GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

[MDeTHX77]

My system has been running fine for a while but I noticed some strange glitches with video and gaming, so I decided to do a clean install.

After the install in which I loaded the RAID drivers for the Intel and Gigabyte controllers, I installed all the drivers provided by the Gigabyte website. With the exception of the realtek hd driver, which I got from the realtek website (R212). (One strange thing, I noticed the LAN ports weren't working however. I also didn't get a chance to install the graphics driver.)

So I restart my system on prompt and I get the following message:

Award BootBlock BIOS v1.0
Copyright ....

Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive....

And the system continuously loops this message over and over. I have tried various BIOS resets, unhooking components, switching hard drives, unplugging optical drives, moving around RAM modules, etc., without any change.

From reading through a couple of threads it seems that the general consensus is that unless I have certain boot options set, I cannot recover from this error. Any other suggestions. I'm going to start an RMA because I don't have time to deal with all these issues, but if anyone has some advice let me know, I may be able to try them before I ship it back.

I was also under the impression that this kind of error only comes up if I had a bad bios update. But I've never tried to update my BIOS, ever. All I did was install some drivers.

So any help is appreciated.

Oh yeah and my system is as follows:
GA-EX58-EXTREME
Corsair TR3X3G1600C8D (3x1GB)
Corsair 1000W
Spinpoint 750GB SATAII
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray / HD-DVD Reader Combo
EVGA 9800 GX2 x2 in SLI
Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

You need to clear your CMOS, please see this thread for my method of doing this >>>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide-27576/

And I would try with one or two sticks of ram only

Any bad settings (By you or Auto) can cause this corruption to the BIOS bootblock, it happens at random or when trying incorrect settings while trying high overclocks. And yes of course when you have a bad flash as well.

If you have a floppy ALREADY Connected and set as first boot device you can try the blind flash method outlined in the above post as well.

If you do not want to RMA PM me and I will send you last resort method before you would have to RMA

[MDeTHX77]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

I forgot to mention I already read your guide and tried your methods. PM coming your way.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

So did you PM me, or get anywhere with this? If you did pm me, how did that go I sent you?

[MDeTHX77]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

Yes, the last resort of physically shorting the BIOS chip worked. Thanks.

I'm still getting this weird bug where video stutters, but I think it has to do with the SLI I have running, not sure if its an issue with the MB. Have their been any BIOS revisions that address SLI performance? The new BIOS thread is really hard to read, and hard to find out what each BIOS revision addresses.

Anyways, I really do appreciate the help, you are doing great work here.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

Nice to see your board can be added to the "Saved" list!!!

No, I have not seen anything addressing SLI issues, nor have I seen anyone mention it so it may just be your cards or drivers.

BIOS updates especially Beta's do not come with changelogs, and even the official ones only note one or two things updated when there is usually several things addressed with each one.

I have personally tried to get a changelog url/list/ect and have had no luck, thru official contacts. So I think they either do not compile this info or at least did not have a way to easily share this info on a ongoing basis with me

Thanks for the kind words, great to hear you did not have to RMA

[MDeTHX77]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

It was the drivers. I had to go back to some older drivers. Everything is running excellent. Now all I have to do is image the drive before I screw something up again! :)

[msu_79]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

hello I have ga-945-gcm-s2l board and I cannot start the recovery process since boot block says "scaning bios image in hard drive".. and it freezes with no messages..I wonder if the physically shorting the BIOS method would work or not for my situation..do u have any idea? and how can I find the chip and short it?you know there are no big bios chips on the board with a shiny sticker on them anymore so I couldnt see one =) I would appriciate any answer.thank you in advance..

[morph]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

Same thing happened to me some while ago. For some reason (while trying to OC) the BIOS got corrupted and it tryed to recover from the HDD instead of backup BIOS. You should try powering off you computer, removing HDD cables and power on your computer again. This time, not having any HDD to scan for, the backup BIOS should restore everything to normal.

LE: Oh, I've just realized you MB does not have Dual Bios. Your BIOS chip is located over the SATA ports, but the jumper to reset it is near the battery.

[slixx]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

Im haveing the same problemi dident update my bios just booted up and get the "scanning bios image in hard drive" message,i have reset my cmos and booted with no hdd's plugged in and no joy anthing else i can try?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

PM sent

Method's are posted here for anyone reading this in the future >>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/how-fix-dead-dual-bios-motherboard-if-flashing-failed-33904/

*Note to future readers*
Please try your board with NO Hard drives connected, and the motherboard Driver CD in a CD Drive ONLY connected to SATA2_0 slot before using the above methods. This sometimes will pull the BIOS off the CD

[bgtb]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

Hi

This morning it was my turn to get the "Scanning BIOS image in hard drive" infinite loop.
I have the GA-EX58-UD3R motherboard with Core i7 920 processor, all bought about 14 months ago.
I have tried almost everything I have read but unfortunately after the "clearing CMOS" instructions here

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/27576-bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide.html

I forgot to put back the monitor connectors (two monitors) and foolishly decided to do that while the computer was running...

After that I haven't seen the annoying text about scanning hard drive for bios (which is good) but on the other hand I haven't seen any text at all either. I have tried with another graphics adapter too that I know works but it's all black...

I first suspected that the graphics adapter was broken but since it doesn't work with my other adapter I believe that the problem is in the mother board. Since I did the full clear CMOS routine (removed battery, jumper on clear cmos pins, waited 20 minutes, jumper off and restarted) can this result in the display routines stop working for some reason?
I had to remove the graphics adapter to reach the battery and the pins, this is why I had to remove the monitor connectors in the first place.

I'm eager to see if the "all drives out CD-ROM on sata_ch0 with Gigabyte CD loaded" trick will work because that one wasn't tested before I did the CMOS clearing. My hopes are low though...

But my first problem is how to get the monitors to display anything at all! The monitor I used displays a "Self test feature check" dialog when not connected so it is working anyway.
Any ideas?

(By the way, the random question wants me to enter 2010 as the current year :) )

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

So, did you plug in the monitors while the system was running, or the graphics card itself?

Plugging in a monitor to an already connected graphics card shouldn't cause any issues, I've removed and installed them while running many times without issues.

[bgtb]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

So, did you plug in the monitors while the system was running, or the graphics card itself?

Plugging in a monitor to an already connected graphics card shouldn't cause any issues, I've removed and installed them while running many times without issues.

Not the card itself just the monitor DVI-plugs.
I have received suggestions from gigabyte and from the vendor, after a CMOS reset it might be troublesome to start apparently. I was recommended to only run with one memory module and disconnect DVD-player to run it in its minimum configuration. It didn't help though so they told me to ship it (I got an RMA already).

This morning I got another reply from gigabyte saying that I should try a hard motherboard reset by removing the battery and shortcircuit the connectors for 15 seconds and then start with a minimum of peripherals connected and just one memory module. Unfortunately I removed the motherboard yesterday and brought it with me on a two day trip away from home so I will not be able to test the reset suggestion, I will send it by post today instead.

Thanks for your help anyway.

(Horray, the random question year is now correct too! :))

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-EX58-EXTREME Scanning BIOS Image in Hard Drive

Cool to hear, you had me wondering for a second! Ya that should be fine, unless maybe you bumped the graphics card loose while doing so, that could possibly cause a short?

Sorry to hear you have to RMA, hopefully you will have a quick turn around and get a board back soon!

Yes, Mr.Tweak fixed it just a while ago, the question I mean. You won't have to answer that after you have 10 posts I believe.

Let us know how your RMA works out, thanks!