: I used a HP Elitebook G3, but it kept me locked out so that no one could take my stuff illegally.
: I used a HP Elitebook G3, but it kept me locked out so that no one could take my stuff illegally.
My old HP Elitebook 840 G3 won't start when I put on a live Linux USB drive. After trying to get into the system, my Windows stopped working and I was locked out of it. Here is a picture showing that screen where you can log in but no one will let you go back in because they think you don't own the computer anymore. The screen shows up like this: You can call them or email them if you want to get help, which sounds like something illegal. I hope they understand what's happening and let me back into my Windows system so I can keep using it for work. IMG-20230521-140129 hosted at ImgBB Image IMG-20230521-140129 hosted in ImgBB ibb.co
My laptop won't start from a USB stick, and the BIOS software feels very complicated like goreware. I reset the BIOS to factory settings with specific options: UEFI boot turned on, Legacy boot off, Secure Boot turned off, and Legacy boot back on. Then I followed advice about switching from legacy to UEFI without CSM (Computer Support Module) by disabling secure boot when using UEFI. After clicking ESC and F9 for boot options, the screen shows errors saying "Legacy" and "PXE - E61", which means a media test failed because my Slackware disk wasn't ready. I used Rufus to create a USB with Slackware-15-x64 live, but when I try it now, nothing happens and the computer says "Boot device not found." It looks like neither USB port works for me right now.
I know there must be specific BIOS settings that let me boot into Fedora or Slackware instead of Windows, but what are those exact options? Even though Legacy Support is enabled and Secure Boot is disabled, I still can't get it to work with the UEFI setup or the Live USB. The screen keeps showing errors about missing devices and a failed media test. I don't think either port on my USB stick works well for booting this machine at all.
It feels like that old laptop has built-in safety settings, so please give it back to us.
We can't skip any safety checks because that breaks our group rules. It's smarter for you to give back the item instead.