Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

[Lsdmeasap]

Here is a list of the X58 Debug codes (Credit's to Saaya's post here at XS)

The most common Debug codes, what they mean, and how to work with them.
This Guide is intended for the Foxconn QuantumForce BloodRage board, but the codes should be identical or very similar on all Mainboards with Award BIOSes (Gigabyte, DFI, etc)
If your problem isnt described in this list or the tips listed here dont help you, send me a private message. Before you do, please search the foxconn section here on xs to see if anybody else has the same or a similar problem and post in that topic/thread.

no LED all fans spinning
If the Board powers on with all fans spinning and all LEDs running but the DEBUG display doesnt display any POST codes and nothing else happens, then the PWM probably cant get enough juice, there is no cpu installed or the installed cpu is damaged, broken, or not supported. But check if the 8Pin 12V plug and the 24Pin ATX PSU power plugs are plugged in properly, make sure they dont bend too much or haven a lose cable. Check another PSU if possible. If nothing helps, power off the mainboard, switch the vbat discharge jumper on the bottom left of the board to disconnect the battery and wait a few minutes, then set it back to default and power the mainboard on again. The default position for this jumper is 1-2, meaning the jumper should cover the left and middle pin.

board shuts down, Debug LED flashes for half a second
If the Board powers on when you push the power button but shuts off almost immediatly after that, and the debug LED display flashed for a fraction of a second, then check if the 8Pin 12v plug and the 24Pin ATX PSU power plugs are connected properly. Make sure the board doesnt bend too much and check another psu if possible. If nothing helps, power off the mainboard, switch the vbat discharge jumper on the bottom left of the board to disconnect the battery and wait a few minutes, then set it back to default and power the mainboard on again. The default position for this jumper is 1-2, meaning the jumper should cover the left and middle pin.

E8 -> 01 -> b2 -> 00 looping
If the board powers un and keeps looping from E8 to 01 to b2 to 00 and back to E8 again, check if the memory is installed properly and try to boot with only 1 stick and try each slot individually. If one of the slots doesnt work, please power off the mainboard and psu and check if any of the pins inside the 1366 CPU socket is bent. If yes then send me a pm or contact the foxconn tech support. If the pins are alright and he memory is plugged in properly, make sure you didnt misconfigure the memory controller and set an unsupported multiplier or an unsupported combination of multipliers. Reset the bios and try again. If it still doesnt work your memory might be damaged or the SPD corrupt, or simply not supported. Please check the BloodRage memory compatibility list and send me a pm if your memory is not on the list and doesnt seem to work.

2b
When the system powers on and the Debug LED shows the usual POST code sequence but hangs on 2b or you get a beep code as soon as the sequence reaches 2b, then the Mainboard cant detect your Videocard properly. Note that the POST code sequence might not halt at 2b but continue, so the final POST Code it displays could be FF, 00 or 7F which means the Maiboard booted, entered BIOS, or OC recovery kicked in and is waiting for Input to enter BIOS. Since the Videocard couldnt be detected properly you will only see a black Monitor and either 2b, FF, 00 or 7F. Check if there is something wrong with the Videocard, the PCIE slot or BUS, the Monitor or monitor cable. Turn the Monitor on and off, switch the Monitor cable from one D-SUB or DVI plug to the other in case your Videocard has two. If this doesnt help then reboot and load the optimized defaults. If that doesnt help either try another Videocard if possible, or try the Videocard in another system to make sure its working properly. Try another monitor or try the Monitor on another System.

7F
When the system detects that a critical error happened during the last boot attempt or several boot attempts failed, so OC recovery kicked in. There should be a message displayed on the Display informing you that OC revocery kicked in and that its waiting for your input to enter BIOS. If you cant see this message cause your Display stays black, please check the description for POST Code 2b.

00
Your in the BIOS right now, if you cant see the BIOS cause your Display stays black, please check the description for POST Code 2b. If this is part of a loop please check the point "E8 -> 01 -> b2 -> 00 looping" above.

Intel MRC Code
This block of code has to be implemented in every Intel based platform BIOS. It initializes and configures the processor and runs bus training and adusting routines. It adjusts clockskews, read/write leveling, signal termination resistors and several chipset timings dynamically depending on the trace length, signal quality, timing and memory installed in the motherboard. If the MRC code hangs or the board cant pas the MRC code and resets it usually points towards memory problems and unsupported multiplier settings or a unsupported combination of multipliers.


