ASRock Extreme 4 BIOS flash problem

[Hogan773]

so i am all excited to flash to bios 1.70 from the ASRock site. I just did it by using Instant Flash from bios and a thumb drive. Everything worked, rebooted, and now while the mobo boots up with the AS Rock screen properly, once you hit F2 then there is nothing on the screen when I go to BIOS....just black. The computer won't boot to windows because I need to get in there and switch to AHCI, but I cant because the UEFI doesnt show up on the screen!

Any ideas? I tried to hit the CLR CMOS button....it restores to defaults but still when I then hit F2 it goes to the black screen. Its stuck on "A9" on the Dr Debug - dont recall if thats where it sits when youre actually in the Bios setup the whole time.

how do I go back to 1.60 that I had before, or how do I get the BIOS to show on the screen? The computer works (ie I can boot up with a rescue disk) but for some reason just cant actually see or get to the UEFI BIOS settings section. Help!

 

[Bryf50]

Try a different monitor.

 

[john3850]

I would search asrocks web site for a a9 bios error.
Recheck your bios # to rev number on the mb.
On my first DFI mb I needed to use a old pci viedo card to get into bios and make the needed changes then I switched cards.

 

[john3850]

Last resort reflash from windows using win flash.

 

[bankster55]

A9 is USB initialization - is it still plugged in?
USB HDD?
Unplug all USB
Have you tried "del" instead of F2?
was your flash stick format fat32?
bios name eight characters or less?
PSU 8 pin xtra 12V CPU socket connected?
tried a full cmos reset:?
PSU off and unplugged
Battery out
cmos shorted with jumper or switch
at least 1/2 hour

 

[Hogan773]

Last resort reflash from windows using win flash.

I cant get into Windows because the stupid ASRock defaults to IDE, and I need to get into BIOS to change to AHCI. Maybe I need to bring a new HDD to the system, "Install" Windows on it, then try.

Obviously the computer "works" though because I can boot the Windows Install disc and see everything......for some reason when hitting F2 or Delete the UEFI just doesnt show on the monitor. Strange.

 

[Hogan773]

A9 is USB initialization - is it still plugged in?
USB HDD?
Unplug all USB
Have you tried "del" instead of F2?
was your flash stick format fat32?
bios name eight characters or less?
PSU 8 pin xtra 12V CPU socket connected?
tried a full cmos reset:?
PSU off and unplugged
Battery out
cmos shorted with jumper or switch
at least 1/2 hour

The mouse and keyboard were still plugged in - I will try taking those out. No USB HDDs. The Bios name was straight from ASRock website and others seemed to be OK in loading it. Computer "works" in that I can load the Windows install disc etc, so obviously the mobo is working at least to run all the CPU and stuff. I have done Clear CMOS not for 1/2 hr but it it did load to a "restored BIOS defaults" screen. Its just simply that the UEFI setup screen somehow doesnt show for me. I saw one of the sub-revisions of the BIOS was to fix "some monitors don't show UEFI Bios" and there was another post I found somewhere on Google about this. Its just strange.

 

[Hogan773]

I cant get into Windows because the stupid ASRock defaults to IDE, and I need to get into BIOS to change to AHCI. Maybe I need to bring a new HDD to the system, "Install" Windows on it, then try.

Obviously the computer "works" though because I can boot the Windows Install disc and see everything......for some reason when hitting F2 or Delete the UEFI just doesnt show on the monitor. Strange.

I had to bring in a 3rd HDD, reload Windows onto it (so it would work with IDE), then I was able to reflash 1.70 from the Windows Flash. The DOS versions that I was trying from a rescue disk command prompt kept saying "this doesn't work with your version of Windows - please check with the mfr re: 32bit or 64bit.

After Windows flash, I can now see into BIOS again so I could change to AHCI mode, and then replugged my original drives. Now all seems to be working again. Thank goodness as last night I was about to throw the PC out the window.

As an aside, I really need to stop doing "critical operations" like flashing BIOS at 11:30pm. Whenever it goes wrong then I am up late and having nightmares through the night about how I just broke my PC

Now I see why the manufacturers say "don't flash BIOS unless you need to"

Thanks for all the suggestions

 

[john3850]

Glad your up again that sure was a strange bios flash.

 

[Iron Woode]

next time you want to flash a BIOS, try doing it off a cdrom instead.

This will get you the proper DOS environment.

there are many websites that show you how to set up the cd for the flashing.

 

[Hogan773]

next time you want to flash a BIOS, try doing it off a cdrom instead.

This will get you the proper DOS environment.

there are many websites that show you how to set up the cd for the flashing.

Thanks. I was using the prescribed method from ASRock which uses a USB thumb drive and then updates straight from the BIOS. Obviously something got slightly futzed (just slightly since the PC still worked fine underneath......)