GA-Z68AP-D3 v1.0 Does this board support dual bios?

[cjapeterborough]

Hi

I today flashed to the latest bios F8 (QFlash) and thought I should copy the main bios to the backup bios.

On hitting F9 after entering bios I only see one Bios entry for F8 and no other on the status screen

Trying Alt+F12 to get to the backup routine on post only gives me boot options (I have tried PS2 and usb keyboard)

So the fact it is missing in the F9 status and I cant get anywhere with Alt+F12 would suggest the board is not equipped?

I also have a failed LAN port on this board (no mac address via F9) even though I can enable/disable the port in bios.

Not a big deal as I have been using an add on PCI-E card but maybe the two things are linked?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[RobD]

Reading the manual, it appears that it does have dual bios [2 x 32mbit flash and 4MB bios file], but the 2nd one is just backup and not user accessible. If the system detects a bios error, on the next boot it will load the backup and overwrite the main with the backup.
I can only imagine that both bios's are updated in tandem [or one then the other] when you flash to a newer version.

[cjapeterborough]

thanks for the reply.

The manual states the board supports dual bios but on the basis that I cant see it via F9 in status nor access the routine
could suggest a faulty board,non-implementation or a fault with the latest bios perhaps?

Having updated to F8 I am now having a stuttered boot problem where the pc starts up,fans spin and then a few seconds later
it powers down and then restarts and proceeds to post.

I will see if anyone else can shed some light on this but I will probably flashback to f7 and see if any of the above changes.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

The boards all support Dual BIOS but that doesn't mean that they are available to play with. There is a Main and a Backup BIOS and the Main can be updated. The Backup BIOS officially isn't accessible for the user in theory. It can however be synchronised with the Main BIOS once you are happy that it is stable and has all the options that you require.

If you have a PS2 keyboarrd connect that instead of the USB version as it is more reliable.

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.

[cjapeterborough]

On hitting F9 after entering bios I only see one Bios entry for F8 and no other on the status screen

Trying Alt+F12 to get to the backup routine on post only gives me boot options (I have tried PS2 and usb keyboard)

So the fact it is missing in the F9 status and I cant get anywhere with Alt+F12 would suggest the board is not equipped?

Dear Dark Mantis....

As you will see in my first post I had already followed your excellent instructions that I found using the search facility but have now reverted
back to the F7e bios version which has enabled me to follow the Alt+F12 backup route.
The F9 status however still only shows the one entry ie not seperated main/backup versions and no mac address for my lan (yes it is enabled)