Can't change the boot order

[Reece]

I'm getting to the point of jumping on this laptop (Asus G771J), I thought I'd try backing up the system with Ghost and later boot from the ABUNTU DVD but I can't even get this thing to boot off a DVD!!!:/\\!!
The BIOS is "Bios Aptio Setup Utility - American Megatrends"
and has the following options for the Boot menu:


Boot Configuration
Fast Boot .........................Enabled
Launch CSM ......................Disabled


Boot Option Priorities
Boot Option #1 ................. [Windows Boot Manager]


Add New Boot Option
> Delete Boot Option


There is a Security Menu that has, as well as passwords, 2 options:

I/O Interface Security

Secure Boot Menu

Can anyone show me where to go/what to do?:oops:

[Skybird]

Does this maybe solve it?

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1692951/set-boot-priority-asus-bios.html

Or this, does this help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFpCw9HXCdI

[Reece]

No this Boot doesn't seem to have a boot order at all.
The annoying thing is the stupid bios help just shows the options we already see on the screen.:doh: Like the options for Fast Boot are enable or Disable!! How informative!!:dead:
I am wanting to setup a Dual Boot with Linux but before I proceed I would like to backup the C drive, I have seen no reference to USB drives either.

[Catfish]

^ Yes you can! :03:

1. You can have several operating systems on one (or several Harddisks), with a Boot menu to choose from appearing at the start. The boot menu has to be on a separate partition if i remember right, and you have to partition the disk accordingly for it prior to installing the OSs.
It also depends on which OS you want to install, it is possible with Win and OS/2, or Win and Linux, or more, but after installing Windows you have to edit the boot file because the latter likes to overwrite other boot managers and menus, at least until Win7.

2. Regardless what is on the Harddisk, you can always boot from a CD/DVD (if the PC is eqipped with a Laser device) or even with a USB stick if the Bios menu offers that as an option.

This maybe some of the new UEFI thingies that have replaced the Bios.
"Secure Boot" to off, "launch csm" activated – should now be possible to boot from e.g. USB. The stick should be FAT 32 formatted.
Or .. does the "add new boot option" help? :hmmm:

[Reece]

The "Add New Boot Option" has 2 options, Disable and the other is a set of about 60 ascii characters??? Weird.
I will try setting Secure Boot off and Launch CSM enabled and see what happens.:yep:
I was going to keep for now Win 10 and dual boot Linux, The first HDD is already partitioned to C & D the second HDD is E.:hmmm:
"UEFI thingies" I have come across that in one of the options, will check that as well tomorrow (23:00 here atm). I prefer the BIOS options in my old computer with a boot order.

[BarracudaUAK]

Reece,

I'll double check in my bios, which on my new PC is UEFI.

On my gigabyte motherboard there is a way to set boot order, but I have to manually select it, and then set up the boot order in a sub-menu. I'll double check the details after I post this.


If you install Linux to the 2nd hard drive, it should make an adjustment to the boot sector of the main drive, and then give you the option to boot linux from there. It always did when I was still dual-booting...


I'm off to double-check for possible places to look....


Barracuda

[BarracudaUAK]

And I'm back!
In my boards Bios, Across the top, there are "tabs", one is labeled "Bios Features"

Where I pick which "type" of drive to boot first.


Under that there are several options, including

"Hard Drive BBS Prioirities"
"CD-Rom Drive BBS Priorities"

Which is were I set the boot order for hard drives and CD/DVD drives.


Anything like that?

I had to search each and every menu to find it the first time, but it was there.


Also, if you are just installing Linux on the 2nd HDD, then Linux will "tweak" the Master Boot Record to look at GRUB, which will then give you the option to boot the OS of your choice.

Barracuda

[propbeanie]

... and there should be a keypress, like F2 or Del takes you to the BIOS (or in this case UEFI), while F10 or F12 might take you to a boot choice screen. I had an HP years ago that used F11, while the last one I had used F12. The boys' Dell boxes use F10... From that, you can choose Hard Drive or Optical Drive or USB Stick (if one is inserted - and dependent upon the UEFI).

