bios trashed by Win10 IMAGE restore ?

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1101

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#280920 19-Jan-2021 16:59

Win10 backup image , image made using Win10 built in backup program (win10 pro)

I did a test restore from that image onto 2 different spare PC's .
after the restore from image competed , rebooted and then both would hang just after POST ,
hung & unresponsive at the ASUS flash screen 'press del or F2 to enter setup'

Both of those 2 PC's now have the exact same issue , both working fine until the test restore. Pretty much both PC's now stuffed, tried RAM, PSU, reset CMOS (via jumper)
Tried different HD, tried no HD .
cannot enter bios.
no response from numlock key : thats a sign its hung

It seems too much of a co-incidence , both the exact same issue after a restore from image
I cant see how a restore from image would corrupt the bios , unless something in the image triggered a change in bios setting ?

Anyone else seen or heard of anything like this?

btw , the test restore to HD from image : I put that re-imaged HD in 3rd PC & it boots from it & win10 runs from it OK

ratsun81

508 posts

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#2638335 19-Jan-2021 18:01

Thats sounding quite odd,

Im going to suggest bios batteries OR theres a bug in the bios that gets tickled by that image.

Ruphus

465 posts

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#2638404 19-Jan-2021 18:55

Did you create the backup image on one of the PCs you were testing with or did you create it on another PC? Do the test PCs have identical hardware and BIOS/UEFI configuration as the PC used to create the backup image. Often the backup image is specific to the device it was created from.

This reminds me if the days when we would use Norton Ghost or a build and capture task sequence, and we'd have to ensure the captured image was as generic as possible so it was device agnostic.

phantomdb

583 posts

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#2638409 19-Jan-2021 19:31

Does the Motherboard have a SECOND BACKUP BIOS, than can be flashed to the primary using some sort of key combination, from memory my motherboard uses "Hold reboot, Power up, Release power after 5 seconds" it will boot to backup re flash original bios then reboot using original bios.

PLEASE confirm you correct procedure before blindly following my example as above.

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Oblivian

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#2638410 19-Jan-2021 19:31

Ruphus: Did you create the backup image on one of the PCs you were testing with or did you create it on another PC? Do the test PCs have identical hardware and BIOS/UEFI configuration as the PC used to create the backup image. Often the backup image is specific to the device it was created from.

This reminds me if the days when we would use Norton Ghost or a build and capture task sequence, and we'd have to ensure the captured image was as generic as possible so it was device agnostic.

Yeap. Or run /trigger a sysprep before capture to re-instate the HAL detection if it wasn't built in. Normally OK for a virtual restore or exact machine it's come from. But not very interchangable otherwise.

W10 is a less fussy at it than say 7 (when you could safemode and remove a heap of the hardware to trigger re-detect and reboot), but it'll take a while for it to sort things out if AMD->Intel or similar.

That is if it can even boot in the same partition numbering sequence and storage type, UEFI needs to work alongside the HDD to locate boot files and start

1024kb

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#2640867 24-Jan-2021 12:05

You can’t trash BIOS from a Windows restore operation though. Is there an MBR / GPT incompatibility clash between your original PC & the Asus machines? That could stop the drive even being recognised let alone booted from.

I’ve had Asus BIOS corruption occur previously - overclocking & other such experimental stupidity - in the late model boards recovery is an automatic process (black screen shutdown followed by graphic indicators informing you that BIOS is being recovered) whereas a few years ago you just had to boot from USB containing the correct BIOS file.

Have you tried removing everything - RAM, HDD, all of it, then full power disconnect - remove CMOS & PSU so there’s no remaining interference - just the CPU & cooler in the board, before replacing CMOS, reconnecting PSU, adding video (if it’s not on board) & rebooting?

On re-reading, I see you reset the CMOS via jumper - I’m not sure when that procedure was last implemented but it’s been a while since I’ve seen jumpers on a motherboard. There’s often the two pins available still but no plastic jumpers. This is leading me to think you’ve got pre-UEFI boards, therefore MBR only booting? Still doesn’t explain the BIOS corruption.

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KiwiSurfer

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#2641100 24-Jan-2021 17:34

Does it still hang when you unplug the HDDs?

1101

3122 posts

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#2641394 25-Jan-2021 09:25

1024kb:

On re-reading, I see you reset the CMOS via jumper - I’m not sure when that procedure was last implemented but it’s been a while since I’ve seen jumpers on a motherboard. There’s often the two pins available still but no plastic jumpers. This is leading me to think you’ve got pre-UEFI boards, therefore MBR only booting? Still doesn’t explain the BIOS corruption.

Both boards ARE UEFI & both have bios reset jumper pins . The 2 pins are designed for a normal jumper .

All normal troubleshooting proceedures were tried, remove HD's , swap RAM , swap PSU etc etc

Both PC's have now been written off , they werent worth alot and were only test/workshop PC's .
I was more worried what would happen if I tried a restore with this image on a 3rd PC .

it may have been just a weird co-incidence ,was hard to believe they both failed with same fault directly after a re-image :-)

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1024kb

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#2641415 25-Jan-2021 10:12

1101:

1024kb:

On re-reading, I see you reset the CMOS via jumper - I’m not sure when that procedure was last implemented but it’s been a while since I’ve seen jumpers on a motherboard. There’s often the two pins available still but no plastic jumpers. This is leading me to think you’ve got pre-UEFI boards, therefore MBR only booting? Still doesn’t explain the BIOS corruption.

Both boards ARE UEFI & both have bios reset jumper pins . The 2 pins are designed for a normal jumper .

All normal troubleshooting proceedures were tried, remove HD's , swap RAM , swap PSU etc etc

Both PC's have now been written off , they werent worth alot and were only test/workshop PC's .
I was more worried what would happen if I tried a restore with this image on a 3rd PC .

it may have been just a weird co-incidence ,was hard to believe they both failed with same fault directly after a re-image :-)

Especially Asus product too. Tier 1 manufacturer of high quality products, right across the range (excepting the lower-end laptops maybe). I’ve only ever had one sub-standard Asus item - a WiFi AP with a design fault in the power button. I consistently purchase Asus motherboards for my own computers, never been disappointed.

I’m still stumped as to how the action of restoring an image to HDD can possibly corrupt a BIOS.

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz