GA-F2A85X-UP4 fails to post after bios update

[alexuk]

Hello

i flashed my board - GA-F2A85X-UP4

To the latest BETA driver F5x - on http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4343#bios .. by using the Qflash utility.

The motherboard doesnt POST, it sits on code "B4" for about 20 seconds, then loops around again, and then sits on "B4"

http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-f2a85x-up4_e.pdf

Shows that "B4" is "B4 - USB device hot plug-in." .. ive tried removing USB devices to see if that helps, no change.

Ive tried CMOS clearing / removing CMOS battery, to no avail, the backup bios doesnt seem to be kicking in either.



How can i force the backup bios to restore the backup image? Or do i have to RMA this?

Its quite a worry that if anyone elses flashes their bios with the latest image, they could be bricking their motherboard.....

[mikeyb5753]

do you have different ram to try in it?  if so, try it.  this reminds me of a problem i had with mine.  thought it was a bad BIOS flash but turned out to be RAM compatibility issue

[Myerss]

Got exactly the same issue after upgrading bios on  GA-F2A85X-UP4. tried clearing cmos with jumper, batteri, button. All i get is a brief second where i see the dualbios logo and then back to B4. tried different rams in each slot, other psu and different devices in the usb slots. Is there any other way to go back to original bios?

[Ton Ramone]

Solved it! I was able to force my PC to boot into the backup bios (thank God for dualBIOS). I followed these instructions which I got from another site:

Quote Originally Posted by cactusjack View Post
Ok, you disconnected the GPU and SSD / HDD ? and let only 1 memory bar ?
you have to follow this to the letter,keep repeating it untill the back up bios kicks in
It is possible to make the BIOS Auto-Recovery kick in (Dual BIOS) and re-flash the MAIN BIOS with the contents of the BACKUP BIOS.

This is a simple and easy method for anyone to try before having to resort to other more difficult methods, or a RMA.

1. Shut off the power supply using the switch on the back of the PSU, wait 10-15 seconds.
2. Press and hold the case Power On swtich, then while still holding turn on the power supply from the switch on the rear.
3. Still holding the case power on switch, the board will start, once it does release the case power on switch and shut off the power supply via the switch on the read of the unit. (Do the latter two parts as quickly as you can once the board starts)
4. The board will shut down.
5. Turn the power supply back on using the switch on the rear of the unit.
6. Turn on the motherboard by pressing the case power on button.

Once the board starts this time you should see the Gigabyte splash screen, or POST page, then the Auto-Recovery from Dual BIOS will kick in. You will see a checksum error, and then recovery from BACKUP BIOS will begin. Once it is done reboot your machine and enter the BIOS and load optimized defaults then save/apply/reboot back to BIOS.
Now you are done, and will be using whatever BIOS was in your BACKUP BIOS, From there you can attempt whatever you were previously trying, or update your BIOS to the latest version.


http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/49279-gigabyte-z77-d3h-bios-flash-failure-3.html

 

[Numnutz2009]

Solved it! I was able to force my PC to boot into the backup bios (thank God for dualBIOS). I followed these instructions which I got from another site:

Quote Originally Posted by cactusjack View Post
Ok, you disconnected the GPU and SSD / HDD ? and let only 1 memory bar ?
you have to follow this to the letter,keep repeating it untill the back up bios kicks in
It is possible to make the BIOS Auto-Recovery kick in (Dual BIOS) and re-flash the MAIN BIOS with the contents of the BACKUP BIOS.

This is a simple and easy method for anyone to try before having to resort to other more difficult methods, or a RMA.

1. Shut off the power supply using the switch on the back of the PSU, wait 10-15 seconds.
2. Press and hold the case Power On swtich, then while still holding turn on the power supply from the switch on the rear.
3. Still holding the case power on switch, the board will start, once it does release the case power on switch and shut off the power supply via the switch on the read of the unit. (Do the latter two parts as quickly as you can once the board starts)
4. The board will shut down.
5. Turn the power supply back on using the switch on the rear of the unit.
6. Turn on the motherboard by pressing the case power on button.

Once the board starts this time you should see the Gigabyte splash screen, or POST page, then the Auto-Recovery from Dual BIOS will kick in. You will see a checksum error, and then recovery from BACKUP BIOS will begin. Once it is done reboot your machine and enter the BIOS and load optimized defaults then save/apply/reboot back to BIOS.
Now you are done, and will be using whatever BIOS was in your BACKUP BIOS, From there you can attempt whatever you were previously trying, or update your BIOS to the latest version.


http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/49279-gigabyte-z77-d3h-bios-flash-failure-3.html

 

Ok ik its been over a week sonce this post but this has been drivin me nutz. I flashed my bios just like the op and got the same boot looping. When using the steps posted above the machine will not go into the second bios and atart the recovery. To get into the second bios i have the press the button on the board for a few seconds and the diag screen starts changing to random codes like normal and the old f2 boot screen shows up which if im holding the alt key the machine pauses on that screen and shows the normal del for setup options and so on but once i let go of the alt key the machine shows the dual bios screen with no pop up and 2 seconds later it goes to the boot looking again with an all black screen.

So after trying over and over i gave up. Ik the second chips bios is fine but it wont work when trying to recover the main bios. Since im not the only one im starting to think gigabyte dropped the ball on this models bios recov options. Im seeing posts about holding alt+f2 to update the backup bios and all sorts of other stuff but none of it works with this model board. I get sick of trying to recover it so i swapped the chips with one another. Booted right up and i updated the bios from f2 to f4. Im thinking about swapping them back and see if the recovery works now but its working right now and i need it until the end of the week so if ur like me and need the machine running now and have the skill to move the chips around i can say it works just fine. Took me about 10 mins only because i got distracted after removing both chips. Ik if i call gigabyte they would charge me to reflash the bios even though their backup is sh*t and isnt related to me not following the directions cause i deff did. Y keep a bios up if it kills peoples boards?? Geeze!

[Vezina]

BIOS is not a driver ,update only if you really need to.
If it works let it be.

In the last 2-3 years or so the BIOS support for the AMD Gigabyte boards i ve had and have was quite strange as newer versions bring more bugs and issues than solve.
Since 770-UD3 2.0 i am yet to see BIOS-es that brings new ,useful stuff for the user ,be it overclocking ,stability (impossible with Turbo core on for my Gigabyte signature board without manual tweaks)or features.

Even the AGESA and AHCI modules are slowly updated.

If you systems are working with the default BIOS leave them be.And avoid the unfinished versions ,you may encounter erratic behavior.