[resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

Ataxia · 2012-09-29 00:46:53

Hi there,

I just picked up a new laptop, Asus N56VZ, whopped an SSD into it and began the install process; intending to boot via UEFI and grub2.

Everything was going fine, until I executed this command:

efibootmgr -c -g -d /dev/sdX -p Y -w -L "Arch Linux (rEFInd)" -l '\\EFI\\arch\\refind\\refindx64.efi'

It seemed to work fine, but didn't put the expected file (refindx64.efi) in the correct place. It ended up in /usr/.../refind/refindx64.efi

I figured that this was probably wrong, so deleted the files and rebooted with the intention of reloading the live cd and following the instructions more closely.

I now cannot boot, nor enter the Asus BIOS by pressing delete (i was getting in there earlier fine) all it'll give me is a prompt which says Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key.

Needless to say, I'm bricking myself at the thought of turning this thing into an expensive doorstop.. Any help you guys could offer would be magnificent.

Many thanks in advance,

- Ataxia

Last edited by Ataxia (2012-09-29 23:00:35)

WonderWoofy · 2012-09-29 00:52:22

You know that efibootmgr *does not* move anything. You move the *.efi file into the correct place and the efibootmgr entry is just telling your bios where to boot what. It also puts whatever your new entry is as the primary boot entry. So now your computer is trying to boot that entry first. Why it is not falling back to the next entry is beyond me. I read a thread somewhere that mentioned that the asus bios had some strange setup foro it's boot manager entries.

So you cannot enter the "boot select menu" or the bios?

Ataxia · 2012-09-29 00:58:39

You're correct. I can't enter any BIOS menu at all.

With the *.efi file, it didn't appear where the guide said it would, so I was trying to be extra careful to ensure that things were as close to the guide as possible.

I'm looking for some way to reset the bios; but it's not looking good at the moment

Last edited by Ataxia (2012-09-29 01:01:50)

bsilbaugh · 2012-09-29 00:59:49

I seem to recall that an EFI firmware will attempt to execute a boot loader from a default location (e.g. /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX86.efi) if it cannot find any other boot loaders. You might try copying your bootloader to this location and see if the firmware loads it. (see here.)

EDIT: Fixed terminology.

Last edited by bsilbaugh (2012-09-29 01:06:29)

Ataxia · 2012-09-29 01:11:32

I've just removed my battery/psu and rebooted, bashing a bunch of random keys. This gave me a boot menu and has allowed me to get back into the installation media.

.. Fingers crossed I won't balls it up this time. Thank you for your support there .

bsilbaugh · 2012-09-29 01:15:05

Assuming that your firmware is looking for /EFI/arch/refind/refindx64.efi (on the ESP partition), and hanging because it cannot find that file, could you copy refind to the correct location by mounting your laptop hard-drive in another machine (temporarily)?

EDIT: Do'h! I see you fixed it before I submitted my post. Glad you got your doorstop working

Last edited by bsilbaugh (2012-09-29 01:18:37)

Ataxia · 2012-09-29 01:18:07

I think I might be able to do it now on the laptop itself. I have no idea how I managed to get it back up, but I'm back at the step where I set the refindx64.efi

.. I just need to not be dumb this time I think..

Ataxia · 2012-09-29 13:28:35

Just an update. I have the system booting now, but I'm still unable to access my bios settings (prior to issuing the efibootmgr command I was able to access it via the del key during post).

I'm assuming that somehow one of the EFI vars may be related to the key which accesses the bios menu, but i'm not sure how it may have been modified and I can't seem to find any information regarding it.

I'm half considering flashing my BIOS with a new update on the off chance that it'll repair whatever's gone wrong with it.. But if you guys have any ideas i'd love to hear them .

WonderWoofy · 2012-09-29 13:39:23

I think in cases where things go weird in low level firmware, a reset is usually the way to go. But in your situation you cannot even get access to the ability of resetting. So I think if there is an update for your bios, maybe it would be a good way to go.

I am glad to hear that you got your system working though.

I have definitely never heard efibootmgr causing inaccess to the bios settings though. Maybe this might be a good thing to file a bug report for with upstream. Of course, with UEFI's newness, things are different from system to system, so they cannot be 100% sure that the software will be perfect in all cases. Still it might be good to make them aware (even if it was, in fact, something that you borked), as maybe it might save another poor individual from the smae problem.

Do you have a UEFI shell? Maybe you should use it's took to create boot manager entries instead.

Ataxia · 2012-09-29 22:59:51

I think we can kinda call this solved now..

I've managed to flash my BIOS, the delete key doesn't work, but I can now get into a boot menu by pressing escape, which also allows me into the BIOS setup itself. Not perfect like; but considering where I was yesterday I can't really complain at all .

The problem with a bug report is that I don't really have anything to offer with regards to useful information. I'll see about filing one though.

Thanks again

cfr · 2012-09-29 23:44:13

You might check the output of efibootmgr to see if the listing it gives you is as you expect. For example, maybe you've managed to disable an entry which should be enabled or something like that.

MisterAnderson · 2012-09-30 04:21:39

If anyone comes here needing to restore their bricked firmware for an HP laptop (assuming it is InsydeH20) you can find instructions here.

It involves extracting the firmware for your laptop on another computer, renaming a file and copying it to a FAT32 flash drive, and booting in recovery mode, and looks like it should always work.

Ataxia · 2012-10-01 17:20:29

cfr wrote:

You might check the output of efibootmgr to see if the listing it gives you is as you expect. For example, maybe you've managed to disable an entry which should be enabled or something like that.

I did look at the efibootmgr bootoptions, but it'll only list the cd drive and the entries placed there by the command issued above.

And thank you for the guide .. If i mess up again I'll give it a bash

Arch Linux

#1 2012-09-29 00:46:53

[resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#2 2012-09-29 00:52:22

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#3 2012-09-29 00:58:39

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#4 2012-09-29 00:59:49

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#5 2012-09-29 01:11:32

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#6 2012-09-29 01:15:05

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#7 2012-09-29 01:18:07

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#8 2012-09-29 13:28:35

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#9 2012-09-29 13:39:23

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#10 2012-09-29 22:59:51

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#11 2012-09-29 23:44:13

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#12 2012-09-30 04:21:39

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

#13 2012-10-01 17:20:29

Re: [resolved ]I think I just bricked my firmware.

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