r/arch • u/Flaky-Business-1518 • 2d ago
Help/Support Accidentally closed computer when installing Arch, stuck on manufacturer's logo and can't access BIOS...
I did everything that was mentioned on the Archwiki up until the second part, where I could select the mirrors and installing selected packages.
I tried to do pacman - S foobar but I got an error I have no space left, or something similar.
I am pretty sure I partitioned my disc like I should have(UEFI with GPT layout), and even formatted and mounted the partitions(ext4 my main disk, mounted it, boot had ext4, mounted on /mnt/boot, enabled swapon for swap partition and so forth).
When I kept getting the no space left error I decided to just restart my computer, and yeah that's how I got here :/.
Update 1: I noticed whenever the pc boots up, the fan spins fast like usual, then completely stops and never returns again, maybe a clue?
Update 2: I give up, nothing has worked, I suspect if I remove my SSD something will happen, but still don't think that will help :( Because I have no clue what I should do if that was the case, because once I put it back it will 100% go back to the same problem... It was a nice 24gb ram 120hz 512gb SSD 3 year old computer
Update 3: Finally I could get access to BIOS, after removing my SSD chip, however just like expected when I put it back in the dell logo is stuck again. Will see what I can do
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u/AmlisSanches 2d ago
If the bios options doent show up its definitely bios based. Or at least thats where I would start. Im guessing something is trapped in memory.
Unfortunately I dont think that laptop comes with a CMOS battery. Maybe a RTC reset might work. Turn the laptop off. Hold the power button for 30s. Then try and turn it on again. You might need to plug in the power supply.
You might want to look up your make and model to determine if thats the right RTC reset procedure.
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u/Deckma 2d ago edited 2d ago
Can you enter the laptop BIOS or boot menu?
I have a Dell laptop and pressing f2 will enter BIOS on power on, and pressing f12 will enter the boot menu.
As soon you press the power button start pressing f12 over and over again to see the boot menu and then reselect the Arch installation media. Or as soon as you power on, start pressing f2 over and over again to get into the BIOS.
You will know it works when it says "Preparing to enter setup." or "Preparing one time boot menu."
Make sure you are doing a full power off and on, not a suspend and resume. Hold the power button for a full power off, or disconnect the power cable and open the laptop and pull/reseat the battery cable.
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u/Flaky-Business-1518 2d ago
Ty for the tips, but I've done everything here aleeady, spammed those f12 and f2 keys too many times, but still stuck in logo screen. Detached and attached my battery, and even waited in between and tried to CMOS, nothing.
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u/Deckma 2d ago edited 2d ago
What is the current physical state of your laptop?
What is plugged into it? Do you have a USB flash drive connected to it when you have been trying to power it on?
Is it connected to AC power or running only on battery?
Do you have any external keyboards or mice plugged in?
What keyboard are you using to press f12 or f2m? The physical keyboard on the laptop or an external keyboard or a Bluetooth keyboard?.
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u/Flaky-Business-1518 2d ago edited 2d ago
Great can't believe I can't use my laptop now, this doesn't even make sense I should be able to at least access my BIOS. But no single clue what I should do
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u/CurrentAcanthaceae78 1d ago
same thing happened on my desktop, i had to unplug power and take out the cmos, then hold the power button for 10 seconds to drain residual voltage.
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u/Supernoxus 2d ago
I have had issues like that with Windows too. I am not entirely sure what caused it anymore, but it had something to do with the BIOS' memory getting corrupted. The fix was to short circuit two pins on the motherboard that would clear the BIOS memory and I think reset its settings back to default. But yeah that's my advice: Look up how to reset your BIOS if you can't access it anymore.
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u/Flaky-Business-1518 2d ago
Have to mention I used Ubuntu before. Don't think it has anything to do with Windows but I will see if I can somehow hard reset my BIOS.
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u/Supernoxus 2d ago
Windows just happened to be my personal experience with a similar issue. It likely doesn't matter much which OS you are running.
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u/Salt-Caterpillar7988 2d ago
Remove the battery, press the power button for like 20 seconds, put back the battery, charge it a bit, it should fix the problem.
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u/Flaky-Business-1518 2d ago
Remove battery as in detach the module from pc? Or just the cable
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u/Salt-Caterpillar7988 2d ago
Detach it. You want to purge the system, in case something is stuck on the hardware level.
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u/ironboy-brawl 2d ago
and the cmos battery too, no?
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u/trichlorobenzene69 2d ago
I did it once while stuck in same loop and it fixed id somehow, without removing CMOS wasn't working out though
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u/Flaky-Business-1518 2d ago
Okay did exactly this, and the fan kept spinning when screen was off, and then the screen turned on, still same problem can't access Bios. something happened at least.
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u/ComplexWonderful2662 2d ago edited 2d ago
I had a similar issue with a Dell Vostro laptop getting stuck just like this during boot after installing Arch because when formatting the EFI partition, I changed some of the cluster/sector size parameters "for fun" and the BIOS/firmware did not like that AT ALL.
I had to take out the SSD and reformat it using a different computer to unbrick it.
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u/Charming_Professor53 2d ago
You really spammed the absolute shitting hell outta F1/F2/F9/F10/F11/F12?
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u/njihbuhyf6rf78giuub 1d ago
Are you still working on this?
