Has anyone tried the beta UEFI BIOS on their Gigabyte board?

[ZappDogg]

I've got a GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3, and noticed that there is now a beta BIOS that is UEFI instead of Award. I can find nearly NO information about how to update to this from an x64 system (installer bombs, spits out compatibility errors), as well as what any potential issues it might have.

The only, ONLY info I can find is people who are using it for their hackentosh PCs, but that's been less than helpful.

Is anyone running one of these revisions, and if so, what do you think about it?

 

[bradley]

I am still running F10, though nice to finally see Gigabyte fulfill their promise for a non-hybrid UEFI. I'll probably wait a month more before upgrading.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zjWPikjrDo

 

[vailr]

I've got a GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3, and noticed that there is now a beta BIOS that is UEFI instead of Award. I can find nearly NO information about how to update to this from an x64 system (installer bombs, spits out compatibility errors)

Try using a bootable (to a Windows 98 DOS prompt) USB drive.
There's a free HP utility for creating a bootable USB drive:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/HP-USB-Disk-Storage-Format-Tool.shtml
Add the DOS version bios flasher from Gigabyte:
"efiflash.exe" or "flashefi.exe".
Then: configure the autoexec.bat file to flash the bios when the machine is booted from the USB drive.
Latest Gigabyte beta bioses:
http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/28441-gigabyte-latest-beta-bios.html

 

[ZappDogg]

awesome, thanks guys

 

[slackingoff7]

Vailr is right. I did that process through google searching for how to update the bios. I did it for a Z68xp-ud3 board. It allowed me to finally overclock my i5-3570k.

The UEFI fixed the overclocking bug for Ivy Bridge and improved my bootup speed. Great update from Gigabyte!

 

[ZappDogg]

Found that HP tool, slapped the BIOS files on it, disconnected my hard drives, and rebooted. The BIOS updated launched automatically and within 2 minutes I was upgraded! Thanks again for the help!

 

[KeypoX]

Every boot i have had has crashed...

basic browsing hasnt done it, yet but videos and games have.

UEFI very unstable on my system, both in mac and windows. Had to go back and back to a stable system.

 

[el-Capitan]

To you guys that updated :

- The Intel OROM, what version does that have? (running F10 with a modded 11.5)
- Any worthwhile improvements? My system in rock solid ATM, apart for the fun in fiddling around with it, is there a good reason for the UEFI?
- Has anyone found a proper changelog?
- Any improvement in boot times? The BIOS does take its time...

Thanks!

 

[gpse]

When I had my GA-Z68X-UD3H, I updated to the UEFI Bios, I had zero issues. Boot time was the best benefit, a lot faster! Also it allowed me to control a PWM case fan, with the old bios I couldn't adjust it.

 

[ZappDogg]

Looks to be many more fiddly bits for voltages and frequencies. Boot times are indeed faster, and performance has been solid as a rock (not overclocking).

 

[el-Capitan]

Thanks, guys. I am almost convinced. What is the version of the RAID OROM? 11.x?

 

[ZappDogg]

I have no idea what that is or how to check it, or I would for you.

 

[bradley]

I upgraded almost without a hitch. Just make sure to update your drivers, as the Etron USB 3.0 ports at first gave me a BSOD upon waking from sleep.

Otherwise booting into the BIOS, booting into the OS, waking from sleep/hibernate is considerably faster. There are also nice perks like Internal Graphics Standby and Deep Standby mode, also Intel Rapid Start and Smart Connect.

 

[Spicedaddy]

I just updated my Z68A-D3H-B3 to U1b BIOS. Everything seems fine, but be patient on the first boot as Windows reinstalls drivers.

I was going from a regular BIOS to UEFI so I used the FlashEFI.exe tool to update. Will I be able to use Qflash to update next time around? (UEFI to UEFI...)

 

[el-Capitan]

Wow. Very quick boot. I like it so far, but haven't really dug into it yet.

the Intel OROM version is 11.0.0.1339. This is of relevance for the folks running a RAID.

