First a huge THANK YOU to Thomas Pabst, those who continue running the site and all other contributors. Tom's Hardware has been an invaluable resource for nearly 2 decades (yeah I had the book too). I never had to ask as everything I wanted to know had been asked and answered - until now. So I've finally joined and here's my first post. Thanks for reading.
I'm not sure if this is the correct category. As it's BIOS related, I figured motherboards is the closest.
I have an Acer Ferrari 4000 running XP which I want to replace with Linux. I know I can do this via USB as I have done it before.
To do this I need to boot with the USB stick plugged in, enter the BIOS, add USB stick to the boot devices... .
The problem is that I cannot see anything on screen until the XP desktop appears - no POST, no Windows animation. I can however enter the BIOS and change settings. Which is fine when I know the menu structure (pressing arrow keys etc. a certain number of times to navigate and set).
I can even call the boot menu and select something - but as with the BIOS, the screen stays blank.
However I need to see the BIOS to add the USB stick.
I have tried with/without battery, with one and two external monitors. No matter what combination of screens, none display anything until the XP desktop appears.
Blindly navigating the BIOS to select DVD to boot is doable, but the internal DVD drive is no longer good(reads very few disks like the recovery CDs)
Booting from USB is not documented in the manual, so I cannot guess the key combination I would have to press to add the USB stick.
My thread on the Acer forum died. I'm offering a pint (or two) to anyone who can help me solve this and is or will be on holiday (or living) in Malta.
I'm not sure if this is the correct category. As it's BIOS related, I figured motherboards is the closest.
I have an Acer Ferrari 4000 running XP which I want to replace with Linux. I know I can do this via USB as I have done it before.
To do this I need to boot with the USB stick plugged in, enter the BIOS, add USB stick to the boot devices... .
The problem is that I cannot see anything on screen until the XP desktop appears - no POST, no Windows animation. I can however enter the BIOS and change settings. Which is fine when I know the menu structure (pressing arrow keys etc. a certain number of times to navigate and set).
I can even call the boot menu and select something - but as with the BIOS, the screen stays blank.
However I need to see the BIOS to add the USB stick.
I have tried with/without battery, with one and two external monitors. No matter what combination of screens, none display anything until the XP desktop appears.
Blindly navigating the BIOS to select DVD to boot is doable, but the internal DVD drive is no longer good(reads very few disks like the recovery CDs)
Booting from USB is not documented in the manual, so I cannot guess the key combination I would have to press to add the USB stick.
My thread on the Acer forum died. I'm offering a pint (or two) to anyone who can help me solve this and is or will be on holiday (or living) in Malta.
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