Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > Chipsets & Bios > Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 flash failure

Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 flash failure

Forum Motherboards & Memory : Chipsets & Bios - Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 flash failure

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drwtsn32   07-21-2008 at 07:15:01 PM

Tried flashing the BIOS on this board to the latest rev. QFlash read and verified the BIOS, started flashing, then popped up with an error.

Now it's stuck in an endless power on/off cycle.

So much for the ultra redundant "Quad BIOS".

Any suggestions? Does this board support emergency flashing by floppy/CD or anything like that? The manual doesn't talk about it.

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Kaldor   07-21-2008 at 08:32:53 PM
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Im sure there is a way to update bios via a command line. You just need to find it out how to do it. Probably involves a (gasp) floppy drive. Another thing you could try is a CMOS reset and see if that stops the reboot loop.

Things like this are precisely why I still put a floppy drive in my PCs.

Reply to Kaldor
drwtsn32   07-21-2008 at 08:35:05 PM
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Tried a CMOS reset already; no help. I will try putting a physical floppy drive on the motherboard to see if it even tries to read from it. I was hoping that the motherboard would have such a failsafe, but I have been unable to confirm.

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drwtsn32   07-21-2008 at 08:41:33 PM
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That info doesn't really help. I already know how to flash it and used the QFlash function. I've heard horror stories of their Windows flasher not working reliably, so I didn't touch that one.

I have flashed this board and countless other computers many times before. This is actually the first bad BIOS flash I've experienced in my 20 years of professional computing.

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SYROB   07-21-2008 at 08:55:49 PM
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Had same problem with non T version of the board, try removing one memory stick, booting might occur, verify all is ok and then put back secondstick. Found that memtest was putting out errors immediatly as bios was all screwed up in dual channel, needed to go through single stick conversion to clean up problemmmm

SYROB

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Kaldor   07-21-2008 at 09:24:12 PM
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Have you tried the DOS flash utility?

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drwtsn32   07-21-2008 at 11:38:04 PM
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I didn't have a problem with the dual channel memory before the BIOS flash. No problems booting with default memory timings, although I do adjust them to get memtest to pass without errors. I will mess around with it some more when I get home to see if pulling one helps it boot.

I can't try the DOS flash utility at this point because the machine won't even boot. I'm going to connect a real floppy (not USB) to see if it tries to access it during the boot. If I'm lucky the motherboard will have a failsafe function to try and load a BIOS image off of floppy. Otherwise it's probably a paperweight.

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icorluka   07-22-2008 at 02:13:05 AM
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Hi, I am Ivica from Croatia, sorry for my bad english.
I have the same problem, I tried to flash x48t dq6 with program @BIOS,
after that it ask me to restart computer, I click yes and then BLACK SCREEN!!!
Then the same problem like yours "endless power on/off cycle".
My computer is intel quad core 2.66 GHz, 2x1gb corsair DDR3 1600 MHz, 9800 gtx...
I tried cmos reset, I tryed to remove one stick memory, I tried with another graphic card, I moved procesor out and put it in again, and nothing helps.
I think this will be global problem, because i read on ather forum that 6 people already have the same problem.
I dont know what to do.

Reply to icorluka
punchinello   07-22-2008 at 02:33:02 PM
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I've got a brick as well after attempting to flash the bios. No solution thus far to correct the situation. The system will power up for several seconds with nothing on the screeen and then power cycle (repeatedly).

I tried removing various components, resetting the CMOS, removing one memory chip... all fail.

I'm hoping someone lucky enough to find a solution posts one here.

Reply to punchinello
drwtsn32   07-22-2008 at 03:25:17 PM
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Well, last night I tried connecting a real floppy drive to the motherboard. No luck. :( The drive is not accessed at all during the broken boot process.

I tried removing one DIMM -- didn't help. Tried removing the battery and resetting the BIOS -- didn't help. I removed all components except video -- didn't help.

So much for the supposed quadruple-redundant BIOS! I can see what appears to be two physical BIOS chips on the motherboard but there's no way to manually switch between them. Apparently the motherboard is supposed to switch automatically if the primary BIOS is corrupt.

I am going to try and RMA the board...

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punchinello   07-22-2008 at 05:04:23 PM
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I gave up and did the RMA dance. UPS has it now. Hopefully it will be a quick turnaround.

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Anonymous   09-12-2008 at 07:56:59 PM
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OMG... i have the exact same problem... It is the first motherboard from Gigabyte i bought (im an asus guy) and probably the last!!!
Did anyone find a solution?

Reply to Anonymous
drwtsn32   09-12-2008 at 08:14:34 PM
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I'm surprised you had a problem! After more investigating, it seems the F5 BIOS originally posted on 7/19 was corrupt. Gigabyte re-released the F5 BIOS on 7/21 and that one works fine.

I was able to resurrect my board by carefully shorting two pins on the primary BIOS at precisely the right time during bootup. Took many, many tries to get it, but the board booted using its backup BIOS (F4) and automatically copied it to the primary BIOS.

See this page for more info: http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=456956

Reply to drwtsn32
Anonymous   09-12-2008 at 10:17:49 PM
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thanks so much m8.... Dont know what happens but the behavior was the same... Anw i short the pins on main BIOS and is averything ok(except the OS but who cares :)
Thanks again!!!

Reply to Anonymous
chunk_76   09-30-2009 at 09:47:17 AM
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to reset the bios jst pop that battery out, though i still cant get my board to boot in dual channel. Keeps on bootin single mode no matter how many times i update my bios qq

Reply to chunk_76
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