Shut down If the board shuts down after a second and the Debug LEDs flash for a fraction of a second, the PWM cant get enough juice
7F OC Recovery
b0 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Chipset - check above
b1 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Chipset - check above
b2 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
b3 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - CPU - check above
b4 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
b5 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - CPU - check above
b6 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
b7 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
b8 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
01 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
02 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
03 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
04 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
05 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - CPU - check above
b9 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
bA Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
bb Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
bc Intel Core i7 MRC Code - Memory - check above
bd Intel Core i7 MRC Code - CPU - check above
be Intel Core i7 MRC Code - CPU - check above
bF Intel Core i7 MRC Code - CPU - check above
dd unsupported Multiplier or unsupported combination of Multipliers


Continued below

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

A0 Reserved/Unused
A1 Reserved/Unused
A2 Reserved/Unused
A3 Reserved/Unused
A4 Reserved/Unused
A5 Reserved/Unused
A6 Reserved/Unused
A7 Reserved/Unused
A8 Reserved/Unused
A9 Reserved/Unused
AA Reserved/Unused
Ab Reserved/Unused
AC Reserved/Unused
Ad Reserved/Unused
AE Reserved/Unused
AF Reserved/Unused
b0 Error: Interupt in protected mode
b1 Unclaimed NMI
b2 Reserved/Unused
b3 Reserved/Unused
b4 Reserved/Unused
b5 Reserved/Unused
b6 Reserved/Unused
b7 Reserved/Unused
b8 Reserved/Unused
b9 Reserved/Unused
bA Reserved/Unused
bb Reserved/Unused
bC Reserved/Unused
bd Reserved/Unused
bE Reserved/Unused
bF Program Chipset
C0 CPU status flag test, CPU register test, memory refresh test
C1 Detect memory, Auto-detection of DRAM size, type and ECC, Auto-detection of L2 cache
C2 Early memory initialization
C3 Extended memory initialization
C4 Display switch configuration
C5 Call chipset hook to copy BIOS back to E000 & F000 in shadow, prepare fastboot hook
C6 External Cache detection
C7 Reserved/Unused
C8 Reserved/Unused
C9 Reserved/Unused
CA Reserved/Unused
Cb Reserved/Unused
CC Reserved/Unused
Cd Reserved/Unused
CE Reserved/Unused
CF Cmos integrity check
d0 Reserved/Unused
d1 Reserved/Unused
d2 Reserved/Unused
d3 Reserved/Unused
d4 Reserved/Unused
d5 Reserved/Unused
d6 Reserved/Unused
d7 Reserved/Unused
d8 Reserved/Unused
d9 Reserved/Unused
dA Reserved/Unused
db Reserved/Unused
dC Reserved/Unused
dd Reserved/Unused
dE Reserved/Unused
dF Reserved/Unused
E0 Reserved/Unused
E1 Set up Page1
E2 Set up Page3
E3 Set up Page3
E4 Set up Page4
E5 Set up Page5
E6 Set up Page6
E7 Set up Page7
E8 Set up Page8
E9 Set up Page9
EA Set up Page10
Eb Set up Page11
EC Set up Page12
Ed Set up Page13
EE Set up Page14
EF Set up Page15
FF booting (from Int 19h) [If the Debug LEDs show FF but the Display stays black, possibly combined with one long and two short beep codes, check the detailled description of POST code 2b on the top]
00 Your in the BIOS menu right now (if part of a loop check above)
01 Force chipset defaults
02 Reserved/Unused
03 Initial Superio_Early_Init switch
04 Reserved/Unused
05 Blank out screen, Clear CMOS error flag
06 Reserved/Unused
07 Clear 8042 interface, Initialize 8042 self-test
08 Test special keboard controller for Winbond 977 series superIO chips, enable keyboard interface
09 Reserved/Unused
0A Detect PS/2 mouse/keyboard
0b Detect Onboard Audio
0C Reserved/Unused
0d Reserved/Unused
0E CMOS Integrity Check
0F Reserved/Unused
10 Auto Detect EEPROM
11 Reserved/Unused
12 CMOS Check
13 Reserved/Unused
14 Program Chipset registers with CMOS values
15 Reserved/Unused
16 Clock Init
17 Reserved/Unused
18 Identify CPU and Init L1/L2 cache
19 Reserved/Unused
1A Reserved/Unused
1b Set up Interupt Vector Table
1C Reserved/Unused
1d Early Processor Management Init
1E Finished Loading BIOS Menu
1F Re-Init Keyboard
20 Reserved/Unused
21 HPM initialization (notebook platform)
22 Reserved/Unused
