Urgent No POST problem

nonstop301

Hello everyone and Happy New Year,

I was trying to flash the AGP graphics adapter with a new bios release for it but unfortunately I used the wrong file to perform the flash and now the computer will not POST at all.

I have a backup copy of the previous flash version on the floppy disk but I since I can't get the computer to POST and boot from the floppy again, I can't recover the graphics adapter back to it's original BIOS edition.

Is there any way to make the computer POST again and boot from the floppy drive or any other method I should to flash the graphics adapter with the correct BIOS version once more ?

Thanks for all your help and I hope there's a way to sort this problem out.

Pterocarpous

Unfortunately, you're in a catch 22 situation. You need video to fix the video... Video problems are repaired all the time, of course. But since this problem is a discombobulated video adapter BIOS and it's causing your system not to P.O.S.T., you may be up a creek w/o a paddle. :sad2:

I've never tried this b4 but...How 'bout this... do you have an old PCI video adapter you can drop in? If so, pull the AGP card. Install the PCI card. Don't bother w/ the drivers in your GUI for the PCI card yet. If it works enough to provide video in REAL (DOS) MODE, that's all you need for now.

Get into the system BIOS w/ the PCI video adapter installed. Set the system BIOS video detection order to PCI/AGP (if it's available). Now,shut down and add the AGP card. Let's see if you can get away w/ booting w/ the AGP and the PCI video cards installed. If so, , Now, see if you can flash that BIOS again!

nonstop301

Thanks for your speedy response Pterocarpous

I'll have to look and see if there's a vga adapter lying around somewhere so I can try what you suggest.

It's sounds pretty ominous though.. If I remove the AGP card that has been flashed wrongly and put in a different AGP video adapter altogeter do you think the computer will be able to post ?

Pterocarpous

nonstop301 wrote:

Thanks for your speedy response Pterocarpous
I'll have to look and see if there's a vga adapter lying around somewhere so I can try what you suggest.
It's sounds pretty ominous though.. If I remove the AGP card that has been flashed wrongly and put in a different AGP video adapter altogeter do you think the computer will be able to post ?

You're certainly welcome. That's what we're here for.

In answer to your question, I doubt the bad BIOS caused any damage to your system hardware. So a replacement AGP video adapter should work fine. The steps I outlined are more to salvage the AGP video adapter. If it's not important to you and you have other AGP cards laying around, you might just want to toss the critter and write it off as the price paid for a lesson learned.

Don't feel bad. We have a-l-l shot ourselves in the foot from time to time. As we gain more experience, we learn to be more cautious - taking precautions we might otherwise not have in our "younger days". That's just one of the fruits of "experience" - learning from (most often our own) mistakes

nonstop301

I will try to recover the AGP adapter that has been wrongly flashed but I'll do that on a different computer I'm the critter not the AGP card

I was asking about the alternative AGP card because it's more likely I'll be able to dig out an old AGP card rather than a simple PCI vga graphics card

There I was, thinking the bios release I flashed the AGP with will provide an improved performance It's a case of a step backwards in that respect now.

Pterocarpous

nonstop301 wrote:

...There I was, thinking the bios release I flashed the AGP with will provide an improved performance It's a case of a step backwards in that respect now...

In that case, we are all, at one time or another, the "critter" that should be removed.

Well, that's the way the mop flops sometimes. I would be interested if the method I suggested (to recover the AGP card) works. I've never tried that b4.

Be sure to let us know, ok?

nonstop301

I'm going to give it a shot at recovering the AGP now because low and behold I think I found a PCI vga adpater in my goody bag I'll have to double check though it is just a normal PCI without AGP because I can't for the life of me recall I had one of these still.

Nice way to kick off 2007

nonstop301

Well it turns out the card I found is another AGP so I can't restore the flash of the faulty one with the items I have here. I did get to start the computer and make it POST and launch Windows however so that was a small relief.

I will certainly let you know if I manage to restore the BIOS of my faulty AGP card when I use it in a machine that has a PCI VGA adapter already on it.

Thanks again for all your suggestions Pterocarpous

Pterocarpous

nonstop301 wrote:

Well it turns out the card I found is another AGP so I can't restore the flash of the faulty one with the items I have here. I did get to start the computer and make it POST and launch Windows however so that was a small relief...I will certainly let you know if I manage to restore the BIOS of my faulty AGP card when I use it in a machine that has a PCI VGA adapter already on it...Thanks again for all your suggestions Pterocarpous

My pleasure, nonstop301. Glad you got it cookin' again.

Happy New Year!

nonstop301

I'd like to ask one more little thing that I'm not entirely sure about and that is whether it would be possible to restore the BIOS of the AGP card if I use a PCIexpress card in the PCI slot of the motherboard

I know it doesn't sound like the best idea but the purpose is just to achieve a successful POST to boot from a floppy and flash the AGP with the right BIOS

Do PCIexpress cards work at all if they are fitted on a motherboard that only has regular PCI slots ?

Pterocarpous

Unfortunately not. PCI and PCIe connectors are different form factors. In the pic, the bottom slot is the old style PCI. The others above it are PCIe slots (different versions).

