Award BIOS of GA-8S648 crashed during update

[avnanick1]

Dear friends

I have a GA-8S648 motheboard

I decided to upgrade the Award bios from version F5 to F6, so I downloaded  the windows utility @BIOS from Gigabyte's official support site in order to upgrade it. I ran the upgrade utility. The utility created an F5 Backup first, and then while trying to put the F6 version, a blue error screen appeared and the system restarted.

It's obvious that not only the upgrade didn't succed but also the bios crashed.

Now the system always restarts showing the following message on the start screen:

Award Bootblock Bios v1.0

Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

I've tried putting a start up disk on the disk drive and a boot cd rom but the system doesn't recognize both devices

One of the first things I've done was to disconnect the battery of the motherboard for a few hours in order for it to discharge. I put it back and there was no result. Well, a bad thing about this motherboard is that it doesn't have jumper pins that reset the bios, but anyways...

So, I figured out that the system is looking for the previous bios version in the hard disk in order to auto install it back. I formated my hard disk in another computer (using windows 98 install disk) and I created a fat32 20GB partition. After that I downloaded the  F5 bios version from here (http://gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=1674&dl=1#bios). I unpacked the motherboard_bios_ga-8s648_f5.exe file which created the following files: 1.autoexec.bat 2.FLASH879.EXE and 3.8S648.F5

I copied those files in the root directory of my fat32 hard disk, put it back in the GA-8S648 motherboard and turning on the PC. I left it autorestart for half an hour but nothing happened.

The problem is bigger because when PC restarts can't see the disk drive, the cd rom (the cd rom's lead is flashing though) or the keyboard because the keyborard's num lock caps lock and scroll lock don't flash when I restart the PC.

So the only hope for me is for the system to install the previous bios from the hard disk. I have some questions

1. Before the bios crash the first screen that appeared when turning on the PC was "GA-8S648 F5". I suppose the F5 refers to the bios version. In more details by pressing the del key and entering the bios it showed that the exact version was "Award modular bios V 6.00 PG"

2. Am I trying to reinstall the correct version or no? Do I maybe need to rename the 8S648.F5 bios rom in order for the system to see it?

3. Does the Fat 32 hard disk needs to have files such as io.sys or config.sys in order to restart? Maybe I could make a fat or a fat16 boot hard disk?

4. Maybe it's better not to try to solve the problem and buy a new socket 478 mobo? Cause the cost to send the mobo back to Gigabyte in order to replace the bios chip is much more bigger...

I am sorry if I made you tired with this big message. I need that PC for my parents to have some access to the internet and not using my new PC. I would be grateful if someone could give me some help to this important problem  

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

Well I bet you won't try to use @BIOS again in a hurry! If you need top flash the BIOS use a proper DOS based flashing utility not something that runs on top of another layer of software.

I think that now the only way to put this right would be to send it back for a new BIOS chip and that just wouldn't make economical sense. I am afraid I would have to adsvise you to cut your losses on this and purchase a cheap motherboard and CPU instead. Sorry.

[avnanick1]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

Well I bet you won't try to use @BIOS again in a hurry! If you need top flash the BIOS use a proper DOS based flashing utility not something that runs on top of another layer of software.

I think that now the only way to put this right would be to send it back for a new BIOS chip and that just wouldn't make economical sense. I am afraid I would have to adsvise you to cut your losses on this and purchase a cheap motherboard and CPU instead. Sorry.

Thank you Dark Mantis for your response to my message.

Well I have to admit that I made a mistake that I've tried to upgrade the bios.

First of all, going to the official support page of Gigabyte it says clearly that bios upgrade (to this specific mobo) is a risky process so, the user takes the responsibility of doing this. Secondly, there was no reason for me to upgrade the bios. I think someone should upgrade the bios only if there's a serious reason: for example if the mobo can't recognise a graphics card or an upgraded speed memory. That PC was working fine, it only needed the 3-4 mobo drivers (Realtec sound card etc) not the BIOS upgrade.

As you mentioned it's wrong upgrading bios on the top of other layer or software. In that case I could at least make a book disk from windows, run it and upgrade it in DOS mode, not in windows mode. But I was hurried and now I see the results. Once I upgraded the BIOS to another machine under DOS and there was no problem

Also this particular motherboard (GA-8S648) is very old so like almost 100% of those old generation mobos it doesn't have a crash free bios feature or a dual bios that nowadays even the cheapest mobos in market have at least one of those 2 features

I think the best that I have to do is to find another socket 478 mobo (new or used) on the market and just replace it. Thank god that I didn't make such a mistake to my new PC, though it supports the crash free bios feature so it's not too risky to upgrade it, but I won't do it because there's no reason, it's working fine.

Anyway, my advice to other users is not to upgrade BIOS if there's no serious reason especially if they use old mobos 

[Dark Mantis]

That is perfectly good advice and is the same as we normally give members as in our FAQ on the subject.