23 Check validity of RTC value: e.g. a value of 5Ah is an invalid value for RTC minute. Load CMOS settings into BIOS stack. If CMOS checksum fails, use the default values instead. Prepare BIOS resource map for PCI & PnP use. If ESCD is valid, take into consideration of the ESCD's legacy information. Onboard clock generator initialization. Disable respective clock resource to empty PCI & DIMM slots. Early PCI initialization: Enumerate PCI bus number, Assign memory & I/O resource, search for valid VGA device & VGA BIOS and put it into C000:0
24 Reserved/Unused
25 Reserved/Unused
26 Reserved/Unused
27 Initialize KBC and prepare INT 09 buffer to load BIOS Data
28 Reserved/Unused
29 Read CMOS 14h to detect video adapter
2A Reserved/Unused
2b Invoke vga BIOS
2C Reserved/Unused
2d VGA Bios loaded, initializing display output, display VGA BIOS details, Award BIOS details, CPU type, CPU speed etc
2E Reserved/Unused
2F Reserved/Unused
30 Reserved/Unused
31 Reserved/Unused
32 Reserved/Unused
33 Set up PS2 Mouse and reset keyboard (except Winbond 977 series Super I/O chips)
34 Reserved/Unused
35 Test DMA Channel 0
36 Reserved/Unused
37 Test DMA Channel 1
38 Reserved/Unused
39 Test DMA Page Registers
3A Reserved/Unused
3b Reserved/Unused
3C Test 8254 Timer 0 Counter 2
3d Reserved/Unused
3E Test if 8259 Channel 1 interrupt bits are masked correctly by turning the interupt lines on and off
3F Reserved/Unused
40 Test if 8259 Channel 2 interrupt bits are masked correctly by turning the interupt lines on and off
41 Reserved/Unused
42 Reserved/Unused
43 Test 8259 Interup Functionality
44 Reserved/Unused
45 Reserved/Unused
46 Reserved/Unused
47 Initialize EISA slot
48 Reserved/Unused
49 Extend base memory from 256K to 640K and extend memory above 1MB
4A Reserved/Unused
4b Reserved/Unused
4C Reserved/Unused
4d Reserved/Unused
4E Test base memory from 256K to 640K and extend memory above 1MB with various patterns
4F Reserved/Unused
50 Initialize USB
51 Reserved/Unused
52 Test all memory above 1MB in virtual 8086 mode
53 Reserved/Unused
54 Reserved/Unused
55 Detect CPU Speed, display CPU String and enable additional CPU features
56 Reserved/Unused
57 Display PnP logo
58 Reserved/Unused
59 Initialize Virus protection
5A Early Chipset, VGA, SuperIO and Interface Init
5b (Optional Feature) Show message for entering AWDFLASH.EXE from FDD
5C Chipset defaults loaded
5d Initialize Onboard SuperIO (Floppy, Hardwaremonitor, legacy ports and buses)
5E Set up Interup Vector Table
5F Test CMOS Interface and Battery Status
60 Okay to enter Setup utility, users can not enter the CMOS setup utility before this POST stage
61 Init VGA
62 Test video memory
63 Detect and Initialize basic Mouse driver
64 Test 8259
65 Initialize PS/2 Mouse
66 Detect Boot Devices
67 ACPI Init
68 PM Init
69 Init Cache Controller
6A Reserved/Unused
6b Program chipset registers according to items described in Setup & Auto-configuration table
6C Reserved/Unused
6d Init Floppy controller
6E Reserved/Unused
6F Detect Floppy drives
70 Reserved/Unused
71 Reserved/Unused
72 Reserved/Unused
73 Init PATA/SATA HDD Controller
74 Reserved/Unused
75 Detect PATA/SATA HDDs
76 Reserved/Unused
77 detect serial ports & parallel ports (including the Game Port)
78 Reserved/Unused
79 Reserved/Unused
7A detect & install math co-processors
7b Reserved/Unused
7C Check HDD Write protection Flag
7d Reserved/Unused
7E Reserved/Unused
7F Switch back to text mode if full screen logo is supported. If error occur, report errors & wait for keys. If no errors occur or F1 key is pressed to contine: Clear EPA or customization logo, On FOXCONN boards: OC recovery kicked in, waiting for input to enter BIOS (if your monitor stays black check if the board beeped during POST code 2b, if yes see POST code 2b)
80 preparing to boot
81 Reserved/Unused
82 Request BIOS Password
83 Save all CMOS Data to DRAM
84 Enable NMI, partiy checker and cache
85 Initialize additional Onboard Controllers and USB devices
86 Reserved/Unused
87 Reserved/Unused
88 Reserved/Unused
89 Reserved/Unused
8A Reserved/Unused
8b reserved - might be PPM/Turbo initialization
8C Reserved/Unused
8d Reserved/Unused
8E Reserved/Unused
8F Reserved/Unused
90 Reserved/Unused
91 Reserved/Unused
92 Reserved/Unused
93 Enable Boot Sector Protection
94 Final Processor and Chipset initialization
95 program daylight saving, update keyboard LED & typematic rate and default Numlock setting
96 build MP table, build & update ESCD, set CMOS century to 20h or 19h, load CMOSD time into DOS timer tick, build MSIRQ routing table
97 Reserved/Unused
98 Reserved/Unused
99 Reserved/Unused
9A Reserved/Unused
9b Reserved/Unused
9C Reserved/Unused
9d Reserved/Unused
9E Reserved/Unused
9F Reserved/Unused
FF booting (from Int 19h) [If the Debug LEDs show FF but the Display stays black, possibly combined with one long and two short beep codes, check the detailled description of POST code 2b on the top]



