[TriLUG] Locked Out Linux box

Thu Oct 12 08:23:43 EDT 2017

On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 5:39 AM, David Burton via TriLUG
<trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
> Paul, when Karl Flores says "put it in an external container" he means for
> you to temporarily put your laptop's HDD or SSD in one of these USB SATA
> enclosures (or adapters or docks, which are the same thing without the
> aluminum or plastic box):
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_ex_n_1?bbn=
> 11548952011&keywords=usb+sata+%28adapter+or+enclosure%29
> https://www.ebay.com/b/Computer-Drive-Enclosures-Docks/158817/bn_738294
>
> I recommend the USB 3 enclosures which have an extra USB plug, like these:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aluminium-2-5-USB-3-0-SATA-HDD-Hard-Drive-Disk-External-Case-Enclosure-Black-/301126481208
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-3-0-2-5-inch-SATA-External-Hard-Drive-Mobile-Disk-HD-Enclosure-Case-Box-/391696478916

      Adding to what David said, if your HD is < 2TB and you plan on
being on the trilug meeting tonight, I can you a external USB case
with power and maybe (if I find it) the USB 2 cable for it.

>
> A USB 3 port is spec'd to be able to supply at most 0.9 A at 5v = 4.5W of
> power, which should be sufficient for most 2.5" SATA drives. But a USB 2
> port is spec'd to be able to supply at most only 0.5 A at 5v = 2.5W of
> power, which is insufficient for many 2.5" SATA HDDs. The "extra USB plug"
> can be used to make up the power shortfall by providing extra power from a
> 2nd USB port.
>
> The 2nd USB plug was commonplace on USB 2 external enclosures, but the USB
> 3 external enclosures often omit it. If you don't mind being restricted to
> using your external enclosure with USB 3 ports, then you can get an
> enclosure which lacks the 2nd USB connector.
>
> Some SATA-to-USB adapters come with a separate power supply brick. *Beware*
> *of* *those*! They are *dangerous* to your hardware and your data. Those
> power bricks are generally horribly low quality. One of them blew a
> surface-mounted fuse on the circuit board of my 1.5 TB WDC 3.5" drive,
> rendering it a brick (until I tracked down the problem and replaced the
> fuse with a tiny bit of wire).
>
> Dave
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 10:31 PM, David Burton <ncdave4life at gmail.com>
>  wrote:
>
>> First try a power-cycle: disconnect BOTH power sources (battery & AC),
>> press power button, reconnect power sources, try powering on again.
>>
>
> On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 1:21 AM, karl flores via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Take out the drive and put it in an external container. Start the computer
>> and see if you have access to bios. Install a new drive and create a new
>> boot disk, you can also use a boot thumb drive if you have one with simple
>> OS. Once you have rebooted to new drive, try to get access to old drive
>> through external access. You should be able to look inside the boot script
>> to see if it is corrupted. Keep us up to date on fix.
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 9:54 PM, Paul Boyle via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I have a big problem:  I'm running OpenSuSE LEAP 42.2 on an Acer Aspire
>> > E17 x86_64 (Core i5 machine).  My machine froze (no mouse, unresponsive
>> > keyboard (couldn't switch to another VT)).  So, I did what most people
>> > would do:  I hit the power button to reboot. I got prompted with question
>> > that was something like this:  "Do you agree to use only Linux (or was it
>> > Opensuse?) certified boot loaders? (or something like that).  The default
>> > answer was "No".  So I hit "No".  Then I got a brief message saying the
>> > machine is locked out, and the machine powered off.
>> >
>> > Now, the machine will not even come up with a BIOS set up message.  I
>> > power it on, and the power light goes on, and then nothing.  I opened the
>> > DVD drive to try to boot from the installation media.  No dice there
>> > either.  Basically, I've bricked my laptop, which is really a bad thing
>> for
>> > me.
>> >
>> > How can I rescue my laptop?  Will taking out and reinstalling the battery
>> > pack and/or the CMOS or BIOS battery clear this lock out?
>> >
>> > Any help would be appreciated.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > Paul
> --
> This message was sent to: raubvogel at gmail.com <raubvogel at gmail.com>
> To unsubscribe, send a blank message to trilug-leave at trilug.org from that address.
> TriLUG mailing list : https://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> Unsubscribe or edit options on the web  : https://www.trilug.org/mailman/options/trilug/raubvogel%40gmail.com
> Welcome to TriLUG: http://trilug.org/welcome