Logon impossible : no keyboard reaction

Paul schreef op 22/02/2015 om 8:03:
Carpe Diem wrote:
If your W7 system is 64 bit architecture, you should be able to read a
functioning GPT disk. You will only be able to boot from it if your
W7 machine is using a UEFI mainboard.

Indeed. But the problem is that the UEFI/Bios is now in 'Legacy' mode,
not UEFI and there is no way to change that : not with F1 (to enter
BIOS/UEFI, according tot the manual of the MSI CR70) and not with a
Win8 instal disk (in the repair options that option disapeared).
So, my only option is to convert the GPT-disk (that, I found out with
Acronis Disk Director) to a 'normal' MBR disk,... if this is possible.


If you have a Windows 8 installer DVD or a Windows 8 recovery console
boot CD (does not install anything), there is a "UEFI firmware settings
button".

As I said, when I startup with the Windows 8 installer DVD, in the
advanced repair options : the button "UEFI firmware settings" (as well
as other options) disapeared!!!It seems unbelievable, but it is...

According to this document from MSI, you are supposed to press the DEL
key when you see the MSI logo. This document contains instructions
for updating the BIOS but it might be worth reading....
....http://www.msi.com/files/pdf/Flash_B...Utility_en.pdf

Thank you!
The problem is solved.
I will add a last message in this NG later.

A lot of problems were caused bij the UEFI, which was in Legacy mode
instead of UEFI. So I was unable to use the harddisk (GPT disk).
All attempts to swich to UEFI mode did not work.
Even booting with the W8 install disk did not give the advanced repair
option for UEFI settings anymore!! No idea why not.
Entering the Bios did not work, not with F1, not with Del, not with any
function key. Unbelievable but true.
I finally could use a Win8 installation disk from a friend.
So, with Diskpart I deleted all partitions and converted the disk to
MBR.So the disk was usable in Legacy (BIOS) mode.
Then I created a primary partition and installed Win 8.
Activation was also OK and now I'm installing 122 updates.
Then I should be able to update to Win 8.1.
I know someone who wil be very very very satisfied!!!
Anyway : I want to thank EVERYBODY for the fantastic hints and help!!!

Carpe Diem wrote:
A lot of problems were caused bij the UEFI, which was in Legacy mode
instead of UEFI. So I was unable to use the harddisk (GPT disk).
All attempts to swich to UEFI mode did not work.
Even booting with the W8 install disk did not give the advanced repair
option for UEFI settings anymore!! No idea why not.
Entering the Bios did not work, not with F1, not with Del, not with any
function key. Unbelievable but true.
I finally could use a Win8 installation disk from a friend.
So, with Diskpart I deleted all partitions and converted the disk to
MBR.So the disk was usable in Legacy (BIOS) mode.
Then I created a primary partition and installed Win 8.
Activation was also OK and now I'm installing 122 updates.
Then I should be able to update to Win 8.1.
I know someone who wil be very very very satisfied!!!
Anyway : I want to thank EVERYBODY for the fantastic hints and help!!!

Well, I'm glad to hear you didn't brick the
machine, and got it back into running shape.

I was not able to find anything really solid on
where the settings are stored. There are two
places where the BIOS stores things - 256 byte CMOS
RAM (can be removed by CLR_CMOS jumper) or
much larger flash storage (part of the BIOS chip).
Even old BIOS stored some things in the same flash chip
as holds the BIOS executable code. There were
things like DMI/ESCD (DMI Explorer) and
microcode cache (2KB). Those would get reset on
an attempt to reflash the BIOS.

If the UEFI BIOS stored the configuration change
in CMOS RAM, then using a CLR_CMOS jumper might
"fix" it and restore defaults. But the 256 bytes
of RAM is never enough to store everything. And
we don't know how or what UEFI does with CMOS RAM
now. Is it used, or not ?

The storage of UEFI content in flash, that's
harder to get at. On the one hand, a BIOS update
would come with a flasher (an AMI utility for the
Aptio BIOS). I couldn't find command line parameter
definitions, to see if one was specifically for
resetting the UEFI variable area. So maybe it can
be done from there, but there just weren't enough
documents to make that possible.

There was one guy on the Internet, who was modifying
Aptio BIOS for MSI gaming laptops. And, it's the usual
procedure. There is a utility, if you purchase the
AMI development tools, that "configures" what settings
appear in the BIOS setup screen. He was using that utility,
to take an MSI BIOS and "expose" more of the settings. In
theory, one of the settings would be the one that sets
"UEFI" or "legacy" or both. But people who do those mods,
nobody pays them, and they get tired of doing them
after a while (it's not zero effort, it takes time).

I used such a hacked BIOS, for my Asrock motherboard.
A guy in Germany exposed some of the missing settings,
and managed to turn EIST back on. It was a great hack,
and corrected errors that Asrock would not correct.
(At the time, my suspicion was that Intel lawyers were
involved, and there was some problem between Asrock and
Intel, that prevented the necessary BIOS fixes... It
wasn't a technical issue, or an issue of developer
effort to fix it.)

But rather than go down that (experimental) path
of BIOS flashing, your pragmatic solution is better.

There just isn't enough information available, to start
flashing the BIOS for no good reason. I really don't know
if it resets everything to defaults (i.e. working UEFI)
or not. It should, but modern software developers are
so weird, who really knows for sure how anything works.

