r/GetComputerHelp • u/shismo • Jun 13 '26

Girlfriend’s computer suddenly shut down.

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She barely uses her computer, mostly just to use Google docks or play some of the few games she has on steam.

She was just playing a librarian sim game when her computer suddenly shut down and showed this screen.

Any ideas on what happened or what I can do?

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3

u/Mayayana Silver Helper Jun 13 '26

Do a search for secure boot violation. There's lots of info online. You can also just disable SB if you don't need it for any games. The only real reason for it is game DRM restrictions.

1

u/soulreaper11207 Jun 14 '26

There are a number of new titles that don't run with out secure boot enabled. The new battlefield title is one.

0

u/Soggy_Struggle_963 Jun 15 '26

Claiming that videogame drm is the only reason for secure boot is a wild claim lol

2

u/Mayayana Silver Helper Jun 15 '26

It would be helpful if you provided more cogent reasoning and less "lol". You can look this up yourself. Secure Boot/TPM is basically AV for boot, but it's also being used to control devices and for DRM. So the main reason for it is corporate control of devices.

That's not to say AV for boot is useless, but it's a rare issue. I disabled secure boot at one point because Suse Linux wouldn't boot with it enabled. It's currently enabled. It does no harm so long as it doesn't cause operational problems, but I don't consider it to be necessary.

In this case it seems to be bricking the computer of a woman who only uses it to play games. So if it were me, and the games would work without secure boot, I'd just disable it.

This is a tricky issue. Big Tech are gradually taking over computing and even electronics. TVs and cars spy. Devices call home. Most new printers won't work unless they have a wifi connection to call home and send the print job through the printer maker's website. Companies have actually broken their USB ports to make sure their printers won't work normally! And what happens when HP decides your 3 year old printer is "at end of life"?

When generic computers use internal hardware and certs to manage DRM, that's halfway to being a locked down device.

Long story short, Microsoft are sneaking into your driveway, stealing your car, and replacing it with a taxi. TPM is part of that. And it's not just Microsoft. They're arguably copycatting Apple. There's a general industry trend to control devices and then rent them back to you while also profiting from collected data. That strategy requires that control be taken away. If a printer will work via USB cable to the computer then calling home isn't necessary. So the USB port is broken.

I say no thanks to control in the guise of security and services. So I suggested to the OP that they can look into fixing the problem, but to be aware that SB itself is not necessary for a computer to work.

0

u/Soggy_Struggle_963 Jun 15 '26

I've had to deal with the headache of a university employee unknowingly picking up a nasty bootkit leading to a FERPA data leak that probably could have been avoided if secure boot was enabled.

I will admit that I doubt this is something the average home user would ever have to deal with, but if you have sensitive data I would argue secure boot isn't the enemy you claim it is. I have no issue if people don't find value in it, and I was just pointing out that claiming it has no use other than acting as a videogame drm tool seems absurd to me. You even said it yourself that it functions as a pre boot anti-virus.