If the BIOS has crashed on your PC or laptop, then this is by no means a reason to panic, although, of course, this situation cannot be called very pleasant. However, in many cases, you will be able to cope with this problem yourself and restore the functionality of your PC or laptop without the help of computer specialists.
Suppose you turn on the computer and instead of the usual picture of it loading, you see some kind of text error message, after which the computer stops loading. Or you hear indications of a BIOS error.
The first thing that is recommended to do in this case is to restart the computer. Maybe, this error is associated with a BIOS failure, which occurred, for example, as a result of a power surge. If this method does not help, then this means that the problem really lies in some kind of hardware malfunction associated either with the BIOS itself or with some other hardware component.
It should be borne in mind that not every error message that appears on the screen indicates a malfunction of the BIOS itself. In most cases, text error messages are displayed when there are problems with any other components of the PC, such as RAM, hard disks or floppy disk drives. Read more about text messages errors are described in a separate article. Therefore, you should carefully read the message displayed on the screen and check the hardware component that is mentioned in it.
However, if you see an error message that mentions the BIOS (or CMOS), then it is most likely a BIOS-related problem. Also, in some cases, BIOS errors may indicate sound signals, supplied by the motherboard speaker. You can get information about which signals in which BIOS versions may indicate a BIOS malfunction from the corresponding article on our website.
Solving problems with crashed BIOS
If you encounter an error, the source of which is really the BIOS itself, then first of all you should try resetting the BIOS to initial settings. There is a high probability that after reset BIOS to factory default settings the BIOS error will disappear. You can read more about how to reset BIOS settings and what you need to do to do this in the corresponding article on our website.
A BIOS error can often be associated with a dead BIOS battery. Therefore, you should try replacing the battery with a new one. You can also read about where to find this battery and what needs to be done to replace it in the article on our website.
But what should you do if resetting the BIOS and replacing the battery do not help? Then you will have to resort to another method of restoring a faulty BIOS - flashing it again. BIOS firmware is updated using a file containing updated version BIOS. Usually, new version Firmware can be downloaded from the website of the manufacturer of your computer or motherboard. There you can usually find instructions for the firmware itself.
As a rule, they are used for firmware external media, to which the update file is written. The firmware itself is installed when the PC is rebooted. There are also programs that allow you to flash the BIOS from Windows, without rebooting, however, in the case described, most likely they will not be useful to you, since, as a rule, when serious problems with BIOS operating system cannot be loaded.
If all the methods described above did not help restore the functionality of the BIOS, then you have only one thing left to do - take the computer or motherboard with a faulty BIOS to a computer service center. Or buy a new motherboard.
Conclusion
No computer is immune from problems associated with BIOS failure. And therefore, any user should know what to do in such a case, which cannot be called pleasant at all. However, statistics show that cases of physical failure of the BIOS chip occur infrequently compared to failures of other components of the motherboard. Therefore, methods such as reset BIOS settings, replacing the battery powering the BIOS memory and restarting BIOS firmware on a PC or laptop in most cases they help solve this problem. But if none of the above methods help, then you have no choice but to take the computer to a service center.
In this note I will write how to reset (clear) the BIOS. The article is intended for beginners.
So, for some reason we need to reset (clear) the BIOS. Or, as they sometimes say, make “clear cmos”.
To facilitate this action, some high- and mid-price motherboards have buttons that allow you to clear CMOS data almost instantly.
They are usually marked with "clr_cmos" (clear_cmos).
They can be located on the front of the board itself:
So, behind the motherboard can be located:
And sometimes without any inscription at all:
[Instructions on how to clear the BIOS using this “quick reset button” will be at the end of the note].
But on ordinary motherboards (which constitute ~99% of the total number) there are no such “conveniences”. But there is no reason to be upset - absolutely every motherboard has a three-pin connector. This connector is precisely intended for cleaning the BIOS (CMOS).
