Reboots when trying to access BIOS or boot menu.

[IsLNdbOi]

I'm happy with my Gigabyte GA-H67MA-UD2H.  Have a strange problem with it though.

Sometimes when I hit the "Delete" key to get into the BIOS, it will freeze then suddenly reboot.

Same thing happens sometimes when I hit the "F12" key to get into the boot menu.

Finally, it sometimes will freeze at the POST screen that shows the total memory, BIOS version, etc. then after a few seconds it'll reboot as well and continuously do this until I cut power to the thing.

I'm running the latest BIOS (version F6).


It's a shame Gigabyte is not providing anymore support for this and their other P67 / H67 motherboards (this also means no more BIOS updates).

My brother got an Asus H67 board and Asus is going to continue supporting their boards since the models being re-released in April will be the same models, only with the defective SATA traces fixed.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

I am not sure that you are correct about Gigabyte not supporting the boards anymore. I would have thought that they would have carried on with support but at a lower level. I will have to check on this.

Have you got a USB keyboard ? If so it might be worth just trying a PS2 and see if you get the same issue. It does actually sound like a BIOS problem but it is hard to say without more information.

[IsLNdbOi]

I'm actually using a PS/2 keyboard since I use the feature in the BIOS to power the PC on with a password.

I have tried switching to a USB keyboard, but keep experiencing this problem.

[Dark Mantis]

Well I have just heard back reference my query to your allegation that "Gigabyte is not providing anymore support for this and their other P67 / H67 motherboards (this also means no more BIOS updates)." and it is totally unfounded.

Please do not go spreading this sort of gossip around as it starts customers worrying for no reason.

[IsLNdbOi]

Really?  I emailed Gigabyte customer service twice in the past week and this is the response I got:

"Dear Customer,

As you may have heard, Intel has announced a potential design error in the new Intel 6 series chipsets. GIGABYTE stands behind all our products, and is committed to the highest quality product and customer support services. As an owner of a GIGABYTE 6 series motherboard, we recommend you return your product to your place of purchase for a refund. GIGABYTE is working with our vast network of distributors, and retailer/online dealers to streamline refunds with minimal inconvenience on customers end.

Thank you for choosing in GIGABYTE products"


All I asked was if the PCIe 16x slot drops to 8x if I put a card in the 4x slot.  They didn't even bother to answer my question, all they said was what I quoted above.  I replied saying that they did not even answer my question and they said this in their response:

"Unfortunately this is an recall product from Intel and no additional support can be provided on an recall item. We do apologize for any inconvenience."

[Dark Mantis]

Well I am afraid that obviously the USA Gigabyte policy is different from the UK Gigabyte policy as we are still supporting our motherboards here and in fact still selling them.

It is probably to do with the differences in our legal systems as I  noticed at the outset Gigabyte USA wanted anyone not claiming a refund and wanting to hang on to their boards to sign a waiver.

However thank you for your explanation.

[IsLNdbOi]

Another development today regarding this reboot issue.  I turned on the PC this morning (it had been off all night) and it started doing that reboot thing again.  So I turned it off, unplugged the power cable, plugged it back in after a minute and powered on then I got a message about overclocking and that the current BIOS checksum was invalid, then it automatically restored the BIOS to version F3.  It was on version F6 before it automatically restored itself to F3 for some reason.

I wasn't even overclocking.  I did have Extreme Memory Profile set to "Profile1" (that's the only one available for me) and had "Performance Enhance" set to Turbo.

After building this system I tested the RAM with the bootable DOS version of HCI Memtest for 32 hours and it did not find errors.  I then tested the RAM with Memtest86+ for another 32 hours and it too did not find errors.  With both tests, I had XMP set to Profile1 and "Performance Enhance" set to "Extreme".

[Dark Mantis]

Well personally I wouldn't have set the Performance Enhance to "Extreme" or backed it off a bit when I had problems.

The Backup BIOS kicked in and rewrote the Main BIOS as it decided that it was corrupt. That is why you ended up with the F3 BIOS version instead of the F6 that you werre runnning. Exactly why it sometimes makes this mistake I am not sure. It always thinks it's because of a failed overclock.

You willl need to update the BIOS to F6 again.

I would suggest updating your BIOS to the latest version from the website and make sure that you use the QFlash utility to do so.

The first thing to do is go to the Gigabyte wesite and find the "Support and Downloads" section

(http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/support-downloads.aspx).

Select your motherboard and revision number which can be found printed on the bottom left corner of the motherboard.

Click on the "BIOS" tab. This will take you to the BIOS versions download page.The newest BIOS versions are at the top of the page.

Click on your region under the "Download Here" section heading. A dialogue box will then pop up asking what you want to do with this file.

Click on "save" and note where you are saving it to.

Take a USB pendrive and make sure it is formatted with a FAT32 file system. If the file ends with .exe run it, or if it is a zip file Unzip it, and save the files (usually contains 3 files) that you just expanded to the Boot sector or a folder of your choice on this drive and insert the pendrive into a USB port.

Re-boot.

Press the"End" key as the computer is POSTing and you will be taken into the BIOS flashing utility "Q-Flash".

At the QFlash homescreen disable the Keep DMI Data option before proceeding.

From there just follow the prompts to find your file and DO NOT TURN OFF THE POWER under any circumstances. It will look for the pendrive with the file on it and use that to update the BIOS.

One thing to note is that the pendrive may show up as a floppy or hard disk instead of a USB drive. Once it has completed you can reboot.

Next  go into the BIOS  and load Optoimised BIOS Defaults along with any other settings you want to change. Save and exit.

We have since found out that the problem with getting some motherboards to "see" the USB drive is a case of using as small a drive as possible, well at least under 2Gb, and even then some will be seen and some won't. Just a matter of luck.

Probably best thing to do next  is to go into the BIOS and press F9 on the home page. It will show you the versions you have installed and I think you will find I am correct.

You should see both BIOS versions listed, if they do not match please update the backup BIOS to match the current.

To do that, reboot and where you would normally press DEL to enter the BIOS, instead press Alt + F12, this will flash the Backup BIOS with the MAIN BIOS contents.  

Do not worry when you see a recovery comment, that is normal and means it is flashing the backup BIOS.

[IsLNdbOi]

Ok, so I upgraded again to F6 using SPIFlash since QFlash won't install F6.  After installing F6, I found BIOS version F8 from a site called Station Drivers.  Installed F8 using QFlash and so far so good.

The option to enable XMP is gone from F8, but the "Performance Enhance" option is till there.  I've set it normal for now.

[Dark Mantis]

Well that sounds good for now.

You can input the XMP settings manually if you want to, it will work just the same. Just timings and voltage.

[IsLNdbOi]

Dark Mantis, have any idea why BIOS version F8 for the GA-H67MA-UD2H is not available directly from Gigabyte's website?

[Dark Mantis]

The short answer to that is no! It might just be that often the official site is slower to respond than the independant sites. Gigabyte does leave the testing versions(beta) off the website until they feel they are proven safe.