Acer Aspire AXC-603-UB17

[Chris Maness]

On Sat, Jan 17, 2015 at 8:19 PM, Warren Block <wblock at wonkity.com> wrote:

> On Sat, 17 Jan 2015, Chris Maness wrote:
>
>  I purchased a little Acer Aspire to run as a small FreeBSD server.  The
>> price was right for what came with it.  However, changing the boot order
>> in
>> the BIOS seemed to have no effect.  As if the DVD drive was not even
>> installed.  If I set manual boot selection, the FreeBSD install CD was not
>> an option at boot time.  To check to see if the DVD drive is functioning I
>> allowed it to go through the whole windows install procedure.  Sure enough
>> -- the DVD works.  I have tried several other boot disks to no avail.
>>
>> Moreover, after going through the setup, Windows seemed to have hijacked
>> the whole boot process, and I can't even get into the BIOS.  What is the
>> deal?  Does M$ have some kind of deal with Acer to make it impossible to
>> install another OS?  I have never purchased a computer with the OS already
>> on it.  I have always built my own PC's, but for $209 I figured it
>> couldn't
>> be beat.
>>
>> Has anyone else had a similar experience with ultra cheapie Windows boxes?
>>
>
> Likely UEFI with SecureBoot enabled.  Turn SecureBoot off, enable "legacy"
> or "CSM" booting in what was formerly known as the BIOS setup screens.
>
>
>
Yes, I had turned SecureBoot off.  There does not seem to be an option for
legacy or CSM in the BIOS menu.

I cannot get it to even see my memory stick with a FreeBSD install image on
it.  Even my macbook pro mostly boots this and hangs on some hardware
issues (as I expected but just wanted to make sure the usb stick was
actually bootable).

Thanks for the help,  I purchased an MSI mobo in the ITX form factor last
night.  However, I would prefer to get the el cheapo acer going and return
the stuff I purchased last night.  No dice on the Acer thus far.

Regards,
Chris Maness