Need UEFI workaround on new computer

[Leo David Orionis]

Hello, everybody:

My mom's computer, which she uses only for e-mail, died.  I took it back to my place confident I could fix
it (I assembled it for her in the first place, and installed PCLOS on it).  However, the video circuits on the
mother board are burned out -- distinct burned smell, and no picture on known good monitor.

Rather than wait while I attempted to put together a "new" computer with the spare systems at my
place, mom decided to buy herself a new computer.  At Office Depot we bought a brand new HP
desktop for about $350 including tax.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to get PCLOS installed.  The new computer boots Windows 8 just fine
(if "fine" means anything in connection with Microsoft), but I can't get it to boot from the DVD
drive after I put a PCLOS live DVD in it.  Goes straight to Windows.  Tried to change the boot order,
not sure I managed to do that but it looks like the optical drive has priority, anyway.

I'm thinking at this point that UEFI is keeping the computer from booting from the DVD.  Can
anyone tell me how to verify this for sure?  If it turns out to be the case, can anyone tell me
how to shut off/disable/work around the UEFI?

The computer is a brand-new "HP Pavilion p2-1120 PC" fresh from the store, if that helps.

Please let me know anything you can.  If I can't get this figured out Real Soon Now we may
return this to Office Depot and order a preloaded Linux system from ThinkPenguine, Ohava,
or System76.  But that will take a while, and she's already suffering from e-mail withdrawal...

Thanks! -- Leo Orionis

[exploder]

Here is the specs of the computer.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c03357340&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=135&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=5187034&prodTypeId=12454

I can not find anything about UEFI on this particular computer.

[Old-Polack]

Hello, everybody:

My mom's computer, which she uses only for e-mail, died.  I took it back to my place confident I could fix
it (I assembled it for her in the first place, and installed PCLOS on it).  However, the video circuits on the
mother board are burned out -- distinct burned smell, and no picture on known good monitor.

Rather than wait while I attempted to put together a "new" computer with the spare systems at my
place, mom decided to buy herself a new computer.  At Office Depot we bought a brand new HP
desktop for about $350 including tax.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to get PCLOS installed.  The new computer boots Windows 8 just fine
(if "fine" means anything in connection with Microsoft), but I can't get it to boot from the DVD
drive after I put a PCLOS live DVD in it.  Goes straight to Windows.  Tried to change the boot order,
not sure I managed to do that but it looks like the optical drive has priority, anyway.

I'm thinking at this point that UEFI is keeping the computer from booting from the DVD.  Can
anyone tell me how to verify this for sure?  If it turns out to be the case, can anyone tell me
how to shut off/disable/work around the UEFI?

The computer is a brand-new "HP Pavilion p2-1120 PC" fresh from the store, if that helps.

Please let me know anything you can.  If I can't get this figured out Real Soon Now we may
return this to Office Depot and order a preloaded Linux system from ThinkPenguine, Ohava,
or System76.  But that will take a while, and she's already suffering from e-mail withdrawal...

Thanks! -- Leo Orionis

Looking at the specs for that machine, the above would be my option choice.

[Wildman]

From those specs. HP is still sliding downward.....OP is correct..

[T6]

yes, i avoid hp completely, the quality if what they offer is considerably lower than anything else available but the price is expensive like good quality hardware

[Just17]

I dislike the CPU being soldered into the board and not in a socket  

 .....  have you tried putting the optical disc in the machine with Win running and then reboot? .....  ye never know

I suppose you are sure this optical disc boots elsewhere, so the BIOS/UEFI must have some setting to allow it to boot .....  or maybe a setting that prevents certain types of optical media from booting.

One never knows what the manufacturers might put into their gear these days  

I would return it, and insist that whatever it is replaced with can boot the disc BEFORE I take it -- else get the shop to set it to boot the disc.

[kjpetrie]

If it's Windows 8 (is that out yet?) it'll probably have secure boot, which must be disabled before Linux will boot. This is MS's latest attempt to destroy us.

I would also return it. Buying MS-crippled hardware is only letting them get away with it.

[menotu]

It would be interesting to know whether it would boot using a Fat32 USB stick and see if it could be installed from a Live Desktop.

As mentioned, I'd first go into the BIOS and see if UEFI can be disabled and the "standard" boot method enabled.

But I'd take it back.

[Agent Smith]

Well, if this can be of any help: http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/16280.html

Perhaps you still can try to make it work.

Regards,

[Leo David Orionis]

Hey, everybody, thanks for all the replies.

It sounds like Fedora is working on the problem, but isn't there yet.
Hopefully by the time I assemble my next computer for my own use
near the end of next year (replacing the one I've had since 2009),
the UEFI problem will be a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, I guess I'll have to return this box to Office Depot and
order one with Linux pre-installed from System 76, Ohava, or
ThinkPenguin.

It's a shame, because I've been a happy HP user for many, many
years.  Back when I bought calculators, I always got them from HP
and was happy with them.  I have fond memories of HP's DEM2 computer,
which had a 32-Mb hard disk with four 8-Mb partitions and CP/M 2.2
installed on each partition, which allowed you to set up each partition
for a given set of tasks and choose which one to boot from when you
turned on the computer.  It also came with Spellbinder, not Word Star!

When I moved from dot-matrix printers, I used a trusty LaserJet+
for many years.  Since then, I've used a series of HP InkJets.  For
scanners, I've never had any problem with HP scanners (except that
they work better under Windows than Linux, because HP won't
release the necessary information to the Linux world).

