09-27-2019, 11:56 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-27-2019, 01:02 PM by Alexscended.)
Hi guys,
I'm kinda new here and still learning. I'm looking for a way to get any version of Linux going on my gaming laptop, the ACER Predator Helios 300. Here's everything I've tried so far:
The problem
Since I bought this laptops second hand, I don't really know what happened before that, but I know I couldn't get into BIOS when I got the laptop in the first place. I've been stuck on this problem for a while now, and I literally spent entire free days reading on forums and tinkering with new tools, bios versions etc. But I somehow just can't get into my UEFI BIOS settings..
My wishes
Why I want to get into the bios: Because I want to make the switch to a native Linux installation on my main rig. And to achieve that I therefore need to disable Secure Boot.
Symptoms
- Windows runs fine, I've had this ACER for over more than two years now and I never had any problems.
- When I press the designated F2 key to enter BIOS, a static underscore displays in the top-left, it doesn't blink and the bootproces freezes from here.
- On force shutdown and letting Windows boot normally all is fine. Everything works flawlessly, I can game, perfomance is great, but I just can't get into BIOS.
Things I've tried
- Battery reset button on the button and holding it for at least 60 sec. When power adapter was plugged and when I was unplugged.
- Replacing CMOS battery and waiting 10 min. in between while internal battery was disconnected.
- Re-flashing bios of the same version, even did downgrades (by modifying platform.ini) to see if any of the older versions would make a difference.
- Afterwards let Windows download the latest BIOS update for me (v1.21), same results..
- Re-flashing the BIOS via USB and holding Fn + ESC and pressing the Power(on) button.
- Bought a SIOC8 + SPI programmer so I could dump and reflash my bios on hardware-level.
- Removing 1 of the 2 RAMs and retrying all the above steps.
- I did a bios-mod unlock request thinking this would solve the problem.. and it did not, but at least I have a my own dump now with all options unlocked lol (Thanks Dudu2002 for this!).
Specs
Model: Acer Predator PH317-51
BIOS-version: v1.21 (Insyde)
BIOS-chip: Winbond W25Q64JVSIQ 1715
As I don't know to much about bioses, reflashing or modifying them, this is all that I've managed to achieve and learned so far.. but I think I might be running out of options here. Can anyone help me on this, I'll be happy to provide you with dumps, log files etc. But I can't wait to finally make my move to Linux.
EDIT: Added attachment with the latest stock bios .bin file from Acer.
I'm kinda new here and still learning. I'm looking for a way to get any version of Linux going on my gaming laptop, the ACER Predator Helios 300. Here's everything I've tried so far:
The problem
Since I bought this laptops second hand, I don't really know what happened before that, but I know I couldn't get into BIOS when I got the laptop in the first place. I've been stuck on this problem for a while now, and I literally spent entire free days reading on forums and tinkering with new tools, bios versions etc. But I somehow just can't get into my UEFI BIOS settings..
My wishes
Why I want to get into the bios: Because I want to make the switch to a native Linux installation on my main rig. And to achieve that I therefore need to disable Secure Boot.
Symptoms
- Windows runs fine, I've had this ACER for over more than two years now and I never had any problems.
- When I press the designated F2 key to enter BIOS, a static underscore displays in the top-left, it doesn't blink and the bootproces freezes from here.
- On force shutdown and letting Windows boot normally all is fine. Everything works flawlessly, I can game, perfomance is great, but I just can't get into BIOS.
Things I've tried
- Battery reset button on the button and holding it for at least 60 sec. When power adapter was plugged and when I was unplugged.
- Replacing CMOS battery and waiting 10 min. in between while internal battery was disconnected.
- Re-flashing bios of the same version, even did downgrades (by modifying platform.ini) to see if any of the older versions would make a difference.
- Afterwards let Windows download the latest BIOS update for me (v1.21), same results..
- Re-flashing the BIOS via USB and holding Fn + ESC and pressing the Power(on) button.
- Bought a SIOC8 + SPI programmer so I could dump and reflash my bios on hardware-level.
- Removing 1 of the 2 RAMs and retrying all the above steps.
- I did a bios-mod unlock request thinking this would solve the problem.. and it did not, but at least I have a my own dump now with all options unlocked lol (Thanks Dudu2002 for this!).
Specs
Model: Acer Predator PH317-51
BIOS-version: v1.21 (Insyde)
BIOS-chip: Winbond W25Q64JVSIQ 1715
As I don't know to much about bioses, reflashing or modifying them, this is all that I've managed to achieve and learned so far.. but I think I might be running out of options here. Can anyone help me on this, I'll be happy to provide you with dumps, log files etc. But I can't wait to finally make my move to Linux.

EDIT: Added attachment with the latest stock bios .bin file from Acer.