Installing LL 6.6 after having used LL 5.0

[JanetBiggar]

So I’m not sure if I should post here or under the UEFI section. Let me provide some background.  I help disadvantaged students in South Africa when I am in the country for 6 months. Many of the old laptops I use are 32 bit, however I’m getting more donated 64 bit laptops.  On the 64 bit laptops I have been able to use the more recent LL releases.  I’m a veterinarian and not in IT as such much of what I’ve learned and do with these laptops is self taught and aided by LL forum members.  All to say that I may need some advice clarified due to my basic computer literacy!

Essentially I have noticed that on two of these 64 bit laptops when I have turned them on after having been unused for a long period (AND I suspect the batteries have depleted FULLY) the BIOS menu shows on the screen and it does not boot into LL 5.0 which it HAD been running without issue before.

1) In the Asus X554 (64 bit, i7, RAM 12, HD 1T) it would not show the USB option for booting even though I had the USB plugged in. I then tried to find the area where I could enable Legacy boot as this has worked before, but could not find this choice.i did however enable CSM and enabled the line below which also had something to do with CSM. I then exited, saved and clicked on restart upon which it booted from the ISO USB. LL 6.6 loaded and updated successfully. Interestingly when I loaded LL 6.6 it recognizes that LL 5.0 was on the HD as it asked if I wanted LL 6.6 along side 5.0 or to erase the HD and load 6.6. I did the latter.
While it is charging/plugged in I shut it down and rebooted it and all is fine. I will experiment to see if the charge is fully depleted does the same thing happen AND if so, since LL 6.6 is there, how do I get it to boot from what’s on the HD..(?).

2) on an Acer Aspire R3 131T, it has done the same. I thought last year the HD died when I saw it go directly to the boot menu so switched I out the HD, it was running LL 5.0 and when I reloaded LL using a different HD I couldn’t reload 5.0 so just loaded LL 3.8 which was fine, when I returned this year to it (battery depleted) it only showed the bios menu. I was able to switch to Legacy boot on this laptop and it loaded fine and so far so good. Again I suspect if the battery gets depleted it might do the same thing. It too recognized that Ll 3.8 was on the HD.

My concerns are if this happens when a student is using it and when I’m not physically here. I’d like to document the steps necessary to get it to boot into the LL 6.6 that they are currently running such that I might be able to walk a student through the steps.

Any ideas on:
1) why this is happening, is it about he battery being depleted?
2) how to avoid this..?
3) the steps I can do if the bios shows up again when it’s started up?

[stevef]

why this is happening, is it about he battery being depleted?

A laptop generally has two types of battery.

The rechargeable powerpack to power the machine when disconnected from mains.
If these batteries are flat, the BIOS/UEFI shouldn't be affected.

The second type is a small internal non-rechargeable button type battery which connects directly to the motherboard and maintains the CMOS memory when the unit is not switched on.  The CMOS memory holds the setup parameters used by BIOS/UEFI and needs very little energy so the button cells can last for years.
But even so, at some point the button cell will be unable to reliably support the CMOS memory.  This is exacerbated if the unit has no power for an extended period.
This is likely why your machines presented with the BIOS screen when powered up for the first time out of storage.

how to avoid this..?

If the machine is in daily use, an aging button cell might have enough energy to keep the CMOS going. But it may not be practical to do this.  Like any failing battery the proper fix is to replace them.
For a laptop, the cell is typically packaged with pre-made leads and a plug to connect it to the motherboard and still fit inside the laptop case. You need the right package of battery/leads/plug specific to your hardware and to be able to open up the case.

If you can get the cells and are able to get inside the cases, routinely replacing the original button cells with decent quality new parts when re-furbishing the laptops should give many more years of service.  For desktops this is simpler as access is easier and usually there is a battery holder on the motherboard which accepts a standard battery.

the steps I can do if the bios shows up again when it’s started up?

Keeping a note of the steps required to enter the BIOS/UEFI set up mode, how to return to default settings and the changes from default that need to be made on each model is good practice.  If you a fit new battery, the CMOS will be defaulted so noting the steps to get it working again should be done then.  May turn out to be useful even if the battery never gets drained as the settings may need to be reset if someone interferes.

[JanetBiggar]

Thanks Steve, I wondered about the CMOS battery.

I'll check in my notes to see if I’ve changed the CMOS on either of these two and if not how easy it is. I’ve done it a few times on other laptops in the past and managed okay.
If I get others back that do the same I’ll see if I can “retrieve” the LL version that was already installed just to document the steps.
Thanks.
Perhaps I won’t marked this as solved yet till I give it a go.