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[Solved] BIOS Corruption Has Been Detected

By Deep Shrestha

[Solved] BIOS Corruption Has Been Detected

We all know we should never turn off a system during a BIOS update. However, have you ever wondered what happens if the system suffers from a power outage or any interrupts during an update? Well, You will be prompted with a message during the POST test saying BIOS corruption has been detected.

Since you need the BIOS to load the data from the storage device to the primary memory, a corrupted BIOS will lead to the system failing to load the OS. The system might turn on, but the screen will only show the error message BIOS corruption has been detected.

What Causes a BIOS Corruption?

The BIOS, or the Basic Input Output System, holds all the information about the hardware devices connected to the motherboard. Furthermore, it also stores the system’s date and time, boot device order, CPU fan speed, etc.

When your BIOS is corrupted, the system cannot retrieve the boot device information, fan speed, and other hardware information. This stops the system from detecting the OS device. And hence the PC will not run. The various other reasons for a corrupted BIOS mainly include
  • Power interruption during BIOS update
  • Dead CMOS battery
  • Corrupted BIOS update file
  • USB malfunction

How to Fix /BIOS Corruption Has Been Detected?

Now that we know what causes a corrupted BIOS, let us see some solutions to fix it. However, before we start, you should know that an interruption during an update may even cause your entire motherboard to render useless.

The solutions mentioned below may or may not work on all laptops and motherboards, as not all laptop supports backup and recovery of the BIOS.

Warning: If your computer still has warranty, do not follow any of the methods that can void its warranty.

BIOS Recovery

bios-recovery

Many motherboard and laptop companies have the necessary measures to fix a corrupted BIOS update. Some motherboard has a BIOS backup, whereas laptop manufacturing companies may also have a BIOS recovery tool that can get you out of a sticky situation such as a corrupted BIOS.

Below, we have explained the steps to perform a BIOS recovery on a few motherboards and laptops.

Before starting the recovery, you should know that your computer may not support a BIOS recovery. You can refer to your laptop or motherboard’s user manual to check if it supports BIOS recovery.

Recovery From Dell Computers

For Dell Laptops, it will either have BIOS recovery 2 or BIOS recovery 3. You cannot start BIOS recovery 2 using the external keyboard. You need to use the keyboard integrated into your laptop.

  1. First, turn off the laptop and remove the Power cable from it.
  2. Press and hold the Ctrl + Esc key on the integrated keyboard.
  3. Now, connect the laptop to the power supply.
  4. Once the BIOS recovery screen opens, release the Ctrl and Esc keys.
  5. Under BIOS Recovery Options, check Recover BIOS and press Enter.
    recover-bios-option-in-dell
  6. Now select Confirm and press Enter.
  7. Once the recovery process starts, do not press any key or button that might interfere with the recovery process.
  8. The system should restart, and the BIOS should recover.

If the screen stays black and you see the light blinking on your laptop, it means that the system does not have the tool to recover the BIOS. In this case, you need to download the BIOS file from the internet. However, you can only download the BIOS file for OptiPlex, Latitude, XPS, and Precision laptops.

Follow these steps to recover a drive from a USB drive. Before we start, ensure that the USB drive is empty and the file system is FAT32.

  1. Go to Dell Official Support Site and enter the laptop’s service tag with corrupted BIOS.
    dell-support-site
  2. If you do not know your laptop service tag, open Command Prompt, type wmic bios, get the serial number, and press Enter. Under SerialNumber, you will see your service tag.
  3. Select Drivers and Download.
  4. Under Download Type, select System BIOS.
  5. Scroll down and download the latest BIOS file. Once downloaded filename should have an extension .exe. If you cannot see the extension, you need to unhide the extension.
  6. Rename the downloaded file to BIOS_IMG.rcv.
  7. Copy this file to the USB drive.
  8. Insert the drive to the computer with corrupted BIOS when it is turned off.
  9. Now follow the steps mentioned in the previous method from steps 1 to 8 to recover the BIOS.

Recovery for HP Laptops

If you are using an HP laptop, perform these steps to recover BIOS.

  1. Turn off the PC and remove the power cable.
  2. Press and hold the Windows + B key.
  3. While holding these keys, press and hold the power button for 2 to 3 seconds.
  4. Release the power button but keep holding Windows + B key until you see the BIOS update screen. You might even hear a beeping sound.
  5. Wait for a minute. The BIOS update screen should say Writing new BIOS Image.
    hp-bios-recover
  6. If you cannot get into the HP BIOS update even after multiple tries, your laptop does not support this utility.

Recovery for Gigabyte Motherboard

gigabyte-2

All Gigabyte motherboards may or may not support backup recovery. Please refer to the Gigabyte motherboard’s user manual to see if your board supports this feature. If it does, follow these steps to use the backup BIOS.

  1. Shut down your computer.
  2. Press and hold the power button until the PC turns on and shuts down.
  3. Release the power button.
  4. Now, press the power button again. Now, the system should use the backup BIOS.

Alternately, you can also perform these steps to use the backup BIOS.

  1. Turn off the computer.
  2. Press and hold power and the reset button for 10 seconds and release.
  3. The system should now boot using the backup BIOS.

Update BIOS Using Q-flash

If you have not performed any BIOS update but still cannot boot due to BIOS corrupted error messages, it can be that the BIOS itself is outdated. Update BIOS using the Q-Flash method to see if the corruption issue gets fixed.

Note: Make sure that the system does not suffer from a power outage during the update.

Reset BIOS

reset-bios

Since the issue is due to corrupted BIOS settings, reverting all its settings back to default may remove the corruption as well. If you cannot enter the BIOS to perform a reset, you can remove the CMOS battery to reset the BIOS.

Removing the CMOS chip will cutoff any power to the CMOS chip. By doing this, all your BIOS setting will revert to default.

Replace BIOS Chip

replacing-bios-chip-

Since the issue is with the BIOS chip being corrupted, you can technically replace this chip to fix the issue. However, we do not recommend that you replace the BIOS chip without any prior knowledge. Take the laptop to a local laptop repair shop if you want to replace the BIOS chip.

Remove GPU

how-to-connect-gpu-to-motherboard

Connecting a dedicated GPU to the motherboard may give some errors when the system loads the BIOS. To check if it’s what’s causing the corruption issue, remove the graphics card and start your system.

Your monitor will now display anything if you have not connected the HDMI cable to the motherboard. Furthermore, the CPU chip should also have an iGPU to get any display on the monitor.