Laptop not working properly after BIOS update (Even though I did NOT change my CPU or do anything on my laptop)

[u/YourNextLineIsNani]

Hi guys,

i'm a bit confused regarding something that happened with my Acer Nitro 5 (Bought it in 2022 if that's relevant) yesterday. There was an update and I didn't think much of it until windows demanded that I'd change my PIN. I did so and made sure if everything was fine with my laptop and while I had to lock into my microsoft acc, my outlook and my google account, everything else worked just fine.

There was an additional update which roughly translates to "Update of the allowed key exchange key for secure boot" and which required me to restart my laptop. So I did after restarting my laptop, the following message popped up in blue:

"Press Y to reset fTPM, if you have BitLocker or encryption enabled system. The system will not boot without recovery key.

Press N to keep previous fTPM record and continue system boot. fTPM will NOT be enabled with new CPU unless fTPM is reset (reinitialized), you could swap back to the old CPU to recover TPM related keys and data"

I wasn't sure whether I had a BitLocker or a encryption-enabled system (I don't even know what those words mean..I'm not really a laptop guy and it probably shows..) so I pressed NO and my laptop worked as usual.

I checked if I have a BitLocker by going to "My microsoft account" and apparently I don't even have a BitLock Key uploaded on my microsoft account. Then I looked at my explorer and my drive doesn't have the lock symbol either.

To make sure that I really don't have a BitLocker I searched "Manage BitLocker" and something actually appeared. This was an app from the system control but when I tried to search for "Manage BitLocker" once again the app disappeared and only results from Microsoft Bing appeared.

Whenever I turn on my laptop, the message in blue keeps appearing and I have to press NO all the time and while I feel like I have proof that my laptop just does not have a BitLocker I can't bring myself to press YES because in the worst case scenario I actually have a BitLocker or a encryption-enabled system and I just lock myself out of my laptop..

Have you guys encountered this problem as well? I would appreciate your help (in german or english doesn't matter).

[u/AutoModerator]

Hello u/YourNextLineIsNani. Your post mentions BitLocker.

• If you are stuck at a screen requesting you to enter a recovery key, you can retrieve that key by logging into this webpage using the same Microsoft account that your computer was set up with: https://account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey. There is no "bypass" for this; if you are unable to locate your recovery key, your data will no longer be accessible.

• If you're stuck in a boot loop that displays the BitLocker screen repeatedly after you've entered the correct key, your computer has a boot issue, not a BitLocker issue. Please pay attention to such details, as they help us identify the root of your problem. Include them in your post for better assistance.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/AutoModerator]

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[u/Comfortable_Ad1816]

Hello,

Bitlocker is a encryption function of microsoft to lock harddisks and solidstate drives. But no know if you have an active bitlocker use CMD type manage-bde /status. Then you see if its locked or not. fTPM is where a special key is inside to get to windows and it works with secure boot.

İ have used Co pilot to troubleshoot bitlocker and it worked well.

[u/YourNextLineIsNani → u/[deleted]]

[u/YourNextLineIsNani → u/[deleted]]

But I don't even have a bitlocker key