BIOS Corrupt please help

[Dave997]

I tried to wake my computer up from sleep mode and the screen just stayed black, then it started boot looping. I had to do a hard shut down by holding the power button. I waited about 10 seconds and then turned it back on and it took me to a screen where it said my BIOS was corrupt and it installed the backup BIOS (from the DUAL BIOS utility). I was at F9 BIOS and it took me all the way back to F7.

My question is why would it do this??? And how do i get back to F9 BIOS? Do i have to use the USB driver and update it with QFLASH? Is that the only way or can i do a system restore and it would go back to f9? I dont know much about computers sorry.



Edit/Update: I just flashed my bios with QFLASH to F9, everything went ok aside from me scaring the sh*t out of myself with the "Unable to boot from unrecognized or damaged partition" screen that freaked me out, but it was because i had optimized defaults loaded and i hadnt set the boot order for my hard drives. (THANK GOD)

Hopefully everything goes ok from now on, except that i have about  a 50% chance when i wake from sleep mode to enter a boot loop cycle, its done this about 12 times so far on this machine that ive owned for about 2 weeks now. I've googled searched options for power config adjustments and done just about everything i can do in the windows power configuration settings. I've pretty much given up on it and will never put my computer in sleep mode again unless someone can help me fix it.


Processor (Intel® Core™ i7 3820 Processor (4x 3.60GHz/10MB L3 Cache)))
Processor Cooling (Asetek 550LC Liquid CPU Cooling System (Intel) - Standard 120mm Fan))
Memory (16 GB [4 GB X4] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - Corsair Vengeance))
Video Card (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 1GB - Single Card))
Power Supply (750 Watt - Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2))
Motherboard ([3-Way SLI] Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 -- 4x PCI-E x16, 6x SATA 6Gb/s))
Primary Hard Drive ( 120GB ADATA S510))
Data Hard Drive (1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive )))
Optical Drive (24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black))
Operating System (Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit)

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

The BIOS update that you flashed will hopefully help stop the same thing happening again there but it would be sensible to synchronise the two BIOS chips so that they both have the same BIOS version installed. Follow these instruction and you should be fine.

From a cold start with the power to the machine switched off press the power button and then enter the BIOS by pressing Del. Then when you get to the main screen press F9. This will bring up an extra screen which will display more information about the two BIOS versions. Assuming they are different exit the BIOS and shutdown. Again press the power button and this time press Alt + F12 where you would normally use the Del key to enter the BIOS. You will find that then your monitor will turn black and you will see:

Press [Enter] to start copying main BIOS to backup BIOS...

When you press Enter more text will appear saying:

Writing BIOS image.... xxxKb OK

Once completed  more text will show:

BIOS successfully recovered! Power off or reset system!

Do as it says. Both Main and Backup BIOS chips now store the same BIOS version. You can now reboot as normal.

When you copy the first BIOS image to the second BIOS it also copies the current configuration
 so if you use RAID or something, set it before the copy.  It also copies over any saved profiles too.

[Dave997]

I did alt+F12 from a cold start and it took me to a Boot selection set up screen where it listed all my hard drives and USB's and asked me to pick a boot order for them.... There was no black screen or anything. I have a GA-X79-UD3 mb

[Dark Mantis]

That may well be because you are using a USB keyboard. Try using a PS2 version instead. Failking that go into the BIOS first and then enable the setting for Legacy USB support , F10 and then reboot with the instructions I gave you.

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi Dave997,  

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x79-ud3_e.pdf
See manual page 66-67-68


Into Bios:
Q-Flash = F8
Optimized Defaults = F7

Gloup_Gloup

[Dave997]

Hi Dave997,  

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-x79-ud3_e.pdf
See manual page 66-67-68

Q-Flash = F8
Optimized Defaults = F7

Gloup_Gloup

the keyboard in device manager says it is a ps/2 keyboard. Ive tried holding alt and just pressing f12 and i tried simultaneously mashing alt+f12 together and it still brings me to a boot selection screen

Also when i went into the BIOS and pressed F9 i saw nothing about a second bios version. I only saw my current F9 Bios

edit: this thread from another user on a windows seven forum help section explains my problem precisely http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/211000-gigabyte-dualbios-will-not-run-advertised.html

also i noticed that when i unzip the new bios update folder it comes with 3 files total, do i only need to move the actual bios file on to my USB or do i need to have all 3 files onto the USB?

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi Dave997, 

unzip-mb_bios_x79 ud3_f10.exe,
copy the three files on the USB key and
the system will choose the correct file.

Normally this is the file 79UD3.F10

Gloup_Gloup

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi friends,

How to flash your X79 motherboard in BIOS Fxx
(Where Fxx is your new bios version.)


Enter your BIOS in 2D mode.
Click the Q-Flash to enter the menu.

Make sure the BIOS is copied to your USB stick. (File with extension .Fxx)
Select "Update BIOS From Drive".

Choose your BIOS Fxx from your USB drive.

A window will then appear, displaying: Are you sure to update BIOS?
Select "Yes", the system will start the update procedure.

The process may take several seconds to process.
A window will then appear, displaying: "BIOS update is completed".

Once the update BIOS done, choose "Reboot" to restart your system.

Once the system is rebooted,
the BIOS will automatically detect the BIOS Fxx "backup",
older than your version Fxx, it will be updated.

Gloup_Gloup

[Dark Mantis]

If you are using QFlash then you only need to unzip and keep the actual BIOS File onto your USB pendrive, the other two are superfluous.

After pressing F9 inside the BIOS the chances are that you will not see the second BIOS version listed. It is something that I have noticed on a lot of the modern series of motherboards. It will just list the Main BIOS version. Apart from that though everything else should work as described.