Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 15 won't boot from my Zalman

[Larry Sabo]

<Rant>This laptop got hit by a MS scammer who put a Syskey password on it, which didn't appear until I rebooted the system after bringing it to the shop. The laptop seems incapable of booting from a USB boot device--my Zalman. I disabled Secure Boot and set Legacy Boot preferred, and can select the Zalman from the boot menu but it just immediately tries to boot from the network. I tried Active@ Password Manager and NT Password Utility on the Zalman but neither will boot. Never a problem with them on other systems. Trying to boot to Windows (8.1) just gives Automatic Repair and Diagnosing loops.

The hard drive is buried within, or course, so to back up user data I'd need to disassemble the bloody laptop! Most advanced Troubleshooting options (Refresh, System Restore, Command Prompt) all prompt for the user password but won't accept it as valid, whereas it did earlier. <Sigh>

... Reset in progress at the end of a long day.
</Rant>

 

[katz]

Have you attempted to boot with a usb flash drive?


For the record, I'm so disgusted with my Zalman that will rarely boot anything - that it mostly lays in my junk drawer collecting dust. Flash drives normally work out great for me.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Have you attempted to boot with a usb flash drive?

No, I haven't. Too late now. It's fresh as new.

 

[ell]

<Rant>This laptop got hit by a MS scammer who put a Syskey password on it, which didn't appear until I rebooted the system after bringing it to the shop. The laptop seems incapable of booting from a USB boot device--my Zalman. I disabled Secure Boot and set Legacy Boot preferred, and can select the Zalman from the boot menu but it just immediately tries to boot from the network. I tried Active@ Password Manager and NT Password Utility on the Zalman but neither will boot. Never a problem with them on other systems. Trying to boot to Windows (8.1) just gives Automatic Repair and Diagnosing loops.

The hard drive is buried within, or course, so to back up user data I'd need to disassemble the bloody laptop! Most advanced Troubleshooting options (Refresh, System Restore, Command Prompt) all prompt for the user password but won't accept it as valid, whereas it did earlier. <Sigh>

... Reset in progress at the end of a long day.
</Rant>

I've always just booted with these cheapos, with a spare laptop sata loaded with iso's and easy2boot, that you can even config your iso's to boot ufei, I have like 5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9083CH5547&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC-_-pla-_-Cables+-+SATA+/+eSATA+Cables-_-9SIA9083CH5547&gclid=CjwKEAjwmdu5BRCg1O3a-tDY0AQSJACKPgRKJfFihzBUIm-vSQv9iJmABQDyHzxAaLA_bOMqxQSQJhoCVSfw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[katz]

I've always just booted with these cheapos, with a spare laptop sata loaded with iso's and easy2boot, that you can even config your iso's to boot ufei, I have like 5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9083CH5547&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC-_-pla-_-Cables+-+SATA+/+eSATA+Cables-_-9SIA9083CH5547&gclid=CjwKEAjwmdu5BRCg1O3a-tDY0AQSJACKPgRKJfFihzBUIm-vSQv9iJmABQDyHzxAaLA_bOMqxQSQJhoCVSfw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have a similar cable setup that also has ide connectors. I've used it for pulling data from drives, but I never tried booting with it. I may give that a try a some point.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've returned the laptop so can't try your suggestion (or a USB flash drive similarly loaded) out. Next time I'm at that customer' I'll try a PE flash drive and see how it goes. After restoring Windows to default, I was unable to get into the Setup menu using F1 or via F12 for some reason. Finally just gave up and returned the laptop after installing her missing programs.

Setting up Windows Live Mail was a challenge. Because her claimed password refused to work in WLM, I tried it in Outlook.com. Still didn't work. After delivering the laptop to her, sat down with her and reset the password via the Outlook.com "Forgot my password" option. Could now log into it with the fresh password but that password would not work with WLM. Called Bell Tech support and learned that the password criteria for Outlook.com (Bell's webmail portal) were different from those for E-Mail programs, which need one or more capital letters, lower-case letters, numbers and special characters. <sigh>

 

[ell]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've returned the laptop so can't try your suggestion (or a USB flash drive similarly loaded) out. Next time I'm at that customer' I'll try a PE flash drive and see how it goes. After restoring Windows to default, I was unable to get into the Setup menu using F1 or via F12 for some reason. Finally just gave up and returned the laptop after installing her missing programs.

Setting up Windows Live Mail was a challenge. Because her claimed password refused to work in WLM, I tried it in Outlook.com. Still didn't work. After delivering the laptop to her, sat down with her and reset the password via the Outlook.com "Forgot my password" option. Could now log into it with the fresh password but that password would not work with WLF. Called Bell Tech support and learned that the password criteria for Outlook.com (Bell's webmail portal) were different from those for E-Mail programs, which need one or more capital letters, lower-case letters, numbers and special characters. <sigh>

Just think how much less work we'd get if it wasn't for passwords! What a pain.