Bad BIOS flash , need advice

BKtje

(posted this over on the msi forums and then decided to try it here as well, this is a copy+paste job so you may ask why i supplied some info which people here dont normally ask for )

Allo folks i'm hoping i can borrow your expertise for a moment.

I've had my K8n Neo plat since sept 04 and while i haven't been totally happy with it , i have been content,

Last weekend while at a LAN my machine stopped working after a series of power failures.
I eventually narrowed it down to a memory dimm and removed it after which the machine booted normally. However it would not post on a warm boot. I flashed the BIOS from 1.55 to 2.1 and all was hunky dorey again.

I had a problem with 2.1 that whenever i attempted to overclock passed 225 fsb it would boot but then say "detecting ide array". I checked the BIOS and the ide array function was disabled. The mobo booted normally at 225 or below.
Now after having bought a vapo xe i wasnt too pleased with that (had gotten up 2.6 on the 1.55 bios) so tonight decided to try out one of the modded bios's (156 iirc).
I used the flash proggie through windows (as i have done in the passed) and it started off fine. However when it got to writing the main block it went very very slowly (where as before it flew along). I thought about cancelling but decided against it as i didnt know what that would do. I also figured that this slow writing may be caused by the modded bios. I went upstairs to make a cuppa and when i returned the pc had rebooted and the D-bracket was showing 2 red lights at the top (meaning "Initializing Hard Drive Controller"). Clearing the cmos and rebooting changed nothing. Removing the hdd's also did nothing.

I figured i'd had a bad flash and while this has never happened to me before i found the BIOS recovery post here and gave it a whirl. I created a boot disk using the driver free disk for BIOS flashing from http://www.bootdisk.sg5.biz/ and then copied the 1.9 BIOS onto the floppy. I then tried booting my machine with it and waited a few minutes before deciding that it wasnt working.
(in the Autoexec.bat i put awfl859g w7030nms.190 as directed on http://www.msi.com.tw/html/support/bios/note/boot.htm , obviously changing the bios version to match this one).

At this stage im now a little lost as what to do (if i did all of the above correctly).
I realise i could probably get a replacement bios chip but i'd i'll probably just order a replacement mobo as im not too sure wether the board itself was damaged further during the power failures when the memory dimm became damaged.

I have already tried finding a replacement neo plat but none of the sites have any (i assume its been discontinued?) so my question then would be for advice in choosing a new mobo thats good for overclocking.

Thanks for any advice/info anyone can provide and be sure to ask for any info that i haven't supplied (i've tried to be thorough).

Vapo XE
amd 64 3200 (clawhammer CG) cooled by a Vapo XE
K8n Neo Plat
512mb Corsair 3200XL platinum
Antec True 580w
9800 XT

conzy

You can send your CMOS chip to www.flashbios.org and they will re-flash it with the Bios of your choice, it cost around 20 euro i think.

If you know someone willing to give you a loan of their board which happens to be the exact same as you're board, then you can take their Cmos chip and hot flash it to you're cmos chip.

Hot flashing guide:;)

http://www.tech-forums.net/computer_articles/bios-flashing-recovery.php

BKtje

cheers for the site. May look into that.

I've ordered a new BIOS (and Bios chip removal tool) from a crowd in Italy.
This way in the future if it happens again i'll have a spare BIOS chip on hand.

aaf

conzymaher wrote:

You can send your CMOS chip to www.flashbios.org and they will re-flash it with the Bios of your choice, it cost around 20 euro i think.

I used this guy before. Excellent service and got me out of a hole. Based in Holland if memory serves.

BKtje

Decided to just get another BIOS chip so that if it happens again im covered.
Thanks tho

conzy

How much did a new Cmos chip cost you?

if you dont mind me asking:o

Is it flashed wih the latest bios?

BKtje

€25 for Bios chip removal tool, new BIOS chip+programmed and postal insurance.

Fairly expensive i guess but at least this way i can fiddle around witht it as much as i like without having to worry about a dodgy flash in the future.