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MSI Z77A-GD65 Dual BIOS Issue

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Zachn

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hey guys, I believe there is an issue with the Dual BIOS feature on my board.

During some OC tests and changes, I experienced the following with my board:

1. I applied OC settings which caused the PC not to boot.
2. I switched to the second BIOS and the PC didn't boot - At this point, I should have been able to boot the PC with the second BIOS but nothing happened.
3. I cleared the CMOS by removing the battery, the PC booted fine.
4. I went into one BIOS, reapplied my old OC settings and the PC booted up fine again.
5. I switched to the second BIOS again to see if it was on default, to my surprise, it had the exact same settings as the second BIOS.
6. So today I tested again, I switched to the secondary BIOS and loaded optimized defaults on it, guess what? The PC didn't boot at ALL! On defaults!
7. Switched to the second BIOS, and again, no boot.
8. Removed the Battery again, both BIOSes reset to default.
9. Reapplied my old OC settings again on one BIOS, PC booted up.
10. Switched back to the secondary BIOS = SAME SETTINGS!

At this point, I have no backup BIOS, any change I set changes it for both of them, when I move the switch all settings are completely identical.

Either I killed one of the BIOS chips and they both act as one or my board is defective and it is not switching between them.

I've read a topic which seems to be related:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1302937/problem-with-z77-gd65-dual-bios

In my case, I flashed them separately by moving the switch and I don't recall if the second one was already updated, I didn't use the multi bios update function.

How's this possible?!
 
#2 ·
The BIOS switch on this board works only after turning the system off.

Just shutting down will not work, you have to either turn the PSU switch off or unplug the system. Then you'll be using the "other" BIOS when you turn the system on again.

Anyway, all that is unrelated to your issue. No matter the number of BIOSes a system has they all share the same settings (from CMOS). When you change settings on one of them, the rest are also affected.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Thanks for the reply, but, I distinctly remember, when I first got the board, I had an issue with my OC settings on BIOS A and the PC didn't boot.

I turned off the PC, switched to BIOS B and it had a different BIOS version, with different settings.

In my case, I have both BIOS A and B on the same version with the exact same settings.

If what you say is true, then what's the reasonable explanation for this? Having 2 BIOSes sharing the same settings defeats the purpose of having 2.

If I apply incorrect OC settings to one of them, I am unable to boot from both...

Should I try unplugging the PSU before trying again? Because I didn't do that...
 
#4 ·
The purpose of having more than one BIOS is solely as a safety measurement against a bad BIOS update. Without an additional BIOS if the update goes wrong then the board is dead and you need to use additional hardware to recover it (or rma it).

Incorrect overclocking settings can be set to their default values by doing a simple CMOS reset (by either pressing the appropriate button, or using the related jumper, or removing the battery). As a manner of fact, opening the case and taking the battery out kinda defeats the purpose of having that CMOS reset button your board has on the back (where the i/o panel is).

Lastly, this board has overclocking profiles specifically used to store and use different BIOS settings.

Now I do not know why you're trying to use the board features in ways they aren't meant to be used but I suspect that it's related to limitations of your knowledge on the related subjects. This is normal since it's impossible to know beforehand what every single manufacturer does with his products.

I suggest reading the board documentation in order to learn about the board features and how the manufacturer intended those features to be used.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
So you're saying that if a bad flash occurs the board will recover the good BIOS from the second chip? Is that the point?

Then how come when I flashed one BIOS it flashed them both to 10.11?
If the whole point is having a recovery chip in case one of them goes bad and the board flashes both of them to the same version, I don't understand.

My issue was simple, I applied OC settings which I couldn't boot with and wanted to switch to the second BIOS to boot and I couldn't because as you said, both share the same settings.

I was under the impression (And that's what they also say on the MSI forum) that I can have 2 separate versions of BIOS on that board with different CMOS settings.

There's also a topic in the MSI forum with the same issue where the guy was able to do it and get 2 different versions of BIOS:
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=165823.0

He resolved it by using MSI's USB flashing tool, which boots from the USB and flashes the BIOS. I used the same MSI USB Flashing tool to flash my BIOS but that still didn't do the trick, I still have the same settings on both chips.

P.S.
Where is the CMOS reset button on my board?! I never knew I even had one

EDIT
Found it, that's a nice feature! Do I need to unplug the PSU from the wall before using this one as I would do in a regular Clear CMOS or just click it when the PC is off?

Thanks
 
#6 ·
It all depends on the way MSI does the related handling. It's possible that the backup BIOS is updated automatically after a successful update on the primary one and used automatically (or by using the switch) only if the primary one is corrupted.

I encountered boards where each BIOS would use different settings and cases where all were using the same ones. It depends on how each board handles these things.

In any case, using multiple BIOSes is meant to be used for protection against BIOS corruption, it's not how the BIOS settings on this board were intended to be stored and loaded. It's costly and not efficient.

That's it, really.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
So, what should I do, just leave it and accept the fact that both BIOS chips will share the same settings whenever I change one of them?

And about that Clear CMOS button, how does one use it?
 
#8 ·
Switching between each BIOS doesn't make sense. If you want to change settings you can save and load them using profiles. If you want to reset in case you are unable to boot you can use the CMOS reset button. If I recall correctly all you need to do is press it for 3-5 seconds while the system is turned off and that's it.
 
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