Problems after near Windows 10 install

arkansawdave74 · 19 September 2021 02:15

Hello everyone. I've been away for a bit after frying the display output on my Thinkpad's motherboard with a soda spill. Well, I got a "new" Thinkpad and, boy did I screw this one up quickly. I have rendered the bios and all efi partitions on 2 hard drives "Read-Only."

I figured out what was going on when I read this in askubuntu, but I didn't actually install Windows 10. I changed my mind and aborted the installation, so I have a non-existent Windows 10 that has jacked my bios with non-existent hybernation and fast boot settings.

So, I don't know what to do except to go ahead and install the Windows 10 and see if changing it's settings will help. I hate Microsoft.

I would love to fix this without any help from Microsoft btw, if anyone has any ideas.....

and here's an inxi, since I'm open to suggestions...

╭─garuda@garuda in ~ 
╰─λ sudo inxi -Fmxxxz
System:    Kernel: 5.12.12-zen1-1-zen x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0 Console: tty pts/0 
wm: kwin_x11 DM: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 427639U v: ThinkPad W520 serial: <filter> Chassis: 
type: 10 serial: <filter> 
Mobo: LENOVO model: 427639U serial: <filter> UEFI: LENOVO v: 8BET62WW (1.42 ) date: 07/26/2013 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 41.7 Wh (99.5%) condition: 41.9/93.2 Wh (44.9%) volts: 12.8 min: 11.1 
model: SANYO 42T4799 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Unknown 
Memory:    RAM: total: 23.37 GiB used: 4.47 GiB (19.1%) 
Array-1: capacity: 32 GiB slots: 4 EC: None max-module-size: 8 GiB note: est. 
Device-1: ChannelA-DIMM0 size: 8 GiB speed: 1333 MT/s type: DDR3 detail: synchronous 
bus-width: 64 bits total: 64 bits manufacturer: 0000 part-no: N/A serial: N/A 
Device-2: ChannelA-DIMM1 size: 8 GiB speed: 1333 MT/s type: DDR3 detail: synchronous 
bus-width: 64 bits total: 64 bits manufacturer: 85f7 part-no: N/A serial: N/A 
Device-3: ChannelB-DIMM0 size: 4 GiB speed: 1333 MT/s type: DDR3 detail: synchronous 
bus-width: 64 bits total: 64 bits manufacturer: Samsung part-no: M471B5273CH0-CH9 
serial: <filter> 
Device-4: ChannelB-DIMM1 size: 4 GiB speed: 1333 MT/s type: DDR3 detail: synchronous 
bus-width: 64 bits total: 64 bits manufacturer: Samsung part-no: M471B5273CH0-CH9 
serial: <filter> 
CPU:       Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-2820QM bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Sandy Bridge rev: 7 
cache: L1: 64 KiB L2: 8 MiB L3: 8 MiB 
flags: avx lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 36681 
Speed: 971 MHz min/max: 800/3400 MHz volts: 1.2 V ext-clock: 100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 971 
2: 2909 3: 1824 4: 3289 5: 1751 6: 3290 7: 3291 8: 1169 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics vendor: Lenovo 
driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0126 class-ID: 0300 
Device-2: NVIDIA GF108GLM [Quadro 1000M] vendor: Lenovo driver: N/A bus-ID: 01:00.0 
chip-ID: 10de:0dfa class-ID: 0300 
Device-3: Chicony Lenovo Integrated Camera (0.3MP) type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-1.6:6 
chip-ID: 04f2:b217 class-ID: 0e02 
Display: server: X.Org 1.20.11 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: loaded: intel unloaded: modesetting 
alternate: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz s-dpi: 96 
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2) v: 3.3 Mesa 21.1.2 compat-v: 3.0 
direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad T520 
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:1c20 class-ID: 0403 
Device-2: NVIDIA GF108 High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0bea class-ID: 0403 
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.12.12-zen1-1-zen running: yes 
Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no 
Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: no 
Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.30 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network vendor: Lenovo ThinkPad T520 driver: e1000e v: kernel 
port: 6080 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:1502 class-ID: 0200 
IF: enp0s25 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 5000
bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:0085 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth: Device-1: Broadcom BCM2045B (BDC-2.1) type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-1.4:5
chip-ID: 0a5c:217f class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 523.38 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD5000LPCX-75VHAT1 size: 465.76 GiB
speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> rev: 1A05 scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB model: General USB Flash Disk size: 57.62 GiB rotation: SSD
serial: <filter> rev: 1100 scheme: GPT
Swap:      ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 2.92 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram0
ID-2: swap-2 type: zram size: 2.92 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram1
ID-3: swap-3 type: zram size: 2.92 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram2
ID-4: swap-4 type: zram size: 2.92 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram3
ID-5: swap-5 type: zram size: 2.92 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram4
ID-6: swap-6 type: zram size: 2.92 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram5
ID-7: swap-7 type: zram size: 2.92 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram6
ID-8: swap-8 type: zram size: 2.92 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767 dev: /dev/zram7
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 50.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2773
Info:      Processes: 232 Uptime: 16h 33m wakeups: 1 Init: systemd v: 248 Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0
clang: 12.0.0 Packages: pacman: 1162 Shell: fish (sudo) v: 3.2.2 default: Bash v: 5.1.8
running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.04

Bro · 19 September 2021 03:49

Exactly how do you bolix a BIOS so badly that you can't boot into it? What does the manufacturer say?

tbg · 19 September 2021 04:35

Reset your bios using your mobo's jumper pins (if your model has them).

