Gigabyte ga-z77-d3h bios failure

hapticyo

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Sep 16, 2012
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18,510
It ran without issue for a wile and one day it had some kind of bios failure during boot and said something about repairing and ran a status bar for 10 - 15 minutes then worked fine again, with one exception being I could no longer use the bios or device selection bios from startup.

when I hit delete to enter bios it begins to go into the bios and then just freezes with the "Gigabyte UEFI" header, the bios background and a mouse cursor, mouse wont move and it wont let me do anything but reboot. When I choose device selection mode it gives me the header again plus background and the device selection, it displays all devices but again a mouse cursor that wont move and keyboard doesn't do anything, I can't select a device.

This was using the default bios. I have since flashed it using the gigabyte @BIOS application and I have exactly the same issue. system specs were as follows. also no bios settings were ever changed, it was all deafult and i'd only gone into it maybe once to look at it.

i5 3570k @deafult
Corsair TX850M
ATI HD 4890
2x4GB 1600 kingston
OCZ agility 3 240GB SSD
4x plater hdds of varying size/brand

I have since added a PowerColor ATI Radeon HD7950 3GB. and an antec kuhler 620, cpu runs around 25C/77F after boot at no load

I've also moved this setup through 3 cases and tried various things during to resolve the issue.

A bios reset and flash hasn't changed a thing. I honestly just want to figure out if I can fix it or I need to send it back wile it's still under warranty.

One more thing being the gigabyte utility installed with the motherboard disc windows calls it GUI MFE or something (I think it's Easy Tune 6) crashes everytime at boot. and if I want to run it it crashes several times before I can get it to open.
 
most new mb have two bios now.a main bios and a back up bios. the back up bios is locked and you cant flash it. if you unplugged the pc from the wall for 20 min then cleared then cmos. (some mb hold power when connected to ac power).
if you cant get into the bios then you may be running on the back up bios. (main bios may have failed.) i would rma the mb when you can.
 

hapticyo

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Sep 16, 2012
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I had a video card problem so this was on the back burner, Wile I had the PC in the shop I hooked it up and ran through some tests with the video card and since all my parts are from the same place I asked the owner about the bios issue, he suggested flash I said I had and he took over and did it again... the bios worked and I thought I did something wrong when I flashed it. So I bring it home hook it up and attempt to go into the bios, and I have exactly the same problem then I realised he had a PS2 keyboard plugged in so I bought a USB>PS2 plug because I have no PS2 keyboards or mouse laying around and it doesn't work either. I will get a PS2 keyboard next and try that out but if anyone has any other ideas i'd appreciate the help as I find it hard to believe you need to use a PS2 device to operate the bios when the last 4 PC's I've built all worked fine without a PS2 device.

I've been using the z77 back panel USB2.0 ports, even tried the USB3.0 ports.
 

ZeroZorro

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Feb 5, 2013
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I just build a new PC with this MB, all working fine, included my Keyboard & Mouse.
Entering the BIOS was a problem cause KB and Mouse did not react in Boot-menu (F12) and the Bios screen was as you described and 'hung'.
A Bios-flash to F18 from within Windows did not solve the problem for me.

BUT: i disconnected my USB-hub with several devices (and my BR-dvd player which i used for installing Win8). And...now it works! Problem is though i am not able to load Recovery2 from the Gigabyte boot-cd but i am able to go into BIOS etc. with DEL, F12 and using my mouse and keyboard.

Hope it helps...!
 

Los974

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Jun 27, 2013
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10,510
Hello I had the same issue, even Gigabyte support couldn't find a solution (wait for a BIOS update, lol). Today I found a solution on a forum proposed for another Gigabyte motherboard and IT WORKS : actually, it seems to be an issue related to some USB devices. As far as I am concerned, it is a Saitek Cyborg 3D USB Joystick. I just had to unplug it and the BIOS was working again.

Just to try, I plugged back the joystick while being in the BIOS main page, everything was instantly blocked...

To sum up : UNPLUG EVERY USB DEVICE YOU CAN, reboot and try to enter BIOS.
 

lifeschool

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Jul 31, 2013
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hi, I had the same issue with my bios, and searched everywhere for an answer. I tried flashing the bios back to F10 but nothing. Then it locked me out on boot. I began by locating a jumper switch from the back of an old IDE hard drive, then jumping the CLR_CMOS jumper on system powerup. After doing this all evening it finally said "Your CMOS is corrupt, do you want to copy over the backup?" I said YES and if flashed F6 bios into my computer from the backup chip. Hey presto. The boot screen now fits on an old CRT monitor, it finds the drives and doesnt lock out my keyboard on boot.

Bios F6 was the last one worked on by the hardware technicians at the development stage, and this was the peak of their efforts which they were happy with before they shipped the motherboards out. After that, F7 was taken over by the 'maintainance team' - a bodge together software de-velopment team responsibe for updates; which is usually out-sourced to people who just want the de-velopment on the bios to run up to at least V20 by tinkering with the graphic frontend and the microcode for years after initial public release. Needless to say, in this case they broke the screen rez checker while trying to better accomodate HDMI users, but which breaks on old monitors.

I also found that plugging USB2 devices into the many USB3 drives can cause errors on boot. I have a usb hub connected to the top black USB socket above the keyboard port and it works great. I had problems with my old mouse until I tried the lower of the two black USB2 sockets.

Other notes: always install Intel Rapid Storage Technology as this speeds up slow HDDs, and you'll need the HD audio driver, but all the other software they recommend you install on the system are useless system hogs. The EasyTune 6 should now work with F6, but the Turbo function often bluescreens the comp on boot by fryig the CPU, and crashes the program. Uninstall Easytune and enter the bios. Increase the CPU multiplyer from 35 to 44. Then install Speedfan and set it up to monitor cpu core 2 temp on your taskbar, and to warn you if it goes over 90'c. Use BES to slow down any program which takes your system beyond 88 degrees on core 2, certainly not beyond 90'c. At 94-98 your system will crash.