flashed K7S5A BIOS: got dancing lines, please help

[rumpled01]

I just flashed my K7S5A board (running WIN XP) with the AMIBIOS version 3.33 and the classic V.02/10/29 BIOS. The flash appeared to be successful. Upon reboot, it told me that the CMOS checksum was bad (expected). I turned the computer off, cleared the CMOS (moved jumper 4 from 2-3 to 1-2 to 2-3), then rebooted. Now all I see is a white vertical dancing line with some green at the top. The compute beeps once, then beeps twice, and all I see are those lines. This happens whenever I boot the system. The same thing happens when I try to boot from an XP boot disk. Any ideas?

[Tazman]

Welcome to TechIMO!

From a translated page I found:

1x long, 2x briefly Diagram map error : Video Rome BIOS - check sum wrongly; Monitor control defectively; no diagram map found; Parity error.

It can be seen here (not sure if the translation will take).

I would try a few things here.

1. Swap out the memory with known good memory (1 stick) and / or;
2. Swap out the video card.

And pull the Lithium battery for a minute or two and try rebooting.

If all else fails, I flashed a BIOS a few months ago with the wrong version (ooops ). I found a guy that had me a new EEPROM chip here in 3 days. I hope that's not what it takes for you .

Mike

[DoctorReno]

AMI BIOS
Audio Beep Errors:

Number of Beeps Description of Problem Solution
1 beep DRAM refresh failure Try re-seating the memory first. If the error still occurs, replace the memory with known good chips.
2 beeps Parity Circuit Failure
3 beeps Base 64K RAM failure
4 beeps System Timer Failure Send System Board in for Repair
5 beeps Processor Failure
6 beeps Keyboard Controller / Gate A20 Failure Try re-seating the keyboard controller chip. If the error still occurs, replace the keyboard chip. If the error persists, check parts of the system relating to the keyboard, e.g. try another keyboard, check to see if the system has a keyboard fuse.
7 beeps Virtual Mode Exception Error Send System Board in for Repair
8 beeps Display Memory Read/Write Failure Indicates a memory error on the video adapter. Try re-seating the video card. If it still beeps, try replacing the video card or the memory on the video card.
9 beeps ROM BIOS Checksum Failure Indicates faulty BIOS chip(s). It is not likely that this error can be corrected by re-seating the chips. Consult the motherboard supplier or an AMI product distributor for replacement part(s).
10 beeps CMOS Shutdown Register Read/Write Error Send System Board in for Repair
1 long 2 short Video failure Reseat the video board - replace if board is determined to be faulty.
1 long 3 short Video failure
1 long POST passed. No Errors

[DoctorReno]

If your BIOS chip is a Boot Block (cross your fingers) and you experienced a failed flash or used the wrong flash the Boot Block portion of the BIOS chip will be unchanged and should still allow you to boot to a floppy and attempt to reflash the BIOS portion of the chip. By any chance did you save your old BIOS when it gave you the option?

[rumpled01]

I have the old BIOS, but the system doesn't try to access the floppy when it is turned on. The fan comes on, but it doesn't appear to be doing anything else- then it's that dancing white line.

I tried the amiboot.rom trick with a formatted boot disk, but as the computer isn't accessing the floppy drive, no dice.

[rumpled01]

Also, the beep sequence seems to go:

One short
pause
three short

I don't think it's video failure, as I can still see the white line.

[DoctorReno]

Since it started to POST and gave you the bad checksum error B4 you moved the jumper I'd make sure you have the jumper put back correctly.
You might try pulling the battery and checking to see if it has 1.2vdc or above. Below 1.2 vdc is a basically dead battery.

I agree on the video but just for the sake of saying you did it pull the card and carefully reseat it.

I seem to recall something like the white lines happening to me once. I think I unplugged the HD, tried to start the system, turned it off, hooked the HD back up and it worked. I have no explanation other than it worked.

[Peter M]

The beeps are just the CMOS checksum error (one beep), and the "enter setup" prompt (two beeps).

My bet is you knocked the graphics card out of its slot when operating the CMOS jumper. Depending on how flimsy the case is, this is quite easily "achieved".

[Peter M]

Oh, and btw, getting a CMOS checksum error after a BIOS update is absolutely, perfectly, normal.