Normal Boot Sequence:
This is the sequence of POST codes you should see when booting up, note that some of them only flash on for a fraction of a second

b8 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - check above
b9 Intel Core i7 MRC Code - check above
1F Intel Core i7 MRC Code - check above
C1 Detect memory, Auto-detection of DRAM size, type and ECC, Auto-detection of L2 cache
C3 Expand compressed BIOS codes to DRAM
02 reserved
03 Initial Superio_Early_Init switch
A0 Detect PS/2 mouse/keyboard
A1 reserved
2b Invoke vga BIOS
2d VGA Bios loaded, initializing display output, display VGA BIOS details, Award BIOS details, CPU type, CPU speed etc
33 Reset keyboard except Winbond 977 series Super I/O chips
49 Calculate total memory by testing the last double word of each 64K page
4E Program MTTR of M1 CPU, Initialize L2 cache for P6 class CPU & program CPU with proper cacheable range, Initialize the APIC for P6 class CPU, On MP platform, adjust the cacheable range to smaller one in case the cacheable ranges between each CPU are not identical.
50 Initialize USB
52 Test all memory (clear all extended memory to 0)
75 detect & install all IDE devices: HDD, LS120, ZIP, CDROM etc
8b reserved - might be PPM/Turbo initialization
94 enable L2 cache, program boot up speed, chipet final initialization, power management final initialization, clear screen & display summary table, program K6 compatible write allocation, program P6 class compatible write combining
96 build MP table, build & update ESCD, set CMOS century to 20h or 19h, load CMOSD time into DOS timer tick, build MSIRQ routing table
FF booting (Int 19h) If the Debug LEDs show FF but the Display stays black, check the detailled description of POST code 2b on the top

Continued below

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

Quick POST Codes
65 - Init onboard device Early Initialized the super IO Reset Video controller Keyboard controller init Test the Keyboard Initialized the mouse Onboard audio controller initialize if exist. Check the intergraty of the ROM, BIOS and message Check Flash type and copy flash write/erase routines to 0F000h segments Check Cmos Circuitry and reset CMOS Program the chipset registers with CMOS values Init onboard clock generator
66 - Early Sytem setup Check the CPU ID and init L1/L2 cache Initialize first 120 interrupt vectors with SPURIOUS_INT_HDLR and INT 00h-1Fh according to INT_TBL First step initialize if single CPU onboard. Re-init KB If support HPM, HPM get initialized here
67 - KBC and CMOS Init Verifies CMOS is working correctly, detects bad battery.If failed, load CMOS defaults and load into chipset Final Initial KBC and setup BIOS data area.
68 - Video Init Read CMOS location 14h to find out type of video in use. Detect and Initialize Video Adapter. Test video memory, write sign-on message to screen. Setup shadow RAM - Enable shadow according to Setup.
69 - 8259 Init Init 8259 channel 1 and mask IRQ 9
6A - Memory test Quick Memory Test
6B - CPU Detect and IO init Detect CPU speed and display CPU vendor specific version string and turn on all necessary CPU features Display PnP logo and PnP early init Setup virus protect according to Setup. If required, will auto load Awdflash.exe in POST Initializing onboard superIO
6C - Reserved
6D - Reserved
6E - Reserved
6F - Reserved
70 - Setup Init Display setup message and enable setup functions Detect if mouse is present, initialize mouse, install interrupt vectors. Special treatment to PS2 Mouse port ACPI sub-system initializing
71 - Setup Cache Controller Initialize cache controller.
72 - Install FDD Enter setup check and auto configuration check up Initialize floppy disk drive controller and any drives. Install FDD and setup BIOS data area parameters
73 - Install HDD Initialize hard drive controller and any drives. IDE device detection and install Initialize any serial and parallel ports (also game port).
74 - Detect & Initialize Math Coprocessor Initialize math coprocessor.
75 - HDD Check for Write protection HDD check out
76 - Reserved
77 - Display POST error Check POST error and display them and ask for user intervention Ask password security (optional).
78 - CMOS and Option ROM Init Write all CMOS values back to RAM and clear screen. Enable parity checker Enable NMI, Enable cache before boot. Initialize any option ROMs present from C8000h to EFFFFh. NOTE: When FSCAN option is enabled, ROMs initialize from C8000h to F7FFFh.
79 - Reserved
7A - Reserved
7B - Reserved
7D - Boot Medium detection Read and store boot partition head and cylinders values in RAM
7E - Final Init Final init for last micro details before boot
7F - Special KBC patch Set system speed for boot Setup NumLock status according to Setup
80 - Boot Attempt Set low stack Boot via INT 19h.
FF - Boot
S4 POST Codes
5A - Early Chipset Init Early Initialized the super IO Reset Video controller Keyboard controller init Test the Keyboard Initilized the mouse
5B - Cmos Check Check Cmos Circuitry and reset CMOS
5C - Chipset default Prog Program the chipset registers with CMOS values. Init onboard clock generator
5D - Identify the CPU Check the CPU ID and init L1/L2 cache
5E - Setup Interrupt Vector Table Initialize first 120 interrupt vectors with SPURIOUS_INT_HDLR and INT 00h-1Fh according to INT_TBL First step initialize if single CPU Onboard. Re-init KB If support HPM, HPM get initialized Here.
5F - Test CMOS Interface and Battery status. Verifies CMOS is working correctly, detects bad battery.If failed, load CMOS defaults and load into chipset
60 - KBC final Init Final Initial KBC and setup BIOS data area
61 - Initialize Video Interface. Read CMOS location 14h to find out type of video in use. Detect and Initialize Video Adapter.
62 - Video memory test Test video memory, write sign-on message to screen. Setup shadow RAM - Enable shadow according to Setup.
63 - Setup PS2 mouse and Setup PS2 Mouse and reset KB test DMA Test DMA channel 0
64 - Test 8259 Test 8259 channel 1 and mask IRQ 9
65 - Init Boot Device Detect if mouse is present, initialize mouse, install interruptvectors. Special treatment to PS2 Mouse port ACPI sub-system initializing Initialize cache controller.
66 - Install Boot Devices Enter setup check and autoconfiguration check up Initialize floppy disk drive controller and any drives. Install FDD and setup BIOS data area Parameters Initialize hard drive controller and any drives. IDE device detection and install
67 - Cache Init Cache init and USB init
68 - PM init PM initialization
69 - PM final Init and issue SMI Final init Before resume
FF - Full on
BootBlock POST Codes
01 - Base memory test Clear base memory area (0000:0000--9000:ffffh)
05 - KB init Initialized KBC
12 - Install interrupt vectors Install int. vector (0-77), and initialized 00-1fh to their proper place
0D - Init Video Video initializing
41 - Init FDD Scan floppy and media capacity for onboard superIO
FF - Boot Load boot sector

