Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo BIOS doesn't start

[maxterre]

Hello all,

My Gigabyte GA-8GPNXP Duo BIOS doesn't start. Well, it does, once out of perhaps 50 or 75 tries. I found the problem listed on Gigabyte's FAQ; it suggested upgrading the BIOS. Fine, but I have to get it started to do that (and, since I'm running Fedora, find a workaround to Gigabyte's Windows-only upgrade scheme).

In desperation, I tried removing the BIOS battery for about an hour, but that made no difference.

Has anything like this happened to you? If so, what did you do?

I'm feeling extremely frustrated and a bit angry just now. I'll be most grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks very much in advance for any ideas you can share.

 

[alyoshka]

I don't think the OS makes a difference if you were to use a USB stick to flash the BIOS.
Use the Q-Flash Utility.
Download the latest BIOS onto a Fat32 USB Stick.
Remember to uncompress it if it is Zipped or RARed.

And the rest is given very systematically on page 63 Onwards of the User Manual. Follow it and it will work fine.

 

[maxterre]

@alyoshka, thank you very much.

I put an updated BIOS onto a Fat32 USB stick, and did manage to get POST started (that's the hard part!) only to find that my only option is to flash from a floppy (older BIOS?). The only floppy drive I have is on that box, so I'm trying (again) to get it to boot. On power up, the probability is around 0.99 that nothing at all happens, so I have to keep restarting (and restarting, and restarting, and restarting,.......).

Once it's up, I'll be able to copy the new BIOS onto a floppy, then do it all over again to flash the new BIOS. If that solves the problem, I'll be set.

I am grateful to the source of all karma for providing me with this splendid opportunity to better learn to manage great frustration.

I thank you again, alyoshka.

 

[alyoshka]

You're welcome and do keep us posted about the status of the problem.

 

[maxterre]

I was able to put the update on a FAT32 floppy and flash the BIOS successfully, but have been unable to restart it after the flash. As of yet, I am still unable to see the start-up sequence. On power-up, the fans start, the disks spin, and, for a second or two, it sounds like it does when it boots, but nothing ever happens, there is no video signal out.

I have sent a description of the problem to Gigabyte Support and am awaiting a reply. Meanwhile, I'm continuing to power cycle the machine in hopes that it will "catch". If recent history is a useful guide, there is about a 2% - 3% probability that it will on any given power-up. I do have some concern about the effect this repeated power cycling is having on components.

 

[alyoshka]

Boot up the rig and don't wait for anything just start tapping the DEL key...... keep tapping it. See if you finally hear a loud beep and see if you get to the BIOS screen.

 

[maxterre]

No luck. I have been successful in updating the BIOS, and replacing the battery, but there is no change in the (lack of) behavior of the machine. Still, on power-up, fans start, disks spin, but that's it. There is no video output, and dancing the samba on the DEL key (or any other key, for that matter) does nothing. The probability of POST "catching" and running seems to be decreasing, now below 1%.

It's almost 24 hours since I directed my problem to Gigabyte Support, but I still have no response.

 

[alyoshka]

Could you remove the GPU and boot once ......? see if it's giving you the GPU Error Beep Code....
Then Reseat the GPU in the slot and connect the monitor and give it a boot.

 

[maxterre]

I'll try that. It's up and running right now; I'm going to leave it up for a day or two before I fiddle with it again (significant time investment). Also, it currently is my mail server, so I don't want to leave it down for more than a few hours if I can help it.

Thank you again for all of your help and valuable suggestions!

 

[maxterre]

I tried removing the GPU and booting. No beeps, nothing. Reinstalled, after many, many attempts, POST started and I rebooted successfully. It's up and running now.

Gigabyte Support suggested the same thing. Alas, no luck yet.

Thank you once again.

 

[alyoshka]

Tell me, after these many attempts of restarting the rig, does it finally start in the Updated BIOS or does it start in the Original BIOS?

 

[maxterre]

Nothing has changed. It starts in anywhere from 1 in 50 to 1 in 100 attempts. Neither the updated BIOS nor removing the video card makes any difference.

It is running now. I took it down to clean and re-paste the CPU heat sink and to set the BIOS to prefer booting from CD/DVD so I can later upgrade my old Fedora Core. That took a morning, mostly getting it booted twice (once to tweak the BIOS, once to get it running).

As I use this machine as my mail, web, and DNS server, I like to keep it up as much as possible. But I'll be giving it another try when I attempt my upgrade.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[alyoshka]

Give it one last try by substituting the PSU if you have a spare one lying around.

 

[maxterre]

I never did solve this problem. Rebooting takes many attempts. It appears there is a race condition in the MB's initial boot sequence.

Now I'm facing a different issue. I've added a new SATA drive and find, after many reboots, either the new SATA drive or the old CDROM drive is recognized, but never both. I fiddled with BIOS settings and tried changing the master/slave configuration on the CDROM drive (along with that of its companion HD), all to no avail.

With patience, I can get my machine booted, but have not been able to have both the SATA drive and the CDROM drive recognized simultaneously.

Any ideas? (besides a separate thread, which I'm about to start)

Sincere thanks yet again for all of your help.

 

[alyoshka]

Try bread-boarding it. As one final solution. You either have a bad Mobo or then the Mobo contacts are getting short somewhere behind the scenes.
Try this and check behind the board to look for signs of short-contacts.