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Computer problem after 'trying' to update BIOS
Hey guys, i just tried to update my computers BIOS with live update 5 last night and everything seemed to be going fine until the computer restarted itself and then nothing else afterwards. I waited at least a good 10 minutes with only seeing a black screen before just calling it a loss cause and turning the computer off.
That may or may not have been the nail in the coffin, however when i tried turning the computer back on, it showed a black screen with a blinking underscore for a few seconds then going to a black screen. Never even once going to the windows load up screen. Also never showing my motherboards special screen that used to always show up. I figured okay, the only thing to do now is to reformat the drive and reinstall windows. So i pop in my OEM windows 7 disc and power up the pc again, again, same thing happened. The CD never got loaded. Now i'm at the point of being a little scared.
Anything you guys think i can do? I'm about ready to drop it off at computer zone or microcenter and just throw my money at their overcharging butts...seriously 80~+ bucks for a service as simple as what im sure it really is is dumb. Anyway if you guys can figure it out you'd save me alot of money.
Small edit: I tried loading it up and pressing f11, f5 and f4 and f1 while it before/during/after the black screen with blinking underscore but it never loaded up my mobo menu. So is it the mobo thats messed up? Can it really just get fried like that with a bios update, admittedly a failed one but still.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
Comments
What was wrong that you were trying to update the BIOS in the first place?
Not to derail the thread but brings up a good point: Is it recomended to upgrade your BIOS with latest version?
I keep getting notifications that there is a new update to my BIOS but I've always been to afraid/lazy to try an update as I've heard numerous horror stories like the OP describes...
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true...
If there is something wrong with your current computer that might be a BIOS glitch, then you should update the BIOS. For example, on my current computer, I turned off hyperthreading for an experiment, and then when I tried to turn it back on, the BIOS wouldn't let me. Apparently that was a glitch with the launch-day BIOS, and installing the latest one fixed it.
If there isn't some particular problem that you're trying to fix, then updating your BIOS is usually a bad idea. If the BIOS update doesn't complete properly, then you may be stuck with a motherboard with no working BIOS at all. That could happen because a user gets impatient during the process and reboots, or there's a brief power outage, or whatever.
Try pulling the CMOS battery then do a CMOS reset. Put the battery back in then try booting.
The other thing you can try is disconnect all devices except the CPU,RAM, and Video Card and see if it boots that way.
If neither work you are probably out of luck. When it comes to BIOS if it's not broke don't fix it.
Thank you for the advice! OP, I hope you are able to resolve your issue...
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true...
Sorry for late-ish response, i went ahead and took it to computer zone since they had a free pc checkup and the guy there was actually able to get it to boot up, so i figured he did something and fixed it, so i went back home, hooked it up, well its not booting up like it did at the store. which i dont understand.
to answer your question quizzical, nothing was wrong. live update 5 just popped up saying hey, this is out of date, you should update it. so i did and thought it was as simple as updating drivers but apparently it is not.
currently waiting till they're not helping a customer so i can call and figure out what he did over the phone since i didnt think to ask cause i thought all was fixed since he got it to boot up(i saw the user account screen to enter password to log in)
but if you guys can figure out how he was able to boot it up there but me still not being able to boot up at home it would be much appreciated. few things to note. my monitor is DEFINITELY getting a signal so its not the hdmi cable i'm connected with and just not displaying visual information. my monitor i just bought it a few days ago so i highly doubt the monitor itself is busted since again, it actually displays the information like VGA signal not found, DVI signal not found, but when i go to HDMI it says that its showing it. turns off, on just fine.
i unplugged my cpu power supply from a surge protector and plugged it into the wall thinking maybe it couldn't handle the power demand through the surge protector but still same thing. im really at a loss to why he was able to get it to start up at the store(after tinkering with it in the back for about 10 minutes and then showing me at the front) to me still having the same problem at my home.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
First off, does the computer beep at all? Make sure you have an internal speaker connected (it should be built into your case), and listen for beeps when it starts up - those beeps are actually codes, and they can tell you exactly what is wrong with the computer when the screen won't load up.
