UEFI Bootable Drive for Clevo P751DM2

Haven't been here for a long while as I’ve been using my desktop lately.
Recently, I got hold of a P751DM2 and so the nightmares could begin:

I'm desperately trying to create a bootable USB drive to install Win 7.
(Please no debate about the OS. I'm aware of the flaws but I need it for a handful of programs. Probably Win 10 will be installed in the near future or multiboot, but right now, Win 7 it is)


What has been tried by me so far:

- Tried the excellent tutorial by bfishman (http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...om-a-usb-3-0-thumbdrive.783921/#post-10134666)

- I have tried diskpart (fat32, primary+active partition), moved all files from the 676919 ISO (Prof + SP1 x64) to the USB drive, then I extracted the sources\install.wim\1\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi, renamed it to bootx64.efi and moved it to efi\boot. I also copied the folder efi\microsoft\boot to efi\boot.

- Windows built in Format Tool: FAT32, MBR and did the extracting and moving folder action as described above.

- I have tried both Rufus 1.4.1 and Rufus 3.1.1 in GPT mode for UEFI.

- I have tried the useless Balena Etcher Tool.

All this results in the same result: The P751DM2 won’t boot all over (error codes below).

I even tried to install Windows on my old P150HM. Afterwards, I inserted the SSD into the P751DM2. Then I used gparted live to migrate from MBR to GPT, but of course this only led to a corrupt GPT table.

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Error Codes:

- Rufus:
UEFI turned on, Secure Boot turned off:
Windows failed to start. File: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD. An error occured while attempting to read the boot configuration data
UEFI turned off:
Rufus built in error code as formatted for UEFI Boot only

- Diskpart:
UEFI turned on, Secure Boot turned off:
Windows failed to start. File: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD. An error occured while attempting to read the boot configuration data
UEFI turned off:
Reboot and select proper Boot device

- Balena Etcher:
UEFI turned on, Secure Boot turned off:
Windows failed to start. File: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD. An error occured while attempting to read the boot configuration data
UEFI turned off:
Reboot and select proper Boot device

So basically all the same error again and again.

-Windows built in Format Tool:
UEFI turned on, Secure Boot turned off:
No response.
UEFI turned off:
First success (Windows is loading files)
Then BSOD: The BIOS in this system is not fully ACPI compliant
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The P751DM2 BIOS doesn't provide any Legacy option which I could turn off.

BIOS: 1.06.02, EC: 1.05.03.
My vendor doesn't support any newer updates. Besides that, I don’t think that a BIOS flash would help in this case.
By the way, what happened to the Prema Mod?


I would like to use the NVMe pure 64bit Samsung NVMe Driver and the USB P750DM-G USB 3.0 Driver, both for Win 7.
But first I would need a bootable setup...


The USB drive Win 7 setup starts just fine on my UEFI business Acer notebook, the Clevo needs to make a fuss.
I’m feeling so incredible dumb asking for help for a stupid 15 minutes job, but I’m working on it for 2 afternoons now and I'm just getting frustrated Could anyone please give me a hint?
Which filesystem would you suggest and why? FAT32 or NTFS? MBR or GTP?

 

Everything you want to do is possible and I have done it numerous times. I have had none of the issues you are experiencing with 6 different Clevo laptops. All have had a @Prema BIOS, so I don't know exactly what the limited configuration options are in the stock Clevo BIOS.

Have you enabled CSM and set the storage option to UEFI versus Legacy on the CSM configuration menu?

There is really absolutely nothing to be gained by using UEFI boot mode. Have you tried installing Windows 7 with the BIOS set to Legacy mode with the NVMe drive formatted as MBR instead of GPT? Unless you need to install Windows to a drive larger than 2TB the old MBR standard works flawlessly. NVMe also works flawlessly in Legacy mode as an MBR drive.

 

I think the installing media needs to be GPT too?

 

Already tried it with the drive formatted to GPT for UEFI with Rufus 3.1.1 and to be sure with Rufus 1.4.1

P751DM2:

UEFI turned on, Secure Boot turned off:
Errorcode: Windows failed to start. File: \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD. An error occured while attempting to read the boot configuration data.

UEFI turned off:
Not possible to boot (Rufus built in error code as formatted for UEFI Boot only)

 

I would be perfectly happy without UEFI and MBR drives. But the P751DM2 won't let me choose.
The stock BIOS is so rudimentary that it just seems to be a joke. From what I've seen, it's impossible to choose CSM or Legacy just because there is no option to do so

 

There was an image out there that would not work too IIRC.

I did have it all working on my old MSI machine but that was 7 years ago! So a bit lost to time.

 

Did you had identical problems with the MSI?
How did you solve it?

Honestly, it can't be that hard to install an operating system! That really bugs me

 

GPT formatted USB stick with a UEFI build of windows 7 is what I remember from then.

 

You can't install Windows 7 in UEFI mode on this system, at least as far as I know. I have the Prema BIOS and tried everything, but only legacy/MBR worked. Which is perfectly fine, been running a dual boot of Windows 7 Pro SP1 and W10 Pro 2004 (stripped using MSMG Toolkit) with no issues.

 

How does the Prema Boot page look like? I'm on Stock BIOS and I can only switch UEFI on or off. Absolutely no choice for Legacy/CSM.
If I turn off UEFI and boot from a MBR fat32 Windows 7 drive, Windows setups loads but crashes before you can choose to Install/Format the SSD. Error: BIOS not ACPI compliant.

 

Switching UEFI off should automatically enable legacy/CSM. I actually installed Windows 7 initially on this machine using the stock BIOS, so I don't think the BIOS is related to the difficulties you're experiencing. I followed these steps and installed Windows 7 on a SATA SSD, so if you're following the same steps you need to manually load the Samsung NVMe driver during the Windows setup.

 

Thank you, I'll have a try. Which fileformat did you use for the drive?
Btw, where did you get the Prema from? It seems that his page is offline unfortunately..

 

From him directly if you did not order through a partnered reseller.

 

Thank you for taking the time to took some pictures!
Well, the CSM tab and the OS Select menu is missing in my stock BIOS...

Now I've disabled almost everything, took out all SSDs and NVMs and used the drive made by the Asus EZ Installer.
Guess what? Same ACPI error as I'm used to
At first, the "Windows is loading files" screens appears. Once the progress bar has finished loading, the screen goes black for a second and then the Bluescreen grins at me.

There is no drive which could cause driver issues, nothing activated in BIOS, nothing.
This is so frustratring.

 

Unfortunately, it seems that Prema doesn't accept private messages at fnbr.com (for which he has my fullest understanding) and the site premamod.com hasn't been updatet at least since 2017 ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/p650rg-prema-bios.807797/).
So is there any other option how I could support his work and get the modded BIOS?
Along with his blog, the partners list went down.
Could I use any P7xxDMx/P7xxTMx Prema Mod?
Will I be able to flash it by myself? From what I've heard, no partner would send the BIOS files to the costumer.

...Apart from the fact that I still think it's more than stupid that I'm forced to install a modified BIOS just to be able to use Windows 7.
This is really ridiculous

 

He is normally around but I do know corona has been quite the hamper to him.