But I guess it's time to tell HP all this, and tell them I won't be
buying future products until they quit the Evil Empire.

Got to send a complaint to the Anti-Trust division and look into
starting (or joining) a class-action lawsuit, too.  But first I have
to get mom her e-mail back!

Anyway, thanks for all the advice.  You guys are the greatest.

-- Leo David Orionis

[Old-Polack]

Hey, everybody, thanks for all the replies.

It sounds like Fedora is working on the problem, but isn't there yet.
Hopefully by the time I assemble my next computer for my own use
near the end of next year (replacing the one I've had since 2009),
the UEFI problem will be a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, I guess I'll have to return this box to Office Depot and
order one with Linux pre-installed from System 76, Ohava, or
ThinkPenguin.

It's a shame, because I've been a happy HP user for many, many
years.  Back when I bought calculators, I always got them from HP
and was happy with them.  I have fond memories of HP's DEM2 computer,
which had a 32-Mb hard disk with four 8-Mb partitions and CP/M 2.2
installed on each partition, which allowed you to set up each partition
for a given set of tasks and choose which one to boot from when you
turned on the computer.  It also came with Spellbinder, not Word Star!

When I moved from dot-matrix printers, I used a trusty LaserJet+
for many years.  Since then, I've used a series of HP InkJets.  For
scanners, I've never had any problem with HP scanners (except that
they work better under Windows than Linux, because HP won't
release the necessary information to the Linux world).

But I guess it's time to tell HP all this, and tell them I won't be
buying future products until they quit the Evil Empire.

Got to send a complaint to the Anti-Trust division and look into
starting (or joining) a class-action lawsuit, too.  But first I have
to get mom her e-mail back!

Anyway, thanks for all the advice.  You guys are the greatest.

-- Leo David Orionis

If you want a PC with PCLinuxOS already installed, go here;

http://www.linpc.us/

[YouCanToo]

Hey, everybody, thanks for all the replies.

It sounds like Fedora is working on the problem, but isn't there yet.
Hopefully by the time I assemble my next computer for my own use
near the end of next year (replacing the one I've had since 2009),
the UEFI problem will be a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, I guess I'll have to return this box to Office Depot and
order one with Linux pre-installed from System 76, Ohava, or
ThinkPenguin.

Try getting your system from Eric at http://linpc.us/ he installs PCLinuxOS on his equipment and he costs are reasonable to boot.

It's a shame, because I've been a happy HP user for many, many
years.

HP isn't the company that they once were!

 Back when I bought calculators, I always got them from HP
and was happy with them.  I have fond memories of HP's DEM2 computer,
which had a 32-Mb hard disk with four 8-Mb partitions and CP/M 2.2
installed on each partition, which allowed you to set up each partition
for a given set of tasks and choose which one to boot from when you
turned on the computer.  It also came with Spellbinder, not Word Star!

When I moved from dot-matrix printers, I used a trusty LaserJet+
for many years.  Since then, I've used a series of HP InkJets.  For
scanners, I've never had any problem with HP scanners (except that
they work better under Windows than Linux, because HP won't
release the necessary information to the Linux world).

But I guess it's time to tell HP all this, and tell them I won't be
buying future products until they quit the Evil Empire.

Got to send a complaint to the Anti-Trust division and look into
starting (or joining) a class-action lawsuit, too.  But first I have
to get mom her e-mail back!

Anyway, thanks for all the advice.  You guys are the greatest.

-- Leo David Orionis

[Leo David Orionis]

Salvete, omnes:

The problem is fixed!

I revisited the "boot order" option in the BIOS.  As before, it has a section for setting the boot order under
UEFI, and a different section for the "legacy" boot order.  As before, selecting anything in the legacy section
and then hitting OK did nothing -- it just sat there.  Only items in the UEFI section could be selected.

So I started going through all the BIOS options on the computer, and found on with boot options.
Hitting F5 after selecting an option disables it if it's enabled, and vice versa.  I was able to
disable UEFI boot and enable legacy boot!  After that, installing PCLOS was a piece of cake.
Tomorrow morning, after she gets home from her daily walk at the world-famous San Diego Zoo,
mom gets a brand-new, fast computer with PCLOS 2012.08 installed, all set up to autoboot into
her user, with the Firefox icon right in the middle of the screen for her and the home page for
Firefox set to her e-mail account.

BTW, this computer comes with Windows 7 installed.  The folks at Office Depot told me that Windows 8
is coming out in February, and tried to get me all excited about it.  I told them I was going to install
Linux on the computer, and wasn't about to downgrade it to Windows.  Glad I didn't have to eat those
words!

Thanks for all the encouragement, and thanks for the recommendations of linpc.us.  I'll have to check
that out next.

If someone could mark this topic "SOLVED" and close the comments, that would be great.

Valete -- Leo

[Just17]

Glad you found the setting required 

To mark the thread  [SOLVED]  please edit the heading in the first post 

[T6]

"It's a shame, because I've been a happy HP user for many, many
years.  Back when I bought calculators, I always got them from HP
and was happy with them"

hp still has good printers, good scanners and good calculators, they used to have good desktop pcs and good laptops but in the last 5 years the quality of their pc products has become something to avoid

keyboards not working on laptops, video cards overheating and detaching from the mainboard, hard disks failing under the year of warranty, batteries dying in 6 months between many many other problems