See if you can flash your bios to a newer version.

Did you chown your drives.

arkansawdave74 · 19 September 2021 13:34

I can still boot to the bios. It’s when i hit “Save and Exit” that it errs. It can’t save any changes. And it all started when I stopped a Windows 10 install about halfway through. It was enough for it to mess up the grubs on both drives and I can’t fix them because the efi partitions are now read only. I haven’t tried much yet though. I just woke up and I have a few ideas. I can also likely fix my efi partitions with my other Thinkpad, from which I removed the lid with the screen. It’'s now my “Desktop” computer.

librewish · 19 September 2021 13:45

Reset bios

And if possible clear cmos

arkansawdave74 · 19 September 2021 17:16

I’ve considered that, but if it actually works and clears but I still can’t save changes I’ll be in much worse shape than I am now. At least now it’s stuck in the configuration I set myself. If it resets I won’t even be able to boot my Garuda installer. I can also flash a new bios. I usually do that with a freedos usb stick, but last time I tried to make a freedos usb I couldn’t find one that would install right on a stick. I’ll have to do some hunting and I’m open to suggestions. This is kind of fun trying to do it without using the windows 10 installer that messed it up.

Oh sorry @tbg. I didn’t see you till just now. Yes I had actually downloaded a newer bios, but it only had one security patch and no new features and the notes actually said it’s not worth the trouble of flashing if your computer is working fine. Lol. I also haven’t looked to see if it needs chowning. I guess I should throw an inxi up in the OP. It’s an oldie but hopefully a goodie…I wasn’t impressed when I saw the GPU actually used Cuda-5.5, and I thought my last one was bad, needing Cuda-9.1.

arkansawdave74 · 19 September 2021 19:34

Okay it's fixed. I fixed it with the damned win10 re-install. I do have a question though. I guess I should make a new thread if I can't find the answer with a forum search. I'm just wondering where /dev/zramxx gets it's room from.

arkansawdave74 · 19 September 2021 21:16

I was wrong. It's not fixed. I can make changes in the bios again though.

I booted the KDE installer, made a new GPT partition table and partitioned for KDE with 2 small partitions at the end for Xfce for one game that won't load in KDE nor Gnome. I then booted the Xfce installer to install Xfce first so that I wouldn't have to fix the bootloader after the 2nd install. I can't copy the text from the error, but here's a screenshot. I'm trying to figure out what's going on now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

And here's a lsblk.

[garuda@garuda-xfce ~]$ lsblk
NAME       MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0        7:0    0  64.2M  1 loop /run/miso/sfs/livefs
loop1        7:1    0 352.1M  1 loop /run/miso/sfs/mhwdfs
loop2        7:2    0     1G  1 loop /run/miso/sfs/desktopfs
loop3        7:3    0 685.3M  1 loop /run/miso/sfs/rootfs
sda          8:0    0 465.8G  0 disk 
├─sda1       8:1    0   100M  0 part /tmp/calamares-root-0hi__3ov/boot/efi
├─sda2       8:2    0    48G  0 part 
├─sda3       8:3    0 397.7G  0 part 
├─sda4       8:4    0    16G  0 part /tmp/calamares-root-0hi__3ov/var/tmp
│                                    /tmp/calamares-root-0hi__3ov/var/log
│                                    /tmp/calamares-root-0hi__3ov/var/cache
│                                    /tmp/calamares-root-0hi__3ov/srv
│                                    /tmp/calamares-root-0hi__3ov/root
│                                    /tmp/calamares-root-0hi__3ov
└─sda5       8:5    0     4G  0 part /tmp/calamares-root-0hi__3ov/home
sdb          8:16   1  57.6G  0 disk 
├─sdb1       8:17   1  57.6G  0 part 
│ └─ventoy 254:0    0   2.2G  1 dm   /run/miso/bootmnt
└─sdb2       8:18   1    32M  0 part 
zram0      253:0    0   2.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram1      253:1    0   2.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram2      253:2    0   2.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram3      253:3    0   2.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram4      253:4    0   2.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram5      253:5    0   2.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram6      253:6    0   2.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
zram7      253:7    0   2.9G  0 disk [SWAP]
[garuda@garuda-xfce ~]$

arkansawdave74 · 19 September 2021 21:49

I'm adding an fdisk -x in case more info is needed. I'm thinking I may try making the disk msdos then making it GPT again, but I'm waiting to hear any other ideas first. I really don't know what to do here. I'm going to start by DDGing the error I guess.

