A7N8X-E Deluxe BIOS Upgrade Disaster -- Does anyone recognize these symptoms?

[Neil Trotter]

I upgraded BIOS from 1008 to 1010 using the Windows Asus Update Utility
(from a downloaded file), followed by a reboot.

The first noticable effect of this was to render my POST process
invisible, so that the first thing I see on the screen after boot is the
login screen for Windows XP.

In the vain hope that this was some (not particularly useful) option in
the BIOS now that settings had been returned to defaults, I restarted,
holding down the <del> key. This gave me an audible message suggesting
the PC could not boot due to overclocking. (I'm not knowingly
overclocking anything). Still no stage of the POST was displaying.

This convinced me that if I could get back into Windows, I should revert
to 1008. So I rebooted, and though POST was still invisible, I was able
to start Windows, and flashed with 1008.

Upon reboot, although I now get a normal single beep, followed by a
floppy seek, Windows fails to boot. The screen remains blank, and I get
no audible messages. I have tried holding down the <del> key, and using
the Award BIOS <alt>-F2 flash utility to attempt to flash a freshly
downloaded version of 1008, but to no avail.

I have tried switching VDUs, and though I have yet to try switching
display cards, the fact that the display was blank during POST but fine
once windows started suggests that this is likely not to be the issue.
(I am probably testing this as you read, however, to eliminate this as a
possibility).

What have I broken? All suggestions gratefully received!

 

[John Crawford]

You could try clearing CMOS by removing the battery and jumpering pins
2-3 on CLRTC1

 

[Neil Trotter]

You could try clearing CMOS by removing the battery and jumpering pins
2-3 on CLRTC1

Thanks, John. In addition to the earlier steps (see OP), I have now
tried:

1. Clear CMOS (as you suggest)

2. Different AGP card (known to be functional)

3. Remove AGP card & substitute PCI video card (in case the problem is
limited to AGP).

4. Using Awdflash utility from bootable disk, typing "blind". Though
I'm not convinced this completed, as the floppy didn't seem to operate
for long enough to load the OS.

Except for when I had the PCI graphics card installed, I am still
getting 3 brief lights on the keyboard, and hearing a single beep
followed by floppy seek.

But still no video at all, not even during POST :-(

 

[Natéag]

After upgrading to BIOS 1010, had the same problems, plus more of them.
Then, after a few reboots, my processor was fried.

 

[Rincewind]

Thanks, John. In addition to the earlier steps (see OP), I have now
tried:

1. Clear CMOS (as you suggest)

2. Different AGP card (known to be functional)

3. Remove AGP card & substitute PCI video card (in case the problem is
limited to AGP).

4. Using Awdflash utility from bootable disk, typing "blind". Though
I'm not convinced this completed, as the floppy didn't seem to operate
for long enough to load the OS.

Except for when I had the PCI graphics card installed, I am still
getting 3 brief lights on the keyboard, and hearing a single beep
followed by floppy seek.

But still no video at all, not even during POST :-(

BIOS 1010 was a known disaster. I tried it and had to flash back to 1008 to
get my board to boot. The 1010 BIOS has since been removed from the Asus
website...

 

[John Crawford]

I flashed the 1010 bios on my system, I am using Windows 2000 and had no
trouble at all
with this bios version. I have flashed back to 1008 just to be on the
safe side

 

[Neil Trotter]

I flashed the 1010 bios on my system, I am using Windows 2000 and had no
trouble at all
with this bios version. I have flashed back to 1008 just to be on the
safe side

I have managed to get back to 1008 ok, but my problem (i.e. no video
display) occurs before the OS is loaded. Since my previous post, I've
managed once more to run Windows ... simply by "guessing" a BIOS error,
and hitting F1 to continue. But although this loads Windows, it still
doesn't allow me to inspect & change BIOS settings.

So I look forward to Asus releasing BIOS 1011 in the hope that it may
address my issues. Think I'll wait a few days before downloading it
though!