Nova 15" - BIOS and Booting from USB key

[davidemolin703]

Hi all,
I just received my Ryzen9 Nova 15" and I'm thrilled.

Windows works ok and I wanted to just boot into BIOS to check how things are configured and, more importantly, to boot from a USB key and install Linux on the second M2 drive.

Problem is: I've no idea how to enter the BIOS!

At boot there's no message telling me what key I could press to so do; I only see the PC specialist logo and then the system boots straight into Windows.
Can any good soul here provide some tips to help me out with this?

Taking the chance also to ask another dumb question: My Nova 15" is equipped with an RTX 2070 (somewhere in this forum I heard it's a "Refresh" model?). Question is: when installing new NVIDIA drivers, do I have to select the ones for "Notebooks"?

Thanks in advance!

 

[davidemolin703]

Ok,

I found a way to enter the BIOS. It was F2 (probably the only key I hadn't tried yet).

Now, I'm even more puzzled then before!
This seems to be the weirdest BIOS program I've ever seen in my life; it seems there are very few options to see/tweaks.
For example, I don't see anywhere any option related to CPU Virtualization (that I need to have enabled in order to properly use VMs).

More importantly, I've no idea how to boot from an external USB drive (this is necessary to install Linux).
The Boot menu only shows the Windows install and 2 options for network boot (see image)

I also tried entering the other boot menu (Boot from files or external devices) and what I see is even more confusing:

Does anyone here have any idea on how can I boot from a bootable USB key here?

Thanks in advance for you help!

 

[ubuysa]

What you're looking at there are the boot options not the BIOS settings. It can be tricky in Windows 10 to get into the BIOS with a USB keyboard so Windows has several ways you can do that. Basically you need to get to the Advanced Start-Up Options and the simplest way in Windows is to go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > and click the Restart Now button under the 'Advanced start-up' section. In there click the 'Troubleshoot' option, then the 'Advanced options' option, in there you'l see a 'UEFI Firmware Settings' option - click that and it will reboot into the main BIOS settings. Simple huh?

 

[davidemolin703]

Thanks for the feedback!

Yes I know. I eventually managed to access the BIOS (with F2) but my main issue now is how to boot the laptop from a USB key (pendrive) so I can install Linux on it

When I say "USB Key" I refer to an external USB bootable pen drive, not a USB keyboard
That's what I cannot seem able to do right now.

 

[Deleted member 41971]

Thanks for the feedback!

Yes I know. I eventually managed to access the BIOS (with F2) but my main issue now is how to boot the laptop from a USB key (pendrive) so I can install Linux on it

When I say "USB Key" I refer to an external USB bootable pen drive, not a USB keyboard
That's what I cannot seem able to do right now.

I found the following

on computer boot press f2 to get into bios
click on boot from file
I found my usb listed under "no volume" (if not showing re plug usb)
click on efi
click boot

from there I managed to click on the top one and pc restarted and went into linux boot menu and I managed from their to boot into linux via live usb,

 

[davidemolin703]

I found the following

on computer boot press f2 to get into bios
click on boot from file
I found my usb listed under "no volume" (if not showing re plug usb)
click on efi
click boot

from there I managed to click on the top one and pc restarted and went into linux boot menu and I managed from their to boot into linux via live usb,

Uuuuhh, that's super interesting!!

I'll try that out in a moment!

 

[davidemolin703]

Ok, I finally solved it!

I noticed that I was indeed able to boot from a bootable USB drive when trying to install Linux Manjaro.
The issue was still persisting instead when trying to boot the USB drive with Clonezilla.
In the end the problem was in the way I had written the Clonezilla ISO on the USB drive; Albeit the drive was booting up perfectly on my other PCs, there was probably something that the BIOS of the Nova was not appreciating.
By following the recommended guidelines provided by Clonezilla on how to properly prepare a bootable USB drive, the drive now shows up in the boot list and I can boot from it!

So, if someone else stumbles on the same issue, the solution is just to use Tuxboot to properly prepare and write the Clonezilla image on the external USB drive.

 

[lauwai]

If you press F7 instead of F2 you go directly to the boot manage screen. Found this out when I spoke to PCS support on Friday as I was having the same issues.