[Reece]

F2 gets me to the BIOS, F10 or F12 seems to do nothing.
@ Barracuda, The only sub menu's are Main, Advanced, Boot, Security and Save & Exit.
I disabled Fast Boot, Secure Boot Menu, and enabled Launch CSM, this changed the Boot Menu removing the Fast Boot option and added Launch PXE OpROM policy which is disabled.
I now have 2 Boot Options #1 [Windows Boot Manager] and #2 [Pioneer BD-ROM]. I can now boot from either but have to select/change manually in the bios, if I select BD-ROM it will only boot from that. Bit of a pain but better than not.:yep:
Not sure where to go from here, my old PC has XP Pro and always used Ghost 2003 but doesn't work with this PC, it sees the 2 HDD's but for the destination it only offers A, even though there is no A.:hmmm:
I have Norton Ghost 12.0 but never used it, seems overly complicated.:oops: I would like to backup Windows before installing Linux and dual boot, any ideas in this area would also be appreciated.:yep:

[Reece]

Anyone tried Paragon Backup & Recovery?:hmmm:

[propbeanie]

I haven't tried Paragon, but Windows should have a backup thingie in there somewhere... I'm on Win7 though, and I do know that when we did my boy's Win10 machine, I was lost for the longest time, and couldn't find it, but it's in there somewhere. You could try typing "Backup" in that "Search" thingie in the lower left... ??

[Reece]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.:yep:

[Fubar2Niner]

I use Acronis here mate, have done for ages not had a problem yet.

Good luck :salute:

[Rockin Robbins]

Paragon and Acronis are equally good image backup programs. Acronis has gone in heavy for cloud stuff lately and that has severely hurt their user friendliness. A free program as good as those two is Veeam Endpoint Backup. It's easier to use and just as good as anything you can buy.

[Reece]

Thanks, I'll take a look at that as well, having to backup Linux as well I doubt I could do that with the Windows 10 backup, and if I decide to go to Windows 7 that would stuff it up a bit!!:yep:

[Reece]

Seems that Veeam Endpoint Backup is not free, have to register with a company name, private name is trial only!:hmmm:

Edit: I just put in "Private" for the company and is now downloading.

[Reece]

@ Rockin Robbins, Veeam is great, I created a recovery disk and backed up my C drive to E. Now I just got to wait for the latest Ubuntu DVD to be delivered and I will install that on D, all going well.:yep:
Thanks.:up:

[Rockin Robbins]

Back in June, Windows 7 Pro suffered an update crash that required me to hit the power button to shut down or it would still be updating. When I rebooted, Windows didn't. I was very busy with FOTRSU at that time, so I just booted Ubuntu off my other drive and went to work on the mod.

Fixing my Windows installation won't be too difficult, but Ubuntu has been so good I really haven't missed it and somehow haven't found the time to fix it. I'm running Teamviewer, Firefox, Thunderbird, Skype, Steam, Silent Hunter 4, Clementine (my favorite music handler, 2x replacement for Windows Media Player), Audacity, Google Earth, Keepass2, Silent Hunter 4, Radio Sure, Cartes du Ciel (Skycharts), VLC Media player, Libre Office--heck, the only thing I'm missing is a Linux version of Unreal Tournament III. All the other Steam games I have have Linux versions which I play. I play online with Windows players even and they don't know there's a difference in our computers!

Every time I'm faced with something I "can't do" I find something like Asunder CD ripper that works better than anything in Windows! Frankly, I'm supremely unmotivated to recover my Windows installation.

[Reece]

Any particular version of Wine to download or is it just the latest version of the one program?
Can you recommend a good Linux book/User Guide.:hmmm:

[Skybird]

Radio Sure...? Do you trick again there, or have they added linux support?

