- May 18, 2013
- 30
- 0
- 10,540
"Here's one for you tech gurus out there. I built my computer in 2013 with the foundation being an ASUS M5 A97 LE R2.0 motherboard. Everything went fine for the most part except a bent pin on the CPU since the packaging was total garbage and a corner of the chip slipped between the plastic clam shell bending one of the pins and a DOA hard drive that wouldn't show up in the BIOS. I fixed the bent pin (and hope I never have to again because it took forever) and the new HDD worked flawlessly. The computer got a nice clean OS install, a mild overclock since I'm not comfortable enough for the "extreme" route and without liquid cooling I probably wouldn't be able to go there anyway, and my GPU got a mild overclock as well. The computer worked well but wasn't the most stable thing. It would randomly crash, get hung up in feedback loops, and generally just acted a bit strange. Not enough to make me think there was something terribly wrong, but enough to be a nuisance. Finally I had enough of my games and internet browsing causing the computer to just stop responding, forcing a hard reset to get it to come back up.
So I started with the easiest things first. I reset the CPU, GPU clocks, and the RAM overclocks back to factory default. Still hang ups with the same frequency. I uninstalled AI Suite II thinking that maybe it was being belligerent and trying to set the BIOS back to the overclock (if it can even do that I don't know), though I did use it to keep an eye on my temps and fan speeds. Still no help. So I took more drastic measures and updated my chipset drivers thinking maybe something was outdated and causing weird problems. Nope...still crashes and generally bad behavior. So, for the first time in my life I decided that maybe the newest BIOS from ASUS would help.
I crossed my fingers as I went into the BIOS and flashed in the new version, 2501 that had about 2 years worth of updates mostly for "improved system stability". I said to myself, "I need some system stability and I tried everything else so"...biting my nails the whole time and being CONVINCED that I had lost my mind I watched the progress bar start, stop, start up again, stop, start. It probably only took a minute to complete but it felt like 5 hours. So the computer said it was installed successfully and rebooted, bringing me to the screen to reset my settings. I pressed F5 to reload the default settings, clicked save and exit, and the computer restarted...right into the Windows splash and eventually it took me to my desktop. I thought that I somehow missed the POST screen so I restarted and same thing. The motherboard speaker beeps once to let me know the BIOS is alright and skips the POST screen where it says you can press F2 or DEL to enter the BIOS. Bam, right to the windows splash screen.
I finally stopped trying to use DEL to get into the BIOS and used F2 and lo and behold that worked, and it works every time mind you. I also know that the BIOS is technically fine since the computers POSTs. If there was something wrong I wouldn't have a PC to type this up. I did notice that in the ASUS EZ Mode UEFI screen that the bar at the bottom that shows the boot order doesn't have the icon for the BIOS anymore. It's just an icon for my HDD and DVD drive. The computer works AMAZING after the new BIOS was flashed in. No crashes, hang ups, stutter, or anything. I restored my OC settings on my CPU, GPU, and RAM expecting them to make the system get yucky again but they work so well that I may try to bump things up a little bit more. Is the missing BIOS/UEFI icon something I should be concerned about, is the missing ASUS logo on start up a sign of a problem? Enabling or Disabling Fast Boot doesn't do anything either...the ASUS POST screen is still skipped even though I can easily get into the BIOS using the F2 key without the screen showing. Has UEFI been revised and somehow it's written in such a way now that it assumes the BIOS is always the first in the boot sequence and therefore having it listed as first in the bar is redundant? Any ideas?
I went into the BIOS and saw settings for the logo had been changed. I changed "Auto" to "Full Screen" and changed the POST delay from 3 seconds to 5. And guess what...the logo came back AND the computer adhered to the 5 second POST delay. I liked the smaller logo from before the new BIOS flash but I can deal with the stretched out full screen. I also noticed that if I leave the flash drive plugged in on start up where I stored the new BIOS, the icon will show up in the EZ Mode as the first in the boot order. I think I can use F12 to take a screen shot and show you what it looks like, it's exactly how it looked before the new flash. With the flash drive removed it just shows the HDD and DVD, in that order. I mean it's really more a cosmetic thing I think, but again you get used to the way something looks.
