I flashed a new SLIC modded BIOS for my MSI 990FXA-GD80 but now Windows won't let me activate for some reason. I tried using Daz Loader as a temporary measure until I can get it SLIC activated but that doesn't work either. Instead of 2.1 or 2.2 next to Details it just shows yyyyyy (they actually have accents above them which I don't know how to type) followed by (12/14/12). I tried the suggestions to install with "Disable type 4 memory" and then "Ignore the existing SLIC" but neither helped. I note that for UEFI motherboards (which mine is) it says it will only work when using MBR, not GPT. I'm pretty sure I am using MBR but is there a way to check? I can't really change it if it is GPT now, as my 2TB HDD is pretty full.
Some UEFI systems using GPT need you to disable type 4 or 3 memory from the advanced options before installing the loader. If either of them options fail then using the legacy option should work providing you're only using Windows and don't have any kind of other boot manager e.g. GRUB2.
I did try the disable type 4 and legacy options to no avail but I am using grub4dos so perhaps that's why it doesn't work. I can't really do much about that as I need it to multiboot.
Thanks, I used that and Ignore the existing SLIC (not sure if I needed to but it seemed sensible as the BIOS SLIC appears to be messed up) and it's all good now
It seems I've messed up My original Windows installation has started crashing, so I booted to my backup install and noticed it didn't have the loader installed, so I was getting warnings to activate. So I installed the loader, using the "preserve the current boot code" option again. However, now when I try to boot into the second installation (using grub4dos) it boots into the first install! Can you please help me uninstall the loader from the second installation without booting into it, i.e. doing it from the first install from where I can access the second Windows installation OK. I noticed that the loader appeared to have modified bootmgr, so I copied that over from the first installation but of course that was pretty stupid as the loader has modified that, so it would probably be pointing to the first partition anyway (and indeed it still boots to the first partition). I also tried EasyBCD's "Re-create/repair boot files" option, after pointing it to the BCD on the second partition and that's reset the bootmgr to a 375Kb file with a modified date of 20/11/2010, which is the same size as a file in the root named bootwin dated 21/11/2010. This file on the first partition is the same size but dated 14/07/2009. I also checked the BCD entry and that appears to be correctly pointing to the second partition.
No, no-one's had any success making a modified version of BE6 or BE7 for me, which is why I'm using Daz's Loader at the moment. I should really flash back the old working BIOS I guess. Anyway, I was being a dummy as after doing "Re-create/repair boot files" with EasyBCD, it actually wiped the grub4dos loader and reinstalled the default MS MBR. I obviously wasn't watching as I'd set grub4dos to default boot into the second partiton, so I thought it was still doing that and then ending up booting the first but actually it was only booting the first because the re-installed MS MBR was telling it to! Now I've re-installed grub4dos I can boot into the second install OK, so at least I've got one Windows that isn't throwing up error messages as soon as I boot Anyway, I'm still interested to know if there's a way to use Daz's Loader with dual-boot?
The loader should automatically work on a dual boot as they'll share the same boot sector. The loader will then chainload bootmgr and bootmgr will ask you which partition you want to load. When it comes to preserving the boot code think of it this way. Lets say you have standard grub4dos or GRUB2 installed to the MBR, they'll execute before the loader gets a chance to. So we need a method for your current boot manager to execute the loader instead of bootmgr, so we take the bootmgr files place by renaming the Windows bootmgr to bootwin. The loaders will then chainload bootwin I've sent you a PM which should help you out.
Hmm, maybe the issue is that I keep my two installs completely separate, so they don't share the same boot sector. Grub4dos is on the MBR and then each partition has it's own PBR, which is the BOOTMGR boot record which then loads bootmgr (or NTLDR if that fails). So each partition has it's own bootmgr, so after selecting which install to boot from grub4dos the bootmgr doesn't then prompt me again to choose an install. I also only have one entry in each BCD to avoid getting a second prompt. I guess what's happened is that the Loader has replaced the bootmgr on the second install with one that is then chainloading bootwin from the first partition. Thanks for your PM, I'll reply to that.
MSI have told me no, so I'll have to wait for them to release a fix. "Regarding your concern,please do not flash back bios from BE6 to BD0(11.13)by yourself,the bios can not downgrade as normalmethods,it need a special tools to flash back.we will publish a new version of bios D00 in the future,please pay attention to our website,sorry for any inconvenience caused."