http://www.elstonsystems.com/dl/postcode-award.pdf

LED Error POST code 89 has been confirmed to be incompatible CPU, as well as b8/68 (Such as 980X on a X58 board with incompatible BIOS)

88 is dead CPU, but can also be dead/incompatible PSU or dead motherboard

[JureZ]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

I vote for making this thread a stIcky !

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

It is linked in my signature, always has been.

I think we have a bit too many stickies right now though, maybe later if I can combine a few or unsticky something I might. I accidentally deleted the original thread this was in, so I had to make a new one.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

Also see Intel post code page
Desktop Boards — Port 80h POST codes

[Bittornado]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

LED Error POST code 89 has been confirmed to be incompatible CPU, as well as b8/68 (Such as 980X on a X58 board with incompatible BIOS)

88 is dead CPU, but can also be dead/incompatible PSU or dead motherboard

Hi guys,
I'm sorry, I know this is a very very old thread...but I was wondering if anyone could please help me out with an issue?

I'm an owner of a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 motherboard.

I can see at the end of the above post where is mentioned that "LED Error POST code 89 has been confirmed to be incompatible CPU, as well as b8/68 (Such as 980X on a X58 board with incompatible BIOS)".

I get something similar with b8/68...BUT, I am having a i7-920 processor in my motherboard, the last available stepping. STILL I get this b8/68 LED debug code, and no picture at all on the display.
This happened after a suspected bad BIOS upgrade effort.

I've cleared the CMOS, had the battery out for several days, tried like 3 different working video cards, dismounted everything but CPU, video card, one 4GB compatible RAM module and necessary cabling. Tried everything...

It hangs at b8/68 code, after ca 30 sec, it tries to restart, starts all over again, C0, C1...until b8/68, and never gets passed that :(
I don't understand...this motherboard was working just fine before the failure BIOS upgrade, and I KNOW for a fact that the spare BIOS chip DOES carry a F2 BIOS version which should work just fine with the i7-920 CPU, but for some reason, it never attempts to start from the spare BIOS chip.

I have also read and tried every possible way of trying to restart from the spare BIOS, incl the power button/PSU on/off trick, the shorting of main BIOS pins 4+7, 1+6, 5+6.... no luck.
And if the error code I'm receiving means "incompatible CPU" then I'm really lost as to what else I can try or what issue this motherboard is having really...i7-920 is the first high-end i7 CPU for this Intel generation chipset, so how can it be an incompatibility issue???

