Asus Transformer Book T100HA installed Linux - now won't boot, no ASUS screen

[TraMenseken]

Hi,
I probably did s.th. really stupid to this cute little machine:
I bought a (used) Asus T100HA last December (64GB/4GB, Windows 10), played a lot with it and got used to Windows (I'm a Mac user by profession). I even created a Windows Recovery USB stick.

I then decided to try to install Chromium OS into it and therefore 1st installed Linux Mint. No problem so far.
Next I used gparted to create a separate partition for Chromium. So far ev.th. went well. (I probably disabled Secure Boot in its bios.)

My attempts to get a working Chromium via CloudReady all failed. After these attempts Windows wouldn't boot, just returned to command line (sadly I was in a panic and didn't note down what was written THERE…)

So I decided to get back to start, plugged in the recovery usb – but that didn't work either. Actually this made ev.th. worse than before!

Now, when I press power after 12-15 seconds the tablet's LED does no more than blink red-white-red-white-red-white, then 5 times white in quick succession. ***
Loading the battery works fine (after some time the red LED turns to white).
All tricks like pressing vol-down + power etc. that I could find in several help sites, iFixit etc. did not help.

The only thing that remains to be tried is to let the battery drain for a few days, then try rickscheller's way:
"Hold the power button down for 30 seconds and release. Wait 10 seconds.
Press the power button until you see the white LED next to the camera come on then release the power button."

I am afraid I bricked my T100HA fatally, maybe broke its CMOS chip or ruined its bios settings beyond repair …

Does anybody have an idea what else I can try to save my cute little Transformer Book? Thanx for any help !!!

*** Update:
After one night the tablet's red LED will only flash 5 times slowly (also while loading cable was plugged in -showing red LED constantly-, for a moment).

[mimble]

I would stay calm and keep smiling. I certainly would not waste time running the battery down.

Use another windows machine to go to the site to download windows and put windows on a USB stick.
Turn on the t100 and go to the bios (is it F2 or escape ?)
Find the boot options and persuade it to boot from the stick. Watch out. I have some cheap sticks from which machines do not like booting.
Reinstall windows. To save time, I would use the custom options and reformat everything, then use the default partitions the windows installer offers.
You will probably be OK for windows activation. The key is in the BIOS. You will not be OK for all device drivers. If you want to have a happy windows machine again, you will have to download various drivers on to a stick from the asus site.

This should get you back to roughly where you were at the start.
If you have no interest in windows, there is probably some linux distribution which can also be booted from a stick and persuaded to rewrite the boot sectors on the SSD.

[TraMenseken]

I would stay calm and keep smiling. I certainly would not waste time running the battery down.
[…]
Turn on the t100 and go to the bios (is it F2 or escape ?)
Find the boot options and persuade it to boot from the stick. […]

Thank you, mimble for your precise hints what to do and especially these helpful links – I may be able to use them later on!

But sadly my device does NOTHING except blink the way I described it in my OP.

So I am far from changing any settings like boot options: the blinking/flashing is the ONLY reaction I get from my T100HA whatever I try. I can't even get near its bios …

[TraMenseken]

Just because I duckduckgo'ed (vulgo: googled) a lot yesterday, I wonder if there are some kind of "standard notification codes" of blinking?

Here are some (randomly found) lists of code blinks I stumbled upon:
DELL 7275
HP & Compaq desktop PCs
HP & Compaq Notebooks
"Steps to Fix Asus Computer Error Codes And Messages" (toll free phone # for hundreds of devices, among them 15 "Transformer" items)

(If someone here has a link to an adequate Transformer T100 led code list I will adapt this posting.)

[TraMenseken]

Hi, I gave up my attempts to get it going.

My cute little Transformer Book now is free to adopt at eBay: Asus Transformer Book T100HA (Convertible 2in1) 4GB RAM, 64GB, x5-Z8500, DEFEKT.

I'm sitting here in Germany but would send to Europe (price of post fee somewhat higher …)

[galxion]

I also have the same problem - orange LED binks 5 times but nothing other than that - no screen response, nothing!
Any solutions?

[rainerf]

Just because I duckduckgo'ed (vulgo: googled) a lot yesterday, I wonder if there are some kind of "standard notification codes" of blinking?

Here are some (randomly found) lists of code blinks I stumbled upon:
DELL 7275
HP & Compaq desktop PCs
HP & Compaq Notebooks
"Steps to Fix Asus Computer Error Codes And Messages" (toll free phone # for hundreds of devices, among them 15 "Transformer" items)

(If someone here has a link to an adequate Transformer T100 led code list I will adapt this posting.)

Hey - you still have that T100TA?
If yes, don't sell it!
I just converted mine after 3 weeks of trial and MANY errors. The solution is very simple if following the right directions.
If you still can use it, I will try to make a short write up of my notes and links to the correct directions (with additional notes needed which I can supply).
Best site is How-Tos - Linuxium for directions, using his isorespin.sh - I quasi bricked my drive on the Asus, so I re-partitioned and installed a small EFI partition and it worked flawlessly!
So far the only problems: Screen does not automatically spin from landscape to portrait (but I never use portrait) and right click on mouse pad does not work (through two finger tap does the same as right click)
Rainer

[morandi]

Hello,

I also bricked my T100HA trying to install Chromium.

When powering on the PC I get the Asus splashscreen and it does not progress from there.
I cannot access BIOS settings by pressing F2 or F9.

When creating an USB key with Atom Ubuntu from Linuxium I cannot progress from the splashscreen.

I would be grateful if you could share your detailed instructions.