 

[mikaljones]

Hey thanks for posting this question. I followed the steps mentioned above and it worked easily. My boots went from 45 seconds to about 14 seconds.

Very nice. No problems with drivers or anything either. All works great.:sneaky:

 

[mxnerd]

I just updated the BIOS to UEFI, but it crashes the machine every few hours.

The biggest problem is that it won't detect SATA drive automatically when I plug in the data cable and SATA power! I need to reboot the machine to get drive detected.

What's going on? Anyone experience the same thing?

 

[el-Capitan]

I just updated the BIOS to UEFI, but it crashes the machine every few hours.

The biggest problem is that it won't detect SATA drive automatically when I plug in the data cable and SATA power! I need to reboot the machine to get drive detected.

What's going on? Anyone experience the same thing?

'

Yeah....I've been getting random BSODs with at least four different error messages. I was not able to pinpoint the cause. Re-installed all critical drivers, and ran on conservative settings.

Not sure if the UEFI is to blame.

I re-istalled windows rid the BSODs. Too early to tell if it made a difference.

 

[el-Capitan]

The biggest problem is that it won't detect SATA drive automatically when I plug in the data cable and SATA power! I need to reboot the machine to get drive detected.

Never done hot-plugging on a SATA device before, but there is an option in the BIOS, sorry UEFI, where you can enable hot-plugging for the various ports.

Have you tried that?

 

[slackingoff7]

I have used UEFI since the day it was released for my Z68XP-UD3 motherboard.

I have not had an issue except when I first installed it, it would not go past the boot screen. I had to reinstall UEFI another time and it worked.

 

[mxnerd]

I have re-installed Win7 at least 3 times, not once it worked! It crashes all day long. Sometimes when I was browsing, sometimes when I walked away, and sometimes while doing Windows Update.

I did found the SATA Hot Plug settings and enabled them. But what a disaster! Everytime I hot plug SATA drive, the system crashed and reboot.

And isn't SATA supposed to be hot plug capable, why Gigabyte make disabled the default?

Is it becuase they haven't test it yet and then release the U1b ("b" means beta?) firmware? Oh gosh!

I have had enough and is going back to pre UEFI BIOS.

In the past I have reduced my motherboard shopping list down to Intel, ASUS and Gigabyte. Now I think one more vendor needs to go. All my Gigabyte purchases had BIOS issues from the beginning.

My motherboard is Z68A-D3H-B3, think not much different from Z68MA-D2H-B3.

By the way, the reason I updated to UEFI is suddenly the motherboard took several minutes to boot.

 

[vailr]

If you're having problems with UEFI bios, be sure that both the primary and the backup bios are both flashed to the same version. The Z77-UD5H board has a selector switch that allows selecting (while system power is off) which one of the dual bioses to boot from. Not sure if the Z68 boards have that feature.
As well, use the "clear CMOS" button before restoring power. Then select "load optimized default settings" before going to bios setup.
For eSATA "hot swap" to work correctly, be sure that "AHCI mode" is selected for the eSATA port.

 

[mxnerd]

I reflash the UEFI BIOS twice and the machine immediately BSOD on Windows boot! The BSOD screen is so fast that I don't have any chance to take a peek.

Any way to go back firmware F13? I used the Q-Flash and DOS method and both claimed the BIOS is invalid or bad. Need help....

 

[ZappDogg]

I recall someone using the Back2Award utility in the thread linked near the top of this topic.

 

[vailr]

I reflash the UEFI BIOS twice and the machine immediately BSOD on Windows boot! The BSOD screen is so fast that I don't have any chance to take a peek.

Any way to go back firmware F13? I used the Q-Flash and DOS method and both claimed the BIOS is invalid or bad. Need help....

What SATA port mode setting was your Windows installed in?
If Windows was installed with the bios set to IDE mode, and then the bios later switched to AHCI or RAID mode, a BSOD will result.