chaslang Sent me here--BIOS problem.

I have a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H
motherboard in a desktop. I've had problems with the USB keyboard quitting
and malware scanners not functioning so I finally disconnected the HDD and
made a new flash drive bootable, put a new bios update on it. After boot up,
when "Q Flash" is activated, everything works except "Update bios from
drive". The keyboard and mouse work until that line, then they quit, and
the bios won't update. KB and mouse are wired into PC.
When I leave the bios and boot, a command line box appears:

Top of the box says: Administrator:X:\Windows\system 32\Cmd.exe
------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Windows (ver. 6.2.9200

X:\ Windows\ System 32>



Anything I try to enter has ^ every other character.

At this point, the PC is locked and won't go any further.

Any ideas on how to proceed will be greatly appreciated.

 

Could you please list all of your symptoms again including the age of the computer and when you first noticed the problem, I have-

USB keyboard periodically failing
Malware scans not finishing

Failed bios update isn't a symptom and can be caused by a number of reasons, also if your problems have only just appeared it's unlikely to be caused by the bios. Can you post the version of your current bios which can be located on the POST screen and the bios your trying to update to. If your board is revision 1.0 you should be trying to install F14 the latest tested bios which should improve compatibility of keyboards if your current bios is prior F8.

http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4440&dl=1#bios

Could you post a link to the bios file your downloading, list your computer specifications and operating system, if you do not know them download Everest and attach a text file with your next post, you may want to delete your computers user name and/or other personal information.

 

I bought this motherboard last Oct. After installing the OS (Win 7), I put
CCCleaner on with a USB thumb drive that must have been infected. The
USB ports began to fail, KB and mouse quit when I tried to download any
malware scanner, win explorer was redirected to a face book page, and
when I tried to reboot into safe mode, it would reboot back in to the desktop.
The MB was returned to Gigabyte, thinking there was a fault with the USB
controller, but they said nothing was wrong. I tried another new HDD, but
the same problems returned. I ran Ubuntu for a few months with no
trouble, but when I tried to reinstall Win 8, I got a command line box:

Top of the box says: Administrator:X:\Windows\system 32\Cmd.exe
------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Windows (ver. 6.2.9200

X:\ Windows\ System 32>

If I tried to put anything in the command line, every character had
the symbol "^" behind it and no commands could be entered.

I disconnected the HDD and made a new flash drive bootable, and tried
to reflash the bios because the bios password was disabled and with the HDD
attached, was unable to change the boot order. The latest bios was d/l
from Gigabyte, F14. In QFlash, the line "Update Bios from drive" is
disabled.
When I reboot, the command box appears again and that is as far as
it goes.

I hope this gives you some idea of the problem and thanks for your help.

The bios is the original factory install.
If I disabled the wireless, thing worked fairly well, but when connected things got much worse.

 

Can you post what bios you have installed from the post screen and can you post which revision your board is.

Is this a typo is your bios password 'enabled' and is your bios password protected? Are you presented with a password screen upon entering the bios?

If so do a cmos reset, disconnect the power, find a small coin shaped battery on the motherboard and remove for 10 seconds, replace, reconnect the power and try to boot, enter your bios and try to change the boot order, let us know how far you get.

If this is true and you can now enter the bios try to flash it again.

 

Thanks for your help Rikky.

The bios ver. is F 14, Bios date is 08/22/12 and bios ID is 8ao1agoe if
that's of any value. Board is rev. 1.
There is no password option available, just "access level" and that is
set at "Administrator" and can't be changed (in white, changeable options
are in green). No password screen is presented.

I have done all the things to reset the bios, the boot order is now: Sandisk,
DVD, and HDD, and the option to "Update bios from drive" is still disabled,
although all other choices are working with both mouse and keyboard.

 

You already have the latest bios installed then, F14 dated december 2012 this will be why the bios update is greyed out, to test this download F15 and see if it's no longer greyed out BUT DON'T UPDATE , then you have your problem.

Moving forward the list of problems you've listed could be caused by numerous things, you have suffered multiple failure through multiple operating systems. You've changed the motherboard and it's had a clean bill of health from Gigabyte, it or it's bios is the last place I'd be looking for a problem.

I still don't know what your problem is but as I see it you've ruled out operating system,software, motherboard, hard drive.

Check your memory with a bootable copy of memtest, test each stick individually if they pass without errors test them both together, since you suspect your usb as being faulty it may be worth the effort to burn tools to disk.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/memtest86.html

Can you also check your cpu fan is spinning, check your cpu temperature from the bios after the computer has been on for 30min it shouldn't be higher than 40-50 but is usually much lower under zero load.

If your memory passes and your cpu isn't overheating for now I wouldn't try reinstalling win 8 and go back to win7 if possible, since you've had it partially working at least then you can run some tools or maybe be lucky enough to get a BSOD.

If you do get it up and running download and install the latest windows 7 SATA,USB, chipset and lan driver from Gigabyte as soon as you've installed a firewall and updated windows and deal with each problem/symptom as it occurs.