EDIT: Since you've been so helpful and seem to know computer software well I may have figured out why the UEFI tile in the BIOS has gone missing. I think that when I flashed in the BIOS Windows Boot Manager may be confused and looking for something from the old firmware. I took a picture of the EZ Mode with the flash drive marked as UEFI but I can't figure out how to get in in my posts. A dialuge box pops up asking for a URL but whatever. If it's that important I'll figure it out. But the boot order currently is P0: WD blablabla denoting my hard drive. I think the UEFI partition of Windows is looking for the old firmware, not finding it, and then loading in Legacy mode. I mean the computer still works and is stable as hell now but for whatever reason, God knows why, I want that damn UEFI back even though in the long run it probably doesn't mean anything that the computer is booting in legacy mode. Do you think if I pop in the Windows DVD and run the repair option that'll fix the boot sequence?
EDIT (uh...again?): After MORE digging, I found that the hard drive is now MBR (Master Boot Record) instead of being considered GPT (GUID Partition Table). So that's why the UEFI denoted tile in the BIOS is missing. The UEFI boot process got lost somwhere. Again...will the repair function on the Windows disc fix this and get the UEFI partition to be recognized again in the boot sequence? EDIT AGAIN!!!: So if I boot using the Windows installation disc it says that System Recovery Options are not compatible. Use a compatible version. It's impossible it's incompatible since it's the disc I used to install Windows in the first place! I made a System Repair disc and it opens if I boot into it but it seems it's tracking my OS to the D:\ drive which is my DVD drive, not the C:\ drive where Windows is. Running the Startup Repair options obviously finds nothing since it's apparently not even looking at the OS at all. ???"
So that's the story from another thread I have open. Is it even possible for the partition to be changed from GPT to MBR due to improper settings after the new flash? It's not technically a big deal since I can boot into Windows fine and the computer works as expected. Sorry another EDIT: In Windows\Booot I have .efi files so...I'm going to assume Windows is set to boot in UEFI but it's somehow not and I cannot force it to boot in UEFI mode by changing the BIOS settings and possibly self repair boootmgr or whatever. I'm getting tired of trying to figure this out so I feel like I'm tossing around incorrect terminology all over the forum and upsetting a lot of people in the process. Any ideas on what could have happened?
So I started with the easiest things first. I reset the CPU, GPU clocks, and the RAM overclocks back to factory default. Still hang ups with the same frequency. I uninstalled AI Suite II thinking that maybe it was being belligerent and trying to set the BIOS back to the overclock (if it can even do that I don't know), though I did use it to keep an eye on my temps and fan speeds. Still no help. So I took more drastic measures and updated my chipset drivers thinking maybe something was outdated and causing weird problems. Nope...still crashes and generally bad behavior. So, for the first time in my life I decided that maybe the newest BIOS from ASUS would help.
I crossed my fingers as I went into the BIOS and flashed in the new version, 2501 that had about 2 years worth of updates mostly for "improved system stability". I said to myself, "I need some system stability and I tried everything else so"...biting my nails the whole time and being CONVINCED that I had lost my mind I watched the progress bar start, stop, start up again, stop, start. It probably only took a minute to complete but it felt like 5 hours. So the computer said it was installed successfully and rebooted, bringing me to the screen to reset my settings. I pressed F5 to reload the default settings, clicked save and exit, and the computer restarted...right into the Windows splash and eventually it took me to my desktop. I thought that I somehow missed the POST screen so I restarted and same thing. The motherboard speaker beeps once to let me know the BIOS is alright and skips the POST screen where it says you can press F2 or DEL to enter the BIOS. Bam, right to the windows splash screen.
