# Installing FreeBSD UEFI almost bricked my PC



## ColdfireMC (Jun 15, 2015)

After Install FreeBSD 10.1 from a EFI memstick, my PC boot was messed up. It only boots from PXE and CD or hard disk and I can't enter to BIOS setup, even after clearing CMOS moreover, motherboard's recovery mode failed too. I managed to install fedora 21, but iI can't touch EFI variables from here (it boots in normal BIOS mode).

I booted from a Windows recovery disc, and checked EFI partition and NVRAM as many sites state. I have checked firmware entries and I realize that NVRAM has at least 10 entries. I suspect that this is making firmware behaves this way. Please, I need help. I need to clear EFI NVRAM without booting in UEFI mode, from some OS. I really don't know how to make this.

My motherboard is Intel DX79TO.

Summary:
I can't enter to BIOS setup.
I can't enter recovery or service mode.
I can't boot in UEFI mode, then I can't use "efibootmgr" from OS'es like Linux.
Windows rescue disc boots in BIOS mode, and it can't clear NVRAM in the usual way (https://technet.microsoft.com/es-es/library/cc749510(v=ws.10).aspx)

Please, I need help desperately.


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## asteriskRoss (Jun 15, 2015)

If you haven't already it would be worth reporting the issue to Intel, since running a UEFI boot loader should not be able to break a BIOS's ability to boot.  From the Intel DX79TO motherboard documentation (page 53-54, figure 24 and table 14) I see there is a jumper on the motherboard that can be set to "configure" mode, which should force the computer to boot to the BIOS menu without requiring a key press.  That would be worth trying.

If that fails (since the documentation indicates clearing NVRAM has to be done manually from within the BIOS menu) I also see the jumper can be set to "recovery" mode intended to allow you to reinstall the BIOS (version 0650 for the Intel DX79TO is the latest) in the event of a failed update.  Attempting that reinstallation by following Intel's _Instructions for Recovery BIOS Update_ would also be worth a go, hoping that NVRAM is cleared as part of that process.


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## ColdfireMC (Jun 15, 2015)

asteriskRoss said:


> If you haven't already it would be worth reporting the issue to Intel, since running a UEFI boot loader should not be able to break a BIOS's ability to boot.  From the Intel DX79TO motherboard documentation (page 53-54, figure 24 and table 14) I see there is a jumper on the motherboard that can be set to "configure" mode, which should force the computer to boot to the BIOS menu without requiring a key press.  That would be worth trying.
> 
> If that fails (since the documentation indicates clearing NVRAM has to be done manually from within the BIOS menu) I also see the jumper can be set to "recovery" mode intended to allow you to reinstall the BIOS (version 0650 for the Intel DX79TO is the latest) in the event of a failed update.  Attempting that reinstallation by following Intel's _Instructions for Recovery BIOS Update_ would also be worth a go, hoping that NVRAM is cleared as part of that process.



As stated in the initial post, jumper functionality is broken too. nor button nor jumper worked. Also after a bios downgrade  I used the /f flag with Iflash, but has no effect in those "new" motherboards. Flashed the new firmware successfully, but still pass directly to a disk or Non-efi-PXE.

The only thing that "worked" was left that jumper completely open, my PC gets "stalled". I seriously doubt that the BIOS Break recovery work, but it worth a try.

As a update, using a Windows 8 dvd, I cleared NVRAM boot entries, but this hasn't any effect. Clearly, a nasty bug appeared when I added a new entry.
I already posted this on Intel Communities, now I just have to wait :C


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## ColdfireMC (Jun 15, 2015)

UPDATE: Flashed BIOS in recovery mode, and nothing happened. Still I'm booting directly to this OS (Fedora) or into a PXE prompt


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## asteriskRoss (Jun 20, 2015)

ColdfireMC said:


> The only thing that "worked" was left that jumper completely open, my PC gets "stalled".
> [...]
> UPDATE: Flashed BIOS in recovery mode


If I am reading the documentation correctly, the "stall" is is the recovery mode I was suggesting where you can reinstall the BIOS, but it sounds like you worked that out.  I thought it was worth checking as I didn't see you mention trying recovery mode in your post on Intel Communities.


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## ColdfireMC (Jul 6, 2015)

Bitter-sweet news: I'm on RMA process .

You can close this thread I think, this is a firmware bug


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