are off.
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OK, here's what I've determined so far:-
Stuck Key
I've remove and cleaned the f2 key and the problem remains.
Hard Drive
The drive is a 250GB spinner and is not even half full. I don't otherwise know how to determine whether or not it is failing. In any event, the laptop model is the 1225B - a pretty old machine - and the rigmarole to get to the drive involves virtually dismantling the whole machine - which is beyond me. Took it to the local repair shop and they want £50 just to check it out. Since that's more than the thing is worth, it looks like going in the garbage.
CMOS battery
Going by some online diagrams, it does have such a battery but again, that can only be accessed by a complete strip-down. If it means anything, the laptop is retaining correct date and time within the BIOS, so I'm not sure if that tells me anything.
?????????
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Sounds like hardware failure to me.
Sent from my Mobile phone using Tapatalk
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Seems like a hardware failure indeed.
Just to be sure on the "time" battery, you could try and remove the main battery while power is unplugged and wait an hour.
If the clock is still on time the time battery should be OK.
Anywhoo, did you try Deepthought's idea to boot from a USB key with a live Linux Lite? Maybe there's a little life left in the patient ;)
Edit: Typos
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Boot with a live usb. If you manage to get to the live desktop your laptop drive should appear as a removal drive and you should be able to mount it. If you get to this point I would immediately transfer any files/docs etc which are important to you to another external usb drive.
If the laptop drive does not appear try:
sudo blkid
or
sudo fdisk -l
either command should list all the drives on the system, check the size to see if your 250Gb drive is there. If not i think it will definitely be a hdd fault.
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Try to remove the main battery and power cord for few minutes and then check the time and date on the BIOS
You can also try to remove the main battery, the charger, and the bios time battery at the same time and then put them back and re-set BIOS settings.
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Hi TheDead, I'll try that trick of removing the main battery etc. I did follow your advice DeepThought and tried the live usb with which I installed LL 3.8. Got through to the LL start screen but didn't know how to proceed from there. Should I go ahead and try to re-install 3.8?
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@pelouk If you have nothing important on the hdd you could try and reinstall, all depends if the 250Gb is still usable. The idea of using the live usb was to get to the desktop and see if the hdd would show as a removable drive. The commands I mentioned could be done from the terminal in a live session.
When the partition drive comes up during the reinstall check which drive shows, you might find it tries to reinstall to your usb drive rather than the 250Gb drive if as I suspect the hdd has failed.
Either way you will know for certain if the hdd is usable
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Open program called disks on live session and check HDD SMART data if it is OK or bad.
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Here's the latest.
I tried running the usb drive with LL 3.8. Could not get it to re-install, just got the splash screen with the big feather and it wouldn't go beyond that.
I did manage to start in safe mode and could see from system/partition drives that the only drive appeared to be the usb already in use. I was unable to use terminal effectively because the keyboard was garbled (e.g sudo blkid was showing as s4d6 fd5s2). I did, lastly, try the tip with removing the battery, etc and the date & time remained ok.
One final question because you guys have been very patient with my lack of knowledge. It does seem that the suspicion that the HD is shot appears to be correct. I had anyway been thinking of replacing it with a SSD which I could get locally quite cheaply. Do you think that's worth a shot?
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I was unable to use terminal effectively because the keyboard was garbled (e.g sudo blkid was showing as s4d6 fd5s2).
sudo's ascii is 115, 117, 100, 111 and in binary it is 01110011, 01110101, 01100100, 01101111
s4d6's ascii is 115, 52, 100, 54 and in binary it is 01110011, 00110100, 01100100, 00110110
Also pretty weird to note that "d" in sudo was registered as d but in blkid it was reqistered as "2"
d have ascii (in lower case) 100 and 2 have ascii 50
so d in binary 01100100
2 in binary 00110010
looks like your keyboard cable is moving to wrong location inside your laptop. It probably have like 8 or 10 thin cables to move key presses to computer from keyboard and these cables may be shifting.
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@pelouk @minesheep The garbled message is probably because Linux Lite has Numlock enabled as default in a live session.
You can disable Numlock using one of your keyboards Fn keys.
An ssd would be a good option.
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@pelouk @minesheep The garbled message is probably because Linux Lite has Numlock enabled as default in a live session.
You can disable Numlock using one of your keyboards Fn keys.
No numlock won't turn letters into numbers
d in binary 01100100
2 in binary 00110010
All bits have moved to right it is (clear) contact issue.
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Hi DeepThought and minesweep. I managed to release the Num lock and got the keyboard going - I'm actually sending this using Firefox on the laptop. Re-trying the terminal instructions produces the following:-
inux@linux:~$ sudo blkid
/dev/sda1: LABEL="LINUX LITE" UUID="E613-A103" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="006d6afc-01"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
linux@linux:~$
linux@linux:~$ sudo fdisk -1
fdisk: invalid option -- '1'
Usage:
fdisk [options] <disk> change partition table
fdisk [options] -l [<disk>] list partition table(s)
Display or manipulate a disk partition table.
Options:
-b, --sector-size <size> physical and logical sector size
-B, --protect-boot don't erase bootbits when create a new label
-c, --compatibility[=<mode>] mode is 'dos' or 'nondos' (default)
-L, --color[=<when>] colorize output (auto, always or never)
colors are enabled by default
-l, --list display partitions end exit
-o, --output <list> output columns
-t, --type <type> recognize specified partition table type only
-u, --units[=<unit>] display units: 'cylinders' or 'sectors' (default)
-s, --getsz display device size in 512-byte sectors [DEPRECATED]
--bytes print SIZE in bytes rather than in human readable format
-C, --cylinders <number> specify the number of cylinders
-H, --heads <number> specify the number of heads
-S, --sectors <number> specify the number of sectors per track
I can't, of course decipher that and still suspect the hard disk is knackered. What do you reckon?
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@pelouk
inux@linux:~$ sudo blkid
/dev/sda1: LABEL="LINUX LITE" UUID="E613-A103" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="006d6afc-01"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
linux@linux:~$
That shows your usb drive with Linux Lite.
Your internal hdd is not showing so I would say it has failed.
The sudo fdisk -l command is actually a small L not 1, but using the command will probably give you the same result and not show your internal hdd.