K8n-E Deluxe nf3-250 --DEAD BIOS??

[bp]

Just installed a new Asus k8n and all was going well. Then I made a
change in the BIOS (turned on the raid controller) and when I exited
it rebooted and said there was a BIOS checksum error and some auto
BIOS repair code kicked in and flashed the BIOS (or so it seemed). I
thought it was pretty cool until I rebooted, like the screen told me
to do, and nothing happened other than the CPU fan and the CD drive
light coming on. NO post screen no beeps nothing.

Is the board fried ? It won't boot from a floppy it won't boot from a
CD it won't boot. Any ideas

Thanks

 

[Ed]

Just installed a new Asus k8n and all was going well. Then I made a
change in the BIOS (turned on the raid controller) and when I exited
it rebooted and said there was a BIOS checksum error and some auto
BIOS repair code kicked in and flashed the BIOS (or so it seemed). I
thought it was pretty cool until I rebooted, like the screen told me
to do, and nothing happened other than the CPU fan and the CD drive
light coming on. NO post screen no beeps nothing.

Is the board fried ? It won't boot from a floppy it won't boot from a
CD it won't boot. Any ideas

Thanks

Try clearing the CMOS?

 

[bp]

Try clearing the CMOS?

Yep

 

[Paul]

Try clearing the CMOS?

That sounds like Crashfree2 engaged. But, for it to flash, it
needs to find the K8NE.rom file, on either a floppy diskette,
or via plugging the motherboard install CD into the CDROM
drive. The root level of the Asus CD has .rom files on it,
and that is what Crashfree2 expects to find.

So, the question is, where exactly did it find a file to flash ?
(Or maybe the stupid BIOS code erased the device first, before
locating a file ???)

(I had something similar happen when I attempted to overclock
my P4C800-E. After the board did power on reset, it claimed
the BIOS was corrupted, which I knew to be patently ridiculous.
I turned off the power and used the CLRTC jumper, and that
recovered it, with no more complaint about a bad checksum.
Would be a crappy way to do some overclock tuning, having
to clear the CMOS each time.)

Since the board claims to have EZflash, does pressing <alt F2>
do anything ?

I like Ed's suggestion of clearing the CMOS - remember to unplug
the computer from the wall, before doing the procedure. This
prevents +5VSB from accidently being delivered to the board,
which can burn a diode when the CLRTC jumper is used.

Other than that, it may be time to visit badflash.com and try to
get another BIOS chip. Or RMA... Which ever is cheaper.

HTH,
Paul

 

[bp]

That sounds like Crashfree2 engaged. But, for it to flash, it
needs to find the K8NE.rom file, on either a floppy diskette,
or via plugging the motherboard install CD into the CDROM
drive.

Yep I just happened to still have the MB install disk in the CD drive
when it happened so it was able to find the ROM.

The root level of the Asus CD has .rom files on it,
and that is what Crashfree2 expects to find.

So, the question is, where exactly did it find a file to flash ?

See above

(Or maybe the stupid BIOS code erased the device first, before
locating a file ???)

No, It found it, it flashed it, it killed it ;(

(I had something similar happen when I attempted to overclock
my P4C800-E. After the board did power on reset, it claimed
the BIOS was corrupted, which I knew to be patently ridiculous.
I turned off the power and used the CLRTC jumper, and that
recovered it, with no more complaint about a bad checksum.
Would be a crappy way to do some overclock tuning, having
to clear the CMOS each time.)

Since the board claims to have EZflash, does pressing <alt F2>
do anything ?

No never gets that far any longer.

I like Ed's suggestion of clearing the CMOS - remember to unplug
the computer from the wall, before doing the procedure. This
prevents +5VSB from accidently being delivered to the board,
which can burn a diode when the CLRTC jumper is used.

Done that, even removed the battery.

Other than that, it may be time to visit badflash.com and try to
get another BIOS chip. Or RMA... Which ever is cheaper.

hmmmm I'll take a look