spaceballsrules

Hey all.
I am a little freaked right now. My PC (sig rig BTW) was acting a little quirky and after exploring every option I could think of, I decided to update the BIOS. Since I don't have a floppy drive, I updated via a USB flash drive. I went into BIOS and used the Asus EZ Flash Utility, loaded the update, and it starting going. Out of nowhere, the computer doesn't post anymore. Nothing, nada, zip.
So, after freaking out for a little while and banging my head against the wall, and questioning my very existence LOL, I decided to pull the battery and jumpers out of the MOBO, waited 5 minutes, put them back in, and powered it back on. HALLELUJAH, it worked! So I jump back into BIOS and check that the BIOS had updated by going back to the EZ Flash utility, and sure enough, it is showing the BIOS update as installed. I then double checked all of my BIOS settings and restored to where I wanted them. Reboot.
Same problem again. So I repeated pulling the battery and jumpers,and fired it up without them. It works again, so I go into BIOS and restore the default settings. I shut down, reinstalled the battery and jumpers. A couple of restarts, and Windows finally boots up PHEW!
The CPU is running a little hotter than normal, so I start up Orthos for 2 minutes...0 errors, 0 warnings.
So then I fire up Burn-in Test....I get errors allocating RAM?? I check in Windows and it shows all the RAM. Reboot into BIOS and RAM is showing there as well. So I figure all is well,so I change my settings in BIOS again, and nothing...no boot up. Remove the battery and jumpers one last time, and when I rebooted, I just left ALL the settings in BIOS at default.
Everything seems to be working now, except for the slightly higher CPU temps. I am sure that something will happen, but that is for another day and another thread.
Can someone explain to me what I did wrong,and why I can no longer change any BIOS settings without the computer going haywire. And why is my CPU is getting warmer? It idles at 43 now instead of 38?
Thanks all. I know you can help

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winginit

spaceballsrules.... were you overclocked when you flashed the BIOS? Sometimes OC settings on a previous BIOS can cause a conflict with a new version. Though I'm not really sure why it's running warmer now.

Here's something you can try.... do a CMOS clear, then reflash the BIOS. Reboot, go into the BIOS and save optimal defaults. Save and reboot, then go back into the BIOS and make your settings.

It might be worth a shot.... good luck!

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"If you're flying by the seat of your pants, then you're wingin' it"

spaceballsrules

No, I run everything stock. The only settings I tried to change in the BIOS were the boot device priority and enabled SLi memory. Both ended up in a no-boot situation. As I have it right now, with the default settings, everything is running smoothly in Windows. No hiccups or anything. Well, except for the aforementioned higher CPU temp, but it still only goes to 51-52C under full load, so that is normal, and stays at 48C when I am folding.
???
I know now that I should have just left it alone. NEVER AGAIN!

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winginit

I've flashed several boards I've had a few times now, and have had pretty good luck.... so far (knock on wood). It's too bad that it didn't work out as well for you.... but at least your board isn't bricked.

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"If you're flying by the seat of your pants, then you're wingin' it"

spaceballsrules

Yup. Always good to look at the bright side of life. Plus, this was a decent learning experience.

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lenzo

If the bios flash was for updating processors, it could be possible that the thermisters reflect different readings from different wattage cpu's. The new may or may not be accurate. Check any differences on the numerous utilities out there: RealTemp, Everest, SiSandra, PCWizard, etc...
Glad to see its working aghain.

spaceballsrules

*EDIT* See next post

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spaceballsrules

*Update* After a good night's rest and having cleared my mind, I reapproached this one. I found this guy's posts everywhere but here. @HardwareFourms, @ocforums, and @extremeoverclocking. I am linking the posts because the advice they give on all three is very informative. Here is his first post verbatim so others may be able to find it here as well.
Dear experts in this forum,

Last nite I decided that I should try to update the BIOS on the MB due to stability issue. So I downloaded the latest BIOS 2101, backuped 0903 and use the latest Asus Update utility (v.7.1304) to update the BIOS in Windows XP. Everything seems to work fine: the BIOS was successfully flushed, updated and CHECKSUM went ok and the computer asked for a reboot. So I did, and then all I was staring at was a black screen, no BIOS screen and since I don't have case speaker, no post to tell.

Can anyone give me some advices on what I should do next? This is the first time I update the BIOS (in after thought, I should have updated the video card and other devices drivers first).

I read from the user manual that I might be able to restore the BIOS from the MB Support Disk. I also read from some forums that I might be able to get the computer to boot by resetting the CMOS.

So my questions are:
1. Can you let me know what I should do?
2. What is the best BIOS version for 6400 CPU?


Below is my computer's configuration (laundry list):

* ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADX6400CZWOF
* Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
* Rosewill Stallion Series RD500-2DB ATX V2.2 500W Power Supply
* Zalman CNPS9700LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
* Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 (4-4-4-12 2.2Volts)
* OCZ 2GB ( 2 X 1GB ) Platinum PC2-6400 800MHz 240-pin DDR2 Memory - OCZ2P800R22GK (CL 4-4-4-15, 1.9 - 2.0 Volts)
* XFX PVT84GUDF3 GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
* Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
* LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 20X DVD�0„3�0†8R DVD Burner
* Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Black Card Reader

* Arctic Silver 5

Thanks in advaced.

He has the same mobo and CPU. The difference is he was updating from 0903 to 2101, I updated from 1402 to 2101. That is negligible.
So here was my problem solving and solution.
I found an updated version of my manual here.
First I realized that my CMOS jumper (AKA Clear RTC RAM or CLRTC) had been in the reset (2/3) position the whole time, so I put that back at normal (1/2). Then I reset BIOS to default settings. I tried to flash the BIOS from the mobo driver disk, but that was FAIL. The BIOS on the disk reported as being incompatible in EZFlash. So I went to the Asus support website and studied the BIOS updates carefully, choosing a version that was most appropriate for my needs and transferred it to a flash drive, then using it to flash the BIOS with the EZFlash Utility. I ended up with rev. 1702. Reboot and made sure it flashed correctly, then another reboot to see if Windows booted, and it did. So far it was stable. I then went back into BIOS and reset to system defaults again. Then a shut down and full reset of the CMOS. Back into BIOS to set only the RAM timings to 4-4-4-12 and auto on voltage. Everything else was set to default/auto. Memtest sees the RAM, reads all of it at 4-4-4-12 and ddr2 800 @400 MHz. All's well so far Back into BIOS to set it how I want it. BTW That is all stock settings, no OCing. One more time with Memtest, except I do it for one full pass...no errors. So far I have a stable system. Even the CPU temperature has dropped below normal temps, and is idling between 33-35C. If anything changes I will post about it.
I just hope my experience helps someone else in the same predicament in the future

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logan

+rep for resolving a difficult issue, and for letting us know how it worked out. Great job.

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William151515

spaceballsrules
this is why Asus say to ONLY UPDATE if you are experiencing Issues, things can go wrong with Bios updates, but its good that you fixed your problem
congrats