Any help on that please?

[parsec]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

Have you ever used your i7-920 with this board before? Your post sounds like you never used it in this board before. What other processors have you used in this board?

The manual from your board's download page is worthless, so I can't tell what the procedure for activating the backup BIOS is. There should be no trick to it, change a switch or move a jumper to cause the board to use the backup BIOS.

You suspect a bad BIOS upgrade? How was that done? I would agree that a bad BIOS flash could cause that error code, and the problem is really not the CPU compatibility.

Did you try flashing the main BIOS to F2 again? Did you try flashing to one of the beta BIOS versions when the suspected failed flash occurred?

[Bittornado]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

Have you ever used your i7-920 with this board before? Your post sounds like you never used it in this board before. What other processors have you used in this board?

The manual from your board's download page is worthless, so I can't tell what the procedure for activating the backup BIOS is. There should be no trick to it, change a switch or move a jumper to cause the board to use the backup BIOS.

You suspect a bad BIOS upgrade? How was that done? I would agree that a bad BIOS flash could cause that error code, and the problem is really not the CPU compatibility.

Did you try flashing the main BIOS to F2 again? Did you try flashing to one of the beta BIOS versions when the suspected failed flash occurred?

Thank you for the reply m8!
You're absolutely correct. The manual for my mobo is totally worthless regarding debugging for errors :( It doesn't even contain a full LED debug error code list...

I also should add that my Gibabyte GA-x58A-UD7 motherboard is the Rev 1.0 (as there is also a Rev 2.0 version available).

Anyways, I had the board previously installed the first time with an i7-930, working very stable and properly. In January I upgraded to an i7-980X processor, still working with no issues whatsoever.
The mobo had the latest modded BIOS version which was reported to be VERY solid and the best BIOS out there, called "F9D".
I had also noticed that the spare BIOS on my mobo contained an F2 version of the BIOS, unfortunately I never got to upgrading that to my regular main BIOS version...


I needed to flash my BIOS for the following reason:

This board has 2xMarvell 9128 SATA3 6GB/s ports. Unfortunately, the marvell chip is an add-on chip. There are myriads of posts and info all over the internet concerning these Marvell 9128 6GB/s ports performing pathetically bad, never reaching above 350 MB/s speed with SSDs, despite being labeled as "6GB/s" SATA3 ports. The rumor was that even the on-board Intel SATA2 3GB/s ports performed better, especially in a RAID-0 configuration, reaching 600 MB/s speed.

So I tried an SSD RAID-0 with Intel SATA2 ports. But then realized that TRIM function was never passed through with a RAID-0 configuration through Intel's RST.
So...I finally found an IRST mod for my BIOS which if incorporated properly then would pass TRIM through a RAID-0 set up.
For some reason, Q-Flash wouldn't upgrade this new BIOS mod which was an older mod apparently...

So I then tried doing the same procedure using @BIOS tool. I know there has been some rumors about @BIOS not being the safest way of flashing a BIOS...
But I think the reason everything went black on the screen upon using @BIOS tool, was that I actually used the wrong version of this tool :(
So basically after this flash attempt with @BIOS tool, when everything went black and I started getting these LED debug error codes, I was convinced that I had bricked my board.

Then I realized that even if my own back up BIOS chip with an F2 BIOS version, was to become active and take over from the main BIOS, the F2 per se was not supposed to accept neither an i7-930 nor an i7-980X CPU. The former requires at least an F5 BIOS version, the latter at least an F7 I think....so I got myself a basic i7-920 CPU just to make sure I DID have compatibility between my back up F2 BIOS version and the CPU on-board.

But...still....nothing. I have tested the i7-920 CPU functionality with another LGA-1366 board, it works just fine...but upon putting it into my Gigabyte board, I see that the board starts up, goes through C0, C1...and then gets stuck at b8/68 error code, waits about 30 sec...and then goes through the same routine over and over and over again.

So as mentioned, I have looked through internet and tried every possible "how-to-make-Gigabyte-boards-with-two-BIOS-system-set-up-to-start-from-backup-BIOS" procedure being found out there....but it neither does it automatically nor does it with the help of any of those procedures I've encountered so far (incl. the power on/off PSU trick of different variants and some main BIOS chip pin shorting tricks found here at this forum). I have no idea why. I know for a fact that the board does have an F2 BIOS back up version on-board so it should work, even if I did mess up my main BIOS chip. And nothing else could possibly be wrong with the motherboard since this error happened right after my BIOS upgrade failure with @BIOS tool when the display went totally black upon the first boot up after the messed up BIOS upgrade :(

As a last resort there would be a matter of finding a newly flashed BIOS chip for my mobo (have seen something like that on eBay) but I really am not a hands-on techie guy so I would need help with some soldering procedure...but still, I need to be sure whether the main BIOS failing IS the culprit here or not.... and I can not for my life understand why a previously tested and fully functional board with an available back up BIOS on-board, does not recognize a bad main BIOS to let the back up BIOS take over. And I certainly don't understand this b8/68 error code showing up, as in my case it simply MUST mean something else than just CPU-incompatibility issue because my i7-920 CPU should be compatible with all available BIOS versions, including my back up BIOS version F2.

