I had almost this exact same issue! I am on BIOS FB08 though. I was able to re-install Windows 8.1 after the update (doing another clean install), but the system is still unstable. Here's the long version:
What I did was as follows:
When I received the machine I ran the Windows 8.1 install disk provided, and changed from RAID to AHCI for the two main SSDs, installing Windows onto the first SSD (with the bootloader on the same drive). Once booted into Window 8.1 I downloaded the SmartUpdate utility (link:
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Driver/nb-driver-p35wv3-p35xv3-win7-win8.1-64bit-smartupdate-2.3.6.zip) as found on the product page here (link:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5219&kw=P35X%20v3#dl).
I had to repeat everything that came before this once because when I installed the Intel rapid storage drivers they borked the system (assuming that is what boomer was warning about). On the second try I updated SmartUpdate itself, then from the top down I ran the updates, using stable drivers, skipping the Intel Rapid storage drivers. I updated the BIOS to FB08 (Note: I wouldn't recommend this, flash out of Windows if you can).
After flashing the BIOS the computer just booted into the BIOS, and wouldn't load the OS. "Boot Option Priorities" is now blacked out/no longer accessible under FB08 (it was in FB07). After much head scratching I called Gigabyte and the solution was simply to re-install Windows 8.1, yet again. I skipped the Intel Rapid storage driver, again.
After this things seemed to work fine for about a week. I had removed the optical drive and put in an SSD, and was pretty happy with how the system was working (apart from its penchant for attracting fingerprints). Then, BOOM, Windows installs updates and I am back to a system that won't load the OS. Windows will not boot, I am stuck on the Gigabyte logo screen with the spinning circle indicating that the bootloader is trying to load the OS.
- The Windows bootloader is being recognized by the BIOS (it shows up on the correct drive in the BIOS, and is the only boot option shown), however the BIOS also seems to be trying to boot initially from the SATA port assigned to the optical drive. Since FB08 doesn't let me set boot priorities manually, there is nothing I can do to prevent this.
- My fix: I removed the hard drive caddy on my P35X v3 and replace it with the optical disc drive, and I am able to boot into Windows 8.1 without problems. If I re-install the hard drive caddy Windows will not boot, I am stuck on the Gigabyte logo screen with the spinning circle indicating that the bootloader is trying to load the OS.
I wonder if the engineer setting up the BIOS has made an assumption about the machine being in RAID mode, and having the optical drive in place instead of the SSD caddy. This is just my suspicion, and I am trying to get Gigabyte support to help clarify this issue. This is a bit confusing, because the Windows bootloader is loading from the correct drive, so it's possible that this isn't a BIOS issue, but I wish that I could manually set up the boot priorities to help narrow down the issue.
I hope something in this text dump is of use to other P35X v3 users experiencing Windows bootloader/BIOS issues.
Regards,
FDP
