A7N8X "bios - save - death"

[Anthony Dyer]

Hello,

I'm looking to upgrade my motherboard and my attention is repeatedly drawn
to the Asus A7N8X Deluxe (version 2). It seems to have everything I want -
including a game port for my joystick that many other new motherboards seem
to lack.

However, after doing some research, I found this problem of POST not
occuring after changes to the bios settings were made. I've heard that it's
a problem the nforce-2 chipsets in general but a search on google groups for
"bios save death" reveals problems are almost exclusively associated with
this model.

So I have a few questions:
1. Is this problem widespread? Or does it affect just a tiny minority of
A7N8X users?
2. Is there any Asus helpdesk/returns support for UK residents in case
something does go wrong?
3. If I experience this problem, what's the current advice for fixing the
problem? Reset CMOS, reflash the bios from a floppy (if that's possible
without post) or just panic?

This will be my first ever motherboard upgrade and so despite lots of
reading and research, I'm not too familiar with certain procedures should
things go wrong. I hope things do go smoothly with this motherboard, I've
read lots of rave reviews about it.

My current system specs:
Athlon XP 2100+
2* Crucial PC2700 512MB Ram
Seagate 80GB 7200RPM HDD
Hercules Radeon 9800Pro
MSI KT3 Ultra 2 series
Windows XP Home

Anthony Dyer

 

[AJ]

Hello,

I'm looking to upgrade my motherboard and my attention is repeatedly drawn
to the Asus A7N8X Deluxe (version 2). It seems to have everything I want -
including a game port for my joystick that many other new motherboards seem
to lack.

However, after doing some research, I found this problem of POST not
occuring after changes to the bios settings were made. I've heard that it's
a problem the nforce-2 chipsets in general but a search on google groups for
"bios save death" reveals problems are almost exclusively associated with
this model.

So I have a few questions:
1. Is this problem widespread? Or does it affect just a tiny minority of
A7N8X users?

I've saved over a hundred times with no trouble. I've never updated my
BIOS though. Most complaints I've sen are from people who keep
flashing theirs until they find trouble. 1003 is perfect so I have no
plans on switching.

2. Is there any Asus helpdesk/returns support for UK residents in case
something does go wrong?
3. If I experience this problem, what's the current advice for fixing the
problem? Reset CMOS, reflash the bios from a floppy (if that's possible
without post) or just panic?

Get an extra CMOS chip to have on hand. They are cheap and several
sites sell them.

This will be my first ever motherboard upgrade and so despite lots of
reading and research, I'm not too familiar with certain procedures should
things go wrong. I hope things do go smoothly with this motherboard, I've
read lots of rave reviews about it.

Sure, I'm running a 2500+ @ 3200+ by just changing the FSB to 200. No
voltage changes needed.

 

[foamy]

I've saved over a hundred times with no trouble. I've never updated my
BIOS though. Most complaints I've sen are from people who keep
flashing theirs until they find trouble. 1003 is perfect so I have no
plans on switching.

Yep, I've made changes and had no probs either. I too followed the
old adage: if it ain't broke--don't fix it. So I never flashed [ well except
that one time when I was drunk in Mexico, but that's a different story ].

Jim

 

[Kenny]

I've thought of trying to o/c my Athlon 2500 on A7N8X, not deluxe, to 3200
but didn't think I could do it with PC2700 RAM. Can I and should I get a
better heatsink than the retail one which came with CPU, I also have a side
panel case fan? Will the extra speed be worth it? I do some, not a lot, of
video editing and ripping DVD's to CDR.

 

[stanmc]

Hello,

I'm looking to upgrade my motherboard and my attention is repeatedly drawn
to the Asus A7N8X Deluxe (version 2). It seems to have everything I want -
including a game port for my joystick that many other new motherboards seem
to lack.

However, after doing some research, I found this problem of POST not
occuring after changes to the bios settings were made. I've heard that it's
a problem the nforce-2 chipsets in general but a search on google groups for
"bios save death" reveals problems are almost exclusively associated with
this model.

So I have a few questions:
1. Is this problem widespread? Or does it affect just a tiny minority of
A7N8X users?
2. Is there any Asus helpdesk/returns support for UK residents in case
something does go wrong?
3. If I experience this problem, what's the current advice for fixing the
problem? Reset CMOS, reflash the bios from a floppy (if that's possible
without post) or just panic?

