Any techies out there with a bit of sympathy for a lost sole???
I installed a second HDD to my pc. M/board (Gigabyte GA-BX2000+) wouldn't recognise it so I d/loaded latest version from G/byte site and flashed it.
Worked perfectly for 2 weeks before crashing and reverting to backup bios.
Obviously this is back to sq 1 - m/board can't see the second drive.
I am now stuck with the old bios which, for some obscure reason, was GA-6BXE, and my pc boots to the old drive (only when I disconnect the new one) via backup bios.
Does anyone know how I can go back to the main bios and perhaps flash it again?
Or do I now flash the backup bios - with eyes closed and hands clasped in prayer?
AND why did the backup bios kick in after 2 weeks, and how can I prevent that happening a second time?
I am using W/xp. I have tried most configurations on IDE1&2 with both drives and CDROM.
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Fixing the problem is a bit confusing concidering all I could get was reviews, but one site mentioned to press F1 while booting and there would be the duel bios options...just may be what you are looking for, found on this page....
Frank, that's all explained in the motherboard manual, you might want to start there. If you don't have it the download it from gigabyte website. There are settings in the bios to disable use of the backup bios but you certainly can flash the main one again and can probably even switch to it without re flashing it, just read the manual.
Thank you Steve and digitalfixx for your responses - muchly appreciated.
Sadly there was nothing there I didn't already know. I already have the flash download and, once the main BIOS is compromised it would appear there is no way to switch back from backup.
I am of a mind to flash again and just hope it flashes the main BIOS and not the b/up. I am hoping that given a successful flash I may be able to turn off the backup option to prevent a repeat crash.
If you - or anyone else for that matter - has anything to add before I dive in at the deep end without my water wings, your observations would be more than welcom.
I'm looking at my Gigabyte dual bios manual perhaps it's similar. It shows two methods to flash the bios the best is to download the newest code to a floppy then enter the bios and on my ga700npro2 i would use the F8 key to enter into the dual bios screen. Because you aren't booting from the main bios right now (you said it's the backup) you may need to try it both ways here: either "enable" the "main bios" and then enter the Q flash utility and choose "Update Main Bios from Floppy" OR enter Q flash first and choose to update from floppy then reboot and then "Enable MAIN BIOS" You might have to try it both ways due to the fact that you are running on the backup. Don't backup or flash the backup bios with the new code until a few days/weeks pass to be sure it works. The second method to flash your bios is through a windows program called @bios from gigabyte cdrom. You're better off using the bios copy method. But I have used some windows bios flash utilities and they work for the most part....until they don't work then you want to shoot yourself for using that dumb ass windows flash utility. So until you can handle to urge to shoot oneself and actually refrain from the act of doing so, I would recommend the floppy disk method.
Thank fellas - what you say makes sense, but I'm passed worrying about shooting myself - I tried it 3 times already - and missed every time. With luck like that what chance a successful flash. If I fell into a bucket full of breasts I swear I would come out sucking my thumb.
I have flashed this BIOS once already and it was very successful - the trouble is that the board appears to see it as the wrong flash and eventually reverts to backup, so somehow I have to flash the main BIOS again and then disable the automatic backup.
You see, I know what I'm doing to a point, but you know what they say "a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing" --- and right now I feel lethal.
I intend to have a shot at flashing the board later today so that I have the weekend to find another pc in the event that it all goes pearshaped.
First thing is to make sure that you are getting the exact right bios code for your board, some flashes may have a different letter on the end to signify a slightly different board or cmos configuration. Even though it looks the exact same the difference of an "n" or an "s" on the bios name could be significant. That being said, my manual shows a few settings that can control whether the backup bios will automatically kick in or not. The setting: "Boot from Main" must be enabled (as mentioned earlier). The first backup bios setting to check is called: "Wide Range Protection" disable this setting to keep the backup from automatically being used due to escd or checksum errors. The setting "Auto Recovery" by default it's enabled, go ahead and set to disable to keep the backup from working. Another setting that's in most bios' is "Halt On Error", this causes system to display an error message on post and requires action to continue booting but if the "Auto Recovery" setting is enabled it will not halt but instead it will use the backup bios code. The last may just be what you need to allow after you do a good flash but I'm not sure. It's called "Keep DMI Data", this is set to enabled by default and it has the bios keep the old configuration data (list of existing hardware and settings) instead or redetecting it once the bios flash is done. You might try setting it to disable after you get a good flash that way the bios will redetect all hardware and you will probably need to reset all of the bios settings because they would be set to a default setting.
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