Asus A7n8x-e-deluxe Bios update XP hang !

talortalor Brescia - Italy
edited January 2005 in Hardware
Hi,
My configuration is:
Windows XP pro SP2
Asus A7n8x-e-deluxe,
cpu AMD athlon 3200 Barton,
HD Maxtor 160Gb SATA,
Ram 2x512 twinmos PC3200.

I've succeded in upgrading my bios from the original version (1006) with versions 1008 and 1010 but with all the other versions XP wouldn't restart and show a blue screen immediately. :scratch:
I've tried with versions 1007,1009,1011,1012 and with the last 1013 but the result is the same. To have XP working I must reinstall version 1010. :(

The message in the blue screen is about the hard disk: it asks to make a chkdsk or to remove the new controller installed.

I suppose thath is something linked to the SATA controller firmware but ... what can I do ? :bawling:
I would like to upgrade my bios to see if problems with the RAM are solved ...

thank in advance
Lorenzo

Comments

  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2004
    upgrade using DOS
  • talortalor Brescia - Italy
    edited December 2004
    I've update using Awdflash and a floppy at boot time and also with the utility under Windows but the result is the same.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited December 2004
    After BIOS Flash - WinXP Reinstall Time

    Everything else will just take longer.........
  • talortalor Brescia - Italy
    edited December 2004
    Omega65 wrote:
    After BIOS Flash - WinXP Reinstall Time

    Everything else will just take longer.........

    Reinstall WInXP and all the apps :bawling: or just try to reinstall over the old installation ?
    Is there any recovery disk that can work ?
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited December 2004
    talor wrote:
    Hi,
    My configuration is:
    Windows XP pro SP2
    Asus A7n8x-e-deluxe,
    cpu AMD athlon 3200 Barton,
    HD Maxtor 160Gb SATA,
    Ram 2x512 twinmos PC3200.

    I've succeded in upgrading my bios from the original version (1006) with versions 1008 and 1010 but with all the other versions XP wouldn't restart and show a blue screen immediately. :scratch:
    I've tried with versions 1007,1009,1011,1012 and with the last 1013 but the result is the same. To have XP working I must reinstall version 1010. :(

    The message in the blue screen is about the hard disk: it asks to make a chkdsk or to remove the new controller installed.

    I suppose thath is something linked to the SATA controller firmware but ... what can I do ? :bawling:
    I would like to upgrade my bios to see if problems with the RAM are solved ...

    thank in advance
    Lorenzo

    XP thinks u changed the motherboard and its nolonger valid on ur computer ur goina have to do a reinstall of windows i wish you luck
    talor wrote:
    Reinstall WInXP and all the apps :bawling: or just try to reinstall over the old installation ?
    Is there any recovery disk that can work ?
    You need to do a fresh install other wise it will still think its bing used on another machine
  • talortalor Brescia - Italy
    edited December 2004
    Thanks!
    I'm going to try it during Christmas holidays ... :-/
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited December 2004
    Try a repair install.

    Boot from the WinXP CD and start like tou're installing from scratch. At some point Windows will tell you that it found an existing copy of Windows on the drive. Tell it to repair the existing installation.

    If it works, you won't have to reinstall your apps and your data will be right where you left it. :)
  • madmatmadmat
    edited December 2004
    Are you resetting the CMOS after the bios flash and going through and setting the bios like it should be or leaving the bios settings alone?

    If you're not resetting the CMOS you might try that then go through the bios and set it to where it should be, i.e.; boot order, cas, onboard preriphrials, ram ratio, FSB, ETC.

    If that still doesn't work then break out with the XP disk and do a repair install, don't use recovery instead just act like you're going to do a clean installation and let windows search for a prior install, after it finds it hit enter to repair it and you're off, just make certain to set the CDROM to first boot device and the HDD to second otherwise you will never boot to the CDROM.

    In all honesty though it sounds to me like your ram is running with either the wrong ratio or with the cas latencies too low which is causing errors, the blue screens upon bootup are usually a sign of either memory errors or an OC attempt gone wrong.

    Good luck. :thumbsup:
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited December 2004
    I've had the same problem with my A7N8X-e. There was one BIOS revision in particular that always bluescreened me (as a result of controller driver failures). Any time I switched to that BIOS, I had to reformat my machine, and any time I switched away from that BIOS I had to do the same. Really annoying. Asus removed that BIOS revision from their download site just a few days after I had all those problems. You may want to switch to the latest BIOS (1013), and reinstall your operating system. Any new BIOS updates avaliable >1013 should be gravy on the SATA RAID side of things..

    There is also another UBER bios that updates your SiI SATA firmware to a later version. You could give that a try before reloading your operating system.. You can check it out here..

    http://homepage.ntlworld.com/michael.mcclay/

    Good luck :thumbsup:
  • talortalor Brescia - Italy
    edited December 2004
    Thanks to everyone !

