Gigabyte BIOS - Recovery options for Virtual Dual BIOS

[Jaquith]

I have tried to search for "Virtual Dual BIOS" and all of the Threads and Pages relevant are '404' or gone. I am trying to help someone with an LGA 775 who pooched their BIOS and since their MOBO lacks a real 'Dual BIOS' what are some recovery option(s)? The exact MOBO is a GA-G31M-S2L - GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 775 - GA-G31M-S2L (rev. 1.0)

Duh, Q-Flash to flash but a tad too late.

Are there any Guides or 'working' links to the available MOBO in question with "Virtual Dual BIOS"??

I noted 'Xpress Recovery2' but that seemed to recover data and nothing to do with the BIOS. link - GIGABYTE Xpress Recovery2

I know ASUS has an option to boot off your OEM MOBO DVD and recover the BIOS.

Thanks!

[Hyper530]

for your information: Virtual DualBIOS and BIOS Setting Recovery - Gigabyte - Motherboards-Memory

[Conners]

Hopefully your friend () didn't use @ bios to flash his MB. Never a good Idea.

[profJim]

Does the G31 system display any information when booting?
If yes, what is displayed? Can you post a picture of the screen information?
There are some possible solutions:

• perform an extended clear cmos for 8 - 12 hours with the the motherboard battery removed and with the power supply unplugged from the wall outlet
• attempt a blind flash using a bootable floppy disk
• connect a hard drive which has a saved copy of the correct bios in the Host Protected Area (HPA)
• install a replacement bios chip which means soldering a pre-flashed chip to the motherboard
• buy a new or used motherboard

Check out Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Motherboards, Intel Motherboards, LGA 775 for a selection of G41 motherboards for about $50.
A web search using the shopping option shows used g31 motherboards for $50 - $100.

My P35 system has the virtual dual bios feature and I enabled the bios option to save bios to HPA.
BIOS Flashing - A "How To ~ Qflash Guide" is the definitive bios flashing guide.

[Jaquith]

@Conners - I've seen that link and it points to a dead link (here).

@profJim - Booting - nothing is displayed, and now no beeps. The flash was done via Q-Flash.

The 'Question' is what BIOS Recovery Options are available and How do you recover with Virtual Dual BIOS??

[profJim]

-- GIGABYTE --Geeks Column of the Week - BIOS Explained has the best explanation that I've found.
The GIGABYTE Xpress BIOS Rescue™ Technology section near the bottom of the page is probably how the virtual bios is used.
It isn't a perfect setup.

Perform the extended cmos clear as mentioned previously and try booting with a minimal hardware setup with the hard drive installed.
I don't know of any other options other than buying a pre-flashed bios chip and replacing the current bios chip.
Your best option is probably to buy a replacement motherboard, new or used.

[Jaquith]

He's trying what you posted -- I'm still trying to figure out what happened to the Guide for Recovery options for Virtual Dual BIOS...

My hope is someone here could resurrect it.

[profJim]

Are you referring to the guide mentioned in the Tom's Hardware link from post #2.
That link has a similar URL to the current bios guide in post #4.
The forum link structure was updated several years ago and all (former) URL's with "forums.tweaktown.com/f69" have a somewhat different URL address now.

[Jaquith]

Yep that one, I first 'tried' to search for it in this forum (no joy) -- so I assume: 1. It's a 'bad' Guide (failure rate or problematic) 2. Deleted.

[profJim]

BIOS Flashing - A "How To ~ Qflash Guide" is a sticky, so it appears near the top of list on every page in the Gigabyte forum.