Bios Update Failure

MarkR

I was updating the bios last night, (not content to leave well enough alone) seemed to go well until i removed the disk and restarted. I saw the updated bios on the screen for a second, then i held down the power key to turn it off, to clear the cmos. Now i'm not getting any display at all. Tried clearing cmos, turning off for a minute, removeing atx connector etc, but still no display. Any idea? It was version 21 i was using.


Amd athlon 1800+
512 mb ddr pc2700
excalibur radeon 128 mb 9200 se.
Couple of maxtor hd's

Sleipnir

removing the atx connector won't clear the CMOS, you generally need to change a jumper on the board and take the battery out for a while before it clears.
RTM.
Some motherboards have a recovery feature but again, you'll have to check the manual for that.
Also, whatever BIOS version you're updating to will depend on the motherboard manufacturer.

quarryman

what motherboard have you got? check the manual for the BIOS recovery feature mentioned above.

there might be a jumper on the board that you can use to clear the cmos.

MarkR

Yeah, i tried clearing it with the jumpers all right...

Sleipnir

did you take the battery out?

MarkR

Unfortunately , yep. Tried it. Think i'll reseat everything this evening first, and if that doesn't work then i'll try to see is it still booting with a floppy...

SirLemonhead

I see you have an NF7

Same thing happened to me. Had to get a new bios chip. And then once I got that, 2 out of 3 memory slots stopped working.

You might have to RMA

MarkR

Would I be liable for any costs on a rma? Should i advise the retailler of the bios updated, or keep mum? Damn! And I just got it!

SirLemonhead

Did you accidentally flash the revision 1.0/1.1 bios instead of the revision 2.0 bios?

I got my board from Komplett and I told them what had happened. I was able to RMA without problem.

No luck with the floppy drive I presume?

unkel

Originally posted by Sleipnir
you generally need to change a jumper on the board and take the battery out for a while before it clears.

Just changing the jumper and leaving it for about 30s should do it. No need to take the battery out

MarkR

I changed the jumper to clear it, replaced it and still no joy..

ssh

You're probably out of luck there...

it'll be either a new bios chip or a new board. Some boards come with dual bioses, though I don't think the nf7-s is one of them.

Abit have a FAQ entry here which points on where to get a new one:

http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/kbase.php?categories=1&model=6&faq_id=319

I don't think an RMA will work, though maybe you'll get lucky.

ssh

Also,

there's a difference between clearing the CMOS and actually resetting the BIOS itself.

The CMOS contains settings for the BIOS, and requires a battery charge on it at all times to actually keep those settings.

Once you do a bad bios update that renders the system unbootable, you're pretty screwed.

brandnewspoon

howdy, i reistered to solve my problems but thought i'd suggest something here first: do you have another pc with a removeable bios chip? if so you could hot swop the chip. worked for me when i screwed mine up. ill just assume you knew you could do that but forgot and i just conveniently reminded you...

ssh

Won't he need exactly the same motherboard for that?

brandnewspoon

no, as long as the bios chip fits you're flying. well not really. you know what i mean...

ssh

Right, I'm not doubting you, but surely that's going to result in all manner of problems. If the I/O addresses for the fixed devices are different, the BIOS is going to have a tough time finding (and indeed working with) them.

I've always assumed that you'd need an exact match.

MarkR

I had another motherboard with an identical looking chip. Swappem them and got nothing. Picked up a new motherboard in a un-named store (an Nf7-s actually, had no plain nf7's.) Moral dilemma starts now. Do i try to reprogram my own bios chip, or return the original board to the second store as a doa?

CombatCow

Your probably better just RMA'ing the mobo,This might seem a bit far fetched but i herd that if you peal away the hologram sticker from the bios chip and shine some UV light on it, it will reset/clear it.like from a uv cold cathode.:dunno:


CombatCow

MarkR

Returned first motherboard to second store. They were fine. :ninja:

tman

Originally posted by MarkR
Returned first motherboard to second store. They were fine. :ninja:

gg:D

MarkR

Now i have an NF7-S. I'm a bad boy. What's gg?