[theac]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

Hey man! Thanks for sharing codes. Very Useful.

[Bittornado]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

Hello again guys.

I'm back here still with the same problem as mentioned in my earlier post here in this thread... basically having a nightmare getting any kind of POST after having a bad BIOS flash, done by Gigabyte's own @BIOS software...though I think I might have used the wrong version of the software along with my motherboard :(
Immediately after the BIOS upgrade during the next automatic boot up, the board simply refused to POST and is yet to do so still...

I initially tried several different CPUs, including an old good i7-920 since it should be compatible with my REV 1.0 GA-X58A-UD7 mobo...since before everything went dark I had noticed that my back-up BIOS did contain the official F2 BIOS version, so i figured it should kick-start from that when it realizes that the main BIOS doesn't POST.
But that never happened unfortunately. I initially got some different debug error code messages in my debug LED onboard, but mainly something like b8/68 at first.


I then tried every possible solution found on internet for jumpstarting the board with its back-up BIOS, but all failed miserably. It was like my mobo never realized that the main BIOS didn't function properly and kept insisting to start from it instead of switching over to the back-up BIOS chip.

Anyway, I really really love my 1366-set up, so I went ahead and did order a newly flashed GA-X58A-UD7 BIOS chip with Gigabyte's official F9D BIOS version already flashed on it from the following well reputed site on eBay:

The BIOS Chip for All Kinds of Gigabyte Motherboards Desktop Pcs | eBay

I received the BIOS chip, I then got help from a very good friend, who professionally replaced the board's old main BIOS chip with this new one.
I was hoping that swapping the old bricked chip to a new one would then surely solve the problem.


Well, the result has been nothing but disappointing, to say the least..........
The problem with no POSTing persists still.

Upon starting up even with the new main BIOS chip installed, the board does start up, the fans of the video card do start turning, then I immediately receive a "b9" debug LED code from which the start up process never goes beyond...after about 10-15 seconds idle in this "b9" state, I then receive a "C1" debug code, the board restarts, and then idles at the same "b9" debug code again, and this same process is repeated over and over and over again....until I manually shut down the board :(

I again have tried every possible procedure explained in different sites including some suggestions here at tweakdown like the CPU switch on and off method and BIOS pins jumpstart method etc to either get a proper POST or at least to make the board switch over to the back-up BIOS chip, without any success at all.
I never receive any kind of POST on the screen. I have installed different CPUs (i7-920, 930, 980, 980X) and different RAMs both in one single, double or triple configuration (Corsair, G-Skill).

NOTHING


Please guys......is there anyone here with a little bit more insight to what this "b9" debug error code might stand for???
I mean.....I'm not an engineer or computer expert in any way....but isn't it highly unlikely that some other electronic circuitry of the motherboard would have gone bad ONLY because of an unsuccessful BIOS flash, when everything started during first reboot after the reflashing was done?

I do realize that I have no way to prove whether the newly flashed BIOS chip I bought from eBay is actually 100% functional or not....but even so, why on earth doesn't the back-up BIOS on this damn board ever kicks in IF the main problem is just a badly flashed main BIOS??? Since there is no way to manually make this board to switch over to the back-up BIOS, I'd really really really need to understand the meaning of a "b9" debug error code and possibly why the board hangs in that state.

Please guys, ANY further help/comment/advice would be tremendously appreciated at this point as I can not get my head around this one anymore!
Does anyone have suggestions to how I may proceed from here or have any experience with similar situation to please help me out??

Many thx in advance.

[Bittornado]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

Guys,

Just wanted to make a last effort to bump this thread one last time to see whether there is ANYONE out there with enough know-how to please read through my last and previous post about my issues with a Giagabyte GA-X58A-UD7 motherboard which went totally dark and refused posting after a bad bios flash, apparently due to using the wrong @BIOS version for the flashing process :(

I have now even replaced the main bios on this motherboard with a new one flashed to the latest official bios version for this board, F9A. Done by a professional person in the business.

BUT the board still just circle around some C1 and b9 debug error codes and never post anything at all :(

Is there a possibility that something else, some other chips/circuits/connections or other hardware parts might have gotten damaged because of a bad flash bios process??? I'm not the brightest dude when it comes to technical parts of making a motherboard, but logically in my mind it seems kinda unlikely that anything else apart from the main bios might have become damaged. And since I have now replaced the main bios with a brand new one flashed professionally from a very reliable source with the latest official F9A bios for this specific board....does anyone have any idea what else I should be looking at please?

