BIOS Display is Garbled but Windows Display Isn't!!!!

[ameya88]

Hey guys I have a very unusual problem. When I go into my bios menu I get a very garbled display!!! But if I let my PC continue to load windows I don't get any kind of a garbled screen. So I flashed my BIOS, That did the trick but only temporary. The minute I changed my RAM to any other slot I start getting the garbled BIOS dispaly. Even if I just remove the RAM from the slot and put it back again into the same slot I get a garbled BIOS display. What seems to be the issue?? I first thought it could be a RAM fault but then wouldn't my windows screen be garbled too??? Before all this was happening I was testing a friends RAM using memtest (only his RAM) but I stopped the test in between and then restarted my PC to change a particular setting in BIOS when I noticed the garbled BIOS display. Would really appreciate any kind of help!!!

My specs are :

AMD X4 640
Gigabyte 880GM-UD2H
4GB DDR3 1333Mhz Corsair XMS
500GB Seagate
550W SMPS

P.S -  My windows operations are not disrupted in any way in spite of the BIOS garbled display problem!!

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome.

The basic difference between the two displays is that the BIOS display is using drivers that are DOS driven and very basic but once Windows loads it's own drivers take over and are the ones supplied by your graphics card manufacturer.

My first though would be to update the BIOS but you say you have done that to no avail. What program did you use to carry out the update ?

[ameya88]

I flashed it using the gigabyte BIOS utility through windows. I couldn't do it through Q-Flash cause even Q-Flash was garbled and I couldn't see a thing!!

[ameya88]

After I flash the garbled display is gone BUT it returns when I change the position of the RAM or even if I just remove and place it back in the same slot!!

[Dark Mantis]

After I flash the garbled display is gone BUT it returns when I change the position of the RAM or even if I just remove and place it back in the same slot!!

There is an obvious answer to that then! Don't play with the memory modules!

Well chances are that @BIOS hasn't helped the issue at all. Try doing an extended CMOS clear and see if that helps. If it does I would advise using QFlash to run a BIOS update to the latest version and when doing so make sure that the option to Keep DMI data is disabled.

Remove the power cable from the mains supply and then press the power switch on the case for a few seconds just to drain any residual energy in the PSU capacitors.

Once done remove the motherboard battery for at least two hours before replacing it.
 
Next plug back into the mains supply and boot.
 
You will now need to enter the BIOS by pressing DEL and load Optimised BIOS Defaults.

Make any other changes to the BIOS settings to suit your self like disabling the floppy drive, disabling the full screen logo and making the HDD the primary boot device and then press F10 to save and exit.

[kangoo]

try with different RAM
check the "gold" connectors of your current RAM and the RAM slots of your mobo, clean them
as i understand you use integrated vga?

[ameya88]

@Dark Mantis : Hahahah.......yeah  I know , a couple of my friends said the same thing!!!! But its like an OCD for me you know. It has to run perfectly!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway did exactly as you told, let it discharge turned it off for 2 hours or so and it worked!!!! Also did the tinkering by switching it to different modules and it still worked!!!! Thanks a lot!!!!! Really appreciate the help.

I feel it could have been a static problem. What do you think was the cause of the problem??? It started right after I introduced my friends RAM into the system!! Could it be the RAM???

@Kangoo : Had tried it out with 4 different RAM's, but still had the problem. Discharging solved it!! Yes I was using integrated VGA.

[Dark Mantis]

What it was is that the system still remembered the other memory modules and it was confusing it. Once you wiped the memory it found the "new" RAM and now is fine.