[LAPTOP] [Solved] [Sort of...] Locked out of laptop

[stuarte]

Hi all,

I am currently experiencing a very serious situation in that I am locked out of my laptop. When I try to access the BIOS (CSM mode), the laptop no longer recognises either the f2 or del key (it has been so long since I had to access the BIOS that I can't remember which is the correct key and yes I have tried each one after a separate cold boot) which is how this system allows a user to access the BIOS. After only one or two seconds the laptop just goes straight to the os/memtest selection screen. At this point the system does not respond to the cursor arrow keys. Pressing these keys does not change the selected item which is usually the item at the top of the list.

Using a flash drive with Kubuntu 22.04.3 (downloaded yesterday and) installed (this morning), I used this to try and examine the laptop hdd. I opened up Kate (not full screen) and the system started auto-filling the text edit area with many instances of the letter k. As i type this, the info beneath the text edit area displays line 1, column 17,041 and seems to have stopped there for the moment. Nope, it now reads line 1, column 21.575 although the column number no longer visually increments, just changes every minute or so. Also, if I set Dolphin to display (hdd)/home/ordinaryuser, Dolphin jumps to (hdd)/home/ordinaryuser/sketchbook (I have the Ardiuno IDE installed on the hdd) and flashes a drop down list. This list contains entries for Documents, Downloads, Picture, Projects, amongst many other items. If I leave Dolphin focused on the sketchbook folder, it just keeps on flahing that list immediately under the label for sketchbook. After approximately ten minutes Kate's column 21,575 number has not changed Could that number be significant ?

When shutting down thw system, the text on the left of the screen flashes continually. It seems to cycle back to the line "Please remove the installation media and press Enter" followed by the line "( OK ) Finished Tell Plymouth to Jump to initramfs". When I then removed the flash drive the system did immediately shut down.

I have old dvd-based copies of Rescatux, System Rescue CD 2.0 and Super Grub2 Disk Hybrid 2.02s8.

I tried to run the Rescatux dvd but this did not work. Although the dvd drive did spin up and it sounded that the disk was being accessed, the dvd drive then just spun down and went silent. Rescatux did not appear on screen. What did appear was Ubuntu that I installed by mistake early last week. (I downloaded the jammy-desktop iso from the cdimage website mistakenly believing that this was a Kubuntu release.) With this distro I cannot get past the login screen.

I then tried to run the System Rescue CD but this just produced the same drive spin up, disk audibly being accessed then the drive spinning down/going silent result as for the previous disk.

In a word, help.

Stuart

[Qqmike]

I don't really know, Stuart. Some of the guys here will want to know the laptop brand (e.g., Acer, ASUS, etc.) and model number.
The laptop's HDD and/or memory chips could be the cause.

But, first, I only want to suggest to try to access the BIOS this way:
Turn on the laptop and * immediately * press and hold the magic key to access BIOS (f2 or del key).
Continue holding it as the laptop starts. Perhaps you will see the choice to enter BIOS, or it may enter BIOS by itself.

Some devices, like laptops, also have some kind of magic key combinations to enter BIOS or to hard re-boot.

[stuarte]

Hi QqMike,

Thank you for such a swift reply. As you will see from my original post, I did hold down f2 and then del, each after a separate cold boot. In each case, this made no discenable difference. The laptop would just jump straight to the O.S./memtest selection list.

Does anyone happen to know of a (preferably linux based) app that :-
a) could be "burned" to an 8 GB USB flash drive ?
b) boot a laptop into its BIOS ?
c) show what key codes are sent to the O.S. when a key is pressed on the keyboard ?

Stuart

[claydoh]

a) any of them, like Kubuntu
b) Any, but not directly - BUT in System Settings, you can usually set this for a one-time boot. This should work from a live session, as it is just using a command line tool to tell the UEFI system to go to the setup menus (your BIOS).

Or the command systemctl reboot --firmware
from the command line, which will work on non-KDE live sessions (I have no clue where this option is located on different desktops, I am sure that it does in many)

c) Any, you use the cli tool xev, which will show you this info, and should already be installed.
There are others such as keymon and screenkey, that offer GUIs but you need to have a working connection to install.

[stuarte]

Hi claydoh,

Thank you for your reply. Sadly, a further development means that I cannot put that into effect. Yesterday I found a website that gave clear instruction of how to access the bios on the laptop. Specifically, press and hold down the f2 key and then power up the machine. (I had been rapidly pressing and releasing the f2 key during power up.) On gaining entry to the bios I found that the system did not respond to presses of the arrow keys or either of the Enter keys. So, I was unable to make any changes therein.

I then powered down the laptop and immediately attempted to repeat the process. This was not possible. On being powered up the second time, with the f2 key pressed and held down, the system went straight to the O.S./memtest selection list. I was no longer able to access the bios. This clearly implies that something had changed within the software between those two attempts to access the bios.

I am at a loss as to what to do now that I seem to be locked out of even accessing the bios.

[EDIT]
I've just had a thought. In your reply you stated :-

b) Any, but not directly - BUT in System Settings, you can usually set this for a one-time boot. This should work from a live session, as it is just using a command line tool to tell the UEFI system to go to the setup menus (your BIOS).

How do I do that in a live session ? Also could you please repost a larger version of the image contained in your reply ? This wee Chromebook is incapable of expanding an image.

Stuart

[claydoh]

Click the image to open a larger zoomable version.

On Chrome OS you can zoom using the same Ctrl+ and - keys or via its three-dot menu on the top right of the browser

The setting is located at
System Settings>>Startup and Shutdown>>Desktop Session

You can do this from a live Kubuntu USB, either from system settings or konsole using the command I gave

Have you considered attaching a USB keyboard to the laptop?

