BIOS disaster!
- Thread starter The Jeep
- Start date
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eggplant said:
No, eggplant, I haven't swapped out the RAM yet. I will try that next along with physically removing & replacing the battery.
What's a mem test CD and where can I get one? The way things are at the moment, I'm not sure that I will be able to insert any CD other than the one with the BIOS that it's looking for.
Somone mentioned the flash being dead or something - does this mean that the BIOS chip itself (EEPROM?) could be goosed?
BTW, the only other thing that appears on the screen at boot-up is info about my Radeon 9259 graphics card. Just mentioning it in case it's relevant. Cheers, hope I can get this baby fixed...
Igorian said:The Jeep said:No, sadly I can't get as far as the BIOS screen (however the window is quite near).
I have followed the Asus 'BIOS Recovery' routine in the user manual (by reflashing from CD-ROM, as I mentioned above), but this doesn't work either.
Regarding the advice about removing the battery, I cannot easily access the battery (very tight space in my PC rack-unit) but I did perform a CLRTC (clear real-time clock) by moving the required jumper. Not sure exactly if this performs the same function as removing the battery, but I'm guessing it does (?). Anyway, this didn't work either, so I'm feeling more stuck than ever!
I am currently trying to get in touch with Asus help, but am having difficulty accessing the required site. Any further suggestions, gents?
I could have sworn this was under Homesparks name earlier on.
I saw this too and thought I was seeing things when I looked later and it was under a different name.
Is there a earlier version of the Bios that you could try. Also try and use a floppy to flash rather that a CD. Plenty of people have had the same problem if you google it and had the problem resolved from ASUS so keep on at them!!!
Guys, if he can't get to the bios, then it ain't going to boot - from anything. The HD is probably fine, its the BIOS that is dead. If clearing the settings didn't help and everytime you rewrite the flash it says checksum error then you either -
Corrupted the image on download
Corrupted the image when writing to CD
Corrupted the image when writing to flash
Have a dead flash.
You can try D/L the image again, maybe try an earlier one as suggested above, the one on the site may be duff, try flashing from floppy as well as CD as suggested above.
If it fails however you try it then my money is on dead flash = new mobo
Cheers
Pete
Corrupted the image on download
Corrupted the image when writing to CD
Corrupted the image when writing to flash
Have a dead flash.
You can try D/L the image again, maybe try an earlier one as suggested above, the one on the site may be duff, try flashing from floppy as well as CD as suggested above.
If it fails however you try it then my money is on dead flash = new mobo
Cheers
Pete
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Thanks for all that, guys. Been a bit too busy lately to get in there and start wheeking out RAM, etc. I really don't think trying another version of BIOS will work. It's tried to flash the original version and the latest version, both with no luck.
If it's the mobo, I'll be extremely disappointed, as I've had to replace it before (I think). Anyway, I built a system for a friend using the same mobo and it's been running fine for at least 2 years, so I seem to have been a bit unlucky!
I'll check with Asus, too, when I get time. Oh yes, no floppy drive in this one. Can't see why it would make a difference...
baldy01 said:
If it's the mobo, I'll be extremely disappointed, as I've had to replace it before (I think). Anyway, I built a system for a friend using the same mobo and it's been running fine for at least 2 years, so I seem to have been a bit unlucky!
I'll check with Asus, too, when I get time. Oh yes, no floppy drive in this one. Can't see why it would make a difference...
Latest update, if anyone's still watching....
Did the following, but not necessarily in this order:
Disconnected then reconnected the CMOS battery.
Removed all the memory (four sticks of 1GB each)
Replaced stick in slot 1 (actually, swapped it out first)
Rebooted
Got to the familiar 'problem' screen
Reflashed the BIOS
Rebooted...and hey, got to the BIOS screen (but not Windows)
Tried to run Windows in Safe Mode, but system just switched off
Did this several times
Got into the BIOS and fiddled about with some settings
Got into Windows!
Rebooted OK
Added more memory, rebooted.
Did this till all 4 sticks were in.
At some point the BIOS crashed again and I got thoroughly ****ed off and decided to leave it for a few days.
Removed the battery again
Removed all but one mem stick.
Rebooted & reflashed BIOS
Rebooted into BIOS and made a few random tweaks
Into Windows OK again
Restarted several times and so far OK...but...
am concerned that all might go pear-shaped again. However, will see how it goes for a few days then slowly reintroduce the other memory sticks. Someone mentioned that the memory might be a problem, so we'll see.
Any other suggestions as to why this problem may have occurred and what I can do to prevent it happenning again? Presumably, my mobo's OK? Cheers
Did the following, but not necessarily in this order:
Disconnected then reconnected the CMOS battery.
Removed all the memory (four sticks of 1GB each)
Replaced stick in slot 1 (actually, swapped it out first)
Rebooted
Got to the familiar 'problem' screen
Reflashed the BIOS
Rebooted...and hey, got to the BIOS screen (but not Windows)
Tried to run Windows in Safe Mode, but system just switched off
Did this several times
Got into the BIOS and fiddled about with some settings
Got into Windows!
Rebooted OK
Added more memory, rebooted.
Did this till all 4 sticks were in.
At some point the BIOS crashed again and I got thoroughly ****ed off and decided to leave it for a few days.
Removed the battery again
Removed all but one mem stick.
Rebooted & reflashed BIOS
Rebooted into BIOS and made a few random tweaks
Into Windows OK again
Restarted several times and so far OK...but...
am concerned that all might go pear-shaped again. However, will see how it goes for a few days then slowly reintroduce the other memory sticks. Someone mentioned that the memory might be a problem, so we'll see.
Any other suggestions as to why this problem may have occurred and what I can do to prevent it happenning again? Presumably, my mobo's OK? Cheers
That's a relief!eggplant said:
When I say 'fiddled about', I think I just set the time & date, the boot sequence, and one or two other very minor things. Certainly didn't get too out of my depth!eggplant said:quite possibly the cause of the problem in the first place. Glad it seems to be sorted though
However, I am still left wondering what caused the problem in the first place, as this PC had been running very stable for quite some time, and I need it to be reliable as I use it for business.
Don't know if this will help but Asus P4C800-E Deluxe mobo's can be picky about what brands of 1Gb ram sticks you use, especially unbranded generic sticks. Asus have a list of manufacturers like Samsung, Micron etc who's memory has been tested and is certified to work ok in this mobo.
I have the same mobo and have had random crashes a few months down the line after using unbranded 1Gb sticks. All ok now with the latest bios and a pair of 1Gb XMS Corsair ram sticks
I have the same mobo and have had random crashes a few months down the line after using unbranded 1Gb sticks. All ok now with the latest bios and a pair of 1Gb XMS Corsair ram sticks
Thanks phoenix, interesting point.
I've been running my PC for a couple of weeks now with just the one memory stick in place and it's been fine. Not sure what brand, but I bought 4 x 1GB sticks at the same time (not cheap!) and it ran fine for over a year. I'll try adding another stick next time I can be bothered dragging out the rack unit and see how things go.
Ultimately, it's amazing these machines even work in the first place!
I've been running my PC for a couple of weeks now with just the one memory stick in place and it's been fine. Not sure what brand, but I bought 4 x 1GB sticks at the same time (not cheap!) and it ran fine for over a year. I'll try adding another stick next time I can be bothered dragging out the rack unit and see how things go.
Ultimately, it's amazing these machines even work in the first place!
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