Arch Linux

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Locked out of system - help!

A number of things have gone wrong with my laptop, in exactly the right fashion to screw me over.

1. I lost my new password. Or maybe my system lost it; I'm not sure, though I'm fairly certain it is my password that it keeps rejecting.

3. To solve this, I could boot to a live CD or USB stick. However:

- My down arrow key is broken.
- My CMOS somehow cleared itself when I removed my laptop's worn-out battery pack.
- Default CMOS settings offer no boot menu, and put my hard drive at the top of the boot order.
- The BIOS won't let me change the boot order - it just beeps when I hit the relevant keys.
- I can't take out my SATA hard drive and then hotplug it after booting from a CD, because my BIOS won't let me switch to AHCI mode (and if it did, I couldn't do it, because my stupid down arrow key is broken).

Any help? My laptop cost quite a lot, I'd prefer not to have to trash the thing just because of a broken arrow key and Acer's shitty proprietary BIOS.

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: Locked out of system - help!

Update: it won't boot from a CD either! I took out the hard drive so that it would default to the CD drive, and all I get is continuous, rapid beeping...:mad:

Last edited by Gullible Jones (2008-09-12 00:37:40)

omgwtfbyobbq

Member

Registered: 2006-07-04

Posts: 226

Re: Locked out of system - help!

If you don't mind waiting and have a desktop available, nab one of those laptop ide->desktop ide adaptors so you can connect/work with the laptop drive on another system. It sounds like you're going to have to fix the down key in order to setup the BIOS properly but at least you can change the password.

Allan

Developer

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 9,939

Website

Re: Locked out of system - help!

See trick four on this page: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux … 9&S_CMP=GR

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Blog | PGP Key: EAE999BD2 | Hapkido Brisbane

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: Locked out of system - help!

Allan: thank you very much, but the relevant trick (Recover a Lost Root Password) doesn't work: I need my down arrow key to select the right line, and that arrow key isn't working.

If you don't mind waiting and have a desktop available, nab one of those laptop ide->desktop ide adaptors so you can connect/work with the laptop drive on another system. It sounds like you're going to have to fix the down key in order to setup the BIOS properly but at least you can change the password.

I'm afraid that won't work either, my laptop uses SATA drives and I don't have a SATA controller card at the moment.

Last edited by Gullible Jones (2008-09-12 01:01:45)

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: Locked out of system - help!

Update again: my "1" key doesn't work (nor does the embedded keybad 1), and shift + 2 produces an @, a ?, and an infinite number of / symbols. This is very, very bad.

Raccoon1400

Member

From: Ontario, Canada

Registered: 2008-04-14

Posts: 853

Re: Locked out of system - help!

Order a new keyboard for the laptop. I had to do this recently for my Dell. It was $30 and easy to install. I can't speak for acer.
Or, get an external keyboard.

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Fustrated Windows users have two options.
1. Resort to the throwing of computers out of windows.
2. Resort to the throwing of windows out of computers.

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: Locked out of system - help!

Okay folks... After managing to boot a DOS USB stick, only to be unable to run anything because X and / are broken, I will issue this warning...

Do not - DO NOT - attempt to flash BIOS on an Acer laptop. The versions used in different countries use different BIOSes; but what Acer doesn't tell you is that, if you order a laptop in America, you may get shipped a European one, or one designed for use in who knows what country, which DOES NOT use the American version of the BIOS. If you assume that your laptop is the American version because you bought it in America, you may be in for a very rude surprise.

Thank you, and good night.

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: Locked out of system - help!

Okay... I managed to flash the BIOS back to the correct version, but I'm still having this stupid keyboard problem. Could this be more BIOS stuff or is my keyboard just fried?

Hessiess

Member

Registered: 2008-07-21

Posts: 71

Re: Locked out of system - help!

can you use a USB kaybord?

Last edited by Hessiess (2008-09-13 15:52:55)

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: Locked out of system - help!

I'll have one to answer that question with by Sunday or Monday...

wuischke

Member

From: Suisse Romande

Registered: 2007-01-06

Posts: 630

Re: Locked out of system - help!

Do you have access to grub when booting? Hit 'c' to enter the boot commands manually (no down key needed, but maybe '1') and add a init=/bin/sh to the kernel line. Now you should be able to change the password. If necessary remount the root drive read/write with mount -o rw,remount /

Gullible Jones

Member

Registered: 2004-12-29

Posts: 4,863

Re: Locked out of system - help!

'c' doesn't work either. Thanks anyway though.