Is this a BIOS value corruption issue?

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   My Z77 extreme4 doesn't want to boot properly all of a sudden.
It comes up with a message to insert the proper boot media so it's looking at the wrong drive.
If I go into UEFI the proper drive is set so all I have to do is exit and save setting.
It then boots correctly.
What's the best first thing to try?

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Shadetree Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 05 Mar 2016 Location: Ca Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote Shadetree Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Is this a BIOS value corruption issue? Posted: 05 Mar 2016 at 1:59am
	My Z77 extreme4 doesn't want to boot properly all of a sudden. It comes up with a message to insert the proper boot media so it's looking at the wrong drive. If I go into UEFI the proper drive is set so all I have to do is exit and save setting. It then boots correctly. What's the best first thing to try?

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 25918	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 Mar 2016 at 2:27am
	Try clearing CMOS via the battery removal method, if that fails to resolve the issue then you can try replacing the CMOS battery.


Shadetree Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 05 Mar 2016 Location: Ca Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote Shadetree Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 Mar 2016 at 3:30am
	Thanks, that's the direction I was headed. I just wanted someone that knows a bit more about it to confirm. Can anyone tell me what battery is in there in case I need to get a new one? It's buried under the video card.

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 25918	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 Mar 2016 at 5:16am
	When you remove it to perform the CMOS clear you can get the info directly off the battery itself It may not be necessary to replace it, if the CMOS clear resolves the issue. Edited by Xaltar - 05 Mar 2016 at 5:16am


parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 Mar 2016 at 1:42pm
	The battery is a CR 2032, used in all ASRock mother boards. It is a common battery that should be about $3 or less. You can see the battery model number in the top down picture of your board on its information page: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Extreme4/


Shadetree Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 05 Mar 2016 Location: Ca Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote Shadetree Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Mar 2016 at 5:34am
	Well, the clear CMOS worked fine. It's booting normally again now. Thanks for the input. So, what causes that problem in the first place? Is it likely to become an ongoing issue? It's run without a hiccup for several years now and out of the blue this happens. Can anything be done to prevent it?

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 25918	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Mar 2016 at 2:10pm
	Your post title about sums it up. Data corruption can occur in the UEFI for a number of reasons: 1. Bad battery 2. Power loss 3. OS crashes 4. OS data not being properly written etc The UEFI, unlike the simpler BIOS system, is interactive with the OS and allows values to be set by the OS itself. This means the UEFI is written to fairly often, the more this happens the higher the chances of corrupt values occurring. The only way I can see it becoming an ongoing issue is if the battery actually dies, other than that a simple CMOS clear usually corrects the issue. In all likelihood you will go for another several years before it happens again. Whenever I perform maintenance on my systems I usually perform a CMOS clear at the same time, this avoids issues like this entirely.


Shadetree Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 05 Mar 2016 Location: Ca Status: Offline Points: 6	Post Options Post Reply Quote Shadetree Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Mar 2016 at 11:45pm
	Good info. I thought the UEFI was just a fancy BIOS. What's the minimum procedure for CMOS clear? Four hours seems a bit over the top.

Xaltar Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 16 May 2015 Location: Europe Status: Offline Points: 25918	Post Options Post Reply Quote Xaltar Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 07 Mar 2016 at 12:40am
	Typically I just do a generic jumper clear during maintenance unless there is some kind of pre-existing problem that requires a full clear.