[garuda@garuda-xfce ~]$ sudo fdisk -x
Disk /dev/sda: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD5000LPCX-7
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: CD0235F8-EAB6-AE47-A404-FCD78BB3E64B
First LBA: 2048
Last LBA: 976773134
Alternative LBA: 976773167
Partition entries LBA: 2
Allocated partition entries: 128

Device         Start       End   Sectors Type-UUID                            UUID                                 Name Attrs
/dev/sda1       2048    206847    204800 C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B 23696EE1-5AF9-D141-BA85-C4B31DFFEA6D      NoBlockIOProtocol LegacyBIOSBootable GUID:49,50,53,54,63
/dev/sda2     206848 100870143 100663296 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 81E2651A-C2E2-B44C-9136-F6F147179BB6      NoBlockIOProtocol LegacyBIOSBootable GUID:49,50,53,54,63
/dev/sda3  100870144 934823935 833953792 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 E9550D73-72DF-D746-8396-77E61B6EF9A8      NoBlockIOProtocol LegacyBIOSBootable GUID:49,50,53,54,63
/dev/sda4  934823936 968378367  33554432 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 1B27C343-5FC3-E64C-9F5A-AA703545C0D7      NoBlockIOProtocol LegacyBIOSBootable GUID:49,50,53,54,63
/dev/sda5  968378368 976766975   8388608 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 96D6D4DB-42B1-9247-9410-54109CACD109      NoBlockIOProtocol LegacyBIOSBootable GUID:49,50,53,54,63


Disk /dev/sdb: 57.62 GiB, 61865984000 bytes, 120832000 sectors
Disk model: USB Flash Disk  
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: A6639BCC-3F40-4F52-AF1D-B1F91C6CA059
First LBA: 34
Last LBA: 120831966
Alternative LBA: 120831999
Partition entries LBA: 2
Allocated partition entries: 128

Device         Start       End   Sectors Type-UUID                            UUID                                 Name    Attrs
/dev/sdb1       2048 120766423 120764376 EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 E645D182-411C-4960-A4BE-53683BC93053 Ventoy  
/dev/sdb2  120766424 120831959     65536 EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 160B6DF4-949C-48A6-9CA8-F86CAD72480D VTOYEFI RequiredPartition GUID:63


Disk /dev/mapper/ventoy: 2.23 GiB, 2390882304 bytes, 4669692 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device                   Boot   Start     End Sectors Id Type               Start-C/H/S  End-C/H/S Attrs
/dev/mapper/ventoy-part1 *         64 4661499 4661436  0 Empty                    0/2/1 1018/97/28    80
/dev/mapper/ventoy-part2      4661500 4669691    8192 ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)  1018/97/29 1020/67/28 


Disk /dev/loop0: 64.24 MiB, 67362816 bytes, 131568 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop1: 352.11 MiB, 369209344 bytes, 721112 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop2: 1.04 GiB, 1119711232 bytes, 2186936 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/loop3: 685.34 MiB, 718635008 bytes, 1403584 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes


Disk /dev/zram0: 2.92 GiB, 3136487424 bytes, 765744 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/zram1: 2.92 GiB, 3136487424 bytes, 765744 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/zram2: 2.92 GiB, 3136487424 bytes, 765744 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/zram3: 2.92 GiB, 3136487424 bytes, 765744 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/zram4: 2.92 GiB, 3136487424 bytes, 765744 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/zram5: 2.92 GiB, 3136487424 bytes, 765744 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/zram6: 2.92 GiB, 3136487424 bytes, 765744 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes


Disk /dev/zram7: 2.92 GiB, 3136487424 bytes, 765744 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

I notice it says LegacyBIOSBootable, but the installer was booted UEFI because /boot/efi was the mount point for sda1. At least, I think it was...let me try again and make sure. That's not normal is it?

A re-install quickly failed with this error. I guess I should reboot the installer and try again.

arkansawdave74 · 20 September 2021 11:46

Well, it turns out I had 2 things happen at once. For one, the aborted Windows 10 install had my bios in an unwritable state, and at the same time my efibootmgr boot slots finished filling up so that I couldn't install any more bootloaders without freeing up some slots.

The bios problem was fixed by reinstalling Windows 10 and disabling it's fast boot and hibernation options and the second I figured out with trial and error and then the efibootmgr --help and man pages.

I'd never heard of efibootmgr until now, but luckily I was able to figure it out. Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Live and learn, right? Lol.

system · 22 September 2021 11:47

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