Updated the BIOS and bricked Mobo.... Now what?

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Rangs641

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May 7, 2013
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Hey Guys

Need your expert opinion please.

So I tried to upgrade the Bios of my perfectly working mobo to make it compatible with 7th gen processors and I bricked it. When I try to power on the PC, the case fan light blinks for a second and that's it - nothing else is powered. If I keep my sound card and GPU connected, it lights on and their respective fans run nonstop. CPU, cooler and case fans do not even start now.

Here's my rig;
i5 6600k OCd 4.4Ghz
Asrock Z170M Extreme 4 mobo
Corsair Vengeance 8gb x 2 2400MHz
EvGA GTX 1080Ti
Creative Sound Blaster Z PCIE sound card
LEPA Aquacharger 240
Corsair TX 750W
VIVO Mid Tower ATX case
PNY 240Gb SSD
Crucial 240GB SSD
Segate 2Tb HDD
Dell 27 Gaming Monitor ‑ S2716DG
LG OLED55B6P. B6 55 Inch Class OLED 4K HDR Smart TV.

I tried fixing it by clearing CMOS and placing a jumper on secondary bios. But nothing happened. Tried booting with a FAT32 USB and new Bios, but mobo wont even turn on. So that did not work at all.

I mainly play CS GO on Dell monitor and use LG OLED TV for pretty much all other games (Warhammer, Divinity, Doom, Fallout, XCOM, Witcher, Assassins creed etc). Only time I play a non competitive game on Dell monitor is when my card cant handle 4k even on High settings. Happened to me in Deus Ex Mankind Divided.

So here are my options;

1. RMA the mobo. Out of warranty. I don't know what they will charge and it looks like a painful process dealing with Asrock support.
2. Buy a new Z170 platform mobo and use the existing set up. ASRock Z170 EXTREME6 is $100 on Amazon.
3. Upgrade to i5 8600k / Z370 mobo and sell the i5 6600k processor / recycle Z170m mobo.

What do guys think is my best option? I can easily afford 8600k and less than $200 Z370 mobo, but I dont want to spend it if its not necessary. Any idea on how the RMA works?

 
Solution
RememberThe5th
Well from what i see bios chip is removable soo buying a new one for 15$ is surley a better thing. Or around 20$ (depending where you live)

But in first place, was it necesarry to flash it? Was it really worth it?
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I had no idea that the bios chip was replaceable. I ordered one on ebay now. Will let you know if it works. Thank you.

About the worth it Q - my friend was willing to sell me his 7700k for $200 (or maybe a little less if I negotiated). So I wanted to test if it worked on my mobo before finalizing the deal. Guess after all this cluster#$%&, it may not have been worth it after all. Lol
 
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Yes, Z170 needs a bios update to run 7th gen processors.
I like option 3.
It might be worth investing $15 in a new bios chip.
Looking at the motherboard, it looks replaceable.
I do not see any option for dual bios, or other recovery options. It would not hurt to look in your motherboard manual.

Since you have the budget, I suggest you go ahead and buy the i5-8600K.
I made that upgrade using an Asrock Z370M Pro4 motherboard.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157793
It is one of the least expensive ones out there.
No "bling" though if you are into that.
 
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That definitely sounds like a good combination. I could even use the same cooler I have and maybe hit 4.7 or 4.8 stable if I go this route. First let me try with the bios chip though. Thank you for your response.
 
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I downloaded the Bios from here - http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z170M%20Extreme4/#BIOS
That seems like the main Asrock webpage. Downloaded the 7.40 version of Windows option and clicked on the executable. It restarted my PC and kept running forever without any signal to the monitor. After waiting for 10 mins I forcefully shutdown my PC and tried to restart it. Ever since then its been showing the behavior I explained earlier.

Now when I click on the power button, it doesnt power anything. As if like the mobo died completely. Sigh.

 
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Unplug the power from wall , then switch PSU on, remove CMOS and clear CMOS (and then return it to default), press and hold power button for 30s~ , then leave one stick on ram, remove GPU, disconnect HDD, and leave only bare PC (if it doesnt boot with one ram, remove that ram, and please be sure that your ram is sitting right into slot).
Switch PSU off and then reconnect to PSU power cable, and now switch on and try to power it up.
Oh and try to switch back to updated bios, as i saw to A (i've read manual partialy).
 
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Tried it now. When I clicked on the power button after doing those steps, all the fans lit on and spun for like 1 sec before everything turned off. Same as before now. Sigh. Thanks for those steps though.
 
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For the record - Asrock replied to my email that I sent them over the weekend. They asked me to do this;

o Please disconnect ATX Power supply connect (24pin) from the mainboard.
o Located the CMOS jumper, remove jumper from 1-2 pins and recap on 2-3pins. Leave jumper on 2-3 pins for 3minutes.
o Remove your CMOS battery from the mainboard.
o After 3 minutes. Please restore the jumper and battery, back to default position. Reconnect ATX connector.
o Please give a try. If the problem still persist. Please do let us know.

But it didnt work. Same result. So they said there is a fault with the mobo and that I'll have to send it in for repair. I'll give the new bios chip a try and if it doesnt work, I'm recycling the mobo.
 
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For the record - Asrock asked me to file an online RMA and sent this note - All RMA requested products with any physical damage, bent pins, purchased as open box, or without a valid invoice/receipt is treated as out of warranty. RMA out of warranty products, ASRock will charge $50 Labor & Service fee*/each and provide 3 months warranty for the above replacement product.

With $50 labor + shipping charges + repair charges, I can easily buy a new mobo. So RMA is out of question.

I'm waiting for BIOS chip. Ebay seller said it comes with latest bios i.e. 7.40. Fingers crossed.
 
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Asrock seemed to have responded well and reasonably promptly.
As I read their instructions, they will not charge you the $50 since there is no physical damage.
Your Bios update failure was probably somehow user error.

$50 seems to be a typical charge for bent pins.
 
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It was a surprise that they replied so fast. I think anything out of warranty will be charged $50 for labor. That's what they said. I bought my mobo in 2016 and they offer 1 year hardware warranty. I also dont have the receipt now.
 
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If you bought from a source like newegg or amazon, they will retain the invoice info.
 
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So the new BIOS chip came in today. I removed the old one, plugged in the new one and clicked the power button - boom!!! It turned on. Hurray. I'm glad I didn't have to waste money on upgrade because of my stupidity. lol. BIOS chip was a genius suggestion @Robert Ban.

So once it powered on, system stayed on the boot screen for around 10 minutes - it said "Detecting all devices". Eventually windows started booting, but it was stuck at windows screen for around 15 mins. And when it finally logged into windows - it gave an error "Desktop not found" or something and kept showing black screen.

So I had to reinstall windows. Now windows boots and logs on properly, but its not activating windows automatically. Windows is treating this as a new mobo. I will need to find the windows key and reactivate it.

What a nightmare! I'm glad it's over, for now.

As usual Tom's community has been amazing. Thanks a lot guys. Keep rocking.
 
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I think you could ask Microsoft to transfer your key to new motherboard.

Well im glad that your nightmare ended :)
 
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Hello. I recently updated the bios of my Dell PC but it couldn't reboot after that. Powers on and off in a loop of a few seconds but doesn't boot up. So, yeah it's bricked, what would be the best option to try out. I have tried removing CMOS battery and put it back but doesn't work. So will replacing BIOS CHIP WORK?
IF YES how do I proceed after purchasing one chip.
 
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