"Ottar Tverberg" said:
Will try to reseat the memory sticks, but should I remove all memory
sticks (2x512mb)and ide/ s-ata cables so that just the display card and
floppy are connected?
think I have read something like this in the past..
The thing about renaming the bios is not mentioned at all in the manual,
so I could not get these things to work unless you helped me..
regards
ottar t
Perhaps we should go back over the sequence of events.
I'm not sure I understand what your problem is.
Was your A7V600-X working properly before using Asus Update ?
What was your hardware configuration ?
A7V600-X
Processor type - sempron ? athlonxp ? what core clock speed ?
Memory - 2 x 512MB in slot 1 and slot 3 ?
Floppy disk drive ?
Hard drive and CDROM drive on IDE cable ?
Power supply brand and wattage rating ?
Was the "checksum error" reported by Asus Update ?
Does the current BIOS show "bad BIOS checksum" when the computer
starts ?
Does the BIOS now start correctly some times, but not
all the time ? You say that pressing the RESET button
several times gives some different symptoms. Describe the
symptoms in each case - the beep code when it fails, and
what text is on the screen when it succeeds to start.
Does text appear on the screen when the computer starts ?
Are any error messages being delivered ?
You are receiving a repetitive "one long" "one short" error
code - does this happen all the time, even when the BIOS
is able to print on the screen ?
The reason I am asking all these questions, is to determine
whether your computer is working well enough to attempt
flashing the BIOS chip or not. It could be that the
symptoms you are seeing, will require those symptoms to
be fixed first.
It could be that there is nothing wrong with the BIOS at all
right now - but you are going to have to describe precisely
what is happening. If you have RAM errors, I doubt any
BIOS flash upgrade is going to work.
If you are having a problem with the RAM, insert one DIMM in
slot 3. That is the slot furthest from the processor. If that
stick still gives the "one long" "one short" beep error, unplug
the computer and replace that DIMM with your second DIMM.
The purpose of this test, is to see if one of the DIMMs is
defective. Testing a single DIMM at a time, is the least
stressful hardware condition.
*****
The following is a summary of the BIOS flashing methods:
1) CrashFree BIOS 2
This BIOS flashing method is restricted to one set of
symptoms. If you see "Bad BIOS Checksum" when the computer
first starts, and the computer is not overclocked, then
that means the Boot Block is intact, but the BIOS code has
found that the checksum of the main BIOS code is incorrect.
Inserting the motherboard CD will allow the motherboard to
reflash the BIOS.
Before doing something like this, you will want to research
the requirements for your motherboard and processor type.
Visit
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx
Type "A7V600-X" in the search box. The Sempron uses version
1006 of the BIOS or later. Other processors can use any BIOS.
If the motherboard CD has a version of BIOS previous to 1006
and you own a Sempron, then inserting the motherboard CD would
be a bad thing. If you flash an older BIOS into the board,
then the board will no longer POST, and you will need to visit
badflash.com to recover.
If you take a floppy, download a BIOS from the Asus download
page, then rename the unzipped file to "A7V600-X.rom", and
insert that floppy when you see the error message
"Bad BIOS Checksum", then that would allow a BIOS flash of
a version of the BIOS later than 1006. That is how you would
handle things if you are using a Sempron. For other AthlonXP
processors, the motherboard CD BIOS is good enough to recover
with.
Always verify the file size of the .rom or .awd you are using
on the floppy disk. It should be 262144 bytes, if the BIOS
flash chip is 256KB. Checking the size is a safeguard against
using the wrong file.
2) EZ Flash
If the BIOS is functioning correctly, and you wish to upgrade
the BIOS, you can press <alt> <f2> when the BIOS screen
first appears. The BIOS chip contains a copy of a BIOS
flash program called EZ Flash.
EZ Flash will prompt you for the filename. It expects to
find the BIOS file on a floppy diskette. You type the name
of the file at the prompt "Please enter filename for new
BIOS". If the file on the floppy is named a7v6x008.awd , then
that is what you type into the screen. Answer the other prompts
with "Y" for Yes. When EZ flash displays the version number of
the BIOS it is about to flash, verify that the number is the
one you expect. If you downloaded 1006, the screen should show
that 1006 number. If the information is incorrect, then do not
proceed any further.
3) Aflash
There is a BIOS flashing program that can be run from MSDOS.
To use it, copy the aflash executable onto an MSDOS boot disk.
Copy the new BIOS file a7v6x008.awd to the floppy as well.
Boot the floppy. You should see an MSDOS prompt. Type
"aflash" at the prompt, to execute the flash program on the
floppy disk. Press "2" to update the BIOS, after verifying
the information on the screen. Type in the full path name
of the BIOS file "A:\a7v6x008.awd". The file could even be
stored on the hard drive, I think. When the BIOS prompts you,
press "Y" to do the update, again verifying that the proposed
BIOS version is the correct one.
4) Asus Update
This method works from Windows. Boot into Windows, install
Asus Update, execute the installed program, and follow the
prompts. It is generally best if the BIOS file you are about
to flash, is stored locally on the disk drive, just before
the flashing operation begins. That prevents a networking
problem from interrupting the flash operation.
Option (1) is used when the BIOS is corrupt. Option 2-4 are
used when the computer is operating normally. The most dangerous
flashing method is Asus Update, as there are more things that can
go wrong, than in a simpler environment like MSDOS. EZ Flash would
be a good method, as long as there are no warning messages on the
Asus download page stating not to use that update method. Always
check the Asus download page for any warnings about methods 2-4
as being inappropriate for a certain version of BIOS.
******* end of summary *******
Paul