My favourite radio player it was, due to its simplicity.

[Rockin Robbins]

Radio Sure...? Do you trick again there, or have they added linux support?

My favourite radio player it was, due to its simplicity.
No, I run that under WINE. It's the greatest radio player.

[Rockin Robbins]

Any particular version of Wine to download or is it just the latest version of the one program?
Can you recommend a good Linux book/User Guide.:hmmm:
Last I knew the version of WINE in the Ubuntu 16.10 repositories was WINE 1.8.2. However I've gone to the WINE site itself and hooked their repositories up to Ubuntu and am now running 2.0.1. As far as SH4 is concerned makes no difference.

You know, I've never read any Linux books or user guides. So I can't point you in any meaningful direction there.

[Reece]

You know, I've never read any Linux books or user guides. So I can't point you in any meaningful direction there.
Fair enough, I'll just plod along and see where it goes!!:yep:

What about firewalls, are they needed?:hmmm:
Thanks.

[Skybird]

I have to overcome my fully integrated laziness :) and finally check VM and WINE.

And yes, Radio sure is the best radio player indeed.

[Rockin Robbins]

Fair enough, I'll just plod along and see where it goes!!:yep:

What about firewalls, are they needed?:hmmm:
Thanks.
Now the Internet is the Internet and HTML plus all the web scripting languages do not care if you are running MS-DOS, Windows 10, any flavor of Linux or an Apple ][.

So at least a hardware firewall is necessary. If you're sitting behind a router, you have a hardware firewall, with logging and all that. I'm running Ubuntu behind only the hardware firewall, set not to return a ping, and nothing else. No problems for six years.

The same cautions you have for Windows browsing apply for Linux. Don't go looking for trouble. Treat unsolicited links, shortened links, any clickbait (you know it when you see it) with suspicion.

Most malware so far is Windows specific and can't touch you. Yet. Sooner or later that will change. Keep your ear to the ground and backups at the ready.

[Reece]

Hmm, I don't think my "NETGEAR AirCard 790S" mobile WI-FI would be classified as a router!!:oops:
Anyone know of any good free firewall programs?:hmmm:

[Rockin Robbins]

Hmm, I don't think my "NETGEAR AirCard 790S" mobile WI-FI would be classified as a router!!:oops:
Anyone know of any good free firewall programs?:hmmm:
Security




Wi-Fi security encryption methods:
WEP 64 (Open/Shared)
WEP 128 (Open/Shared)
WPA Personal TKIP
WPA Personal TKIP AES
WPA2 Personal AES
WPA2 Personal TKIP AES
WPA/WPA2
Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)
VPN pass-through
NAT firewall
Security web interface
Multiple SSID/Guest Wi-Fi support
View & block connected devices from the touchscreen
Password protected Web UI
Ability to turn off Wi-Fi or USB Tethering




You are good to go. A free firewall wouldn't do any harm but is unlikely to protect you any better. Beware of WPS. I can break it guaranteed in eight hours maximum, normally about 4 hours. Use straight WPA2.

[Reece]

Thanks for that.:yep:
Naturally enough more nasty things arise, as I mentioned earlier in the other thread this computer came with McAfee installed. I stupidly assumed it was free with the computer purchase, WRONG!!, it just displayed a message that the trial edition ends in 5 days.:doh:
Will I have registry problems removing it? If not I will remove it and activate the Windows version, this has not been activated either, seems the computer comes with no software.:/\\!!
I have installed Spybot and not sure if it is running at startup, if I click on the icon it seems to load it then, do I have to manually load it each time or is it actually running ok?:hmmm:

Thanks once again!!:oops:

[Skybird]

Check on the McAfee website whether they offer a special removal tool.

Security suites digging deep into the system sometimes need such tools to remove even the last remains of the former installation, normal deinstallation like you use to do with most software will leave traces and artifacts here and there in the registry. These could cause troubles with other security software, or in case of reinstalling the former one, it can even have a negative effect on system stability and speed, though that is not the rule.