Secondly - make sure everything is seated and plugged in, and the cards are actually screwed into the case (not just setting in the sockets). Now, just flashing the BIOS wouldn't cause anything to unseat, but it is a bit suspicious that you can drive it across town and it works fine, then breaks again as soon as you get it back home. In fact, I may go so far as to unplug all the power cables, pull the video card and memory out, and then plug it all back in again just to make sure it's all seated firmly.
As far as BIOS upgrading:
Yes, if something goes wrong while your flashing a BIOS (or any firmware) - you've got one expensive brick. However, firmware updates are generally a good thing to have. Read the change notes: if any of it applies, do it. If they don't, then I usually wait until the next revision or so comes out and the change notes do affect me. Failures during flashing are not that common: usually it's because of a power interruption or something similar while it flashes - not common but not unheard of.
technically i caused the power interruption cause i did turn it off since it was sitting at a black screen for 15 minutes while it was 'flashing' the bios and i figured it was failed after waiting so long.
i found the issue, somewhat anyway.
i noticed the 2nd time i took it to computer zone(they asked to bring my monitor to make sure that wasn't the issue) that the guy plugged a keyboard/mouse into different ports than what i normally used. so i figured i'd try the ones he used. and it booted up just fine. wierd right?
so apparently if i use a certain 2 usb ports in the back i can't boot up, no explanation for it, and i was using the ones i always used with this computer before i tried the bios update just fine. no issues whatsoever, yet after, windows wont load up.
i suppose i should be happy that i'm able to be on now and didnt lose any data but idk. i noticed a couple times, though it could just be computer lag but there was a sort of lag on keystrokes, once while typing in my password to log into windows, and again while typing this out, and i never noticed that before. especialy not the windows login lag anyway. though it seems to have gone away completely but just something i noticed after switching keyboard/mouse ports and the whole situation.
i'm tempted to just return the whole motherboard since its still within limited warranty for up to 3 years and it was technically DOA cause the network card wouldn't work and i had to buy a new one to connect to the internet.
but yea, i'm up and running so i guess the issue is tentatively resolved for now. thanks everyone for coming up in arms to help me figure this out, i may find the mmo-side of mmorpg.com to be highly biased and flammatory, but you guys in hardware are good people.
thanks again, and if you can think of why me changing the keyboard/usb ports might make it work now when previously i was using the same 2 i had been since i built this computer, i'd like to know. it honestly feels to me that my whole system is teetering on the edge of oblivion cause there's been a few wierd cases lately.
though this one is caused by something i started(the bios update) but like last night i was playing allods online and, i had been playing it for a few days with no issues, but last night my computer just shut off twice, for no reason. though i think that was due to overheating issues because my heatsink is slightly crooked and i had to switch the fan from facing the memory sticks like it should be, to facing the opposite direction which is also facing another fan. but idk, i've played a few other games and never had it do this so *shrugs* i may go back and try to straighten it but it was so hard the first time as it was and computer zone said they'd have to charge me 70-80 bucks cause they'd have to take everything out basically.
man i talk to much...tl;dr problem is fixed, you guys are awesome, thank you for trying to help me figure it out.
Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!
If you are using LiveUpdate 5, then you are most likely using MSI. Most MSI come with a bios backup incase you messup flashing them. Refer to the MSI support forum and documentation to see how to correct a failed bios flash. Also don't use LiveUpdate 5 to update your bios. Using software to initiate software on boot typically is not the best method for flashing bios. On MSI's support forum you should find threads on better methods to update your bios.
What keyboard and mouse do you have? I seem to recall maybe 4 or 5 years ago having problems with a razer mouse at boot up. PC wouldn't boot with it plugged into the USB ports but would with it unplugged and a firmware update ended up fixing it. Fairly certain the PC would post with it though so it's not likely your issue but it might be worthwhile checking if yours has new firmware to see if it lets you plug it in anywhere.
I'd RMA the board regardless though seeing as the network port never worked, unless it would be too inconvenient.