Gigabyte gaming 7 z170 - "Invalid Bios Image"

[batman2million]

First off, I've been creeping around this forum for years and has helped me resolve countless issues I've had. So thank you for everything!

I just built my new rig and I have a lot of little issues that I believe can be fixed via a BIOs updated. I'll try to keep them short. First things first:

Specs:
i7 6700k stock
Gigabyte gaming 7 z170 (rev 1.0) (Firmware F3)
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200
SAMSUNG 950 PRO SERIES SSD PCIE M.2 512MB (Primary - Win 10 installed)
GTX 780 Stock
750W PSU - Corsair
Windows 10 Pro


1. My boot time is way too slow. The gigabyte screen flashes twice, then a blinking cursor shows up taking all together a good 25-30 seconds before Win 10 boots up. I have the OS installed in PCIE SSD.

2. Samsung magician is giving me read at 1900 mbs and write at 900mbs for the PCIe SSD. Is that correct? I'd assume it should be faster. And under "OS Optimization" is tell me my OS cannot be optimized.

3. I assumed I can fixed the problems by updating the BIOs. I tried to update it via Q-flash and got "invalid BIOs Image" via USB. I also tried with @BIOs. I did try to do it in increments, from F3-F4, but it wouldn't work. @BIOs would just keep flashing "writing" "erasing" at 0% and eventually fail.
Got scared and didn't do it again. I've formatted it to FAT32 and put all three files on the root of the drive.

Let me know if there's any other information you guys might need.

 

[Calvin7]

Create a Bootable DOS USB Drive
http://bootableusb.net/create-bootable-dos-usb-drive/

Try it and see if you can boot into DOS.

Flashing the BIOS with EFIflash:

Download the BIOS File for your motherboard and save it to your desktop so that you can find it easily. Double click on the 7Zip file (it is self extracting) and it will put the 3 download files onto your desktop for you. You only need the EFI Flash Exe file and the BIOS File, the Autoexec file can be discarded. Make a note of the BIOS File name as you will need this information later in the process and if you don't get this part correctly you will not be able to update the BIOS.

Create the Bootable Pendrive using the Rufus program.

Copy the Efiflash exe and BIOS files onto the USB Pendrive

Reboot the PC and press F12 to go to the BOOT Menu.

Select the USB Pendrive and press enter, this will take you into the DOS environment.

At the C:/ prompt type: Efiflash and press enter. This will start the Efiflash tool.

At the C:/ prompt type: efiflash xxxxxx.xx (replace the x's with the name of your BIOS File that you noted earlier) IMPORTANT: Make sure that you insert a space between the words efiflash and the BIOS name. Also make sure you enter the full point (.) before the BIOS version number. Press enter.

The BIOS Flashing process is now done and there is no further input required. The first stage you will see that the BIOS is being erased. The 2nd stage the BIOS is written and the 3rd stage the BIOS is verified. DO NOT power down or reset the PC whilst this process is happening. Once the BIOS update has been verified the PC will automatically go into a shutdown/restart/shutdown/restart sequence.

 

[batman2million]

Create a Bootable DOS USB Drive
http://bootableusb.net/create-bootable-dos-usb-drive/

Try it and see if you can boot into DOS.

Flashing the BIOS with EFIflash:

Download the BIOS File for your motherboard and save it to your desktop so that you can find it easily. Double click on the 7Zip file (it is self extracting) and it will put the 3 download files onto your desktop for you. You only need the EFI Flash Exe file and the BIOS File, the Autoexec file can be discarded. Make a note of the BIOS File name as you will need this information later in the process and if you don't get this part correctly you will not be able to update the BIOS.

Create the Bootable Pendrive using the Rufus program.

Copy the Efiflash exe and BIOS files onto the USB Pendrive

Reboot the PC and press F12 to go to the BOOT Menu.

Select the USB Pendrive and press enter, this will take you into the DOS environment.

At the C:/ prompt type: Efiflash and press enter. This will start the Efiflash tool.

At the C:/ prompt type: efiflash xxxxxx.xx (replace the x's with the name of your BIOS File that you noted earlier) IMPORTANT: Make sure that you insert a space between the words efiflash and the BIOS name. Also make sure you enter the full point (.) before the BIOS version number. Press enter.

The BIOS Flashing process is now done and there is no further input required. The first stage you will see that the BIOS is being erased. The 2nd stage the BIOS is written and the 3rd stage the BIOS is verified. DO NOT power down or reset the PC whilst this process is happening. Once the BIOS update has been verified the PC will automatically go into a shutdown/restart/shutdown/restart sequence.

I tired that and it got stuck at "loading bios image" or something like that. I waited for 15 minutes and nothing happened.

 

[batman2million]

Ok I was able to solve this by simply using the USB on the motherboard (back) than the one on the case.

 

[Dr Dev]

1. My boot time is way too slow. The gigabyte screen flashes twice, then a blinking cursor shows up taking all together a good 25-30 seconds before Win 10 boots up. I have the OS installed in PCIE SSD.

Did the Bios update fix this problem? I have a similar issue with an Asus z170m-plus that I'm struggling with (also using a samsung 950 pro)

 

[batman2million]

1. My boot time is way too slow. The gigabyte screen flashes twice, then a blinking cursor shows up taking all together a good 25-30 seconds before Win 10 boots up. I have the OS installed in PCIE SSD.

Did the Bios update fix this problem? I have a similar issue with an Asus z170m-plus that I'm struggling with (also using a samsung 950 pro)

Yes. It did. I can boot into windows in ~7 seconds now.