Help! BIOS flash failed

[Johnny Boy]

Hello, I have a motherboard GA-K8N Ultra-SLI s939 which is in a homeserver. Yesterday, I wanted flash the BIOS of the F1 version in F7h via the utility @BIOS. Only, 50% the BIOS flashing failed.

After rebooting, I obtained this screen :



This screen indicates that I am of course the F7h BIOS. But...

But if i press on F1 or Delete, I obtain this screen with flickering underscore :



So, my motherboard has got the Dual-BIOS, and according to the manual, "After power on the computer, pressing <Del> immediately during POST (Power On Self Test) it will allow you to enter Award BIOS CMOS SETUP, then press <F8> to enter Flash utility.".

Impossible to carry out, I fall each time on the screen with the underscore after having pressed on Delete.

I removed the battery during 30min while shutting off the current, make a clear cmos but anything made there.


Is what somebody would have an idea to propose, is what I have badly make the operation to reach to it dual-BIOS? 

Thx a lot.


(Sorry for the English level, I am French-speaking)

[absic]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Ouch, a failed BIOS update is one of the most frustrating things that can happen and unfortunately, using the @BIOS utility causes more problems than it solves.

I know you have tried to clear CMOS but I would suggest trying again remembering to remove the power cable from the mains supply and, once again remove the Motherboard battery. Remember to Clear CMOS using the CLR_COMS jumper on the motherboard (it is near the SATA headers).

Once you have gone through those steps, remove your Hard drive(s) and DVD from the system (just disconnect the power leads) and then try rebooting. If you can then get into BIOS use the QFlash Utility to re-flash BIOS.

[Dark Mantis]

One other thing I would like to add to absic's good advice is that the PSU can hold a charge for quite a long time before being drained so after unplugging the mains from the  supply press the on switch on the computer to get rid of the residual charge.

[Johnny Boy]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Ouch, a failed BIOS update is one of the most frustrating things that can happen and unfortunately, using the @BIOS utility causes more problems than it solves.

I know you have tried to clear CMOS but I would suggest trying again remembering to remove the power cable from the mains supply and, once again remove the Motherboard battery. Remember to Clear CMOS using the CLR_COMS jumper on the motherboard (it is near the SATA headers).

Once you have gone through those steps, remove your Hard drive(s) and DVD from the system (just disconnect the power leads) and then try rebooting. If you can then get into BIOS use the QFlash Utility to re-flash BIOS.

kthx, I will test that.

One other thing I would like to add to absic's good advice is that the PSU can hold a charge for quite a long time before being drained so after unplugging the mains from the  supply press the on switch on the computer to get rid of the residual charge.

I do it already

[Johnny Boy]

I removed the power cable from the mains supply and, removed the Motherboard battery. Cleared CMOS using the CLR_COMS jumper on the motherboard.

I given the battery, removed the jumper and given de powercable but I've already the screeen with the underscore. Impossible to enter in the bios setup. And the first screen is the same than this pics : http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/4994/imgp0316.jpg but without the DVD and hard drive...

[Dark Mantis]

You've got yourself a nice doorstop.  
I think your only course of action is to return the mobo to the factory for re-flashing or if it uses the plug in chips you can replace the chips.
As absic has alread mentioned the use of @BIOS is a dangerous tool and shouldn't be used lightly. Much better to use the Q-Flash utility in the BIOS.
One other point is that you should not flash too many updates at one time eg if you are running F1 and want to update to F8 update to F4 first and then F8. It is safer that way.

[absic]

OK so your BIOS is well and truly screwed and re-flashing is going to be difficult if not impossible. But before you take Dark Mantis's advice you can try this.

Can you access your HDD through another PC? You will need to be able to to be able to try this step.

If you can, go to the Gigabyte Site and download the original F1 BIOS that you were using. Extract the files from the folder and copy them to your Hard-drive. The files just need to be placed onto the C:/ drive not in a folder. Put the hard-drive back into your GA-K8N Ultra-SLI PC and then try and boot, with the HDD connected.

You might be lucky and if the BIOS sees the files it might restore itself but there is no guarantee.

[Johnny Boy]

F*ck :/

Btw, Yes I can reach it of another machine.

Do I have to format this hard drive? In a specific format before putting the files on it?

[absic]

If your HDD is new you would need to format it or it wouldn't be seen, but if you use your main C: drive from the GA-K8N Ultra-SLI PC all you need to do is copy the BIOS files straight onto the drive.

As I said before it might not work but at the moment it is the best thing to try.

[Johnny Boy]

I can't replace the autoexe.bat on the k8n drive.

Do I have format this hard disk?

[absic]

Do you have empty spare drive?

If you do it would be better to use that or you will be deleting your Operating System from the K8N drive.

[Dark Mantis]

If not try using the command line to rename it.

[Johnny Boy]

I don't care to erase the OS from the K8N, because I was to pass from server 2003 to server 2008R2 in any way after the flash BIOS.

(and I haven't an empty disk btw   )

[absic]

In that case it might be a good idea to reformat the disk and then just copy the BIOS files onto it. You've nothing to lose and, if it works, a lot to gain.

[Johnny Boy]

Here, there are now only FLASH885.EXE and K8NUSLI.F1 on this disk.

Do I give it on the K8N and I boot quite simply without anything to make of other?