I have acer es1-533, and it have UEFI problems, that it can't install newer versions of Ubuntu, something to do with EFI stuff. Neither any of RHEL works.

I can only set up Arch based distros to work, because they don't do something with EFI partition these newer do.

And also, Ubuntu/RHEL based , can't even load screen anymore even in live USB ! It just finished checksum,and when trying to boot live USB, it takes forever, I've left it 30m-1 hour, nothing, just still loading..

I don't know what to do with this PC. It's from 2017. And even AntiX, is laggy on it, it's not fast at all.

And, btw, Arch (or any install), consumes me a lot of time, so it's not easy to distro hop on this one, it's frustrating. At least 1-2 hours I need just to install, and fix that UEFI nonsense, as it won't install GRUB directly from installer, but I have to manually meddle with it.

rn, it's on windows, but I don't need this PC anymore, but it can't even handle linux either, I don't want to reinstall just because it can't handle latest update..

Ubuntu works up to 18.04 , everything newer, not

if u dont need it donate it to a school/charity/charity shop etc, or recycle it

yes, do you really need it? Replace the disk with an ssd and add ram (if possible). Try the refind method mentioned in your link (if you really want to play with it).
I have a dell lattitude e6540. It is about 7-8 years old and works pretty well.

If Arch works, Slackware will work, and probably Gentoo also. You could try one of those.

A web search found this for Ubuntu.

Fatdog64 may work on it. https://distro.ibiblio.org/fatdog/web/

fatmac recommenting fatdog. Why am i not surprise.

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Have you tried to disable/enable EFI in the BIOS?

This isn't a potato problem, it's a configuration problem. That's a respectable machine that just looks like it has a flakey UEFI (which has a work-around as shown in the link). You might also try MBR booting with Lilo. The machine I'm on now is from 2018, and it is running 5 virtual machines plus various services while being a router. It has Slackware current. So, I'm sure you can get it going but if you really don't need it then donate it or maybe keep it in storage for awhile just in case you suddenly find a use for it.

Interesting. So, can I just, skip grub installation when installing any distro, still have EFI partition on /dev/sda1 , and just install from live USB LILO on /dev/sda1 . Would it be able to find that installed distro on /dev/sda2 .
How is command called to install LILO ? In my case. I just need simple, to recognise that one (or maybe if I want multiple linux distros on other partitions would be plus).

Does it write to NVRAM ? As I found, that's when it freezes. I wish bootloader installation could be simpler. Like refind bootloader, there's instructions, but it feels so complicated, like, why I have to go in UEFI 2-3 times... why it couldn't be simple terminal installation and be done with it.

That's progress, mate! Everything gets more complicated all the time.

To use LILO you also have to use a traditional mbr boot. This should be available on older machines. You have to go into your UEFI once to set up this boot mode, which means finding it in the menu system. It might be called CSR (compatibility support mode) or Legacy.

Lilo doesn't use nvram afaik but keeps all its configuration data in a file called /etc/lilo.conf which you have to edit by hand after each kernel update. That's one reason why it fell out of favour. Another is that it isn't being actively maintained any more (though there's not a lot that can go wrong with such a simple program).

In concept, LILO is very simple, much simpler than GRUB. You put the boot requirements for all your systems (location of kernel and initrd, kernel boot parameters etc) into one lilo.conf file and then run /sbin/lilo as root. This program creates a map file containing the physical addresses of all the files you named, writes its address directly into the active program, then copies that into the mbr.

You can boot multiple Linux systems with LILO; I did that for years. You just need to decide which of your systems will run /sbin/lilo when required and make sure that all the pathnames of kernels, etc, in lilo.conf are relative to that system and that all these partitions are mounted before /sbin/lilo runs. But it won't boot Windows. You need GRUB or UEFI for that.

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Sadly, options is greyed out in my insydeH20 bios (v1.08)

This is how it should work, but mine is greyed out, and cant change it, even by setting those supervisor passwords etc..

https://imgur.com/a/pyFAy9T


I dont know, if that can be unlocked anyway, even if greyed out now ? Because, I was able to reset forgotten password via some backdoor code I found for Acer. So, if you know, is there some backdoor to enable this anyway.

I tried, clicking Shift, or Esc, when booting bios, or Im not sure what combinations, like it gives unrestricted access to all settings in this insydeH20 bios.

If it have backdoor for password, there must be for setting this to legacy anyway (that would solve all problems with booting for future as linux will install on legacy.. I think

I've never seen a computer have a legacy BIOS option, but have it greyed out. I wonder if something has to be disabled to enable legacy BIOS? Is secure boot disabled?

Here this is it's current state (just took pictures now):

https://imgur.com/a/LgRfBWq

Greyed out, can't access it.

i even tried disabling TPM
still nothing


https://imgur.com/a/tiR93M4