Re: [PLUG] BIOS Troubles

[Stephen R Guglielmo <srg@guglielmo.us>]

Ah, weird that it was marked as phishing. I didn't even include a URL!

I did try booting with nothing connected and inserting the USB drive once I get to the "select the file to finish the process" screen. The light on the drive blinks for a second or two, but it isn't detected in the UI at all and I'm still unable to select anything.

Thanks,

Steve

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Re: [PLUG] BIOS Troubles

Local Time: August 29, 2016 10:36 AM

UTC Time: August 29, 2016 2:36 PM

From: christopher.r.barry@gmail.com

To: plug@lists.phillylinux.org

srg@guglielmo.us

On Sun, 28 Aug 2016 23:30:21 -0400

Stephen R Guglielmo <srg@guglielmo.us> wrote:

>Hey all,

>

>I ran into an issue with my personal desktop system that I can't seem

>to solve: A BIOS upgrade gone wrong. This is a system I built about a

>year ago with an Intel Skylake processor, SSD, and a few HDDs. The

>main drive is the SSD with a UEFI dualboot Arch and Win10. The HDDs

>are btrfs raid6 (I know, I know; don't remind me) that are only used

>on the Arch system. It has an Asus "H170 Pro Gaming" motherboard and a

>Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 video card.

>

>A few days ago, I noticed there was a BIOS update (in fact, there has

>been several released since I last updated it). I followed the

>instructions of downloading/unzipping the file to a FAT32 USB flash

>drive, booting into the BIOS/UEFI setup, and selecting the options to

>update it. I went through the process same as I've done in the past.

>It took a few minutes but was seemingly successful. Reboot. Annnnnd,

>blank screen.

>

>I have since been completely unable to get to either the BIOS setup or

>boot from a drive.

>

>One of two things happen:

>

>If I boot with the FAT32 USB flash drive plugged in and/or any SATA

>disk attached, I get the normal "Asus - press Del for setup" splash

>screen, then it goes to a blank black screen. Pressing 'del' (or any

>other F key) doesn't make any difference.

>

>OR, if I do NOT have a USB drive plugged in, it boots into the bios

>setup (even if I do not press the del or F keys) and goes to a screen

>that says "To complete the BIOS upgrade, please select the bios file

>again." Except, I'm unable to select the file because it's on the USB

>drive.

>

>I've tried different USB drives. I've tried reformatting it. I've

>tried USB3 and USB2 ports. I've disconnected all my peripherals,

>disks, and even taking out the graphics card. If the USB drive is in,

>it gives me the blank screen. If it's not in, it asks for the file

>that I have no way of giving it. I've tried clearing the CMOS (by

>shorting the jumper), which has no affect. I've even tried another

>keyboard.

>

>I really don't want to RMA it (I don't even know if it's still under

>warranty?) but I've really given it some effort and I've tried all the

>tips given in the documentation provided by Asus to no avail. Does

>anyone have any tips?

>

>Thanks,

>Steve

Hey Steve,

Just saw this, as this email was flagged as phishing and in my spam

folder for some reason. The tone of desperation /is/ similar to a

Nigerian financial conundrum though - maybe that was it? Dunno.

> Maybe throwing it out the window?

Instant gratification, yes, but you might regret it. Especially if it

hits a passerby...

Q: You don't mention this variant, but what happens when you boot with

no USB attached, it hits the BIOS "Complete upgrade, select file..."

message, and you /then/ plug in the USB drive? Does it detect the

insert and blank the screen, or will that allow selecting the correct

file?

--

Regards,

Christopher

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