BIOS flash didn't stick?

[Shawn Meilicke]

I flashed a BIOS update. When it completed, with no errors reported, I was told to press "F1 to reset". My computer didn't post, I waited five minutes then shut it off by holding the power button. Turned it on and again no post. I know that my mobo resets BIOS settings after 3 or 4 failed startups so I kept trying. It did post, and then booted up fine. However, I'm still getting told by CPU-Z and MSinfo that my BIOS version is still the same as before I updated. Does this mean the update didn't stick, or is it possible the update wouldn't have changed the version number?

The BIOS update may be important to me as it supposedly helps with OCing stability for quad cores (which I have) and fixes compatibility issues with PCIe 2.0+ (Yes, I know she's old) and I just picked up a new GPU that is PCIe 3.0

PC Info:
Windows 7 x64
Motherboard: EVGA 122-ck-nf68 (reported BIOS version 6.00 PG 09/04/2008)
CPU: Intel q9550
GPU: Geforce 5670 (Being massively upgraded to an EVGA GTX 750 ti FTW)

Flash method: Bootable CD
Only after trying to update by CD did I notice that I have the option to flash the BIOS from the boot menu screen (I can't recall the official name of this screen ). I may try that again, but I was hoping to get some more info first.

Thanks in advance! I've been a long time lurker but just decided to sign up today after, for the first time ever, not being able to find my answer by searching around first.

 

[avarice]

It sounds like the upgrade didn't stick - and your MB reverted back to the previous working version.

you should be able to put the new BIOS onto a thumb drive and try it again.

 

[Shawn Meilicke]

I was having issues figuring out the exact process of getting it to be bootable on the flash drive. I found a lot of tutorials but none that specifically talked about using an ISO file, which is what my update came as.

I don't want to take any chances of doing it wrong when I'm working with a BIOS update, I'm sure you can understand my hesitancy!
I suppose I could try the built-in utility as well, I'm not too sure how it'll work though.

 

[Guest]

If your BIOS update came as an ISO file, you will probably need to mount the image to the medium.
Can't say as I've ever had experience with ISO BIOS updates, but I do have lots of experience with ISO files themselves.

Use a tool such as IMGburn to burn the ISO (Also known as an image file) to the disc. Then try updating again.
Do EVGA not provide in-depth info on the support page specific to your board?

I'll do some reading on your specific board, one min'.

 

[Shawn Meilicke]

I used CDBurnerXP to burn the ISO to a CD. It booted to it just fine and I got to see a nice graphical display of the BIOS update where it showed no errors in writing. I'm not too sure what would cause it to not stick. Maybe it was that I was overclocked and it froze up because of that? Would it be advised to revert my CPU and voltages back to stock first?

 

[avarice]

I was having issues figuring out the exact process of getting it to be bootable on the flash drive. I found a lot of tutorials but none that specifically talked about using an ISO file, which is what my update came as.

I don't want to take any chances of doing it wrong when I'm working with a BIOS update, I'm sure you can understand my hesitancy!
I suppose I could try the built-in utility as well, I'm not too sure how it'll work though.

I may be off base - but your bios source does not need to be bootable - you should be able to update bios within BIOS, you simply need to access the file which can reside on a non-bootable thumb drive.

Of course this may not be an option with your MB/BIOS - in which case I am at a loss. You may need to extract the ISO onto a CD to create a bootable disk. Hopefully something provided by your vendor will enable an update.

 

[avarice]

I used CDBurnerXP to burn the ISO to a CD. It booted to it just fine and I got to see a nice graphical display of the BIOS update where it showed no errors in writing. I'm not too sure what would cause it to not stick. Maybe it was that I was overclocked and it froze up because of that? Would it be advised to revert my CPU and voltages back to stock first?

Yes - write down your overclock settings and revert back to default. First order of business is to get back to working.

You can then step down your overclock settings a bit and test - perhaps you can get back to what you had achieved in your previous overclocking.

 

[Shawn Meilicke]

It does have the function - I just hadn't noticed until after I tried the CD. If it needs to be on a nonbootable thumb drive, I'll try that out and report back. I didn't really know how it worked so I hadn't tried it yet (I didn't think I'd be able to search it out from my hdd lol)

EDIT: Will reset my OC settings first then. Thanks

EDIT2: I tried putting it onto my flash drive but it didn't work. It was looking for AWDFlash.exe and it definitely wasn't on there. I'm searching around on how to use this. Any ideas would be appreciated

 

[Shawn Meilicke]

Okay so I got AWDFlash to work. It came back with a "file size too large" error. I see when googling about that Gigabyte makes a program called "@BIOS" that's supposed to allow you to get around this and flash BIOS updates from within windows.

Would this be an option on an EVGA board
If so, how safe is it?
If not, does anyone have any other solutions? I think I'm going to shoot EVGA support a message, but since the board is legacy now I'm not sure how much they'll help me out

EDIT: In order to email their tech support I must register my product. In order to do that I need the serial number. In order to retrieve this I need to remove my motherboard from my case.
Nope.
I guess that idea is out the window unless it really comes down to it...

 

[avarice]

the serial number is likely on a sticker on the top of your MB - with luck.

Using brand 'A' software for brand 'B' hardware is not a good idea.

 

[Y0GI]

Can you currently boot into Windows? If yes then there are programs that will give you your mobo S/N. I think that Speccy will do it. Belarc Advisor is another good program to get the S/N and a lot more.

I would never flash a BIOS with a Windows based flash tool. Too many things can go wrong and brick your mobo.

Yogi

 

[Guest]

A .EXE is a Windows program, it won't work on the BIOS level. It might contain something that you need to extract to be placed on a removable medium.

It seems the filetype is the thing causing problems here, more than the board itself. I don't know why they're providing you with .ISOs and .EXEs, a BIOS flash file is usually a .SomethingI'veNeverHeardOf, depending on manufacturer.

Run the .EXE in the Windows environment and see what it says. Failing that, I say just upgrade. It seems a hell of a lot of hassle just to update the board. Due to its age, the correct update file may have been removed or something.

 

[Shawn Meilicke]

Well before I fell asleep (I work night shift) I found an old thread on some forum saying to extract the .bin from the ISO and flash that.

However, there's just an IMG file within. I'm going to try using that anyways, even ghough it's only a couple kilobytes smaller in size than the ISO...

I can boot into Windows just fine. Speccy is not listing my S/N. I can try Belarc Advisor after this next flashing attempt. Thanks for your help.
I did only look through the window on my case for a s/n sticker. I'll try popping her open and seeing if I can find it.

I haven't tried any .exe yet and probably won't unless EVGA gives the go ahead or someone here has some personal success with it.

EDIT: Inside the IMG file was a .bin, so I extracted that and used it when flashing. It was a lot smaller of a file, but still gave me the mismatch. I was going to try flashing the IMG too while I was at it but I couldn't remember the full file name and the dir command had shortened it. I will try that later, but for now I have other stuff I need to get done.

Thanks again for all the help guys. At this point I'm almost hoping I won't have any issues with my new GPU tomorrow and I can just leave my BIOS on the version it's already on...

EDIT 2: I did find the S/N. Registered the product and shot customer service an email. I will report their reply when I get it. I'll definitely make sure to post the solution if I ever find one... lol