- #1
fluidistic
Gold Member
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I bought a laptop about 1.5 years ago with the goal of finishing my studies with it. I didn't mind if it break 1 day after getting my degree, but it just failed about 2 to 3 weeks short.
Since I had it, I used to triple boot 2 linux distributions and Windows. I got the upgrade to Windows 10 a few months ago, all went well. Recently I was forced to use a Windows program and yesterday I was rebooting several times from linux to windows and vice versa. Until in one of those reboots, Windows couldn't boot anymore, showing a "unmountable ..." error message that I googled, and apparently there was no cure (many people had the same message and the Microsoft suggestion of using a boot repairer didn't seem to have worked for a single person). So I went into linux to see if I could mount the Windows partition and I couldn't, it would tell me something about "unable to mount..". I rebooted and went into the BIOS to check out if everything was normal and to my surprise it seems that Secure boot was enabled, which is something I had disabled months ago for linux to work properly. So I disabled it again and rebooted. And rebooting lead to a black screen. This is where my laptop is currently.
Can't enter the BIOS, can't start a live CD nor live linux thru usb despite usb being the 1st option to boot from, in the BIOS. Can't do anything. Just a black screen. I tried to check if this was the screen that was broken, by plugging a HDMI cable into a TV and my laptop, but "no signal", and this used to work.
I went to the CS department of my university and headed to the hardware support part. The guy tried to enter the BIOS, etc. He couldn't do anything. He checked out if it was easy to disamble the laptop and it looks very hard (in fact it's not meant to be opened, even the battery is not removable).
I suspect everything broke because of a background automatic windows update that messed up my BIOS or firmware or something. I am currently using a slower laptop that also has some troubles with Windows messing up the booting process by reinstalling the bootloader to bypass grub and therefore linux.
I must say that I truly believe that Windows is a cheap-toy OS not serious enough to be trusted for serious matters. I can't count on it. I'm going to have my first child in a few months and I'm not going to teach him/her Windows. I believe that this OS is for old people who don't want to learn how a computer works (which is just fine but far from the majority of people). I don't know about BSD and IOS, etc. but I feel like Windows should disappear from being sold by default in most places, and should be replaced by other more serious and solid OS'es where in order to break it, you must do it yourself. Unlike Windows where who has the superuser powers is Microsoft and anyone using administrator or super user options (which was not my case). A normal user should not be able to break the OS, and this is what I was when using Windows.
First thing I do when I get my degree and come back home: Remove Windows from the slow laptop I'm currently using.
Very saddened of what it's done.
Since I had it, I used to triple boot 2 linux distributions and Windows. I got the upgrade to Windows 10 a few months ago, all went well. Recently I was forced to use a Windows program and yesterday I was rebooting several times from linux to windows and vice versa. Until in one of those reboots, Windows couldn't boot anymore, showing a "unmountable ..." error message that I googled, and apparently there was no cure (many people had the same message and the Microsoft suggestion of using a boot repairer didn't seem to have worked for a single person). So I went into linux to see if I could mount the Windows partition and I couldn't, it would tell me something about "unable to mount..". I rebooted and went into the BIOS to check out if everything was normal and to my surprise it seems that Secure boot was enabled, which is something I had disabled months ago for linux to work properly. So I disabled it again and rebooted. And rebooting lead to a black screen. This is where my laptop is currently.
Can't enter the BIOS, can't start a live CD nor live linux thru usb despite usb being the 1st option to boot from, in the BIOS. Can't do anything. Just a black screen. I tried to check if this was the screen that was broken, by plugging a HDMI cable into a TV and my laptop, but "no signal", and this used to work.
I went to the CS department of my university and headed to the hardware support part. The guy tried to enter the BIOS, etc. He couldn't do anything. He checked out if it was easy to disamble the laptop and it looks very hard (in fact it's not meant to be opened, even the battery is not removable).
I suspect everything broke because of a background automatic windows update that messed up my BIOS or firmware or something. I am currently using a slower laptop that also has some troubles with Windows messing up the booting process by reinstalling the bootloader to bypass grub and therefore linux.
I must say that I truly believe that Windows is a cheap-toy OS not serious enough to be trusted for serious matters. I can't count on it. I'm going to have my first child in a few months and I'm not going to teach him/her Windows. I believe that this OS is for old people who don't want to learn how a computer works (which is just fine but far from the majority of people). I don't know about BSD and IOS, etc. but I feel like Windows should disappear from being sold by default in most places, and should be replaced by other more serious and solid OS'es where in order to break it, you must do it yourself. Unlike Windows where who has the superuser powers is Microsoft and anyone using administrator or super user options (which was not my case). A normal user should not be able to break the OS, and this is what I was when using Windows.
First thing I do when I get my degree and come back home: Remove Windows from the slow laptop I'm currently using.
Very saddened of what it's done.