Not all are like this, but I have strolled over some, over the years. Especially Symantech left a very very foul taste in the mouth back then. Though that was long time ago. I avoid Symantech like the plague since then.

[Moonlight]

McAfee has a removal tool for all windows versions going back to Vista.
https://service.mcafee.com/webcenter/portal/cp/home/articleview;jsessionid=TeXF9nYKiqrw7jdhSqi6EmiI-9Mu2UwGA12-AhCEqwnD7y-mP2r-!949291104!806725607?articleId=TS101331&_afrLoop=2794791732934295#!%40%40%3F_afrLoop%3D279 4791732934295%26articleId%3DTS101331%26centerWidth %3D100%2525%26leftWidth%3D0%2525%26rightWidth%3D0% 2525%26showFooter%3Dfalse%26showHeader%3Dfalse%26_ adf.ctrl-state%3D1bwguvonxv_4

[Reece]

Thanks Moonlight, much appreciated.:yep:

[Reece]

I had Comodo firewall on my old XP and ran flawlessly, is this still ok to use?:
https://www.comodo.com/home/internet-security/firewall.php
Maybe Avast?:hmmm:

[Skybird]

No. On WXP and W7 Commodo has since years a very lousy reputation. I abandoned it many years ago already, it failed me twice and only other scanners rang the alarm.

Once again, take AV Institute as a compass, they - to my best knowledge - are not beign financed by the industry, and they do nothing but minitoring sec suites's behaqviour and perofmance in the wild, over long time frames of months.

https://www.av-test.org/de/antivirus/privat-windows/windows-7/

Note that Windows Essentials and Commodo for W7 score 50% or less points in security" only and make the two last ranks in the list.

On XP, Commodo again makes last place only.

95-96% of widely distributed malware recognized sounds like a good score, but it means that 4-5 of 100 attacks get through. And an a system lionked to the web and actively used for web-affairs can get hundreds of attacks per day, say in a company office. It depends on the purpose it is being used for.

Microsoft Essentials for W7 can drop even below the 90% mark.

The leaders achieve 100%.

BitDefender sounds good to me, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, they are tight, and fast. However, on BitDefendert and Kaspersky, I have read many report sover the past years that users ran nto troubles in case of deinstalling it, or system stability getting damaged in any way. Also, company service is said to be lousy to non-existent by some.

Get a good pack where you pay not more than 30 bucks per year, and that maybe offers 2-4 licenses, maybe even distrubuted between Android and Windows devices. You then can use it on your tablet or smartphone as well without needing to pay again.

A security suite is a mjst, and a standard. That doe snot mean - Robbins is right - that it is a fail-safe solution and then you can make all nonsense yo8i want and always are secure. Its simply is reasonable to use such a suite nevertheless, there is so much old bad stuff out there. If you leave the house, you close and lock the front door, too, don'T you - that does not mean a determined rogue cannot get in, but you avoid the inviting opportunity of leavign the door open, and you win so9me time in case somebody takes on that locked door. The better and more solid the door and locks, the more time you win, and maybe the bad guy is driven off, whcih statistcially will be the case if after 3 minutes he was not successful. Most bad guys then break off.

Shut and lock that door. Use a security suite. Behave reasonable nevertheless.

[BarracudaUAK]

Hmm, I don't think my "NETGEAR AirCard 790S" mobile WI-FI would be classified as a router!!:oops:
Anyone know of any good free firewall programs?:hmmm:


It's been a few years, but on my Win XP machine, I usually ran:
(my bro also used some of these on his Win7 pc)

Firewall: ZoneAlarm. I always had it "locked" unless I was specifically doing something online.

Anti-Spyware: Spybot: Search and Destroy. Set up very restrictively, in Spybot I had most of the "options" for IE and the system "locked".


