Main BIOS Checksum Error on the GA-Z68XP-UD3

[daeger]

Hello Everyone.

Early last January I had assembled myself a new computer using the GA-Z68XP-UD3 motherboard. For approximately 2-3 months it was working perfectly. One day, I pressed the power button which resulted in the computer turning itself on and off 5 times in the time span of a few seconds (I'm not sure if this is some type of check the motherboard does?) only to find this error when the computer finally stayed on:

"Warning: Main BIOS Checksum Error!"

I have spent countless hours since then trying to figure out how to fix it. So far, I have checked all my RAM testing only one at a time since I know corrupted RAM can result in the error. I have also jumped my CMOS to clear it and replaced the CMOS battery. None of this has helped alleviate the problem at all.

There has only been ONE time I got the computer to get past this error.

Because I was getting swarmed with schoolwork and didn't have the time or parts to fully check out what was wrong, I took about a 4-6 week break in terms of checking out my computer. In that time it sat unplugged in my room until just recently when I took the computer back home for the summer, and plugged everything in.

The first time I turned it on after this break, it worked perfectly fine. No error, no nothing. However, every since turning it off that one time the problem has persisted.

I'm at my wit's end trying to come up with a reason as to why this is all happening, and how to fix it.

Some important specs:

Motherboard: GA-Z68XP-UD3
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570
Power Supply: Corsair TX850W Power Supply
Processor: Intel Core i5-2500k

If anyone could give me some advice on what to do next, or how to fix this problem, I'd be glad to hear it. I've seen a great deal of threads about people having similar issues, but very few with the issues being resolved.

Thanks.

[boondocks]

Probably need to fill in all your specs. for example, are you using latest BIOS version? Boot loops with Z68 aren't anything new, but usually the later BIOS updates pretty much fixed them for most people, for me at least.
And welcome to the forum!

[daeger]

Thanks for the response, and sorry I'm still pretty new to all this tech stuff...not nearly as savvy as some others here.

I'm currently on the F8 version of my BIOS, and I'm trying to Q-Flash it into F10, which is the newest one, but I've even been running into some problems with that. I've loaded up the necessary file onto a thumb drive, and plugged it in...but when it goes to Q-Flash it doesn't seem to recognize it.

For Flash Type/Size ..................... it reads UNKNOWN.

The thumb drive I'm using is formatted to FAT32, which is supposed to work according to the manual.

[boondocks]

Try different USB ports? If still not recognized all I can say is make sure all your drivers are updated. I have that same board in my other rig.

[boondocks]

Also, when you get the new BIOS loaded and reboot, go directly to BIOS and enable optimized defaults, save and reboot back to BIOS and setup your drives, whatever you need/want to change.
After you get through with all that you need to update your backup BIOS so it's the same. For some reason on the Z68 boards it helps to have the main and backup bios be matched. (Alt + F12 while booting)

[Acebmxer]

@daeger Welcome to the forum, sorry to hear about your troubles.

Is q-flash not see the bios file or the flash drive?

The bios file if it is a zip file or exe you need to extract it to get to the actual bios file, copy the file to a usb stick formatted fat32. If its not seeing the flash drive, try like boondocks suggested, try another usb port or may have to try another usb flash dive.

When flashing

1. Enter bios Load optimized Defaults press F10 to save and exit.
2. Enter bios and then enter q-flash.
3. Make sure the change "Keep DMI Pool Data" from Enable to Disable
4. Flash the bios.
5. Shut the system down, wait 1 min then power back up.
6. Enter Bios and Load Optimized Defaults again. Press F10 to save and exit.
7. Enter bios again and only change items for Ram including speed, timings, and voltages. Also set sata controllers back to AHCI, or Raid depending on what you were using You can also turn of the Gigabyte boot logo if you choose to.
8. Enter bios one more time and only change HDD boot order (If you have more then one HDD)
9. Let the system boot up into windows doring boot before windows logo you should see it say updating dmi pool data.
10. Once in windows shut down.
11. Start the system up holding the ALT key and pressing F12 you should see a warning that you are about to update the back up bios from the Main bios. Press enter.

After that is all done you can reneter the bios bios again and apply any overclock settings you have or choose to do.

[daeger]

Some good news and some bad news. I was able to successfully update my bios thanks to the tips you guys gave, and initially after turning on the computer and loading the optimized settings and all that, I got to the windows screen! However, after following the last step (which said to press alt F12, and resulted in no type of message) the Checksum error has returned.

This is quite frustrating, but I guess I should be happy progress has been made.

[Acebmxer]

The process of updating the back up bios is a hit or a miss with some keyboards, as long as you indeed pressed the Key combo at the correct time. Make sure you keyboard is not a wireless keyboard and/or use a PS/2 keyboard.

Other thing you can try is pressing Ctrl+F12 which will copy the backup bios to the main bios.

Flashing the bios I believe should have fixed your problem. Before updating the bios do you know if both main and backup bios matched before? At main screen in bios press F9 should show you the bios versions of both bios if your not sure which bios is on the backup bios.

Another thing you may want to try if you can is try replacing the motherboard battery.

[boondocks]

One correction: pressing F9 only shows the main BIOS loaded as far as I can tell.(just tried it on my Z68XP-UD3)
If you were succesful in backing up the BIOS by pressing Alt + F12 you would have seen a message to acknowledge, so chances are it didn't happen.
Like Ace said, try a different Keyboard, if you are using a wireless it probably won't work. If using USB then try one of the rear ports if the front ones don't work. If you get a boot menu when pressing Alt + F12 it still didn't happen.

[daeger]

GOOD NEWS! My computer is back and operational for the time being :) This all seemed to have done the trick, I'm a bit worried it won't stay fixed but for the time being it is. I really do appreciate all of the help yah'll have given me, I couldn't do it without you guys.