I accidentally shut my PC off during a bios update, and now it won't load windows.

Alex Zero

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Jul 24, 2014
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Today I was updating the bios on my MSI Gaming 7 motherboard using their live update software, as I had just done a clean install of Windows 8.
After the drivers and bios files and whatnot were downloaded by the program, it started installing them and told me to not turn the computer off.

A couple of seconds later the music that was playing through my headphones while I was doing the update got all garbled and it sounded like there was something wrong with the PC, so I pulled the power cord.

Well wouldn't you know it, but when I push the power button now, I can hear the computer come on, but nothing happens on the screen.

I was wondering if anyone here knows what went wrong, if there's any way I can fix it, or if i'm * out of luck and have to buy a new mobo.

Thanks.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
What went wrong? You powered off during a process where it specifically told you not to. The BIOS is corrupted.

Is there a possibility of redoing the BIOS from a USB stick? Or possibly a dual BIOS, as many newer boards hae?
Look in your user manual.
 
check the sata settings if the bios recovered to default the sata settings should defult to IDE and windows may of been loaded on AHCI so if the settings are set back to IDE windows will not boot ,BUT...

''Well wouldn't you know it, but when I push the power button now, I can hear the computer come on, but nothing happens on the screen'

so your not even getting the bios screen or nothing ? maybe bricked interrupting a bios update flash is never a good thing
 
whats your motherboard model number?

but like they said above. usually it involves getting the bios putting it on a usb stick and pluging that stick into a specific usb plug on the motherboard (sometimes it has a different color then the rest). then just power on and wait till computer post on its own.

during a bios update most hardware systems are paused so that there's nothing reading from the bios during the update. also I the program should have warned you to close all programs before starting upgrade.
 

Alex Zero

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Jul 24, 2014
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Yes, it has a dual bios with a switch.
I can get into the bios by flipping it, but from there I am pretty lost as to what to do.
I'm not sure how I would go about "redoing the bios".
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


What does it say in the user manual about dual BIOS, and recovering from a corrupt one?
 

Alex Zero

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Jul 24, 2014
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Here's what it says, word for word:

BIOS recovery using the M-Flash
When you update the BIOS faliure can cause the system to not power on. You can follow the steps below to recover the BIOS from the other operational BIOS with the Multi BIOS switch and the M-Flash

1. Ensure the system is powered off
2. Slide the Multi Bios Switch to operational BIOS ROM
3. Boot up the system
4. Enter the BIOS setup -> M-Flash --> "Save BIOS to storage" and then save the file to root folder of a USB drive
5. Slide the multi-BIOS Switch back to the BIOS ROM that needs to be recovered
6. Choose "Select one file to update BIOS" and recover the BIOS ROM with the file saved in the USB drive
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


OK...
When you tried that, what happened?
 

Alex Zero

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Jul 24, 2014
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Well, I tried it and it was going smoothly, up until the point where I had to "select one file to update BIOS", as the menu only gave me the option to"Select one file to update BIOS and ME".

When I tried using that option with the usb plugged in, it didn't work, and said:

NOTE:
Bios file selected could only update BIOS and cannot update ME!
If you just want to update bios, please go to "Select one file to update BIOS" or select another Bios file with ME to use this function.

I don't know where this option to "Select one file to update BIOS" is... It's not in the M-Flash menu
 

Alex Zero

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Jul 24, 2014
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I have MSI Z97 Gaming 7.
It doesn't have the first option...