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Vicodin · ‎03-27-2013

Hello,
I have someone who wants to use Linux on an Asus G55vw. He asked me about the UEFI in bios and if it could be changed to Legacy. Anyone know what he is talking about and if it is possible?

UnAimed · ‎03-27-2013

Yes you can switch the Bios from Legacy to UEFI and vice versa.

The reason people who use Linux need legacy I think has something to do with the fact that Microsoft signs certificates which if the OS has one allows it access to hard drive partition map/boot manager. For some reason Linux was not able to get a certificate until recently so people have had to bypass UEFI. I think Linux got the certificate recently though so it shouldn't be too long until they have implemented it so then Linux can be just as easily installed on UEFI and you would be able to dual boot windows and linux. However he does have the choice to change the bios to legacy in the BIOS settings so it shouldn't be an issue.

Pitcher1 · ‎03-27-2013

it is able to set UEFI BIOS enable/disable in old BIOS version, but new version can not set UEFI function at BIOS, it is default enable.

rewben · ‎03-28-2013

@Vicodin, the trick is to convert the target OS disk to MBR, then you can proceed to use the legacy bios.

@Mike, g55 never had the option to enable / disable UEFI bios. only the old bios versions of g75 have that (in recent bios versions of g75, i think ASUS has decided to apply the same implementation of the g55 to g75, and took the UEFI boot out from the bios menu)

the easiest trick to my knowledge is to use MBR or GPT disk to access legacy or uefi bios respectively.

Dan-in-TX · ‎03-28-2013

I have my system set up with UEFI BIOS and a GRUB boot loader. I can boot into Ubuntu 12.10 or Windows 8 pro, depending on what I need to do.

The point is, with the latest distros - Ubuntu 12.10 (Debian), Linux Mint 14 (Debian), Fedora Core 18 (RH), CentOS 6.4 (RH), they all now support installing to GPT partitioned disks and booting from EFI BIOS. GRUB won't correctly find the Windows boot paths to automatically load everything up, but the Disk Repair tool from Ubuntu can take care of that if you need to.

If you want to wipe Windows and go Linux natively, your biggest issue will be the video driver. The one thing nVidia can't do correctly is write a Linux driver. You could stick with the default open-source Nouveau driver, but you loose some capability - not enough to notice if you're not doing anything graphically intensive, though. I sometimes wonder why I go through the pain of fixing my driver after every kernel upgrade....

Oh, and it will take some tweaking to get the backlight to work correctly. I forget the steps I had to take, but it didn't work out of the box. If you need that info, I'll dig it up and post an Ubuntu how-to here.

jedsdesk · ‎04-13-2013

Hi all, just got my G55VW and am loving it! Yes you can bypass the UEFI in the bios by enabling "Launch CSM". You can also install several distro's of Linux with GPT partitioned disc's. (So I've heard) I have just completed setting up my new lappy with just Linux. (Debian netinst) I'm also pleased with the Nvidia 319.12 beta driver.

I got to this point through a very rough 24 hour stretch which seriously frayed my nerves by the time I was successfully booted in and everything worked. I'm a "tester" for the 'VSIDO GNU/Linux distro', (vsido.org) and I have yet to try to get it installed. Taking a break for some sleep first!!

Mine came pre-loaded with Windows 8 which lasted about an hour. What a crappy OS. MS's worst to date IMO. Wiped the disc's, re-partitioned and haven't looked back!

Switching to the older "Legacy" BIOS is a breeze though, truly. When the lappy is getting ready to post, hit the Delete key and once in the BIOS, arrow over to the "Boot" section and at the top of that screen you'll see where it says "Launch CSM". Enable that, and I would advise to 'disable' the "Fast Boot" option that is right next to it. It makes it easier to hit the 'Delete' key in time to get into the BIOS!

G55VW-DH71, 16Gb RAM, 240Gb SSD, Running VSIDO Linux with full functionality! Incredible!
3+ years running this Linux Distro, couldn't be happier! http://vsido.org
I'm also the Nut at http://nixnut.com since 1995

MrBeer · ‎04-13-2013

that is why i downgraged to 209 on G55 . when i instsall 211 i lose everthing "Launch CSM isn't there . Plus memory options and other thing are missings.

jedsdesk · ‎04-23-2013

hmmm, I believe on my G55VW the BIOS version is 217. Hope that helps...

G55VW-DH71, 16Gb RAM, 240Gb SSD, Running VSIDO Linux with full functionality! Incredible!
3+ years running this Linux Distro, couldn't be happier! http://vsido.org
I'm also the Nut at http://nixnut.com since 1995

Asus G55vw UEFI Bios Question