Can't flash BIOS, can't install Windows

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realdasein

realdasein

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Hi Guys,

This is a long saga that I'm finally revisiting, so kudos to anyone who can get through the description below. I've tried to make it short and more readable.

Specs:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
CPU: AMD FX-6200 Zambezi 3.8GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Six-Core
Video card: ATI 100-505606 FirePro V4800 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
PSU: SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC
HD: 500 GB Western Digital Caviar Blue
Case: Lian Li Lancool PC-K62


Six months ago, I built a new computer. POSTed fine. Installed Windows 7 fine. The problem started when I stuck a USB thumb drive in the front USB port of the case to install updated drivers. I immediately got the BSOD.

After that, each install attempt of Windows 7 would either hang at install, or gives me the BSOD. I've tried two OEM versions of Windows 7, and three fresh hard drives. Sometimes I reformatted the HDs (long reformat, not short).

So, here's what I did back then, on advice from this forum...

Disconnected front case ports from MB. Disabled USB 2.0 and 3.0 support in BIOS, switched to a PS/2 keyboard, no mouse. No help.

Ran Memtest overnight. RAM was fine, no errors.

Reset CMOS, loaded Optimal BIOS defaults. No help.

Booted into Safe Mode during Win 7 install to get to Device Manager and disable video drivers. No help.

Q-flashed BIOS from version F5 to version F9. Still got BSOD on Windows 7 install. Generally it was an APC_INDEX_MISMATCH but sometimes other things.

Switched the video cable to pure DVI-to-DVI connections. Loaded BIOS Failsafe defaults, reformatted HD, switched all IDE settings to SATA in BIOS. That made things worse. Changed BIOS back to Optimized defaults.

Tried installing XP, since that worked once… then Windows 7. Finally even XP would not install.

Gave up for a few months.

And today, here's where I am... I thought, okay, I'll put in totally new 1333 RAM, instead of 1600 RAM, since APC_INDEX_MISMATCH is often a RAM problem. But forget it, because:

1) I cannot even Q-Flash the BIOS because the BIOS doesn't recognize any of the (many) USB ports on the back of the MB. It only sees a Floppy, sometimes two floppies, with garbage characters in the directories. Clearing CMOS doesn't change BIOS version either. Neither does removing the battery.

2) I can no longer reformat the HD. I insert the Windows 7 disk, boot from CD/DVD, it says "Windows is loading files," then the Windows 7 logo appears, then the BSOD. I even completely disconnected the HD and it does the same thing. No longer getting APC_INDEX_MISMATCH... now it's just the basic Stop Error.

Have I finally fried my MB by trying to clear the CMOS? I was so psyched about this MB, and have no more money to waste on HDs or RAM or especially Gigabyte Zambezi motherboards. Very sad!

Thanks for any brilliant thoughts,
Heather

 
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realdasein

realdasein

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Is this the appropriate forum to post to? Should I shorten the question to just "How to force Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 BIOS to recognize any USB drives"?

Sorry--thanks and let me know if I should be posting elsewhere.
 
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coastie65

coastie65

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Hi Heather. I just looked this up and got this as brief as it is: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms854186.aspx That sounds like something within the OS itself if it is kernal related. A clean install of the OS should have fixed that though. Interesting that the problem occured when you tried to update drivers using a thumb drive. I am assuming when you reset the CMOS, the Board was completely powered down After removing the power, you holf in the Start button to finish discharging what power is left. When you remove the CMOS Battery, let it sit for about two minutes before replacing it ( some will use the jumper, but I prefer the battery method ). I can't see as to how you may have fried your Motherboard, but could have messed up the BiOS, which will turn a computer into a nice paperweight. I don't know if you have tried this or not, but if you have an OS installed, try reinstalling the motherboard drivers.
 
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realdasein

realdasein

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Thank you, Coastie! That's very helpful.

I did just now get the BIOS flashed to the recommended version. I found an old 1GB flash drive, cleared it off, and followed the instructions below (under "Best Answer") to the letter:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/278234-30-flash-drive-recongnized-flashing-bios



Now my problem is Windows 7 related, so I'll shuffle off here. No OS installed yet... it definitely does not want to install. ;-)

Thanks again!
H (65)

 
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TenPc

TenPc

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There are different usb versions of thumb drives, also the front ports might be any revision usb, refer to motherboard specs.

Utilising too many usb ports may cause the front ports to revert to a lower revision like 1.1 and if your thumb drive is 3.0 it might not be recognised, depends on the motherboard specs, usually 3.0 can be backward to 2.0 but rarely to 1.1

For use of PS2 devices, you need to enalbe PS2 oprtion in the bios. You also should enable Legacy mode for USB if you feel that you are going to occupoy more than 4 usb ports at any one time so that the remainder can revert to isb 1.1 wehenm more than 4 usb 2 (or 3) are occupied.

What brand is your thumb drive?
 
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realdasein

realdasein

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That is also good info for later, thanks TenPC!

