Bad Bios (Main & backup) EP45-UD3L

[racedirector]

Hi everyone

Yet another person with a major bios problem on a Gigabyte board. I have an EP45-UD3L that I was using for my hackintosh and I tried to flash the bios with a mac friendly one designed for the EP45. Well, that didn't go well and I now have the dreaded bios boot loop.

I have tried everything I could find both here and other places on the web to no avail, still can't get it happening. I have tried reflashing the bios via F8, with CMOS battery, without CMOS battery, shorting pins 6 & 8 on the main bios etc etc. Sometimes I can get into the bios screens, have tried failsafe default, optimum defaults etc, other times the board will just keep going round in circles. All of this was done with no hard drives connected, 1 stick of 1B ram, an nVidia GT430 and a Logitec USB keyboard. Oh, the main bios was flashed just today with F9. I also tried going back to F4 but no luck.

Before I found tweaktown I found replacement bios chips on ebay: eBay Australia: Buy new & used fashion, electronics & home d and almost boaught a couple to fix the problem. But, I decided to come here first to see if I can get it working before I go down the replacement chip route.

So I am currently open to any and all suggestions.

Cheers
Bruce

[Lsdmeasap]

Please see this post, and try the suggested 4+7, or you can also short 6+7, both of those would cause instant reboot and then initiate booting from the backup BIOS (Remove short after first/initial reboot)
How to fix "dead" dual BIOS motherboard if flashing failed

You can also try the auto recovery trick mentioned at the end of post #2 here
BIOS Flashing - A "How To ~ Qflash Guide"

But, it sounds like you may not need to do any of that though, since you can access the BIOS sometimes, that means the BIOS is OK. You may just need to do an extended clear CMOS. Unplug the PSU from the wall or board (Or switch it off in the rear), remove the CMOS battery, and then press and hold the case power on button for one minute. Then place a jumper on the Clear CMOS pins, and then wait 8-12+ hours. Then remove the short, put the battery back and connect or turn on the PSU and try again.

If you cannot get it you may need to RMA. Be VERY careful when shorting pins, you can blow out traces on the motherboard and that may void your warranty! I mention this because you mentioned shorting 6+8, that should not be done, and be very careful of that #8 pin when shorting as it is the ground pin (4+8 will blow a trace instantly, I just did that a few weeks ago accidentally!)

[racedirector]

Thanks for the reply. I have tried both of those that you have linked, my mistake - I meant pins 5 & 6 from your post in the first linked thread. I was going to attempt the whole switch on 4 & 7 thing but chickened out :)

I have had the board out of the machine since I posted this thread so I just jumpered the power connectors for + one minute and have now jumpered the clear cmos pins with the battery out. I'll sit it there until sometime over the weekend and have another go.

I am actually surprised to hear the bios might actually be OK, I thought the whole cmos checksum error/ continual reboot was the death knoll hence me continually trying to reflash the bios. If the extended cmos clearing doesn't work I doubt I could RMA the board, it is over a year old or more (memory going now I have hit 50 :)) so thats why I have been thinking of replacing the bios chips. Any comment on that method of getting the board back from the scrap bin?

Cheers
Bruce

[Lsdmeasap]

You can short 6+7 or 4+7 without needing a switch, I use insulated needle point tweezers, but you could use anything you like such as a bent paper clip or something like that. Just be sure it's insulated, if you are holding it with your bare hands, and be sure that you ONLY short the intended pins, on the MAIN BIOS ONLY.

Yes, if you can reach the BIOS off an on, then the BIOS is OK, at least partially meaning not corrupt so bad you are out of luck and would need to short or or replace it! Next time you can get into the BIOS, load optimized defaults and reboot!

Gigabyte boards carry a three year warranty, so you will be able to RMA most likely!

Here's how to check how much time you have left for RMA, by the serial number on your board (Usually on the 24pin connector) . Include the SN when you enter the serial
GIGABYTE Tech Daily: Really cool GIGABYTE mobo warranty checker

[racedirector]

Thanks again, I like good news over bad! I am hoping to use this board as the basis of my HTPC fileserver with 5 or 6 2TB drives attached.

I just checked the online warranty checker (thanks for that!!) and it *is* still under warranty until Oct this year. If the results of the last suggested action don't work out I will definitely RMA it.

Cheers
Bruce

[racedirector]

Well, I left the board for over a week and firing it back up made little difference. One small thing changed, I was able to consistently able to open the bios screen via DEL but upon saving/exiting it just went round in circles again. I have been having a bugger of a time getting anyone in Australia to accept the board for warranty fix/replacement. The original supplier I bought it from has been giving me the run around something awful and finding who actually imports Gigabyte boards into Aus is like a government secret. I am not sure what to do now, if I can't get any joy out of the warranty process I will have to look at going another route. Bit if a bummer really, I could really do with this board in service about now, my NAS is struggling on a real old GB board :(