Compal QAL51 w/ Insyde bios Rev 3.7

Discussion in 'Windows 10' started by z-vap, Nov 4, 2016.

  1. z-vap

    z-vap MDL Novice

    Dec 24, 2009
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    #1 z-vap, Nov 4, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    I have a friend that had purchased a PC with Wndows 7 preinstalled. It was a Compal QAL51 w/ Insyde bios Rev 3.7. Ever since Windows 10 came out, he was itching to use it. He asked me to wipe his AHCI harddrive and throw Windows 10 on it. I did some research on Compal's QAL51 and did not find any Mainboard drivers for Windows 10. I threw the dice and installed windows 10 anyway.

    Most of the time his PC powers on the laptop it immediately goes into Revovery Mode:

    Code:
    Recovery
    
    Your PC needs to be repaired.
    
    The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors.
    
    File: \windows\system32\winload.efi
    
    Error code: 0xc0000225
    
    You'll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media. If you don't have any installation media (like a disc or USB device), contact your system administrator or PC manufacturer.
    
    Press Enter to try again
    Press F8 for Startup Settings
    Press ESC for UEFI Firmware Settings
    Sometimes its winload.efi, sometimes its another file. At first I thought it was something to do with the BIOS (TMP Management), but I don't know. Other times I thought it was an Azalia controller issue (win10 drivers that compal doesn't have?).

    So I don't know if its a bad harddrive, or the BIOS having SLP keys for Windows 7, or windows 10 TPM Manangement software, or a device driver issue.

    Has anyone else out there dealt with laptops that acted like this, when upgrading the OS?
     
  2. z-vap

    z-vap MDL Novice

    Dec 24, 2009
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    Thanks. I will definitely bookmark that page. I also am wondering about the boot record (bootrec /fixmbr & bootrec /fixboot).
     
  3. pf100

    pf100 Duct Tape Coder

    Oct 22, 2010
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    The boot record seems to be fine, or it would say "boot record not found" or something like that.
     
  4. Tito

    Tito Super Mod / Adviser
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  5. z-vap

    z-vap MDL Novice

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    Awesome tool. Looks real powerful. Here you go. www (dot) datafilehost (dot) com (slash) d (slash) 62fdbe5d

    Yes I did use Snappy Drivers. I found that on my drivers search. Great tool.

    I tried bootrec /fixboot and that seemed to work but not for long. It started doing it after a few boots. I just tried your link. Here's hoping
     
  6. Hadron-Curious

    Hadron-Curious MDL Guru

    Jul 4, 2014
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    Why is that file in Windows executable format?
     
  7. z-vap

    z-vap MDL Novice

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    that is a very good question. I certainly did not upload it like that. I chose that website because of the link in the page Tito suggested. EDIT: Ok I think its a deceptive ad page, or something. Chrome told me the Guardian page was deceptive, and it tried to get me to download AcpiTbls.exe (instead of AcpiTbls.rw). When i went back to datafilehost, it was allowing me to download AcpiTbls.rw proper.

    That is definitely not cool.
     
  8. z-vap

    z-vap MDL Novice

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    well i tried the diskpart and bootbcd stuff in that link. Same results. Comes up with the same errors.

    I wonder if I tried flashing the BIOS to the latest for Win8 (found on the compal website). Since the PC came originally with Win7, I wonder if there are some inherent differences in how everything plays out in that regard.
     
  9. pf100

    pf100 Duct Tape Coder

    Oct 22, 2010
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    At this point, it may be a good idea to update the bios and give it a try.
     
  10. z-vap

    z-vap MDL Novice

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    #12 z-vap, Nov 6, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2016
    (OP)
    I am gonna try that this morning. The strange thing is, when I boot up cold, it doesn't even give me a chance to hit F2 or F12 to enter the bios; it seems like it hops directly into the windows loader before I even get a chance to hit any buttons

    EDIT: the second strange thing is after the laptop has been powered on for 5 minutes (or so), and I've been sitting there hitting CTRL+ALT+DEL, ENTER, F8, 1, ENTER, F8, 2, ENTER, F8, 7, ENTER, F8 8, CTRL+ALT+DEL, etc over and over and over again, the problem goes away and it boots.

    Its like, whatever is doing the checksum on the files is not able to function properly until after there's been some power to the board for a few...
     
  11. Tito

    Tito Super Mod / Adviser
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    @z-vap

    Thanks for providing the dump. Do you have, by any chance, access to the previously installed Windows 7? Image backup/recovery media etc.?
     
  12. z-vap

    z-vap MDL Novice

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    #14 z-vap, Nov 6, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2016
    (OP)
    I wiped the recovery partition when i installed Win10. I used GParted to totally remove all partitions from the disk and then i installed Win10. I do have access to Windows 7 install media, but its not original to what came with the laptop.

    EDIT: another minor hurdle. It seems Insyde puts a windows version check in their software. So I can't run the DOS flas**t.exe from Win10 Recovery command prompt. Wonderful. Now where's my Win8 Recovery media.....?

    EDIT2: Ok this is annoying. flas**t.exe won't run under win10 'cause its for win8, and it throws an error about not being able to execute it under windows 8 recovery. Gahhh.
     
  13. Tito

    Tito Super Mod / Adviser
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  14. z-vap

    z-vap MDL Novice

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    yeah I noticed that too. LOL. I hope that's not an ill omen. :) In the chaos last night, i think one of my cats got a hold of one of my USB sticks.
     
  15. z-vap

    z-vap MDL Novice

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    #18 z-vap, Nov 6, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2016
    (OP)
    OK she's been flashed. First time it booted (immediately after), it gave a recovery error, but this time the screen had an ESC option to go into UEFI settings (aka the Bios), which is a plus. If it is a "power on/warm up" thing, at least we can get it into the bios and let it sit for 5 minutes; before i had to keep the recovery screen alive, otherwise it would power off after 1 minute. I must admit the bios does not look much different, with only the boot section having a difference (showing EFI bootable choices).

    Later attempts did not show the recovery message. I'll leave it off for a couple of hours and retry.

    EDIT: Still not fixed. The only thing that works is letting it sit at the BIOS screen for 5-10 minutes before booting. Maybe there is something wrong with the disk, or the CPU, the Mainboard, or....
     
  16. R3DHAT

    R3DHAT MDL Novice

    Mar 24, 2016
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    I'm leaning more towards the disk because the same exact thing happens on my laptop (Yoga 2 Pro), but I know what's causing it in my case. I have deep freeze installed and the new 1607 version doesn't want to play nice. I just continue on to Windows with no negative effects other than the extra step or two in the boot process