Hello,
I purchased a Samsung 530U3C/530U4C Ultrabook about two years ago to try out a Non-Windows OS for the first time and told the sales support guy not to install Windows since I would be installing Ubuntu 12.04 (I was told it was a newbie friendly distro). I didn't know at that time but apparently if Windows 8 was pre-installed or UEFI boot was enabled, I would have probably turned my machine into a brick and not be able to get my money back as well:
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/i...g-UEFI-can-brick-Samsung-laptops-1793958.html
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchae...-to-linux-user-uefi-bios-bug-not-our-problem/
I know this issue now because I have been searching for a new distro to switch to since I am a bit more experienced with Unix-like systems now. I came across it while reading other distro forums such as ArchLinux:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=157196&p=1
I eventually decided that I wanted to replace Ubuntu on my machine with FreeBSD but I am not sure if this issue is (or ever was) present in FreeBSD. The bug is said to be fixed, but acting a little paranoid never hurts.
I found an option in the BIOS of my machine called "UEFI Boot Support" and it was set to disabled. I also used the following command from the Ubuntu documentation to find out that I had installed in Legacy Boot Mode:
Does that mean it's safe for me to boot and install FreeBSD? I don't know much about UEFI in FreeBSD and especially for the flawed Samsung models mentioned in the first article above, so if anyone can enlighten me I would be grateful.
I looked at the FAQ and the handbook, although I might have missed if there was a section about this issue in particular. I can also give more information about my system if needed.
I purchased a Samsung 530U3C/530U4C Ultrabook about two years ago to try out a Non-Windows OS for the first time and told the sales support guy not to install Windows since I would be installing Ubuntu 12.04 (I was told it was a newbie friendly distro). I didn't know at that time but apparently if Windows 8 was pre-installed or UEFI boot was enabled, I would have probably turned my machine into a brick and not be able to get my money back as well:
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/i...g-UEFI-can-brick-Samsung-laptops-1793958.html
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchae...-to-linux-user-uefi-bios-bug-not-our-problem/
I know this issue now because I have been searching for a new distro to switch to since I am a bit more experienced with Unix-like systems now. I came across it while reading other distro forums such as ArchLinux:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=157196&p=1
I eventually decided that I wanted to replace Ubuntu on my machine with FreeBSD but I am not sure if this issue is (or ever was) present in FreeBSD. The bug is said to be fixed, but acting a little paranoid never hurts.
I found an option in the BIOS of my machine called "UEFI Boot Support" and it was set to disabled. I also used the following command from the Ubuntu documentation to find out that I had installed in Legacy Boot Mode:
[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo "EFI boot on HDD" || echo "Legacy boot on HDD"Does that mean it's safe for me to boot and install FreeBSD? I don't know much about UEFI in FreeBSD and especially for the flawed Samsung models mentioned in the first article above, so if anyone can enlighten me I would be grateful.
I looked at the FAQ and the handbook, although I might have missed if there was a section about this issue in particular. I can also give more information about my system if needed.
