UEFI instead of legacy BIOS problem

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Hi everyone, first of all I know this is really a self builder forum, but I am really tearing my hair out over something. I was wondering if anyone can help me? I have autism and I know a bit about PCs, but I really don't know that much about building or hardware, I'm more of a software kinda guy.

My PC was running fine, (Overclockers built it back in 2014), and has an ASUS Prime B350 Plus, AMD Ryzen 7 1700 and GTX 980 TI. I know it's out of date a bit, especially the GPU, but I don't play hardcore games much on it, so I'm happy with the GPU for the time being. The problem is Wind 11 requires a 2nd ver of AMD Ryzen, (or so it said on the launch day). I also read that your BIOS needed to be UEFI rather than legacy. I stupidly tried to do a self-help guide where you use CMD to re-partition or whatever from MBR to GPT and this worked ok but Windows Updates refused to work so I am not sure what went on there.

In the end I decided to take the PC to a local computer company as when I tried to install Windows again I couldn't get the recovery USB to work properly. When I took it to the PC company I asked them to re do the PC so it's UEFI with secure boot enabled ready for Wind 11 as I subsequently read that Microsoft are going to do tests to see whether AMD 1st ver will be supported, so if my PC is UEFI then I will be good to go as I have TPM and everything else.

The PC company apparently spent two hours on the PC using Windows installation media and re-installed Windows as UEFI. Or so they said. I picked up the PC on Thursday and got it home to find the drives were still MBR and was still in legacy mode. (They had charged me £100).

I rung the company, (which is legit apparently and has awards and is on Checkatrade), and they said they would look at it again. When I took it back on Friday the guy who worked on it said he did do it as UEFI but the PC has rejected what he asked. Are PCs that clever? Surely they just follow what you do and if you don't select the right bit, then it doesn't do that? He did say there was a problem for a while as the PC wasn't recognising his memory stick, but it did in the end apparently. Before I took it back I looked at the BIOS settings and saw that it said UEFI/legacy mode and that storage and networking was legacy only and CSM was enabled. Shouldn't CSM have been disabled?

Anyway, sorry this is so long. I am really frustrated as I have no clue on what to do. The guy said he's going to try using Rufus and that's the last attempt, otherwise apparently it's a problem with my PC. Is that possible, and if so, how likely?

He might turn around next week and say yep, all done and it is in UEFI, but if not what should I do? Should I ask to speak to his manager? I don't know where else to take it.

If it isn't in UEFI, shall I just leave it in legacy and use it like I was doing before and then upgrade the motherboard and CPU in a few years time in the hope that will resolve the issue, or should I try and get someone else to do it as UEFI as if Microsoft do support AMD Ryzen 7 1700 then I don't really want to upgrade my CPU or motherboard as it's only really for Wind11 I'm doing that.

All a bit of a mess, and I'm sure lots of you are reading this and thinking why can't you do it yourself, but I literally have no clue.

Overclockers have apparently suspended all services so they won't do it for me.

Thanks guys.
 
Soldato
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If I were you and its working now I would leave it alone. Windows 11 has only just come out and ideally you dont want to be thinking about this for at least 12 months. Its not released to the public yet and I`m not going to Windows 11 until I have to so if thats in 4 years time so be it.

The PC company you took it too seems to have made a right mess and dont know what they are doing. All you need to do is turn on UEFI in the bios, turn off legacy, turn on secureboot if you want, download Windows 10 setup Tool from Microsoft, create a USB boot disk from it and install Windows 10.
 
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If I were you and its working now I would leave it alone. Windows 11 has only just come out and ideally you dont want to be thinking about this for at least 12 months. Its not released to the public yet and I`m not going to Windows 11 until I have to so if thats in 4 years time so be it.

The PC company you took it too seems to have made a right mess and dont know what they are doing. All you need to do is turn on UEFI in the bios, turn off legacy, turn on secureboot if you want, download Windows 10 setup Tool from Microsoft, create a USB boot disk from it and install Windows 10.

Hey, thanks for this. It's back at the repair shop to see if they can get it to UEFI again, if not and it comes back as legacy then I will do just that and take your advice and leave it alone and save up for a new motherboard and CPU. Cheers buddy! (Fingers crossed it comes back in some useable condition haha).
 
Soldato
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It was legacy even after the guy saying he had done it as UEFI. The PC is back with them. He said he told the PC to do UEFI and if it hasn't, then it's not his fault and the PC is broken? He's going to try on more time to make it UEFI using Rufus apparently.

I dont understand why they are messing up such an easy job. I dont think they fully understand what UEFI v legacy is. Your PC is definitely not broken. They just sound incompetent.
 
Soldato
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It was legacy even after the guy saying he had done it as UEFI. The PC is back with them. He said he told the PC to do UEFI and if it hasn't, then it's not his fault and the PC is broken? He's going to try on more time to make it UEFI using Rufus apparently.

The guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.

I dont understand why they are messing up such an easy job. I dont think they fully understand what UEFI v legacy is.

Agreed.
 
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I dont understand why they are messing up such an easy job. I dont think they fully understand what UEFI v legacy is. Your PC is definitely not broken. They just sound incompetent.
Thanks buddy, I was pretty sure it wasn't my PC, but I wasn't completely sure. They just seem to be sending me round and around in circles.
 
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Next time ask on here first it will save you a few quid. :)

Thanks, I still had to take it in as I don't know how to do it lol. I just needed some advice on what to do next but I will just leave it and keep it in legacy and never use them again lol and then get Overclockers in two or three years to install a new CPU and motherboard. Probs best way to go? Not sure if it's worth asking to speak to the tech manager and saying that their tech guy isn't doing it properly or just leave it there and cut my losses.
 
Soldato
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Thanks, I still had to take it in as I don't know how to do it lol. .

What I mean is if you dont know how to do something ask on here. Most (! :D ) people on here are friendly and will talk through whatever you need to know. You may even find people with the same motherboard etc who can advise you exactly what bios settings to change.

Also changing a motherboard and CPU is not as hard as you think. Most motherboard manuals give you a guide on what to do and if you can unplug cables, plug cables in, use a screwdriver its that simple. All the cables on a motherboard only fit the socket they are designed to go in its fairly hard to get it wrong. :)
 
Associate
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What I mean is if you dont know how to do something ask on here. Most (! :D ) people on here are friendly and will talk through whatever you need to know. You may even find people with the same motherboard etc who can advise you exactly what bios settings to change.

Ahh yeah, thank you. It's much friendlier here than random PC groups on Facebook who all laugh at me because I don't have a clue on it all. Cheers for the help.
 
Man of Honour
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I can't imagine that any of those components are incompatible with UEFI, so don't see an obvious reason why it would be rejected.
 
Associate
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I checked mine other week. When I was on Win 7 I was in UEFI mode. I changed ssd and installed Win10. Found I am now Legacy mode.
Reason, I did not Format my ssd as GPT (only MBR) Following what you said above, CMD should do it for you. Alas others have same problem and SSd stays as MBR.
Only way I know (unless someone here can say differently) is to Reformat the ssd to GPT then install Windows on it. That way UEFI should work.
 
Soldato
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One thing I found helped was using Rufus and ensuring it was creating the install media as GPT. Even though it state MBR can still target both legacy and UEFI installs, some motherboards had trouble booting it in UEFI mode. Forcing the install USB as GPT usually got around this.

And as mentioned above, just make sure CSM is disabled and that usually helps force Windows to install as UEFI too.
 
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