    To Lemonlime: I've already try Uber BIos 1013 with SATA enanched with the same result :(

    To MadMat: The problem is not depending from the Cmos data, I've checked the default parameters and my working conditions with MEMTest86 also after BIOS update. The only configuration that works without errors with Memtest86 for an entire night is this, that correspond to 83% of the nominal speed :(
    Memory
    DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM
    DRAM Size 1024 MBytes
    DRAM Frequency 166.0 MHz
    FSB: DRAM 6:5
    CAS# Latency 2.5 clocks
    RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
    RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
    Cycle Time (TRAS) 7 clocks
    # of memory modules 2
    Module 0 DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes
    Module 1 DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes
    I'm waiting for a bios release that solve the known compatibility problem between Twinmos PC3200 and nforce2 ...
  • madmatmadmat
    edited December 2004
    Have you tried boosting the vDIMM to the highest voltage it will allow? Sometimes that will clear up errors instead of lowering the ram speed. I'm sure you've probably tried it but I'm just throwing an idea out there.

    If you're awaiting a bios fix for your problem you could be waiting for a looooong time, I waited for over a year for a fix for an incompatability on the board I have and the ram I had which Chaintech had promised Corsair to implement after they brought it to the attention of Chaintech but still yet, the fix was never made.

    I got rid of the ram and the ram I'm running now is uber slinky with my board, you might try the same.
  • TmodTmod
    edited December 2004
    Have you tried the new bios with old SATA firmware in it?
  • talortalor Brescia - Italy
    edited December 2004
    madmat wrote:
    Have you tried boosting the vDIMM to the highest voltage it will allow? Sometimes that will clear up errors instead of lowering the ram speed. I'm sure you've probably tried it but I'm just throwing an idea out there.
    I haven't. I didn't imagine that could solve my problem :-/ I'm going to try it !
    Increasing the voltage can cause damage to RAM ?
    Must I put additional coolers like when you overclock ?

    To Tmod: I thought about these possibility but I must create a firmware joining the firmware by myself :wow2: ... quite dangerous ! :eek2:
  • madmatmadmat
    edited December 2004
    As long as you keep the voltages below 3.0v on the DIMMs you should have zero cooling issues, I really doubt that your board will go that high anyways.

    I run my ram at it's highest setting on this board which is 2.89v and it's never above warm to the touch.
  • TmodTmod
    edited December 2004
    To Tmod: I thought about these possibility but I must create a firmware joining the firmware by myself :wow2: ... quite dangerous ! :eek2:

    Not dangerous at all, Just requires a simple mod using Cbrom.
  • talortalor Brescia - Italy
    edited December 2004
    ... I keep these like last chanche ;-)
    I would like to have all the firmwares update .

    thanks !
  • madmatmadmat
    edited December 2004
    Any luck with the vDIMM increase?
  • talortalor Brescia - Italy
    edited January 2005
    Sorry for long silence ....
    I have been out for work and then for holydays ;)
    I have encreased the voltage to 2.8 but the result is the same.
    Thanks again...
    I'm going to reinstall XP with new Bios soon as I can. I hope to be able to use ram properly with new bios.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited January 2005
    Omega65 wrote:
    After BIOS Flash - WinXP Reinstall Time

    Everything else will just take longer.........

    That's a Geeky1ism

    And he's right ;D
  • peanutmnmpeanutmnm
    edited January 2005
    Hi Guys,

    Taylor: I'd be really interested to know how you get on with your re-install of XP.

    I flashed my Bios last night to 1013 and am experiencing exactly the same problem. I have had this problem before but last time I managed to re-flash with the old BIOS from DOS (I updated to 1013 using the windows software). Unfortunatley it seems the latest version of AWDFLASH (2.28) which I obtained from the Asus website doesn't work properly. It seems to accept the new Bios file and allows you to back up your old one but when it comes to flash the new file it just sits there and doesn't do anything requiring you to restart.

    This basically leaves me with a working Bios version at 1013 but a broken XP install. I've tried doing a repair to the installation but it still blue screens. Therefore i'd be interested to know if a complete re-format and re-install would be any more likely to solve the problem.

    Otherwise i'm screwed because unless I can get a working OS on the machine I can't see any other way of getting the Bios back to a working state.

    Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks for looking in.

    Specs
    Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe PCB Ver 2.xx Previous Bios 1009. New Bios 1013
    AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton 1.8 Ghz @ 2.2Ghz (3200+)
    512Mb Crucial PC3200 DDR400
    120Gb Seagate Barracuda SATA HD
    Nvidia GeForce 6600GT AGP 128MB
    Liteon 52x32x52 CD/RW
    NEC 3500 Dual Layer DVD Writer
  • peanutmnmpeanutmnm
    edited January 2005
    Just a quick note if anyone is interested. As previously suggested a full re-install of windows was the only thing that sorted this out. Strangely a repair install didn't work.

    Hope it helps anyone else with a similar problem
  • talortalor Brescia - Italy
    edited January 2005
    Finally I have the new bios installed. :celebrate
    I've installed the Uber 1013 and I have repaired the installation as PROFDLP suggested. :thumbsup:
    Now WinXp is working fine with all the original programs and settings and the bios is updated.
    Unfortunately I'm still not able to use Ram at 200 Mhz :(
    I've made some test but the only configuration without problems is the one posted before. :bawling:

    thanks to everyone.
    Lorenzo
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