bios hidden & boot sequence disabled in new Acer Aspire One

Discussion in 'Linux' started by aspergerian, Jun 9, 2009.

  1. aspergerian

    aspergerian

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    A friend purchased a new AA1 yesterday, loaded with XP because that was the only option at a WalMart in Colorado. He wants to use Ubuntu. I have an iso stick for Heron and realize there are newer ubuntu versions available. Here's the problem. His AA1 D250-1026 does not include usb ports in the boot sequence, and there seems no "usual" way (if any) to show the bios. Thus two questions: Can an AA1 user see the bios settings? Can those settings be altered so as to include the usb ports in the boot sequence?
     
    aspergerian, Jun 9, 2009
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  2. aspergerian

    DutchDK

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    You have tried pressing F2 during the start, just after turning the machine on, and before it starts to load Windows XP, right ?
    What about pressing F12, to select the boot device. Is that working (remember to plug in the usb stick before turning on the machine) ?
     
    DutchDK, Jun 9, 2009
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  3. aspergerian

    aspergerian

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    Thnx for the suggestion. We weren't pressing F2 soon enough in the initial boot sequence. Then, with F12 held while booting, the usb holding the stick was recognized. Even as this message is typed, Ken is installing Heron
     
    aspergerian, Jun 9, 2009
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  4. aspergerian

    michael.belcher

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    You might want to try out Jaunty 9.04, or the Jaunty UNR. It seemed to work better, for me at least, than hardy did.
     
    michael.belcher, Jun 9, 2009
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  5. aspergerian

    Xinês

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    Yes, much better.
     
    Xinês, Jun 9, 2009
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  6. aspergerian

    DutchDK

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    Pleased to be of assistance.

    It's a bit wierd that Acer has decided to remove the "Press F2 for Setup" prompt during boot. Try to check whether there's an option to display that, as well as to display the F12 prompt for bootdevice selection, in the Bios setup screen. If the D250 uses an InsydeBios (highly likely, since InsydeFlash is partly owned by Acer), those options should be displayed in the "Main" section of the Bios setup.

    Furthermore, as Michael Belcher wrote above, you really should install Jaunty Jackalope, instead of Hardy Heron. Much better support for the devices in the AA1 out of the box, than in Hardy Heron.

    I'm running a Jaunty Jackalope Ubuntu Netbook Remix on a USB stick, and almost everything just plain works out of the box, including the mini-usb BT adapter I've modded onto the motherboard (tnkgrl mod), and the 3G Huawei USB modem I use on the road.

    The only items not working, are the WiFi led (since I prefer to use the Ath5K kernel module, and not the deprecated MadWiFi module), and the SD card readers not being recognised unless there is a card in them at boot. The latter item can be fixed by following the guidelines on the Ubuntu Wiki for A110L (pciehp fix), and the former item can be fixed by installing the Madwfi alternate, and blacklistng Ath5K - Personally though, I don't mind not having the blinking LED - I want a working PC, not a bleeding lightshow... :p

    Hibernation works fine out of the box with the 9.04 UNR, as long as the swap partition is set to installed memory + 32 MB - In my case, I have a 1056 MB swap partition, and hibernation without any corruption of the SD card in the expansion slot works without a hitch.


    So switching to 9.04 eitheir the regular version or the UNR version is highly recommended, compared to Hardy Heron.
     
    DutchDK, Jun 9, 2009
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  7. aspergerian

    aspergerian

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    I'm downloading DNR 9.04, will make an iso on 2g stick. Will try that next on Ken's new AA1.
     
    aspergerian, Jun 9, 2009
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  8. aspergerian

    DutchDK

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    UNR 9.04 I hope - UNR = Ubuntu Netbook Remix. DNR is most commonly used in the hospital and hospice sector... Do Not Resuscitate... ;)
     
    DutchDK, Jun 9, 2009
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  9. aspergerian

    mzc

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    Acer may be discouraging consumers to install a different OS....or....would like to show the consumer the illusion that XP would boot faster by bypassing the menu options...

    in whatever way you at it its very pathetic. just my opinion.. :)
     
    mzc, Jun 10, 2009
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