[TriLUG] Locked Out Linux box

[Brian Henning via TriLUG]

Hello Paul,

That almost sounds malicious.  It's very odd that the machine doesn't present any sort of output at power-on.  I wonder if perhaps some sort of malicious code was able to severely corrupt whatever nonvolatile storage the system uses for POST and boot-loading.

Does anything change if you try powering on the machine with the hard drive removed?

-B

-----Original Message-----
From: TriLUG [mailto:trilug-bounces+bhenning=pineresearch.com at trilug.org] On Behalf Of Paul Boyle via TriLUG
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 9:54 PM
To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion <trilug at trilug.org>
Subject: [TriLUG] Locked Out Linux box

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
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