A7N8X Deluxe Boot Problem

[phoenix_214]

I updated my BIOS to 1004 last night, and suddenly my computer won't even boot to the BIOS. I've got board rev 1.04, so I know I downloaded the right version, and for some reason the CMOS resetting procedure isn't getting anywhere. I do the procedure, restart, same result. The computer powers up, and everything *seems* ok, but there's no display. I'm not actually sure if the BIOS is booting or not, because I can't see anything on the screen. Everything other than the display seems to be working fine in terms of initial boot. It doesn't go as far as to check for disk presense in the A: Drive though, so I'm assuming there might be a checksum error that it can't boot through as well, which is ok by me. Anyone have any idea how to work around this particular problem? The only thing I can think of that I haven't tried is inserting a PCI VGA card and hooking up the display there. Please help me out!

System Specs:

A7N8X Deluxe MOBO
AMD 2600+ XP Processor
WD 100gb HD 7200RPM 8MB ATA100
Maxtor 160GB HD 7200RPM 8MB ATA133
Corsair XMS 3200 512MB DDR
eVGA nVidia Ti4200 128MB DDR AGP

[Bruneau]

Hold down the insert key while you hit the power button. If she fires hit Delete go into the bios load and save the optimized defaults and boot.

[Omardeth]

just wondering why did you update the bios ?

[phoenix_214]

I updated because I had read that the 1004 release would work better for dual-channel, and was considering buying another stick...

[Omardeth]

ok never flash the bios unless you need to . i hope you didn't flash it wrong , cause if ya did there is really nothing you can do other than sende the board back , if you flashed it wrong . or the bios chip back . try this unplug the power cord from the power supply and remove the battery from motherboard . restet the cmos with the jumper . let it sit for a min or 2 then put it all bac and try .

[phoenix_214]

Already tried the CMOS resetting routine about... 25 times.

[Xeroid]

Sounds like a bad flash to me too, like Omardeth stated. This board probably doesn't have this, but you could check to see if there's a reset CMOS jumper on you board. You might also remove the battery for the afternoon to try to reset the bios. If any of this doesn't work, you have a couple of options.

1 )Contact the mobo manufacturer and see if they will send/sell you a new bios chip with the rev. you wanted. I don't know what they will charge for this.

2) Head over to www.badflash.com and purchase a new bios chip.

Mike

EDIT: I also don't like to flash my bios unless there's a feature I really need and there's no other way to get it. I recently flashed my EpOX board to get it to support a new faster processor that I wanted to purchase.

[Bruneau]

You got nothing while holding the insert key and powering up?

Try booting w/ the awdflash boot disk inserted.

[Bruneau]

BTW, flashing a bios isn't dangerous if you just follow directions and never boot overclocked.

[phoenix_214]

I'm at work all day today, so I'm researching it while I have nothing to do, but no haven't tried the insert key trick yet. Definitely will first thing.

Other suggestions I've run across:

a) replace mobo battery
b) take out memory and try to post
c) get some other memory and try to post
d) get a PCI video card (currently have AGP) and try to post.

I hate having it not work while I'm at work, because it makes me want to leave and try to fix it.... damn computers. Other than this problem, I've had absolutely no problems with the board, so for that I'm glad... thanks for all your suggestions, please keep 'em coming!