How to Recover from a bad BIOS update

A lot of computer technicians are other experienced computer users update their BIOS at some point usually because of a motherboard reporting temperatures wrong, not detecting certain hardware, not working with certain hardware or to allow the motherboard to accept larger hard drives. This article has steps you can perform to restore your BIOS and save your motherboard.

When you were performing the BIOS flash reprogramming you should have been shown the message below or similar:
“The BIOS is currently being updated. DO NOT REBOOT OR POWER DOWN until the update has completed (typically within three minutes)”

Either you didn’t listen to this warning, something interrupted the update or you used the wrong BIOS update leaving you with a corrupted BIOS. If your BIOS is now corrupt you will be unable to reboot and try the BIOS flash again, not easily anyway.

If the motherboard is an older one the only way you can recover the motherboard is to get the BIOS ROM reflashed using a ROM Burner/Programmer which some Computer Stores may have (you may need to call around) or you can buy your own.

In newer systems the flash ROM is soldered to the motherboard and cannot be replaced. However this doesn’t mean you will need to replace your motherboard, a lot of newer systems have special BIOS recovery procedures that can be done. You will need to consult your motherboard manual or motherboards manufacturers’ site to get these steps.

In the event that a recovery procedure cannot be performed you can do the steps below:

First off, you will need to open up the computer case and change a jumper on the motherboard into the “Recovery Mode Position”. Nearly all Intel Based motherboards and some 3rd party motherboards have a jumper or switch to recover the BIOS. Typically it can be found somewhere near the BIOS battery.

Motherboard BIOS Recovery Jumper

• Install the bootable BIOS upgrade disk which you previously created to do the original flash upgrade into drive A: and restart the system. If the update failed because you used the wrong BIOS update you should get the correct one and repeat this step. When the computer reboots there will most likely be no video prompts, however you can monitor this procedure using the floppy drive light and the PC speaker. When the PC speaker beeps and the floppy drive light is lit it means that it is currently copying the new BIOS onto the motherboard.
• When the floppy drive light goes off and the PC speaker beeps (twice in most cases) the recovery should be complete. During the update procedure there might be pauses that looks like your computer is doing nothing, if so be sure to wait at least a minute to make sure the update is complete. When you are sure the BIOS update is complete and there is no more activity, power off the computer.
• Change the jumper you changed before back into the original position so the computer can operate normally.

When you turn your computer back on your BIOS will be functional and you should be able to use your computer normally again.