I’m not sure whether what follows is appropriately a new topic or an implicit part of many existing topics, all about booting from an nvme ssd on an old system (not defined).
Although my knowledge level is at best elementary, I have read extensively in various threads on this forum and other resources about bios modification and work arounds like Clover or Duet, to allow nvme ssd booting on old systems (one of this forum’s special topics, but all require (explicitly or implicitly) an initial determination about whether or not a bios has or does not have UEFI support at some level, rudimentary or sophisticated (because that information is crucial to the applicability of a thread and any proposed or successful solution). All suggest the same basic means of making that determination, using native Windows system tools and 3rd party tools (MSinfo32, Belarc Advisor, CPU-Z, Speccy, etc) but reduce the information learned to a simplistic binary result. If it says Legacy under Bios Mode the system lacks UEFI support and if it says UEFI under Bios Mode it has UEFI support. None of what I have read address the situation that I have encountered, contradictory answers from different tools. Whether this is appropriately a new topic or a question in an existing topic, I would entitle it something like the following: “How to determine if a computer system supports UEFI if the usual tools provide contradictory answers?” Or, the shorter broader "“How to determine if a computer system supports UEFI?”
I would attach copies of answers from different tools, but my knowledge drops from elementary to ignorant when it comes to the practical manipulation of many mundane computer features, and I can’t find a means of attaching files to “Create Topic.”
Instead three examples are described. (1)msinfo32 says Legacy under the heading System Summary>Bios Mode, and under Boot Device it says Harddisk>Vol 4, which according to Disk Management and Diskpart is a Sata SSD MBR partition on Disk 1, (2) Belarc Advisors says “UEFI {Secure Boot likely not supported by this UEFI}” under the heading Operating System>Boot Mode and under the heading Main Circuit Board it says "UEFI: AMI P01.B2 06/01/2010, (3) Under msinfo32>Software>System>Drivers>stornvme is listed as a Microsoft Standard NVM Express kernel driver with boot start mode, and under msinfo32>Software>System>Drivers a Microsoft UEFI kernel driver with manual start is listed. I have observed both of these drivers running and stopped. I find nothing in the Bios itself that mentions UEFI at all, much less a way to chose one or the other, including in hidden options. Example (1) from Windows seems to deny UEFI support (although I understand that a UEFI bios can have a Legacy feature). Example (2) from Belarc Advisors seems to affirm UEFI support but with limits. And, example (3) seems to affirm UEFI support.
I would add that resolving the contradiction by asking AMI and ACER proved fruitless. AMI claims prominently on its web site not to provide bios files to consumers and refers consumers to the OEM manufacturer of the completed computer. Acer apparently has some type of chronological limitation on what it retains or is willing to access in its data bases, because it currently doesn’t list any downloads of bios files or even mention the files themselves for the device in question, although several years ago, when I started on this adventure, Acer showed bios downloads for this device of P01.B2 and of an update to it, P01.B3. Unfortunately, I didn;t download them at the time.
Please put this wherever is belongs, label it however it should properly be labeled, and have mercy on this newbie by letting me know if there is a procedure I should have followed.
RJM1
Edit by Fernando: Thread title shortened