Terve!
While I am uncertain if this is a good idea, I am still asking the internet about this.
The issue at hand is an MSI Z97 Gaming 5 that has been acting weird since I got it.
It has only ever been able to boot with an M.2 SSD if the USB devices aren’t initialized (aka only fast boot works).
It has now started to crash on the first boot if I go directly into the BIOS (I can try to attach a screenshot, in short a lot of number appear that look like the performance measure on the top of the screen).
Because of issues like that I’ve been thinking about updating my BIOS (it’s still the old 1.1 version). But since I think the mainboard might have some hardware damage, I am very scared of it. Should I break it I’d have to pretty much buy a new PC (I didn’t find any other mainboards that officially support both my RAM and my M.2 SSD that also has the old Z97 chipset).
What do you people think? Is it safe to update the BIOS?
Thank you in advance for the advice.
Sayonara!
Shadow
I would think that your hardware is failing so flashing a new image to a failing system isn’t going to solve anything and the flash could crash in the process.
But if this is right, you don’t really have anything to lose by trying.
However, before that, if you haven’t already, disconnect everything that isn’t vital to start it up just in case something else is screwing it up (including all cables), and maybe disassemble it in order to remove dust.
And BTW, a while back, I had a board whose USB ports failed but only the ones connected by cables to the front of the case so you could have a similar problem that may not manifest if you disconnect from whatever component may be failing.
Anyway, good luck.
Flashing always carries some degree of risk of turning the device into a brick. If you can’t afford to replace the board, and the machine is working, albeit in a sub-par fashion, I would personally start saving my nickles and dimes, before I flashed the BIOS.
But, before I did that, I would be inclined to walk through the clear CMOS process, outlined in the manual, which will flip all of your settings back to default values. I would then test to see if the board is flakey with default settings. If the board is stable, I would only change one setting at a time, to see if one particular setting is causing the problem.
Hello
I will try to disconnect everything and see what that does.
I don’t think there’s an issue inculding dust or hardware degradation though - the board has been like that since day 1 - I was simply unable to find an other Mainboard with a warranty (I have a huge rate of DoA Mainboards).
Thank you for the help - hopefully I can pick up some information on the board with your help.
The thing about the clear CMOS thing is that the PC does not start with the default settings. If I disable the fast boot option the PC turns on and then shuts down again, only to turn on again. Similarly on the Linux end of things the PC crashes as soon as it tries to load the OS - but only if the keyboard (corsair K70) is working
Do you have a particular recommendation for settings that I should change away from the normal for testing?
Thank you a lot for the help.
Sayonara!
Shadow
On a failed boot, does the MB provide any error codes, blink codes, or beep codes? The diagnostic codes topic should be covered in your MB documentation. You may need a PC speaker directly attached to a specific MB port, in order to hear audible error beep codes.
In lieu of MB diagnostic codes, I’m sure that there must be a good logging facility in Windows, but I can’t help you with that. If you have a working Linux install, I’d start with the logs. Configure the system so that it will boot and then look at/save the log. Clear the CMOS and then attempt to boot. Compare the two logs to see if anything interesting pops up. BTW, the interesting bits are frequently highlighted in red text.
Love it, or hate it, most Linux distros are running systemd these days. Glance at the logs like so:
complete log:
complete, detailed log:
detailed log since last boot: <sudo journalctl -b>
Fast Boot skips some internal system checks, so it could be that the system chokes before it ever loads the Linux kernel, in which case you won’t see any interesting differences in the logs. If this is the case, it would support your theory of a MB-specific problem and would suggest the use of lower-level diagnostics, such as memory tests and the like. The problem is, that most board manufacturers aren’t in the habit of releasing such low level tools. Then again, on a successful boot, while Linux is probing the hardware, it may uncover and log anomalies missed by the BIOS, due to Fast Boot being enabled.
You’ll need to replace this hardware eventually, so start saving now. Flash it with a newer BIOS once you get to the point where you can afford to replace it.
Best of luck!
Yeah, I have the z97m which is basically the same as his gaming 5 but in mATX.
Can’t believe this is old now. 
My GF’s mobo died recently and we couldn’t find a replacement for her either. Had to go with something different.
I guess I should allocate funds for an upgrade soon.
Terve!
The mainboard never put out any error code on normal system start up.
It starts the boot process and turns off again right before the beep code comes up.
I will try to setup the logs for linux - that may take some time however. Linux has always been frustrating to me and I can never sit at a problem for too long.
Add to that the lack of skill I have on linux and it takes time.
I am uncertain if the board is really failing thoug. Like I said: it’s been doing this since day 1 - I just never bothered with fixing it since I got it running through fast boot. Also there would not have been a new board for RMA anyways.
The problem about the replacement has more to do with being comfy with what I have - I know it might seem weird.
Guess I’ll stick with my 1.1 for now. Thank you a lot for all the info and the help.
Sayonara!
Shadow