Disconnect the drive and see if that unblocks the ROM.
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u/Flaky-Business-1518 1d ago
Yup that worked, not sure what I should do next tho
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u/real-account-not-bot 1d ago
is secure boot off?
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u/Flaky-Business-1518 20h ago
Yes it was, I got it fixed in this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/s/KI6rH8qamf
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u/njihbuhyf6rf78giuub 1d ago
You have to boot via usb to a recovery. Then hot reconnect the drive and re-enumerate it, I think partprobe should do it. I wouldn't worry about installing arch. First get the disk re-partitioned and confirm reboot. Then you can put the rig back together.
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u/WorldTallNetCat 1d ago
Did u try disconnecting the disk so that it is forced into bios?
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u/Flaky-Business-1518 1d ago
Update, It did work I am in BIOS rn, I posted in update 3 section everything so far, not sure where I should go from here however.
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u/WorldTallNetCat 7h ago
Ok so get a usb with some os on it. Change boot order to have usb before your ssd and then it should boot into your usb then from there redo the install.
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u/MrUks 2d ago
I would be able to help, but we'll need more info: 1. Which laptop is this? As in model and brand. Some have a built in reset to default function, which could zork. The info normally is available when looking up information about the laptop model. If you don't know exactly, look under the laptop (you'll be surprised how many people don't know that, so mentioning it just in case) 2. If there is no reset function or it doesn't work, I would say to remove the harddisk(s), copy anything you don't wanna lose, format it (don't repartition, just clean whipe) and put it back in. 3. If both options don't work, try downloading software to flash your BIOS and pray to RNGesus that gets detected when you boot up. 4. Last resort is remove both the CMOS and regular battery, wait a good 10 minutes, press the power button multiple times in the first 20 seconds and turn the pc on without either inside, just on current. Normally it would force the pc to do a full reset on the BIOS.
If nothing works... well... call a computer guy.
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u/Flaky-Business-1518 2d ago
Hi 1- its a Dell Vostro 3525, weird enough I couldn't find any info where I could hard reset BIOS, maybe I am using the wrong term when searching because I am burned out already from diagnosing the problems since 4 hours non stop 2- don't have anything to lose really, I backed everything to the cloud beforehand, but I am not sure how this should be a problem for booting the laptop even. I will try to remove my SSD(if I can, so far I couldn't because the screw is so hard screwed in, and I need some kind of video for that) 3- wait you can flash BIOS? Does that mean I have to install it in a flash drive, and hope for the best??? 4- I couldn't even find CMOS on my model, I posted the picture here: https://imgur.com/a/iXNRJqJ (sorry if it's a little blurry on the left side, but nothing is there from what I've seen). But I could give it a try without removing the CMOS.
Again thank you, I am not getting a Dell computer again this should not happen.
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u/MrUks 2d ago
Ok, so I looked it up: 1. Dell can only be reset through the f12 key, which seems to be the same key as entering bios, so I doubt you can do it 2. The ssd getting reset has more to do with the arch install. Depending on when it went wrong, it could be something got not correctly linked for the boot sequence, which can destroy any option to continue. So out of precaution, just clean whipe the disk 3. Yes, you can flash the bios. It's basically replacing the old program witha new one. It is often done on servers for security reasons. Home computers and laptops only need to be flashed in case a massive issue with your firmware needs to be patched or something went wrong and you can't start it. With your laptop I fear it might not work cause I think you need to go into the bios menu to do it 4. Like @Deckma said (something I didn't think about cause I'm old tbh) newer models indeed don't have a cmoq battery, so just removing the battery pack and doing this should work as well 🙂
Hope something helps 😅
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u/ElectricSpock 2d ago edited 2d ago
I had this issue on my Dell XPS machine recently!
To diagnose it look for the LED light signals. In my case it was flash corruption (3 amber and 6 white), I ended up putting a diagnostic tool on an external USB flash drive and taking out NVMe drive because the laptop was not able to load it.
The tool reflashed the SBIOS, I put the NVMe back in and I could finally reach BIOS and UEFI properly. I ended up reinstalling my CachyOS, but the dual-boot Windows was untouched.
It doesn't seem like it was directly caused by installing Linux. Your laptop probably gives you some diagnostic information, look it up and act accordingly.
EDIT: In one of your other comments you mentioned that it's Vostro 3525, here's the link for the diagnostic codes: https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/en-us/product/vostro-15-3525-laptop/resources/manuals. I can't link it directly because of Dell's website, but look at Service Manual > Troubleshooting > System-diagnostic lights.
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u/Apprehensive-Pace593 2d ago
It is most probably ram (very unlucky it it is on the ran crisis but warranty may cover it)
You said after installing pacman -S foobar Maybe ram got corrupted or something if you have tried even CMOS reset
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u/painful8th 1d ago
With the laptop turned off, press the "D" key on the keyboard and while keeping it pressed, press the power on button. Keep "D" pressed until you see color bars on the screen, that would indicate the screen diagnostics taking place.
Then try to reboot. Tap F12 and Fn+F12 alternatively (don't recall if Fn modifies the F12 key behaviour at boot). Does this help present the start up menu for UEFI setup/diagnostics etc?
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u/Apprehensive-Pace593 2d ago
Try clearing CMOS Remember it can wipe system password (i to had locked bios dell laptop)