I finally stopped trying to use DEL to get into the BIOS and used F2 and lo and behold that worked, and it works every time mind you. I also know that the BIOS is technically fine since the computers POSTs. If there was something wrong I wouldn't have a PC to type this up. I did notice that in the ASUS EZ Mode UEFI screen that the bar at the bottom that shows the boot order doesn't have the icon for the BIOS anymore. It's just an icon for my HDD and DVD drive. The computer works AMAZING after the new BIOS was flashed in. No crashes, hang ups, stutter, or anything. I restored my OC settings on my CPU, GPU, and RAM expecting them to make the system get yucky again but they work so well that I may try to bump things up a little bit more. Is the missing BIOS/UEFI icon something I should be concerned about, is the missing ASUS logo on start up a sign of a problem? Enabling or Disabling Fast Boot doesn't do anything either...the ASUS POST screen is still skipped even though I can easily get into the BIOS using the F2 key without the screen showing. Has UEFI been revised and somehow it's written in such a way now that it assumes the BIOS is always the first in the boot sequence and therefore having it listed as first in the bar is redundant? Any ideas?
I went into the BIOS and saw settings for the logo had been changed. I changed "Auto" to "Full Screen" and changed the POST delay from 3 seconds to 5. And guess what...the logo came back AND the computer adhered to the 5 second POST delay. I liked the smaller logo from before the new BIOS flash but I can deal with the stretched out full screen. I also noticed that if I leave the flash drive plugged in on start up where I stored the new BIOS, the icon will show up in the EZ Mode as the first in the boot order. I think I can use F12 to take a screen shot and show you what it looks like, it's exactly how it looked before the new flash. With the flash drive removed it just shows the HDD and DVD, in that order. I mean it's really more a cosmetic thing I think, but again you get used to the way something looks.
EDIT: Since you've been so helpful and seem to know computer software well I may have figured out why the UEFI tile in the BIOS has gone missing. I think that when I flashed in the BIOS Windows Boot Manager may be confused and looking for something from the old firmware. I took a picture of the EZ Mode with the flash drive marked as UEFI but I can't figure out how to get in in my posts. A dialuge box pops up asking for a URL but whatever. If it's that important I'll figure it out. But the boot order currently is P0: WD blablabla denoting my hard drive. I think the UEFI partition of Windows is looking for the old firmware, not finding it, and then loading in Legacy mode. I mean the computer still works and is stable as hell now but for whatever reason, God knows why, I want that damn UEFI back even though in the long run it probably doesn't mean anything that the computer is booting in legacy mode. Do you think if I pop in the Windows DVD and run the repair option that'll fix the boot sequence?
EDIT (uh...again?): After MORE digging, I found that the hard drive is now MBR (Master Boot Record) instead of being considered GPT (GUID Partition Table). So that's why the UEFI denoted tile in the BIOS is missing. The UEFI boot process got lost somwhere. Again...will the repair function on the Windows disc fix this and get the UEFI partition to be recognized again in the boot sequence? EDIT AGAIN!!!: So if I boot using the Windows installation disc it says that System Recovery Options are not compatible. Use a compatible version. It's impossible it's incompatible since it's the disc I used to install Windows in the first place! I made a System Repair disc and it opens if I boot into it but it seems it's tracking my OS to the D:\ drive which is my DVD drive, not the C:\ drive where Windows is. Running the Startup Repair options obviously finds nothing since it's apparently not even looking at the OS at all. ???"
So that's the story from another thread I have open. Is it even possible for the partition to be changed from GPT to MBR due to improper settings after the new flash? It's not technically a big deal since I can boot into Windows fine and the computer works as expected. Sorry another EDIT: In Windows\Booot I have .efi files so...I'm going to assume Windows is set to boot in UEFI but it's somehow not and I cannot force it to boot in UEFI mode by changing the BIOS settings and possibly self repair boootmgr or whatever. I'm getting tired of trying to figure this out so I feel like I'm tossing around incorrect terminology all over the forum and upsetting a lot of people in the process. Any ideas on what could have happened?
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram