A7V8X-MX SE bios problem

[Mark]

I have been having a couple of wierd problems. WHen I first turn this
computer on it comes on, then immediately shuts down for about 3 seconds
then comes on again, then everything is ok. My other strange thing is this.
When I go into the bios and arrange my boot procedure, I put cd-rom as
first, floppy as second and hard drive as third device. It will not boot
unless I have the windows xp in the cd-rom drive like this. I have to put
the hdd as first device for it to boot. If I have cd-rom as first and no xp
cd in drive it tells me disk boot failure. Which leads me to my bios
question.
I created a bootable floppy from a windows 98 machine doing the format
a:/s thing. I have awdflash and a bin file on the floppy. At the a prompt I
type awdflash and I get the box, I type in a name for the backup file. Then
it tells me the size does not match. I have checked the asus site 3 times
and this is the file I come up with. FOr the A7V8X-MX SE I come up with the
A7vm1006.bin. I don't know if this will fix my wierd problems but was
hoping.
I have written asus tech support but have not gotten a answer, It has been
about a week now.
Thanks for the help

 

[Mark]

Thanks Paul for your time and effort

I took a look at the file side of things, and the A7VM1006.bin is for
the A7V8X-MX, not the MX SE.

If you find the MX SE on the download site, there are two files.

There is one "release" BIOS (A7SE1002.zip), which corresponds to the
first release for the board - that will be the same BIOS you have on
the board right now. That file is OK, and when unzipped, seems to have the
correct size (256KB = 262144 bytes = enough to fill a 2Mbit Flash chip).

If you click the BIOS button, then the Beta button, a second file
is available - 1003-003.zip. However, that file is corrupt and when
unzipped is larger than 256KB. There is some text at the beginning
and end of the BIOS file, that shows the file was packed improperly
before being put on the web site. (I examine these files with a hex
editor, to see what mistakes were made. You might even be able to
fix this file manually, but without a BIOS Savior to protect you
from a bad flash, that probably isn't a good experiment to try.)

So, you are currently out of luck.

I find these microATX boards to be interesting, because Asus seems
to play games with them. For example, I had to go to the Chinese
server, to get info on the MX SE. It isn't listed on the other
Asus sites. The picture for the MX SE is the same as the MX, only
a paper label was stuck on it (implying they needed to make a
picture as a place holder for the board). I presume the motherboard
model name is printed on the silk screen - no paper label?

As for tech support, start here. Asus is using this method
due to the volume of spam in their inbox. If you find that
the BIOS flasher won't touch the 1003.003 file, then file
one report of the corrupt file, so Asus will fix it. File a
second report detailing how the BIOS isn't handling the
CDROM properly at boot:

http://www.asusmall.com.tw/forms/complaint_TSD.asp

If you aren't afraid of wasting money on a toll call, there
are phone numbers listed here. It helps to file a report
first, so when you call, the tech can look up your report.

http://www.asus.com/contact/contactindex.htm

My guess is, the CDROM is not being recognized as a removable
media device, and the BIOS is concluding the "hard drive"
it thinks it is trying to read, is corrupt.

Good luck,
Paul

 

[Paul]

I have been having a couple of wierd problems. WHen I first turn this
computer on it comes on, then immediately shuts down for about 3 seconds
then comes on again, then everything is ok. My other strange thing is this.
When I go into the bios and arrange my boot procedure, I put cd-rom as
first, floppy as second and hard drive as third device. It will not boot
unless I have the windows xp in the cd-rom drive like this. I have to put
the hdd as first device for it to boot. If I have cd-rom as first and no xp
cd in drive it tells me disk boot failure. Which leads me to my bios
question.
I created a bootable floppy from a windows 98 machine doing the format
a:/s thing. I have awdflash and a bin file on the floppy. At the a prompt I
type awdflash and I get the box, I type in a name for the backup file. Then
it tells me the size does not match. I have checked the asus site 3 times
and this is the file I come up with. FOr the A7V8X-MX SE I come up with the
A7vm1006.bin. I don't know if this will fix my wierd problems but was
hoping.
I have written asus tech support but have not gotten a answer, It has been
about a week now.
Thanks for the help

I took a look at the file side of things, and the A7VM1006.bin is for
the A7V8X-MX, not the MX SE.

If you find the MX SE on the download site, there are two files.

There is one "release" BIOS (A7SE1002.zip), which corresponds to the
first release for the board - that will be the same BIOS you have on
the board right now. That file is OK, and when unzipped, seems to have the
correct size (256KB = 262144 bytes = enough to fill a 2Mbit Flash chip).

If you click the BIOS button, then the Beta button, a second file
is available - 1003-003.zip. However, that file is corrupt and when
unzipped is larger than 256KB. There is some text at the beginning
and end of the BIOS file, that shows the file was packed improperly
before being put on the web site. (I examine these files with a hex
editor, to see what mistakes were made. You might even be able to
fix this file manually, but without a BIOS Savior to protect you
from a bad flash, that probably isn't a good experiment to try.)

So, you are currently out of luck.

I find these microATX boards to be interesting, because Asus seems
to play games with them. For example, I had to go to the Chinese
server, to get info on the MX SE. It isn't listed on the other
Asus sites. The picture for the MX SE is the same as the MX, only
a paper label was stuck on it (implying they needed to make a
picture as a place holder for the board). I presume the motherboard
model name is printed on the silk screen - no paper label?

As for tech support, start here. Asus is using this method
due to the volume of spam in their inbox. If you find that
the BIOS flasher won't touch the 1003.003 file, then file
one report of the corrupt file, so Asus will fix it. File a
second report detailing how the BIOS isn't handling the
CDROM properly at boot:

http://www.asusmall.com.tw/forms/complaint_TSD.asp

If you aren't afraid of wasting money on a toll call, there
are phone numbers listed here. It helps to file a report
first, so when you call, the tech can look up your report.

http://www.asus.com/contact/contactindex.htm

My guess is, the CDROM is not being recognized as a removable
media device, and the BIOS is concluding the "hard drive"
it thinks it is trying to read, is corrupt.

Good luck,
Paul