As you might know this is still a very top end motherboard which I was very happy using and they are hardly ever being sold at the second hand market, might be a couple of them showing up in US or Germany but none of these sellers ever would consider shipping internationally so I'm kinda stuck with it atm if I don't wanna upgrade the whole system :(

I have tried every possible tricks on internet to get the spare bios chip on this board to kick in, but somehow it just doesn't want to comply with that either, so I'm definitely stuck with a black screen and a totally non posting motherboard :(

ANY help or tips would be greatly appreciated.
I truly apologize for bumping this thread once more, but my last post was like 4 weeks ago without any reply at all so I just wanted to give it a last shot.

I welcome any helpful comments good people :)
Many thx in advance.

[TicTacToe]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

You know by now that C1 Detect memory, Auto-detection of DRAM size, type and ECC, Auto-detection of L2 cache and b9 are all memory related codes. I will infer that you are having some kind of memory issues with the motherboard. Either memory compatibility or similar. Was the professional who installed the bios also testing the board for you..?? Were you the one who updated the bios? Does it show the boot screen at all???

[Bittornado]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

You know by now that C1 Detect memory, Auto-detection of DRAM size, type and ECC, Auto-detection of L2 cache and b9 are all memory related codes. I will infer that you are having some kind of memory issues with the motherboard. Either memory compatibility or similar. Was the professional who installed the bios also testing the board for you..?? Were you the one who updated the bios? Does it show the boot screen at all???

Thank you very much for your reply!

Yes I do understand from what I read in the debug code post at the beginning of this thread that it could be memory related, but to be honest, I don't understand how that could be?

You see, the motherboard was working flawlessly. All I wanted was to upgrad the board with a modded Intel Rapid Storage Technology version which would allow and pass TRIM command with a RAID-0 configuration, which the original version of Intel Matrix Rapid Tech on-board did not.
Anyway, I tried to upgrade the bios version with Gibagyte's own recommended tool, @BIOS.
But I suspect that I might have downloaded the wrong version not suitable for my board...even though it did install without a hitch and it accepted the new bios rom file.

So while everything is working without a hitch, the bios re-flash is done with @BIOS tool.

@BIOS works on Windows level. So the upgrade seemed to be successful, I got a message that the computer will now reboot.
And then all hell broke lose upon that reboot...from that moment on, noting was ever posted and since then I have not been able to see any sign of the boot screen at all :( Not even after the bios chip was replaced with a new one.

Unfortunately, the technician who replaced the bios chip for me told me from the start that he had no means to check things out on whether the board would actually boot or not after replacing the bios chip, since he did not have proper CPU or RAMs for it to test it out.
But looking at the work he has done on the board, everything seems to have been done VERY professionally, very clean work and visually and seemingly I don't have any remarks on the job he has done really...


The thing is that before the bios chip was replaced, I got slightly different debug codes.
I believe the former warning code was mostly "C0 and 68". It might have been "b8" as well, can't remember very exactly...
Now it gets stuck between "C1 & b9" all the time.

I'm using the exact same memory module sticks I was using before when the board was functional until the bad bios flash appeared...I then used a total of 24 GB (maximum capacity).
I now have tried with one, two, three, four, five and six sticks of RAMs, but the result is the same --> the board keeps looping itself between C1 to b9 and then restarts by itself and does it over and over again....

A good friend owns the exact same motherboard, so we have tested both my RAMs and his RAMs on his motherboard, and everything seems to be fine, all sticks are good. MEMTEST with my RAM sticks on his board gives no errors. I also have tried his RAMs in my board, but no luck there either.
So if this is truly a memory reading issue now, then how could that be related to an unsuccessful bios flash??? A bad bios flash could certainly not damage my RAM slots, could it??

Also I have tested with differnt CPUs (920, 930, 970, 980x). No luck.
Different PSUs, no luck.
Replaced the CMOS battery, no luck.

And absolutely nothing seems to be physically wrong with the board, at least not to the naked eye....no burned circuits, no damaged parts, no nothing :(


So would you have any ideas of how I might be able to pinpoint the problem further? I really can not get my head around this one really. Since I get no post and no boot screen whatsoever, it's not easy to guess what the problem might be, I do understand that...but I don't know what issues are the most common culprits to cause a totally black screen with no post and no boot screen along with those debug code indications.

Thank you!

[Bittornado]

Re: Gigabyte Award X58 BIOS LED Debug Codes

Guys...should I permanently give up on my beloved board then?? Doesn't seem as if anyone was able to give me some further advice as of how to try and solve my issue above... :(