Notice the key for the PCIe slots is on the left. The key for the old style PCI slot is on the right. The key is the bar that crosses the connector perpendicular to its length. The purpose of it is to keep us from plugging in a card backwards or misaligned.

nonstop301

Thank you for the precise clarification Pterocarpous

It's just regular PCI then I have to turn to for this purpose.

I still can't believe the other card I found and have to use at the moment is AGP It's an NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 (from 1999) with 32 MB RAM and yet it has to occupy the AGP slot. Initially, I was ready to bung it in the PCI slot and then boot up to change the BIOS priority to PCI before I put the one that needs the BIOS flash in the AGP. However, I saw the correct specifications for it and had to put that thought on hold

Pterocarpous

nonstop301 wrote:

Thank you for the precise clarification Pterocarpous
It's just regular PCI then I have to turn to for this purpose...

Yep, it's the PCI way or the Highway.... The industry, I believe, tries to protect us from ourselves w/ form factor changes from one technology to the next. It's actually a good thing in this instance.

nonstop301

I'm still trying to find a PCI graphics card to correct the problem with the AGP All the computers I have tried either have PCIexpress only or AGP cards but no PCI cards It seems a PCI graphics card is not the easiest thing to find these days but I'm sure I'll stumble across one somewhere soon

Pterocarpous

nonstop301 wrote:

I'm still trying to find a PCI graphics card to correct the problem with the AGP All the computers I have tried either have PCIexpress only or AGP cards but no PCI cards It seems a PCI graphics card is not the easiest thing to find these days but I'm sure I'll stumble across one somewhere soon

Is the AGP card you're trying to salvage a high end card? If so, I'd pursue finding the elusive (and obsolete) PCI graphics card. If not, I'd send it to computer parts heaven and move on......:bigggrin:

On the other hand, it is intriguing.... hard to resist the temptation to track down a PCI card and try it out just to see if it'd work.....would be for me anyway....

nonstop301

Hi again Pterocarpous,

The AGP card isn't anything special but I consider it more than adequate for the purposes it has to fulfill for me

It's time will come and an upgrade will be inevitable, but I'd rather upgrade a working AGP and keep it in the goody bag since you never know when it might come in handy

I have now found a PCI graphics adapter for that matter, so when I get home I'll give it a shot and see whether I can successfully recover the original BIOS of the AGP I'm a bit like you in that respect and I couldn't possibly resist the temptation

Pterocarpous

nonstop301 wrote:

Hi again Pterocarpous,

The AGP card isn't anything special but I consider it more than adequate for the purposes it has to fulfill for me

It's time will come and an upgrade will be inevitable, but I'd rather upgrade a working AGP and keep it in the goody bag since you never know when it might come in handy

I have now found a PCI graphics adapter for that matter, so when I get home I'll give it a shot and see whether I can successfully recover the original BIOS of the AGP I'm a bit like you in that respect and I couldn't possibly resist the temptation

Great! Do let us know how it goes, ok?

Good luck!

nonstop301

I managed to boot the computer with the PCI card and the AGP in place but the flash tool on the floppy tells me it has found no adapter.

I think I'll try and boot into windows with both the PCI and the AGP in place and try a flash utlity that operates under windows instead. That will also give me a chance to see what the windwos device manager has detected.

It's not looking very good for the AGP at the moment

nonstop301

I managed to boot the computer with the PCI card and the AGP in place and access the floppy with the original BIOS for the AGP card. However, the flash tool on the floppy tells me it has found no adapter when I check the information about the adapters connected to the motherboard in order to prevent myself from flashing the wrong card.

I think I'll try and boot into windows with both the PCI and the AGP in place and try a flash utlity that operates under windows instead. That will also give me a chance to see what the windows device manager has detected.

It's not looking very good for the AGP at the moment

In Windows the PCI card is detected and drivers for it are installed automatically so it's working properly. With the AGP I get the appearance of the Found New Hardware Wizard so I'll use the CD that came with the card to see whether this will help in any way. Unfortunately, the CD that came with the card tells me Sorry We Don't Support This VGA Card I don't know whether it's referring to the AGP or the PCI though but that's a message I didn't get in the past when I installed drivers for the AGP I also tried to install the drivers manually by indicating the location of the folder that has the necessary files but again no drivers can be installed using the Found New Hardware Wizard.

I have a flash utility for the AGP that works under Windows so I'll try that and see if it does anything noteworthy No luck there either and it tells me Cannot Find Discrete ATi Video Card.

I think it's curtains for the AGP card unfortunately and a bad BIOS flash has taken it to the point of no return.

If anyone has any other ideas on how I can flash it back to its original BIOS I would be most grateful

Pterocarpous

nonstop301 wrote:

I managed to boot the computer with the PCI card and the AGP in place and access the floppy with the original BIOS for the AGP card. However, the flash tool on the floppy tells me it has found no adapter when I check the information about the adapters connected to the motherboard in order to prevent myself from flashing the wrong card....

Well Rats! I'd hoped it would work but it would appear that your AGP card has been knocked senseless w/ the bad flash. No worky. :sad2:

We sure don't win all the battles do we? Well you gave it a try, didncha! Sometimes that's all we can do.