UEFI boot help needed
 

Anyone here have some insight into UEFI boots? I have a 2 year old Lenovo Thinkcenter M92p desktop that I was attempting to upgrade to Win10 and then do a HD reformat and clean reinstall...and it hasn't gone well.

I spare the full description of my various attempts to make this work, but here's where we stand.

Upgraded to Win10. Created Win10 installation media (both USB and DVD). Attempted to reboot to install media, would get black screen on reboot. Removing install media and rebooting would go back to Windows.

At this point I've progressively eliminated possible conflicts and now, with no videocard, no USB devices other than keyboard and mouse (which are plugged into the 2 USB 2.0 ports), it won't boot past the Lenovo splash screen. I've tried it with the HD unplugged just to see if I could get the UEFI menu to come up, and still just the Lenovo splash screen and nothing else.

Thoughts? At this point I am thinking the motherboard must be done...at the very least, a working motherboard should be able to get me to the UEFI menu when I boot up even if there are no valid boot devices. But then I'm much more comfortable with legacy BIOS settings than the UEFI stuff so I'm not 100% confident I've ruled out all other possibilities.

Not sure on the board, too lazy to look it up (at the bar :party: )

Imo, does the mb docs talk ab using the new bios at all?

Whats wrong with using the old school bios? Seems like it would be the better choice if on laptop unless its ment for gaming.

I wouldn't try to use the new if it worked already with the old :dunno:

Desktop, not laptop.

Was built with Win8, so no legacy BIOS. Just UEFI.

Before you try a new board have you cleared the cmos? Maybe it's glitched and looking to boot from something no longer there.

Ah my bad, drinky drink + mobile ;)

I would try what deezums mentioned. I doubt the MB would be toast.

Is the MB running the latest firmware for the UEFI?

<p>Does this help?&nbsp; UEFI Firmware Settings - Boot to from inside Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums</p><p>It's basically how I needed to force the machine to reboot into UEFI.&nbsp; IIRC, same steps apply to 8.1</p>

Guys...it won't boot past the Lenovo splash screen. I can't update mobo or chipset drivers, I can't select advanced boot options in Windows.

No video card, no USB other than keyboard (in a USB2.0 port), no other cards or peripherals. I've tried with each memory stick individually. I've tried it with the HD plugged in and the HD unplugged. I cleared the CMOS, same result.

So...at this point, I'm not sure what it could be other than the motherboard or the power supply. If I've reset the CMOS, and powering it on with no boot device, I ought to be able to get to the UEFI menu, no? Why is it stuck on the splash screen?

Your computer is actually doing lots of things while you see that splash logo. I like to set my settings to display post data, so I can see what's up. You can't do that now, unfortunately.

It it trying to initialize sata devices, plus lots of other things. If one of those things hangs the boot process stops. If you have removed everything other than the monitor, cleared the cmos, and it still won't get past POST I'm afraid it's toast. Try to remove all the ram except one stick too, shuffle them so you can make sure one isnt' bad.

In the day motherboards had speakers to talk post problems out to you, you might have the header for it with no speaker. If you find a speaker and plug it in it may talk to you.

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

Might be back in business. Apparently removing the CMOS battery doesn't clear it, you have to do switch the CMOS jumper. Got the UEFI menu, going to see if it'll boot from the Win10 DVD now.

Good deal, there are capacitors on board that likely hold battery voltage for a few minutes or more, clearing the jumper shorts that out as I understand it.

Or maybe not. Now if I reset the CMOS, I can get into the UEFI menu. I changed it to legacy boot with an F2 boot order key and F10 UEFI menu...but it still won't boot past the Lenovo splash screen.

Are you sure you can boot that disc? What's it do with no CD in the tray?

Same thing, hangs at the splash screen. Does the same with a USB Win10 install flash drive.

Hm, at this point I'd just start randomly trying things. I have a cmos reset switch jumper for the occasion.

<p>Try repeatedly pressing F1 while it's booting.&nbsp; At some point the Lenovo boot screen should go away and let you into the bios.</p>

At this point I don't know what else to try. After clearing the CMOS, I can get into the UEFI menu. Beyond that, no matter how simple the configuration, it won't boot past the Lenovo splash screen.

Tonight I'm going to double check my Win10 install media DVD and USB to make sure they are really bootable. If they test out okay, and I can't get the Lenovo desktop to boot from them...*shrug*

Have you updated the BIOS? I have hard a hard time getting new computers running on UEFI without first updating them.

Do you have a motherboard speaker?

I can try again tonight, but how would I update the UEFI/BIOS if it won't boot from any removable media?

Burn iso to disc would be the first one I'd try.

Flash BIOS update - ThinkCentre Edge 92, ThinkCentre M82, M92 and M92p, ThinkStation E31 - Lenovo Support (US)

Edit*

Looks like these were just recently updated (8/14/2015)

The readme - https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/t.../9sjy90usa.txt

Okay, over the last couple hours:

1. Confirmed that both my Win10 USB Install drive and Win10 DVD install ISO work perfectly on my work laptop. Both boot to the installer exactly as expected. Retested both on the desktop, still nothing.

2. Poked through the BIOS menu, there's no flash update option there -- the only way to do it is either from the OS (obviously out of the question) or with a boot disk of some type.

3. Created both USB key and CD flash BIOS update disks. Both failed. The CD did get me ever so slightly farther than before -- I can hear the DVD drive spin up, then the screen changes to completely black with a blinking cursor in the top left. But that's it -- it sits on that screen, then the DVD drive spins back down, and nothing else happens.

I have a spare power supply but Lenovo uses a stupid proprietary 14 pin connector for the motherboard. I've ordered a 24 pin to 14 pin adapter so that I can try out the other power supply. If that fails to fix it...