Mobo took a dump. I did a dumb? Asrock P67 Extreme4 dead after flash to BIOS 3.1.0
So after getting my replacement SSD (Thanks @Ryder) I got everything back up and running again, and now my PC is back to being a very large paperweight.
The Asrock P67 Extreme4 Motherboard that @PirateNinja sent me a few years ago decided to take a dump and die on me. My CPU (i5 2500 also from PN) was at 100% usage even during idle so I looked it up and this was an issue with Windows 10 and the older Bios that was still on the Mobo (I think it was running 1.90.) There was a newer Bios (3.10) that corrected this and added support for Ivy Bridge CPUs. So I downloaded the Bios update and ran it per instructions on ASRock's website and then upon reboot the PC won't even post.
I tried clearing CMOS by using the switch on the motherboard, using the jumper and also pulling the battery, but none of those options worked. I've tried swapping out all the parts that I have (Memory, GPU) but still no dice. Anyone have any suggestions? I think the only problem is the motherboard as my research says that this sometimes happens with that update, but I'm not sure. Failing that any other spare parts laying around that they'd be willing to part with? I don't have that big of a budget (~$100) due to all the medical bills I am still getting from being in the hospital in September but anything would be better than the dead PC that I currently have. I do have some money on Best Buy GCs, so any recommendations of good MoBos\CPUs on their site would be good as well.
Thanks everyone!
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I've been trying to purge stuff and I know that I have a mobo, but am not sure if I have a proc to match it. Will check when I get home this evening.
Regarding your current board, does it have a mobo speaker connected, and, if so, do any sounds come out during it's attempt to post, or is there an LED screen that gives you a post code?
No sounds at all. Just fans spinning, monitors still in sleep mode. The code says VGA couldn't be recognized.
That would be awesome! I could use my GCs to get a processor to match and I have memory and my Radeon 7850 is still a good card.
Did you try to swap to the on board video temporarily?
That Mobo doesn't have onboard video.
Hmmmmm, Wonder what could have gone down in the bios flash. I'm not sure if I got any LGA 1155 boards in the stash here. I'll check it out, if we do, nothing particularly great, just micro ATX boards for OEM Machines that are going out of service.
@CrazyJoe I've got an ECS H61 board I can give you when you're in town, if you can fit it in your luggage on your way back. It's mini-ITX but has a a PCIE x16 slot for your dedicated video, along with bountiful SATA slots.
So I was looking around and plan to go to Microcenter here in Cincinnati since I'm back in town and I see they have this processor
and this motherboard that I can get for about my $100 budget since the motherboard has a $40 rebate and the processor is on sale for $90 with another $40 off if you buy a compatible motherboard. I can use the DDR3 I have from my old system and be up and running. Is this a good value for this motherboard/CPU? I am a bit out of the loop, especially with AMD processors so I'm not sure where this stands in the current hierarchy of their processors.
Also they have this processor for the same price. How do these two compare?
My current processor is an i5 2500k that @PirateNinja also sent me. From my research it looks like the i5 still rates higher than that those AMDs. At what point would I need to get to in AMD to get a better processor than what I have?
February 2017
Well I can't go two months without a PC, so...
You asked!
I did, it feels strange though that a processor that's 5+ years old is still better than some newer ones.
*by some definitions of betterExplain?
@CrazyJoe Did you try a cmos reset via jumper? It's worth a shot.
Yep. I tried reset by jumper, the motherboard button and removing the battery. No dice.
My bad, you mentioned that in the original post. Wish I had something for you! I'm all out of parts at the moment. Looks like @GHoosdum might have you covered. Another consideration is you probably will have to get a new copy of Windows, maybe you can get an educator's discount?
Sometimes what looks like failure is actually a dead CMOS battery. Did you try replacing the CMOS battery?
If you are referring to the free upgrade most of us used to Windows 10, in the anniversary update they added an activation troubleshooting feature. Settings > Update & Security > Activation and then you should see a button to launch the trouble shooting thing to fix it.
Clock speed is king for some purposes, more threads for others, and TDP for others (silent PCs want lower, for example).
I wouldn't necessarily say "better" than new components but I still consider the old i5-2500k to be "good enough" for everything I need a PC to do these days.