Question Asus BIOS question ?

[oceanrace]

I recently had my power supply go out and it was replaced. Then the SSD died, so I purchased a new WD Blue 1tB drive, a UEFI. I booted and went into the bios to try to set it to look at a USB port to re-install windows, a purchased win11 home OS and of course it came on a USB stick.. . The motherboard is an Asus 77 series. I do not have a manual for it, the computer was built a few years ago.



I could not get it to see a USB port in bios. I also set it to UEFI thinking that since the new boot drive was no longer legacy, that would be necessary. Now my computer seems to be bricked. Is there a way to go re-set the CMOS or something? This a computer I built several years ago, so not the latest and greatest at all. Should I just get a new motherboard or can this be re-set somehow? I need some advice
from guys more experienced in resolving this than I am. Before I start buying parts to up grade.

Also what all is involved in moving to Linux? Not a big fan of Microsoft.

 

[CountMike]

I recently had my power supply go out and it was replaced. Then the SSD died, so I purchased a new WD Blue 1tB drive, a UEFI. I booted and went into the bios to try to set it to look at a USB port to re-install windows, a purchased win11 home OS and of course it came on a USB stick.. . The motherboard is an Asus 77 series. I do not have a manual for it, the computer was built a few years ago.



I could not get it to see a USB port in bios. I also set it to UEFI thinking that since the new boot drive was no longer legacy, that would be necessary. Now my computer seems to be bricked. Is there a way to go re-set the CMOS or something? This a computer I built several years ago, so not the latest and greatest at all. Should I just get a new motherboard or can this be re-set somehow? I need some advice
from guys more experienced in resolving this than I am. Before I start buying parts to up grade.

Also what all is involved in moving to Linux? Not a big fan of Microsoft.

Look up (it should be printed on the MB) which exact MB you have, Download it's manual in which you will see which posts are for resetting CMOS, usually marked Clr_Cmos. You connect those posts with a metal object while all power is removed from PSU for few seconds.
Other way is to remove CMOS battery for few minutes also with all power removed or it wouldn't work. If you remove battery date and time in BIOS will also be reset, That's called "hard reset". But firs, since you have access to BIOS settings, there should be option for "Factory defaults" or "Optimized defaults" which would do same thing as first option.
While you are looking at manual find if there is a "Special" USB port for booting from, usually USB2 and not USB3. Also take in the account that your USB with Windows is not actually bootable. If you already had W11 Home running, you didn't need to buy new W11, you could do that for free by using MS tool
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11 to make same thing.
As for Linux installation, it's very similar to Windows with little variation between distros but for that you also have to solve problem with booting from USB. Linux is not one but has hundreds of distros so you will have to choose one first and learn how to install.

 

[BFG-9000]

77 series chipsets came out in 2012 and no LGA1155 CPU that fits in them supports Windows 11. But should run it unsupported OK for now.

The model number should be printed on the motherboard itself in large font, but the CMOS clear procedure should be similar for all and is as described above. Here are the manuals for P8Z77 and Z77

There is another option if you can't figure out USB boot in your BIOS and that is ATAPI boot from optical drive. Just burn whatever linux distro iso you wish to try to a recordable disc. Most of them you can try before committing to installing by simply live booting them from the disc--the installer is usually an icon on the desktop of the live booted disc.

 

[oceanrace]

OK much thanks for the heads up. I suspected there might be conflicts with win11 and existing legacy hardware. Computer was running win10 when power supply then SSD boot drive died. Looks like it would be best to just go ahead and upgrade components at this time. I did read the win11 tutorial on this site. Really good article.

One last question, my HP laptop win10 is pestering me about move to win11. When this occurs, does windows do a compatibility check as part of the process? Kind of nervous about this since that puter is also several years old. It is working fine, should I just dis-allow the win11 install or let it try and see what happens?? I need the laptop to buy my parts for the desktop. Well I could buy on my phone too I guess.

This planned obsolescence from msoft really sucks. Oh well.

 

[BFG-9000]

WindowsUpdate would show you a "This PC doesn't currently meet Windows 11 system requirements" notice and not offer to upgrade if it wasn't compatible.

That said, the current 24H2 is pretty buggy for some users right now, so you may prefer to ride out Windows 10 to the end because by then Win 11 25H2 will be out and may be better. In any case upgrading is not without risk so it would make sense to order your parts first.

 

[oceanrace]

Thank you sir. Good advice.