This will be my first ever motherboard upgrade and so despite lots of
reading and research, I'm not too familiar with certain procedures should
things go wrong. I hope things do go smoothly with this motherboard, I've
read lots of rave reviews about it.

My current system specs:
Athlon XP 2100+
2* Crucial PC2700 512MB Ram
Seagate 80GB 7200RPM HDD
Hercules Radeon 9800Pro
MSI KT3 Ultra 2 series
Windows XP Home

Anthony Dyer

Bios flashing has been risky for a long time. If the power goes out
while you are doing it and you don't have battery back-up or.... There
are other possibilities. You might look into a product call bios-savior
or bios-saviour.

I just flashed from 1003 to 1007 to get the latest SATA update since I
am about to convert from SCSI to SATA. It went perfectly. I made two
diskettes using WIN98SE. One was bootable with only the minimum files
and the other had no ops on it, but contained the update .bin file. When
asked if I wanted to backup the old BIOS I let it do so. After the
update I shut the computer down and when I started it again entered the
BIOS and made it load defaults and then exited saving the changes. After
that I rebooted and reentered the BIOS making all the changes I wanted.
I printed the BIOS out before I did the update so I had a reference.


You will truly like this board.

 

[AJ]

I've thought of trying to o/c my Athlon 2500 on A7N8X, not deluxe, to 3200
but didn't think I could do it with PC2700 RAM.

Yeah, you really want PC3200 for that.

Can I and should I get a
better heatsink than the retail one which came with CPU

I used the retail HSF on three 2500+ until I had the time/money to
upgrade. No amount of lapping or adding case fans got the CPU below
the high 50'sC. A $30 Volcano 11+ never lets the 2500+ @ 3200+ go
above 44C.

, I also have a side
panel case fan? Will the extra speed be worth it? I do some, not a lot, of
video editing and ripping DVD's to CDR.

It makes no difference in games like Counter Strike but any kind of
ripping is much faster. One of the best parts is getting the RAM FSB
to around 400Mhz. Any other tweaks are nothing compared to the
performance gain from that one setting change.

 

[Kenny]

Thanks for the reply, will wait till I get PC3200 RAM and better cooling.

 

[David Walker]

Bios flashing has been risky for a long time. If the power goes out

while you are doing it and you don't have battery back-up or.... There
are other possibilities. You might look into a product call bios-savior
or bios-saviour.

BIOS flashing really isn't a risk anymore - hasn't been for a long time.
Unless you stand on the chips, theres not much you can do to break them.
Most now have a boot block, so even if you do pull the plug half way through
an upgrade, you can just boot from and floppy and reload the BIOS from
there. Other motherboards do other things, but it should be impossible to
break any recent motherboard just by flashing the BIOS.

As for the original question, I have had a problem occasionally of "save the
settings, restart, it won't go", but just pressing reset will set the CPU
speed down to minimum defaults, and changing that back in the BIOS will
usually fix any problems. The only time I think I ever had that problem, on
several BIOS versions, was when trying to overclock a little bit too far.
But, it was always fixed by a restart, which loaded the minimum default CPU
speed settings. There really isn't a problem with the board that can't be
fixed with a restart or if its really bad a BIOS boot floppy.

David

 

[Paul]

Bios flashing has been risky for a long time. If the power goes out
while you are doing it and you don't have battery back-up or.... There
are other possibilities. You might look into a product call bios-savior
or bios-saviour.

I just flashed from 1003 to 1007 to get the latest SATA update since I
am about to convert from SCSI to SATA. It went perfectly. I made two
diskettes using WIN98SE. One was bootable with only the minimum files
and the other had no ops on it, but contained the update .bin file. When
asked if I wanted to backup the old BIOS I let it do so. After the
update I shut the computer down and when I started it again entered the
BIOS and made it load defaults and then exited saving the changes. After
that I rebooted and reentered the BIOS making all the changes I wanted.
I printed the BIOS out before I did the update so I had a reference.


You will truly like this board.

