Hardware The story of my short lived PC

[aiat_gamer]

Ok, I am so freaking upset that I do not know where to begin...I ordered a new gaming pc 10 days ago and on last Friday it finally arrived. I installed Win 8.1 on it, which was a pain in the butt, installed my games and thought my dream of having a high end gaming pc finally came true. From the get go windows hung up at random. Sometime when I turned on the Wifi, sometimes during games, sometimes after restarting and such...I went to MSI site to download the latest bios version. The website itself said that windows 8 users should update the bios. I downloaded the update file, which was an EXE file, and ran in in windows 8 but it got stuck in the middle...30 minutes passed and nothing happened. So I restarted the pc, and BOOM, the pc just wont start.
I dug around for a long time and saw that it is a pretty common problem with the updates being messed up for win 8. Log story short the mainboard is dead and I am out of a PC...that must be record! The damn mainboard cost me around 150 euros...
So yeah, right now there is pretty nice gaming rig (AMD 8350, 16 gb of ram, Sapphire 280x, 250 gb SSD) sitting there, staring me in the face and I just cant use it. Damn it all to hell, and I just bought Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3 yesterday

 

[Originality]

Prebuilt PC? And you killed your motherboard installing a BIOS update?

 

[Ericthegreat]

Don't say you restarted it during a bios update (really it shouldnt matter tho). Return it. Better it happened now then 1 day after warrenty.

 

[aiat_gamer]

Prebuilt PC? And you killed your motherboard installing a BIOS update?

Yep, it was prebuilt although I picked the parts myself. And yes, the installer for BIOS update failed midway and the PC just hung up.

Don't say you restarted it during a bios update (really it shouldnt matter tho

That I did my friend,, that I did. In my defense, I left it for a while...

 

[Ericthegreat]

That I did my friend,, that I did. In my defense, I left it for a while...

Yea but I mean they should replace it for you, for free....

 

[PityOnU]

lots

Yup, that's the danger of building your own PC.

For future reference, there is usually a version of the BIOS update released as a bootable image (at least, this used to be the case). As a general rule, it is much safer to use that one as one of any number of issues occurring in your host OS can lead to situations like this.

If it's a really good quality board, you may be able to just purchase a new BIOS chip for it and swap it with the old one instead of having to RMA it.

 

[aiat_gamer]

Yup, that's the danger of building your own PC.

For future reference, there is usually a version of the BIOS update released as a bootable image (at least, this used to be the case). As a general rule, it is much safer to use that one as one of any number of issues occurring in your host OS can lead to situations like this.

If it's a really good quality board, you may be able to just purchase a new BIOS chip for it and swap it with the old one instead of having to RMA it.

Well they have moved to executable bios updates only :
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/990FXA-GD80.html#/?div=BIOS
So basically you cant update from bios menu itself...that is the stupid part!
The mainboard is somewhat good quality (It is the latest model of the series) but the Bios is not detachable.

Yea but I mean they should replace it for you, for free....

I have to ask...I hope so!

 

[PityOnU]

Well they have moved to executable bios updates only :
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/990FXA-GD80.html#/?div=BIOS
So basically you cant update from bios menu itself...that is the stupid part!

Wow, what the hell?

Oh well, welcome to 2013 I suppose...

 

[Lacius]

Your BIOS might still be recoverable, even after a bad flash, if the boot sector is alright. Try following the steps to attempt a BIOS recovery.
http://forum-en.msi.com/?topic=119375.0

 

[Originality]

I would send it back claiming DoA and ask for a replacement.

 

[LockeCole_101629]

RMA

 

[marksteele]

In the case of the bios "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" really should apply. I mean unless something really strange is happening its far better to just use the one on there. If you have to upgrade unless ur 100% sure what your doing better to take it into a shop to avoid a situation like the above, since if they mess it up then they are liable.

But ya like everyone else said, try your warranty, it might take a bit but you should be able to convince them to replace it. Ofc there might be a way for them to flash it at the factory, so you never know.

 

[aiat_gamer]

Ok an update:
Somehow, one user from the MSI forum has bios updates backed up from every version. So here is what happened:
I tried to update to the latest one, 13.5. They have started to move to executable updates from version 13.3. The recovery process can only work on the old non-executable bios updates. So I tried all of them and non worked.
The problem was that I was on the 13.2 bios version which strangely enough is not on the msi website. I could not downgrade the bios to the older non-executable versions! But that user has back ups in the non-executable format from every bios update: I don't know from where he has gotten them!
Anyway, I wanted to just give up but tried once more with every bios update from 13.00 onward and BAM! IT totally worked
Now I need to run to the msi forum and tell the other about this, also send an email to msi asking why in hell they are not providing the non-executable bios update on their web page?!

 

[LockeCole_101629]

because it's UEFI Bios?
pretty much same with any other brand.

 

[Ericthegreat]

Nice to hear you fixed it I was also once recommended that : If you dont have a bios related issue (trying to overclock and there is a oc update (somtimes they take away oc in updates btw) or some other known possible bios issue). Dont update your bios.

 

[aiat_gamer]

Nice to hear you fixed it I was also once recommended that : If you dont have a bios related issue (trying to overclock and there is a oc update (somtimes they take away oc in updates btw) or some other known possible bios issue). Dont update your bios.

Well I had weird freezes on win 8.1 so I thought maybe I need to update my bios...

On the side note: Win 8.1 sucks big time! I am glad that I got it for free and did not have to pay for it. I probably will install a Win 7 soon.

 

[Ericthegreat]

Well I had weird freezes on win 8.1 so I thought maybe I need to update my bios...

On the side note: Win 8.1 sucks big time! I am glad that I got it for free and did not have to pay for it. I probably will install a Win 7 soon.

Never pay for windows Some kind of direct x improvements ive heard coming to windows 8, idk tho. (still on 7 myself) And yea and if it was recommended that you upgrade, then I would have as well.

Edit: found this http://kotaku.com/5959885/newest-directx-upgrade-only-for-windows-8-systems

 

[aiat_gamer]

Never pay for windows Some kind of direct x improvements ive heard coming to windows 8, idk tho. (still on 7 myself) And yea and if it was recommended that you upgrade, then I would have as well.

Edit: found this http://kotaku.com/5959885/newest-directx-upgrade-only-for-windows-8-systems

Yep, the only reason I opted for Win 8.1 install!

 

[ZAFDeltaForce]

Oh God this reminds me of the time I tried to update my BIOS because I "had to have everything updated". What a nightmare.

In the end, the update process stopped midway *Not my fault I swear), my computer failed to boot and I contemplated a reformat. Fortunately, some unexplainable tinkering managed to get it to boot again

Long story short, don't update your BIOS