[TriLUG] Locked Out Linux box (Update)

[John Franklin via TriLUG]

If it is a relatively new laptop with UEFI, it may be a bootloader in the /boot/efi partition.  When booting Linux, UEFI [1] will load grub.efi or grubx64.efi, which then does its grub thing.  On dual-booting machines, Windows sticks its own bootmgr.efi in there.

A virus may have added its own bootloader, given itself highest priority, and set itself to "fastboot" or some other UEFI flags.  The end effect is the machine appears to be locked out.

BTW, NoVaLUG had a fantastic presentation on UEFI last June.  They posted it to YouTube here: [2]

jf
[1] UEFI is not BIOS in the same way diesel is not gas.
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRGDXy65Plg
--
John Franklin
franklin at elfie.org

> On Oct 13, 2017, at 11:51 AM, Paul Boyle via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
> 
> Here is an update on my sad laptop's situation:
> I gave the laptop to one of the electronics technicians in my
> department.  He was able to reboot the computer with the hard drive
> removed, but booting up failed with the hard drive in.  I need to talk
> to him to see what the error message was.
> 
> This is sounding like something in my /boot filesystem got hammered.
> Sigh.
> 
> Paul
> 
> On Thu, 12 Oct 2017 01:54:03 +0000
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Paul D. Boyle, Ph. D.
> Manager, X-ray Facility
> Department of Chemistry
> Western University
> London, ON N6A 5B7
> Canada
> GPG Fingerprint: 8ECE 516D 9046 FE83 4A46  7E8E D720 555D 8CC3 EC6B
> --
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