I have recently built a computer with an ASUS A8N-SLI Motherboard. It
was working fine until earlier today using the ASUS windows utility I
updated the bios to the latest version (automatically downloaded from
the internet during update). The ROM flashed successfully and was
verified. I was then asked to reboot the computer and I selected YES.
When the machine restarted, it hung at the PCI device listing. It is
now doing this every time I start the machine at the ACPI controller.
The controller is trying to load on IRQ 9 and all other columns are
blank for this device but filled in for all previous devices. I have
tried disabling the ACPI and manually reserving the IRQ 9 to force the
ACPI controller onto another IRQ but this hasn't helped. I have
tried disabling everything, including IDE controllers, IEEE1934
interfaces, USB interfaces etc etc and it still hangs in exactly the
same place. The ACPI also refuses to move to a different IRQ. The
motherboard rev is 1.02, the processor is an AMD 64 3200+, 1BG RAM,
Gigabyte GeForce 6600 GT video card.

Please can you help?

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> I have recently built a computer with an ASUS A8N-SLI Motherboard. It
> was working fine until earlier today using the ASUS windows utility I
> updated the bios to the latest version (automatically downloaded from
> the internet during update). The ROM flashed successfully and was
> verified. I was then asked to reboot the computer and I selected YES.
> When the machine restarted, it hung at the PCI device listing. It is
> now doing this every time I start the machine at the ACPI controller.
> The controller is trying to load on IRQ 9 and all other columns are
> blank for this device but filled in for all previous devices. I have
> tried disabling the ACPI and manually reserving the IRQ 9 to force the
> ACPI controller onto another IRQ but this hasn't helped. I have
> tried disabling everything, including IDE controllers, IEEE1934
> interfaces, USB interfaces etc etc and it still hangs in exactly the
> same place. The ACPI also refuses to move to a different IRQ. The
> motherboard rev is 1.02, the processor is an AMD 64 3200+, 1BG RAM,
> Gigabyte GeForce 6600 GT video card.
>
> Please can you help?

Have you tried different values for "Plug & Play O/S" ?

A setting of [No], results in the BIOS doing most of the resource
planning. A setting of [Yes] would leave it to the OS.

Also, after a flash upgrade, you should "Load setup defaults"
or whatever the equiv. is in your BIOS. This refreshes the
data structures used by the BIOS. In the worst case, you can
also try clearing the CMOS via the CLRTC jumper - unplug the
computer _before_ using this option, and follow the procedure
listed in the manual.

I would try the "Load setup defaults" first, try to boot,
then play with P&P setting, then finally try CLRTC jumper as
a final resort.

Since the BIOS is "not dead yet", you might also be able to
flash back to your previous BIOS, if you are not having
any success with the new one.

Occasionally, Asus will release a BIOS that breaks ACPI support.
I had this happen with one of my older motherboards, and a
couple of consecutive releases were broken, before a working
BIOS was again made available. If you continue to have problems,
remember to report them to Asus, so eventually the BIOS will
get fixed.

HTH,
Paul

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> I have recently built a computer with an ASUS A8N-SLI Motherboard. It
> was working fine until earlier today using the ASUS windows utility I
> updated the bios to the latest version (automatically downloaded from
> the internet during update). The ROM flashed successfully and was
> verified. I was then asked to reboot the computer and I selected YES.
> When the machine restarted, it hung at the PCI device listing. It is
> now doing this every time I start the machine at the ACPI controller.
> The controller is trying to load on IRQ 9 and all other columns are
> blank for this device but filled in for all previous devices. I have
> tried disabling the ACPI and manually reserving the IRQ 9 to force the
> ACPI controller onto another IRQ but this hasn't helped. I have
> tried disabling everything, including IDE controllers, IEEE1934
> interfaces, USB interfaces etc etc and it still hangs in exactly the
> same place. The ACPI also refuses to move to a different IRQ. The
> motherboard rev is 1.02, the processor is an AMD 64 3200+, 1BG RAM,
> Gigabyte GeForce 6600 GT video card.
>
> Please can you help?

That doesn't sound too bad. If it was properly FUBAR, your screen wouldn't initialise.

Try clearing CMOS.

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

Hi Paul,

Tried loading the defaults and using the CLRTC jumper reset however the
problem persists. Would flash back to older version but because it
can't even get past the PCI device set up which is prior to the boot
strap, I'm unable to boot off any device. I have reported this to ASUS
support, but they won't get back in touch for a couple of days and I
want to sort it out before then if possible.

Any other ideas??

Thanks for your help so far.
Tim

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Hi Paul,
>
> Tried loading the defaults and using the CLRTC jumper reset however the
> problem persists. Would flash back to older version but because it
> can't even get past the PCI device set up which is prior to the boot
> strap, I'm unable to boot off any device. I have reported this to ASUS
> support, but they won't get back in touch for a couple of days and I
> want to sort it out before then if possible.
>
> Any other ideas??
>
> Thanks for your help so far.
> Tim

I cannot imagine what it is doing.

How about "ACPI APIC Support" [Disabled]. Does that
make a difference ?

Are there any Vocal POST error messages ? I wouldn't expect
an intelligent message in this case, but you never know.

In terms of reflashing the BIOS, perhaps pressing <alt> <f2>
will invoke EZflash ? Section 4.1.5 of the manual describes it.
I hope the intercept for <alt> <f2> happens before that PCI
setup code. Fingers crossed :-)

Paul