The thumb drive that I just got to work was an old Memorex Travel drive, 1 GB, USB 2.0. And PS2 is enabled in the BIOS... my keyboard is a good old mechanical one with a PS2 connector.

 
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realdasein

realdasein

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I started a thread over in the Windows forum, but got no bites... I'm more than happy to keep going on this thread, though!

I would like to reformat my HD. I think I'll put a new one in (or an old reformatted one) and try to load Windows 7 on it. I'll also put in the new RAM, since the BSOD stop error I get is often RAM-based. I can post the results later today--if you want to weigh in, that would be great!

 
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coastie65

coastie65

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Hi. Yeah, usually BSOD's are either DRiver or RAM related. Never hurts to Reformat the drive and intialize it before Installing a new OS. Missed the thread over in Windows and it was sort of a double feature here anyway. :)
 
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realdasein

realdasein

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Okay! I just took out all the DDR3 1600 RAM and put in one new stick, DDR3 1333. Put in a brand new Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB drive. Checked BIOS, it's looking good. No USB drives hanging around. Checked the Windows 7 disc by putting it on another computer, it's fine.

Put the Windows 7 disc in the offending computer, started her up to install the OS, crossed fingers, and BAM! BSOD with stop error 0x0000001e.

I did check the RAM voltage, it's at 1.48 instead of 1.5. Should I bump it..?
 
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coastie65

coastie65

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The voltage is fine. That stop error could be most anything but generally driver related. That doesn't make sense as you can't have drivers until after you install the operating system and then, in the case of Graphics, a generic driver, although Windows 7 has a very good library of drivers. Has the Hdd been formatted and initialized?
 
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realdasein

realdasein

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Good question, and you have grasped the problem beautifully.

The HD is right out of the box. In the BIOS under Standard CMOS Features it says:

IDE Channel 0 Master [None]
IDE Channel 0 Slave [WDC5000AAKX-08ERM]
IDE Channel 1 Master [None]
IDE Channel 1 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 2 Master [DRW-24B1ST] (the DVD drive)
IDE Channel 2 Slave [None]
etc...
Should the HD be set as Master instead of Slave? And is there a way to tell if it's formatted already?


 
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coastie65

coastie65

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It should be set as the Master. Normally, with a new Hdd, Windows will format it on installation. To be sure though, you can out it in another PC and then Format it and initilize it, then replace it in the PC. Hmmm, duty calls. I moderate on another board and a couple of reports came in so need to deal with that ( spammers ).
 
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TenPc

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The hdd and the CD/dvd drive, both ahould be set as Master. If the HDD is a spin disk then it will have jumper pin options for Master, Slave, Cable Select, set the pin to Master.

There are isssues with some motherboards regarding IDE (cable) hdd and sata hdd, you should set the bios to be IDE for both hdd's to avoid conflicts.

A cable IDE hdd usually has a table on it to show the jumper settings for Master options, sometimes it's eith with a jumper or none at all. There are no Master with Slave unless you actually do have an IDE (cable) hdd as a second hdd to which should be set on the same cable and PSU cable line.

It's not recommended to have mixed manufacturuer types for the hdd's or to have mixed hdd types within the rig.

If you have any dust in the rig, it should not be there, it doesn't do the rig any good.

What is the thread link to the other one?
 
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realdasein

realdasein

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Thanks, guys. Lots to chew on here... okay, I'm only using one HDD and one CD/dvd drive. It dawned on me to plug them into different Sata ports on the MB, but that didn't help. I also unplugged and replugged all the power cords / Sata cords inside the case. (That's a recommendation for Stop error 0x0000001e.)

Occasionally the Windows 7 install disc will let me try to install in Safe Mode. When I do, it always gets stuck at "Loaded: windows\system32\drivers\disk.sys". I looked that up and people with that problem tried everything under the sun and it turned out to be a PSU issue:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/2064-63-windows-install-hangs-starting-windows-screen

Unfortunately that was in 2010, so....

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to format a HDD, when the only other computer I have is a laptop. That's something I shouldn't waste your forum time on ;-)

And finally--should I really try ACHI? I got the impression that I should stick with IDE, but if you think I should try ACHI I sure will.
 
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coastie65

coastie65

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I'm set to ACHI, but then again, I have two Hdd's and an SSD installed. I have it set for ACHI when I was running a single Hdd. Last I heard. IDE was primarily PATA which isn't even used these days. If you had an enclosure, you could set it up as an External Hdd on the Laptop and format it from there.
 
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realdasein

realdasein

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Apropos of nothing, I just tried to run Linux from the DVD drive (not installing it--just running it from DVD). On my good computer Linux works fine, on the new computer it freaks out with Trace errors and Kernel panics. So that's informative.
 
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coastie65

coastie65

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Yiou know, Things seem to work fine on another Computer but are messed up o the desktop. I'm starting to wonder about the Optical drive and how well it may be reading the disk. Usually when they die, they won't read at all, or may read CD's and Not DVD's or Vice Versa. Haven't ruled out the CPU either, but not ready to rule it in either.
 
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