The BIOS Savior is made by a company called IOSS in Taiwan. The product
consists of a socket adapter, that fits in the flash chip socket. There
is an extra flash chip on the adapter, so you end up with two flash
chips. They give you a PCI slot plate mounted switch (you could put the
switch some place else if you like) and the switch is used to switch
between one flash chip or the other after you are booted. So if
#1 chip is fried, boot from #2, then after booting is completed,
switch back to #1 and reflash the #1 chip with a new BIOS. You can
then test by rebooting with #1 enabled. This is better than just having
a spare chip handy (it is an automated way of "hot flashing" but without
the risks). The only gotcha, is you should buy a BIOS Savior before
you have trouble, so you can put a good flash image in the new BIOS
chip for a rainy day. [ This is good if you like to use the Demoulous
BIOS to get an up to date SATA BIOS, as it reduces the risks. ]

You can buy the product straight from Taiwan or there are a small number
of distributers mentioned on the web site.

http://www.ioss.com.tw
(See the bottom of this list for a model suitable for your board.)
http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/RD1BIOSSavior/CompatiblityList/ASUS.html
http://www.ioss.com.tw/web/English/WheretoBuy.html (vendor list)
http://www.pcmods.com/product.asp?3=387 (Sample price, PMC4 model $24.99)

Whether you buy one of these or not, depends on whether you rely on
this board as your only computer. If you have other machines that you
can use, then one of the companies that sells BIOS chips will also help
solve your problem.

I'm still waiting for evidence that Asus has fixed this problem.
Has anyone seen a BIOS release note claiming "BIOS - Save - Death" is
fixed ? Otherwise, I'll continue to recommend the BIOS Savior...

HTH,
Paul

 

[Greysky]

I've saved over a hundred times with no trouble. I've never updated my
BIOS though. Most complaints I've sen are from people who keep
flashing theirs until they find trouble. 1003 is perfect so I have no
plans on switching.

Yep, I've made changes and had no probs either. I too followed the
old adage: if it ain't broke--don't fix it. So I never flashed [ well except
that one time when I was drunk in Mexico, but that's a different story ].

Jim

So *YOU* were that drunk gringo scandalizing the Tijuahana nights Those
Federales are still looking for your ass.....

 

[Rob Stow]

I've saved over a hundred times with no trouble. I've never updated my
BIOS though. Most complaints I've sen are from people who keep
flashing theirs until they find trouble. 1003 is perfect so I have no
plans on switching.

Yep, I've made changes and had no probs either. I too followed the
old adage: if it ain't broke--don't fix it. So I never flashed [ well
except

that one time when I was drunk in Mexico, but that's a different story ].

Jim

So *YOU* were that drunk gringo scandalizing the Tijuahana nights Those
Federales are still looking for your ass.....

You've obviously never been to Tijuana. One more "drunk gringo"
raising hell wouldn't cause a single eyebrow to rise.

A gringo who wants to stand out at night in Tijuana merely
needs to stay sober, be nice to the ladies, etc.

 

[JonnyCab®]

So I have a few questions:

1. Is this problem widespread? Or does it affect just a tiny minority of
A7N8X users?

Mine has been rock-solid stable and fast. My revision 2 board shipped with
BIOS 1005. I've upgraded it to 1006 and now to 1007.

I've noticed only two odd things:
1) BIOS 1006 kept blinking the power LED in all power modes. 1007 made it
behave properly again. ???
2) Disabling the 3Com ethernet controller, in Windows or BIOS, makes the
board emit a very faint, but very-high-pitched whine. Enabling it makes the
whine go away. It still exists in 1007.

2. Is there any Asus helpdesk/returns support for UK residents in case
something does go wrong?
3. If I experience this problem, what's the current advice for fixing the
problem? Reset CMOS, reflash the bios from a floppy (if that's possible
without post) or just panic?

Sorry, I can't answer these. No problems yet...

This will be my first ever motherboard upgrade and so despite lots of
reading and research, I'm not too familiar with certain procedures should
things go wrong. I hope things do go smoothly with this motherboard, I've
read lots of rave reviews about it.

Mine worked perfectly out of the box, and has been rock-solid stable since
then. I've upgraded only the DVD burner (from a Pioneer DVR-105D to a
106D).

Googlegear 601FPB case and 420W Thermaltake power supply
2x512MB Corsair XMS PC3200
Maxtor 80GB 8MB-cache ATA133
Plextor PX-4824A
Pioneer DVR-106D
MSI Ti4200 128MB 8X DVI/ViVo
ViewSonic VG191B
Altec ATP3B speakers

It just plain screams.

 

[Jeff Hansman]

I lost a rev 1.04 non-deluxe A7N8X when I set it back to it's defaults from
overclocked settings. It was running too hot and I wanted to see what
cooling effects running stock would create. It never came up again after
that, and I ended up RMAing to the vendor. Got a rev. 2.0 board back, and am
running it stock. So far, so good.