[Qqmike]

btw,

press and hold down the f2 key and then power up the machine.

... that's what I recommended, but you misunderstood me. Have you tried it again (and again)?

[stuarte]

The Good morning all,

claydoh: wrt the image from your previous reply, I have just opened the image on my chromebook only to find that it is far larger than previously and more readable. WRT using a usb keyboard, I have just one that only to find that the bios screen does(!!) recognise presses of the arrow keys. BTW, the Boot Speed is set to normal.

Qqmike: this morning, with an external usb keyboard connected, I pressed and held down the f2 key on that keyboard and pressed the power button and the system jumped straight to the bios set up screen. Pressing f10 to save changes and exit the bios causes the system to display the O.S./memtest screen. The problem here is that the first two list entries mention Ubuntu even though i completed a Kubuntu 22.04.3 install. However, the system is back to auto-generating many letter "k"s on screen during the boot up process. In fact, whilst typing up this paragraph, the system went into screensaver mode whereby the login password box was removed from the screen. This then returned and was auto-filled with black dots, no doubt representing umpteen letter "k"s. This is a recurrence of a previous problem that I had with Kubuntu 22.04.1 though it seemed to go away after I installed Kubuntu 22.04.2 (see my previous thread about keyboard problems). Using the external keyboard, the letter "d" is recognised and displayed in Konsole after only one keypress however the letter "k" needed two key presses initially to be recognised and displayed after which it was recognised and displayed after on key press. I guess that I will need to wait and see if updates will cure this problem. On the bright side, the system does now boot into Kubuntu with the slowly brightening and dimming Kubuntu name appearing during boot up. It even sets up the very same multi-virtual desktop session that I was using prior to installing 22.04.3.

[claydoh]

The problem here is that the first two list entries mention Ubuntu even though i completed a Kubuntu 22.04.3 install.

This is accurate and normal - Kubuntu IS Ubuntu at the operating system level.

I really suspect a hardware-related problem here, to be honest.

[Qqmike]

TBH, I have no clue about the keyboard issues. I yield to claydoh on that! (I vote for it being a 'hardware' issue.)

[Snowhog]

the system is back to auto-generating many letter "k"s on screen during the boot up process. In fact, whilst typing up this paragraph, the system went into screensaver mode whereby the login password box was removed from the screen. This then returned and was auto-filled with black dots, no doubt representing umpteen letter "k"s. This is a recurrence of a previous problem that I had with Kubuntu 22.04.1 though it seemed to go away after I installed Kubuntu 22.04.2 (see my previous thread about keyboard problems). Using the external keyboard, the letter "d" is recognised and displayed in Konsole after only one keypress however the letter "k" needed two key presses initially to be recognised and displayed after which it was recognised and displayed after on key press.

This all suggests to me that you have a dirty keyboard, specifically, that some of the keys are gunked up enough to 'stick' in the on (pushed) position. Such a situation would explain why you have been/are having issues booting. If a key is 'stuck', it's going to interfere with the boot process.

[stuarte]

Good afternoon all,

claydoh: wrt the image you provided in post #4, the Chromebook did not enlarge it but the laptop does, quite a bit. Also, the contents of the "Desktop Session" shown in that image differ markedly from those shown on my laptop. Please see attached file, desktop_session.png.

[claydoh]

Are you actually using Kubuntu 22.04? My image was taken from a mostly stock setup

In any case, the command I gave does the same thing.

[stuarte]

Good evening all,

claydoh: wrt

Are you actually using Kubuntu 22.04?

I have just plugged the flash drive into my Chromebook and the Files utility reports the iso file as Kubuntu 22.04.3 as shown below.

Aside: On this Chromebook, a .iso file has to be renamed as a .bin file before it can be "burned" to a usb flash drive. This process also sets the flash drive as read only, as you can see in the above image. One last thing. In your screenshot in post #13, at the bottom of your Desktop Session dialog, there is a small box labelled "Enter firmware setup screen on next restart". As you can see from my image in post #12, my Desktop Session dialog does not(!) have that control. How did you set that up ?

[claydoh]

As you can see from my image in post #12, my Desktop Session dialog does not(!) have that control. How did you set that up ?

That is part of a default Plasma. You should have it. I don't know why you don't see it. I see it on every KDE install no matter which distro it happens to be.
What custom theming or colors are you using here? Maybe yours has a bug or something that is hiding it? This seems unlikely to be the cause, though.

Aside: On this Chromebook, a .iso file has to be renamed as a .bin file before it can be "burned" to a usb flash drive.

Yes, this is a useful 'hack' for creating a Linux USB stick from Chrome OS using its recovery stick creator. I have done this often myself.
As an aside to your aside , an ISO image is technically using the format of an optical disk, which is why these are usually read-only. It depends on the tool, though, as some do extra work to allow for a writable portion of the stick to be usable.

And as an aside too all these asides, and to completely go off-topic , did you know that many to most Chromebooks support running a sandboxed Linux container that allows one to run Linux software in a similar way that Anddoid apps can be run in Chrome OS
This is highly command-line in terms of setting up and installing applications, and needs manual work, but app icons are created for most. I routinely run Firefox on my Chromebooks, as well as Libreoffice using this. Most Chromebook users (students) just want to run Minecraft, lol.
It is NOT ideal for most people in most cases, but is interesting nonetheless. Particularly, many (most) Chromebooks lack enough extra horsepower and ram, let alone storage space sometimes.