New BIOS, new problems, will not boot

pluckster35

Yesterday I installed a new BIOS for my ASUS A8N5X motherboard (301->902) and since then have had nothing but serious problems. It booted up once then locked up on the desktop.

Ever since then it has not made it to the Windows initialization (the screen this the Windows logo and the progress bar). I've had this problem before, I knew it was a corrupted boot so I found the instruction I had found last time to fix it.

I started the Recovery Console using the Windows XP CD and just after I selected Windows XP as the OS to use (I only have XP installed) it came up with another error, this time by way of a BSD with the error code 0x00000050(...blah blah blah...). This screen said that I should go into Safe Mode and disable any newly installed hardware.

But when I try to start Safe Mode it tells me that config/system is missing or corrupt, which I already knew and tried to fix.

I have also tried to reinstall Windows which resulted in the same BSD as before and I also tried starting with the last working configuration and that resulting in the error about the boot file being corrupt.

I'd rather not lose the files I have on my HDD because some are quite valuable but right now it looks like that is going to happen one way or another so really any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

profdlp

Have you tried resetting the CMOS, then re-entering the parameters in the BIOS again? Failing that, can you flash back to the old BIOS?

I had the same thing happen with my main system a while back. As it turned out, the new BIOS didn't like the IDE Controller card I had in there. If you feel like experimenting you could try removing any non-essential cards and see what happens.

QCH

I'm guessing that you have corrupted you windows install. Probably beyond repair and if it is repairable, probably not enough to make the system stable.

First off... Lets clear up to potential problems. Memory and Hard drive.

Please download Memtest and run it on your system. If you need assistance with how to run Memtest, let us know, we can walk you through it.

Secondly,find out who manufactured your hard drive. Go to their website and download their hard drive diagnosis software. Toshiba hard drives do not have their own diagnostic software so you would need to use Hitachi's.

Let us know how those tests go.... then we can take the next step.

pluckster35

@profdlp
How would I reset my CMOS? Would I have to remove the battery? And no I can't get my BIOS flashed back to the original

@QCH2002
I don't have access to a computer with anything to make a disk to transfer those files to the one in need of repair. As for the tests, it says my computer does a memory check before it runs so im pretty sure its not the memory but I do have a suspicion its the HDD

profdlp

pluckster35 wrote:

How would I reset my CMOS? Would I have to remove the battery?l

Unplug it from the wall, remove the CMOS battery (the thing that resembles a watch battery; built in to the motherboard), then move the CMOS jumper to the reset position and leave it there for twenty minutes. Then move the jumper back to the normal position, replace the CMOS battery, plug in the computer, cross your fingers and hit the power button.

...And no I can't get my BIOS flashed back to the original

Why not? You should be able to still download older BIOS versions from the mb manufacturer.

...it says my computer does a memory check before it runs so im pretty sure its not the memory but I do have a suspicion its the HDD

Run the test from the HD manufacturer.

As for the memory, the quick test the computer does at boot is not much to go on. Run a full pass or two of memtest and you'll really know if your RAM is good or not.