UEFI was touted as some sort of improvement, and yet, it
seems to have all the organizational failures of traditional
BIOS development. On my own systems, I'll continue to
use "legacy" and CSM, as my own solution, as I really
doubt this situation will change (too many unknown
unknowns, too many vendor specific bugs). UEFI is for
the birds.

Paul

Well, now that everything works fine, I have no intention at all to
flash the BIOS/UEFI !! If something goes wrong during that operation,...
well, I think you understand.
I hope my English language was not too bad in this discussion, as my
native language is Dutch (I'm living in Belgium)...

On Mon, 23 Feb 2015 09:54:48 +0100, Carpe Diem wrote:

Well, now that everything works fine, I have no intention at all to
flash the BIOS/UEFI !! If something goes wrong during that operation,...
well, I think you understand.
I hope my English language was not too bad in this discussion, as my
native language is Dutch (I'm living in Belgium)...

Your English is fine! The only clue I had that English isn't your native
language was when you typed "bij" for "by" in your previous post (so I
already knew you speak Dutch).

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On 02/23/2015 12:32 AM, Carpe Diem wrote:
A lot of problems were caused bij the UEFI, which was in Legacy mode
instead of UEFI. So I was unable to use the harddisk (GPT disk).
All attempts to swich to UEFI mode did not work.
Even booting with the W8 install disk did not give the advanced repair
option for UEFI settings anymore!! No idea why not.
Entering the Bios did not work, not with F1, not with Del, not with any
function key. Unbelievable but true.
I finally could use a Win8 installation disk from a friend.
So, with Diskpart I deleted all partitions and converted the disk to
MBR.So the disk was usable in Legacy (BIOS) mode.
Then I created a primary partition and installed Win 8.
Activation was also OK and now I'm installing 122 updates.
Then I should be able to update to Win 8.1.
I know someone who wil be very very very satisfied!!!
Anyway : I want to thank EVERYBODY for the fantastic hints and help!!!



Glad you got that nightmare solved!

On Mon, 23 Feb 2015 14:27:45 -0800, "Gene E. Bloch"
wrote:


Your English is fine! The only clue I had that English isn't your native
language was when you typed "bij" for "by" in your previous post (so I
already knew you speak Dutch).


Ij think that perhaps you are rijt that he speaks Dutch! g

Glad you got that nightmare solved!

You cannot imagine how glad I am !

Your English is fine! The only clue I had that English isn't your native
language was when you typed "bij" for "by" in your previous post ...


That was not on purpose ; must have been distracted...
I must always remember to delete my signature in an English NG.
But now, for once, I wil NOT delete it.
It's a 'statement' from Albert Einstein :
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.".
Oh, and "Mvg" is an abbreviation ("Met vriendelijke groeten"), and
means: "Friendly greetings".
End of the first (and probably last) Dutch lesson ;-))

--
Mvg,
Carpe Diem
"De dingen moeten zo eenvoudig mogelijk gemaakt worden,
maar niet eenvoudiger (Albert Einstein)."

On Tue, 24 Feb 2015 06:13:21 +0100, Carpe Diem wrote:

Your English is fine! The only clue I had that English isn't your native
language was when you typed "bij" for "by" in your previous post ...


That was not on purpose ; must have been distracted...
I must always remember to delete my signature in an English NG.
But now, for once, I wil NOT delete it.
It's a 'statement' from Albert Einstein :
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.".
Oh, and "Mvg" is an abbreviation ("Met vriendelijke groeten"), and
means: "Friendly greetings".
End of the first (and probably last) Dutch lesson ;-))

Dutch isn't too hard for me to read (or to "read"), but it's hard for me
to read it accurately :-)

I figured out the quote before I read your translation, but it is a
familiar quote, which was a big help...

I knew the "bij" was just a slip. A very natural and totally forgivable
one...But it was a little like the scene in the spy movie where the
secret agent accidentally speaks English or has the fork in the wrong
hand, so I knew you were a Nederlander in disguise. Other than your
confession, it was my first (and so far only) clue that English is a
second language for you.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

..., so I knew you were a Nederlander in disguise.

Well, I am NOT a "Nederlander".
I live in Belgium, more specific in Flanders, where people speak Dutch.
In the other part of Belgium, Wallonië (which in English seems to be
Wallonia), people speak French. In some parts (for example in Brussels)
they speak both languages.

--
Mvg,
Carpe Diem
"De dingen moeten zo eenvoudig mogelijk gemaakt worden,
maar niet eenvoudiger (Albert Einstein)."

On Wed, 25 Feb 2015 07:33:59 +0100, Carpe Diem
wrote:

In some parts (for example in Brussels)
they speak both languages.


And in Brussels, doesn't almost everyone also speak English? That was
my impression when I spent four or five days there a couple of years
ago.

And in Brussels, doesn't almost everyone also speak English? That was
my impression when I spent four or five days there a couple of years
ago.

Not "almost everyone" but yes, a lot of people.

On Wed, 25 Feb 2015 19:03:35 +0100, Carpe Diem
wrote:

And in Brussels, doesn't almost everyone also speak English? That was
my impression when I spent four or five days there a couple of years
ago.

Not "almost everyone" but yes, a lot of people.


OK, perhaps my "almost everyone" was an exaggeration, but I don't
remember anyone I dealt with who didn't.