# Problems booting onto USB drive on Acer Aspire Z5761



## carlcaulkett (May 18, 2017)

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.4
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview, 64 bit - build 16184
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7
Processor Count: 4
RAM: 4040 Mb
Graphics Card: Intel(R) HD Graphics, 1796 Mb
Hard Drives: C: 456 GB (244 GB Free); D: 229 GB (225 GB Free);
Motherboard: Acer, Aspire Z5761
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Disabled

Hello, I have an Acer Aspire Z5761 which contains the "American Megatrends Inc. P01-A2 12/13/2010" BIOS. The problem I have is that even with a wired keyboard, I cannot access either the BIOS nor the Boot Menu. I've been looking at the utilities listed on https://ami.com/en/products/bios-uefi-tools-and-utilities/bios-uefi-utilities/ . Do any of these utilities allow me to query and alter the boot order from within Windows? I've tried to contact AMI support but they do not accept questions from GMail accounts - something about preferring corporate only clients. My ultimate aim is to boot onto a bootable USB drive and to install a Linux distro, but my computer refuses to do anything other than boot into Windows. Alternatively is there a way to use WMI or Powershell to query and alter the necessary BIOS information?

Can you help?

Thanks in advance,
Carl Caulkett


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

You appear to have an *Acer Z5761 All-In-One* desktop which originally came with Windows 7(unknown version) 64-bit.
What's the exact SNID number and serial number on yours?

The most current BIOS for it appears to be version *P01.B3* and is dated 08/22/2011.
All Windows 7 64-bit drivers for it are dated early-mid 2011.

I've never created or used a bootable USB thumb drive, so I can't address any issues with one.

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## carlcaulkett (May 18, 2017)

Hi Frank, the details as reported by Acer's own analysis tool are:
Serial Number: PWSFME2026113032B13000
SNID: 11301297730


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

According to that SNID number and serial number, you have an *Acer Z5761 All-In-One* desktop which came with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/3522?b=1&pn=PW.SFME2.026

It has full downloadable driver support only for Windows 7 64-bit.
It has no downloadable driver support for Windows 10 64-bit.

Yours is running an "Insider Preview" version of Windows 10 Pro 64-bit.

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## carlcaulkett (May 18, 2017)

All I really want to do is to find some way of booting onto a USB Drive so that I can install Linux on the computer. My PC does not allow the BIOS to be entered, so I was hoping to find some other way to achieve this.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Carl:
I've never created a bootable USB thumb drive and have never used Linux, so I'm in foreign territory in those areas.

I've already viewed the on-line user manual for that all-in-one, and it didn't advise how to access and navigate through the BIOS.

You're using an "Insider Preview" version of Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, so I don't know if that's the cause of your keyboard issues. 

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## carlcaulkett (May 18, 2017)

No problem Frank. I appreciate the effort you've taken. I might investigate switching the Windows to a non "Insider Preview" version.
Thanks, 
Carl


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

You're welcome.

Your all-in-one appears to have originally come with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
You should be able to do a clean install of Windows 10 Home 64-bit *"Anniversary Update" Version 1607 Build 14393* or *"Creator Update" Version 1703 Build 15063* and get a fresh start with it.

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