Updated bios for Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3, now cannot boot windows 7

[Crisp24]

Hey all, hope you're all well
I just updated the bios for my GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 motherboard, I did it with a usb stick, and according to the bios it worked, however now the machine cannot boot windows 7 at all. It just crashes and shuts down or resets, again and again. I tried clearing cmos, nothing is plugged in (usb, pci, anything, only keyboard and mouse).

I have had this rig since 2011 when it was built for me, and the reason I went to update the bios was I recently bought 4 new 8gb sticks of ram, but when I installed them, the computer wouldn't turn on. The guy who built the rig advised me to update the bios as this motherboard can run 32gb.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix the windows issue so it can boot? I can't get in in safe mode or anything.

Thanks, all the best

[ElectroStingz]

Hello,

Which BIOS version are you using?
If the newer one which supports UEFI, in the BIOS look for the UEFI option and disable it.

Hardware, what are you using?

And is the problem occurring with your old memory sticks or just the 4x8GB?

[Crisp24]

Thanks for your reply. I updated the bios to version F10, it was previously using F3. So thats a big jump...

Ok, I'll look for the UEFI option and try that. As for hardware, I use a core I5 (not sure of exact version, I'm at work right now), with windows 7 running from a 256 gb kingston SSD, then an additional 2tb 7200 rpm drive for files, projects etc. It's all housed in an Antec quiet case, I believe the model is P183. I use the computer for music and audio work.

As for the ram, I'm not sure I'll have to try it when I get home (I made the original post last night just before I crashed).

[dmdilks]

I would set the bios to default settings. Then go back in make sure the time and date are set right.

Was the SSD set to run in AHCI mode Check that. "Integrated Peripherals" - "PCH SATA Control Mode" 

Make sure you are booting to the SSD. "Advanced BIOS Features" - "Hard Disk Boot Priority" Needs to be the 1st one in the list.

Plus for now I would put back in the old memory till you got everything working and then try the new memory.

The F10 is not the UEFI bios. This is U1C(UEFI BIOS)

[Crisp24]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I changed some settings, set the time and date etc and got it to boot in the end.

"Was the SSD set to run in AHCI mode Check that. "Integrated Peripherals" - "PCH SATA Control Mode"

This was the issue it seems, I changed this and it worked.

Unfortunately though, I ended up with the same original problem - when I install the full 32gb of ram, the rig won't turn on - the fans all spin as if it's going to boot up, then stop, then try again, etc. So this must be being caused by something other than the bios version.

[ElectroStingz]

You have 4 memory sticks and 4 slots on the motherboard so do all 4 sticks actually function on their own and do all 4 slots work?

For a quick test try the sticks in pairs,

Pair A in blue slots = working or not?
Pair A in white slots = working or not?

Pair B in blue slots = working or not?
Pair B in white slots = working or not?

Long test would be to try each stick individually first in a working slot.

What hardware are you using?
Are all the 4 sticks the same?