Legacy boot disabled and I'm stuck

[Hannlp]

Help! Kids messing on laptop running Windows 7 and the Legacy was disabled (that's the only word they can remember) out of the system setup before windows actually loads (he presses
ESC). Now compaq laptop says the 'boot device is not found' and to 'please install an operating system on your hard drive'.

What do I do?

Help please!

 

[DocBrown]

Welcome Hannlp,


Power On & start tapping the F2 key to see if you can get the enter Bios setup.

 

[Eblim]

USB Legacy? Only thing I can think of. That only disables USB's without having an Operating system. Were you running an operating system on a USB drive?

 

[Hannlp]

When I do that and go into BIOS management it gives me the option to update or rollback the BIOS but will not actually do anything no matter what I select. It says the BIOS image is not available and that my current BIOS ID is F.25

 

[Hannlp]

No, it was the preloaded Windows 7 on the latop. I'm at a loss, I have no idea how to find my operating system. And when I put an XP Pro install disk in it will not even let me boot from disk to try and install that. Frustration!

 

[DocBrown]

The Manufacturers seem to like to lock the user out of the Bios setup on newer computers. Try Power ON & the F11 key to see if there is a recovery option.

 

[Hannlp]

No luck with F11 either. Figures. Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[Eblim]

I'm thinking that's not all that was disabled because USB legacy wouldn't erase an operating system or "disable" it.

 

[DocBrown]

Well here is my last idea for tonight, since I need to get some shut-eye.

Shut laptop off, remove laptop battery & regular AC power supply. Hold down power ON button for about 20 seconds. This may drain & reset BIOS to factory original. Wait 30 minutes before putting back in laptop battery & AC power supply. Then see if if powers back up nornally. If not, maybe some other members have some ideas.
Best of luck. We don't give up.

 

[AddRAM]

Don`t go crazy trying to install xp or anything, let us help you figure out what`s wrong, you will only make it worse.

Will the bios let you set it to defaults ?

 

[Eblim]

Don`t go crazy trying to install xp or anything, let us help you figure out what`s wrong, you will only make it worse.

Will the bios let you set it to defaults ?

He can't get into the BIOS as of current. I had this problem with Windows Vista when my motherboard and CPU was failing. I couldn't solve it so I installed a new copy of Windows 7.

 

[edwar]

The problem is someone changed the BIOS from Legacy BIOS mode to EFI mode. There must be an option in the BIOS to change it back. The kids might of also set a password on the system, a EFI/BIOS password, and without it he is sunk.

 

[gregrocker]

Edwar is correct that the "Legacy" setting which could affect boot is if it was installed in UEFI mode (having a UEFI or MSR boot partition on a GPT disk instead of MBR) and was changed in BIOS setup to Legacy, OR if it was installed in Legacy and that was now disabled.

So you'll need to enter BIOS setup and patiently look through the Boot Options for Legacy setting to Enable or Disable - whichever it's set at change it to the other, save setting and reboot to see if it will start.

The kids might have had something in mind when changing the setting so see if you can find out what they were doing exactly and where. If they could change settings in the BIOS they'd be smart enough to remember approximately what and where they were doing this.

There are other ways to reset the BIOS to defaults given here: How To Clear CMOS (Reset BIOS). But first look thoroughly for the Legacy Mode settings. If you can post back camera snaps we can probably spot the problem if it was done in the BIOS. Find out for sure if you can.

As a last resort the worst case scenario is we can help you rescue your files and get the vastly superior http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164 which is the best possible install you can have of Win7, while the Compaq preinstalled Win7 is the worst possible install you can have of Win7.