Anti-Virus: AVG. At the time I first tried it, it would show false positives on legitimate system files, so I would install and update when needed, but otherwise I just kept a recent version of the installer on the hard drive in case I needed it.

I had 1 virus in 5 years, and NONE of the virus programs were catching that virus. I had to use a Spybot tool to remove it.


Now these may have all gone downhill, but that was my last setup for Windows....

--------------------------

As far as Linux, Fedora has a firewall that comes with the system, I believe Ubuntu does as well.

Most changes require a password from a "PowerUser", i.e. "authentication" to be entered when you are making changes.
OR, root's password.

My main login is set as an "administrator" or "Power User", and I can install new software etc. But to change a setting, such as the resolution for the video, I have to enter the root password to be able to access the program in "write" mode. Otherwise all I can do is look at it. I can't access system areas either. Not even just to view.

The firewall program (firewallD, I THINK) allows access via address and/or ports, not specific programs.

For example, to host Minecraft when my brother and I play (once in a blue moon).
(please note: there MAY be a way, but I haven't found it, or run across instructions on how to do so.)
While I can join his game, hosting is a bit different...
I can't set the firewall to allow just Minecraft through, I can't set it to allow just Java through (Minecraft runs in java), but I have to open the "port" that Minecraft host on.
The problem with a "single player world" is that when I make it a LAN game (or "open to LAN") it host on a random port number.
So I have to go to the command line, and enter the command that allows all connections to and from my bro's IP address.
BUT, it resets when I reboot my PC. So it is only temporary.

I've yet to make it "permanent", but he moved out, so we don't play it that much...

However he did "ping" me on my Dual Core 2.8ghz with Fedora 20, with his 8-core FX8350 with 16GB ram, with a 4GB ping.... Fedora pretty much ignored it.
Slowed down my access to subsim for a few seconds, but mostly good.

We were on the same home network at the time....

On the Linux Side you should be good to go. :up:

Barracuda

Just a note: I also pull the network cable on my PC unless I'm online, over the years it has helped me troubleshoot problems.
And since I jumped in to Linux full time a few years ago (I've had Linux installed since Fedora Core 3, about 2005), it helped me
to figure out what was installed and what I needed. Allowing me to figure out "what was what". In Windows, pulling the plug was my "primary" firewall! :haha:

[Reece]

Well I ended up getting my nephew to set this up and just got it back, it's now a "WOW" machine, He did a great job on it, When it starts it pops up with a menu of 4 items, Windows 10 Pro, Ubuntu Linux, bios setup and Ubuntu setup. If I don't select anything the computer witll start by default Win 10.
He also setup quite a few programs, set windows and linux up with stuff like firefox,(with AdBan,Adblock Plus,Ghostery) winamp, vlc player, Paragon backup (essential) etc.
The biggest thing was Virtual Desktop wich contains Win 10, Linux, and XP Pro!!! He has given me a tour and a text file with passwords etc.
I have ordered a 1Tb usb drive for backups
He also added this:

NOTES
Mounting error in Ubuntu "Unable to mount the Primary & Secondary drives due to hibernation"
You will get this error if Windows 10 gets the chance to hibernate the drives, this will happen if you reboot from Windows 10 into Ubuntu,
the workaround is to simply shutdown the computer from Windows 10 before starting up Ubuntu to mount the drives correctly,
unfortunately this means you cannot use any form of fastboot in Windows 10, doing so will create a file called hiberfil.sys on each drive where the paused states of the drives are kept

I haven't had a chance to play with it yet but looks good and know who to call if there are any problems.
My nephew read through the forum threads here to get some ideas/help.
Thanks All for your input and guidance,
I really appreciate it.:up:

Reece.

[BarracudaUAK]

Good to know that you are now back up and running!:up:

Also glad to know that all of our collective banter proved to be useful.
Even if it was simply for amusement, and an example of which way NOT to go!:haha:

Barracuda