BIOS Flashing - Lessons Learned

[KEP]

I've just flashed the BIOS for the second time, in this new build, and thought I needed to share what I've learned all in one place.  I know I would've appreciated this collection myself, and probably will again next time around.  For background, I'm running the GA-880GA-UD3H (v2.1) motherboard, but it seems these may be fairly generic instructions?

• Download the updated BIOS file directly from Gigabyte, and save it to your disk. It will (probably) be an EXE file.
• Execute the BIOS download, to extract its contents to a sensibly named folder on a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive. There will (probably) be several files, and the revised BIOS is in the one with an extension matching the revision number.  eg, 88GAUD32.F7 for rev F7
• Reboot, and enter the BIOS setup by pressing the Del key during POST.
• With your digital camera, take a picture of every screen that's even remotely modified!
• Enter the Q-Flash utility (from within the BIOS setup) by pressing F8.
• Follow pretty dirt-standard prompts to update the BIOS from disk, and browse to the source file.
• Hold your breath, and pray you don't lose power for the next 30-60 seconds or so.
• Reboot when prompted, and re-enter the BIOS setup using the Del key during POST.
• Use the F9 key to confirm the new BIOS revision took effect.
• Choose the option to "Load Optimized Defaults", because everything has now been erased.
• Referring to your camera, reset all the BIOS settings to what they were. Don't panic when your RAID array(s) appear to have been wiped. After setting the controller(s) back to RAID mode, they will be recognized on the next boot.
• Save and reboot again. You may want to re-enter BIOS a time or two, to insure your settings all "took."
• Let the OS load and make sure things seem to be as they should be.
• If you have a USB keyboard, shutdown the system and hook-up a PS/2 keyboard. Seriously. The next step may very likely be impossible otherwise.
• Restart the system, and press Alt-F12 during the POST to initiate a prompt to copy the main BIOS over the backup BIOS. (This step appears to be undocumented, other than here in this forum!) Say yes, then wait until prompted to reboot again.
• Re-enter BIOS setup, and use F9 to confirm the main and backup BIOS revisions match.
• Press F11 to save a copy of your current BIOS settings from CMOS. Optionally, save a copy to HDD as well.
• Breathe again. You're done!  

My thanks to absic and Dark Mantis for helping me through this the first time.  Many of the hints above originated with them.  It was my need to go searching for them again, and so soon no less, that prompted me to write all this up in a single post.

Question: Had I saved my CMOS to HDD (or flash) the first time around, would have have saved me from having to reset all the settings manually?  If so, that'd be an important edit for this thread!

[babdi]

KEP
@BIOS would have made your life simpler. Just run the program it does what you had described. I always use this.

[absic]

KEP
@BIOS would have made your life simpler. Just run the program it does what you had described. I always use this.

Sorry Babdi, I can't agree with you on this.
QFlash is a much safer method than @BIOS , just do a search on this forum to see how many have run into problems using @BIOS.

[Dark Mantis]

KEP
@BIOS would have made your life simpler. Just run the program it does what you had described. I always use this.

I would like to add that I too would not advise anyone to use this program ( @BIOS ) as it is far more likely to go wrong during the BIOS flash process and leave you with an unusable board. The thing is by it's very nature it is more dangerous as it runs on top of the operating system adding another layer to go wrong and as we all know Windows isn't always perfect. We see quite a lot of dead motherboards on this forum because of this program.

Use QFlash not @BIOS even though it is a little more trouble.

[Wonderwrench]

Before flashing the bios load optimized defaults, then save and reboot back into the bios and run Qflash. This is a must if you are overclocking and an all around good idea all the time just to play it safe.

Bill

[Dark Mantis]

Before flashing the bios load optimized defaults, then save and reboot back into the bios and run Qflash. This is a must if you are overclocking and an all around good idea all the time just to play it safe.

Bill

Yes definitely a must if you have anything overclocked at all otherwise it could be a disaster.

[KEP]

Before flashing the bios load optimized defaults, then save and reboot back into the bios and run Qflash. This is a must if you are overclocking and an all around good idea all the time just to play it safe.

Ouch!  Okay, this is why I created the thread.  Glad I haven't started messing with the timings yet!  

(Hmmmm, it appears the option to "Modify" a post is gone once someone responds to it?)

[Dark Mantis]

No it disappears after about four hours.

[Smitty]

Before flashing the bios load optimized defaults, then save and reboot back into the bios and run Qflash. This is a must if you are overclocking and an all around good idea all the time just to play it safe.

Bill

Yes definitely a must if you have anything overclocked at all otherwise it could be a disaster.

I recently upgraded from F2 to F6, but am now second-guessing myself and don't remember if I loaded optimized defaults first!  As I definitely plan on tinkering with over clocking for the first time with this board, would it make sense to re-flash F6 again, or would this potentially cause problems?  For peace of mind, I just want to make certain that it's done right.

[absic]

Hi Smitty,

you shouldn't have any problems as the guidance given by DM is more for those who have been O/C'ing and tweaking BIOS.
If you have any doubts you can reload Optimized Defaults from within BIOS and re-set your SATA controllers and other bits before you start tweaking. But, once you get going you'll probably have to clear CMOS a few times and load Optimized Defaults several times too!

[CanUK]

This is a great guide, thanks so much for posting it.  I will be re-flashing my BIOS for the first time when I get home.

Cheers!

[Dave76]

Nice post.

This is a good question,

Question: Had I saved my CMOS to HDD (or flash) the first time around, would have have saved me from having to reset all the settings manually?  If so, that'd be an important edit for this thread!

Is there a way to save preset saved BIOS settings, like your OC settings?

Or is it best to just re-do them when flashing BIOS?

I have a template made, for safety sake.

[KEP]

Nice post.

This is a good question,

Question: Had I saved my CMOS to HDD (or flash) the first time around, would have have saved me from having to reset all the settings manually?  If so, that'd be an important edit for this thread!

Is there a way to save preset saved BIOS settings, like your OC settings?

Or is it best to just re-do them when flashing BIOS?

I have a template made, for safety sake.

You can use F11 and F12 to save or load up to 6(?) sets of BIOS settings.  These on-chip profiles are wiped out when you flash, so they're really only good for tweaking it seems.  But, while you're in there, there's an option to write them to HDD.  That would seem to be a very smart thing to do!  I'll find out with the next rev whether I can use that to restore all the settings.

Still, nothing beats having a digital camera handy to record all the settings right before you flash.  Remember what a pain that used to be, using pen and paper???

[zaragon1]

As using @BIOS is apparently so troublesome to users , would it not be better for Gigabyte to stop offering it to end users ? and delete it off the site / motherboard cd etc

It would save a lot of users from making their motherboards scrap  !

also if this ( @BIOS ) is for power users / it should only be available via an email download ,and also have a very small time period embeded so once used it will not be able ot use again

leaving a very dangerous ( to your motherboard ) piece of software for all users ( newbies to experts ) free to use via download is just asking for problems.

[Dark Mantis]

The thing is if everything was working perfectly then the @BIOS program should be fine but as we all know things don't work perfectly especially Windows!
(To be honest if everything was working perfectly you wouldnt be upgrading your BIOS anyway!)