They might look like this:
As you may have noticed in all three photos, a two-pin jumper (or jumper) is installed on the three-pin connector. The jumper can only close two contacts of the three. For all motherboards (and hard drives, by the way), these jumpers are absolutely standard - identical, that is.
This is what the jumper looks like:
They can be found either on the motherboard itself - in the box or on the motherboard itself, where it is already installed on a three-pin connector in position 1-2 (as you may have noticed in the three photos above). Like in the photo below:
Or find a jumper on hard drives, where it is already installed in some position.
But - on modern motherboards ah, manufacturers usually don’t install any jumpers. Then you need to look for them in the store where you bought the motherboard - ask for one thing - and they will give it to you for free.
In this particular case, we will look at the MSI P67A-C43 motherboard.
It looks like this:
On modern boards, the three-pin connector for clearing the CMOS is marked "JBAT1" (presumably Jumper Battery 1). Looking for her:
We found her. What need to do?
The instructions are as follows:
1. Turn off the computer in advance.
2. Move the button on the power supply (PSU) to position “0”.
3. Pull out the 3-pin power plug from the “back” of the power supply.
4. Then wait about 15 seconds and then take the jumper and jumper pins 2-3. Photo below:
If the jumper is already in position 1-2, then the jumper should be moved from position 1-2 to position 2-3. Photo below:
5. Wait for 5 seconds. Then return the jumper back to initial position 1-2. Even if there was no jumper, still let it remain in position 1-2.
This is normal as position 1-2 for the jumper is the standard/nominal operating position.
Under no circumstances leave the jumper in position 2-3! This is fraught with unpleasant consequences for the performance of the motherboard!
6. After you have installed the jumper in position 1-2, you can turn on the computer. The BIOS is, as they say, “virginly clean”.
P.S. Now let's talk about how to reset the BIOS using the "quick button".
We do the same steps as above, but instead of “dancing with jumpers” we simply press the button.
In certain circumstances, you may need to reinstall the BIOS for your computer to start and/or function properly. Most often, this needs to be done when methods such as resetting settings no longer help.
To reinstall, you will need to download from the official website of the BIOS developer or the manufacturer of your motherboard the version that is installed on your this moment. The flashing procedure is similar to the update procedure, only here you will need to remove the current version and install it again.
Step 1: Preparation
On at this stage you need to find out as much information as possible about your system, download the required version and prepare your PC for flashing. To do this, you can use it as a third party software, so Windows features. Those who do not want to worry too much about this issue are recommended to use third-party software, since in this case, in addition to information about the system and BIOS, you will be able to receive a link to the official website of the developer, where you can download the current version.
The preparatory stage will be considered using the example of the AIDA64 program. This software is paid, but has a trial period. There is a Russian version, the program interface is also very friendly to ordinary users. Follow this guide:
If for some reason you cannot download anything in step 5, then most likely this version is no longer supported official developer. In this case, use the information from point 4.
Now all that remains is to prepare a flash drive or other media so that you can install the firmware from it. It is recommended to format it in advance, since extra files may damage the installation and, therefore, damage the computer. After formatting, unzip the entire contents of the archive that you downloaded earlier onto a USB flash drive. Be sure to check that there is a file with the extension ROM. File system the flash drive must be in the format FAT32.
Stage 2: Flashing
Now, without removing the flash drive, you need to proceed directly to flashing the BIOS.
It is worth remembering that depending on the BIOS version currently installed on the computer, the process may look slightly different. Sometimes, instead of a selection menu, a DOS terminal opens, where you need to enter the following command:
IFLASH/PF _____.BIO
Here, instead of the underscore, you need to write the name of the file on the flash drive with the extension BIO. Just for such a case, it is recommended to remember the names of the files that you transferred to the media.
Also, in rare cases, it is possible to perform the flashing procedure directly from Windows interface. But since this method is only suitable for certain motherboard manufacturers and is not particularly reliable, there is no point in considering it.
It is advisable to flash the BIOS only through the DOS interface or installation media, since this is the most safe way. We do not recommend downloading files from unverified sources - this is unsafe for your PC.
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