Dead Bios on Gigabyte GA7DPXDW-P

[Rob M]

Dear All,

I had to change the battery on my motherboard. Unfortunately, since I have
change the battery the computer does not boot anymore. The monitor does not
get any signal, there is no beep but the fans for the cpu are running and
the HDs are spinning up when turning on the computer. Any ideas about what
the problem is and how it could be fixed is VERY much appreciated.

In case you need some more detail here is what has happened before. I bought
a new WD 160GB but windows 2k only saw 128GB. Although the bios saw the
160GB I still did update to the newest version 7dpxdwp.f5. After that I
started to lose my bios setting very frequently which actually has happened
before. Also I got an error saying "Award Preboot Agent installation
failed". So I did go ahead and replaced the battery thinking that I won't
lose my bios settings anymore and if I am lucky I'll also get rid of that
error message. But instead the computer doesn't boot anymore.

Here is my HW configuration:
2 Athlon MP 1900+
3 GB registered ECC
1 CD rom drive on EIDE1
1 DVD drive on EIDE2
80GB HD on EIDE3
160GB HD on EID4
Radeon 8500 DV
4 port USB2 PCI card
IWill RAID 0/1 controller with 2 80GB HD
Adaptec SCSI controller

Regards,

Robert

 

[user]

Dear All,

I had to change the battery on my motherboard. Unfortunately, since I have
change the battery the computer does not boot anymore. The monitor does not
get any signal, there is no beep but the fans for the cpu are running and
the HDs are spinning up when turning on the computer. Any ideas about what
the problem is and how it could be fixed is VERY much appreciated.

In case you need some more detail here is what has happened before. I bought
a new WD 160GB but windows 2k only saw 128GB. Although the bios saw the
160GB I still did update to the newest version 7dpxdwp.f5. After that I
started to lose my bios setting very frequently which actually has happened
before. Also I got an error saying "Award Preboot Agent installation
failed". So I did go ahead and replaced the battery thinking that I won't
lose my bios settings anymore and if I am lucky I'll also get rid of that
error message. But instead the computer doesn't boot anymore.

Here is my HW configuration:
2 Athlon MP 1900+
3 GB registered ECC
1 CD rom drive on EIDE1
1 DVD drive on EIDE2
80GB HD on EIDE3
160GB HD on EID4
Radeon 8500 DV
4 port USB2 PCI card
IWill RAID 0/1 controller with 2 80GB HD
Adaptec SCSI controller

Regards,

Robert

When you changed your battery, did you remove and re-install any cables
in the process? A reversed IDE cable will often prevent a computer from
booting due to grounding out of the address bus. Make sure you did not
bump some other critical item.

Your problem could be caused by any number of things, but it is
unlikely that the battery is one of them unless it is in wrong. Make
sure you have RAM securely installed, the processor fan attached
properly (including any sense lead), and remove all but the essential
items from your MB. Those would be RAM, processor, power of course, and
the speaker leads. Once you get even a beep, add the video card and
other cards or cables until it fails.

 

[philo]

Dear All,

I had to change the battery on my motherboard. Unfortunately, since I have
change the battery the computer does not boot anymore. The monitor does

<snip>

there is probably a bios reset jumper. it's usually located near the bios
chip (or consult your mobo manual) . try resetting it

 

[Rob M]

When you changed your battery, did you remove and re-install any cables
in the process? A reversed IDE cable will often prevent a computer from
booting due to grounding out of the address bus. Make sure you did not
bump some other critical item.

Your problem could be caused by any number of things, but it is
unlikely that the battery is one of them unless it is in wrong. Make
sure you have RAM securely installed, the processor fan attached
properly (including any sense lead), and remove all but the essential
items from your MB. Those would be RAM, processor, power of course, and
the speaker leads. Once you get even a beep, add the video card and
other cards or cables until it fails.

It seems the problem was the RAM. Although I haven't touched the memory I
might have bumped it a bit when taking out the cages that hold the HDs.

Thanks,

Rob

 

[Your Name]

Hi Rob
Don't mean to but-in but I'm having some what of the same problem. My
computer won't boot. Did you replace the RAM or just reseat it? Thanks
William

 

[Rob M]

Hi William,

I removed one component (HDs, DVD, CD, Floppy, PCI boards, graphics card)
after the other and each time tried to start the computer. At the end only
the RAM was left. I took all three modules out at which point I finally got
beeps from the MB. When I put in one module again the computer wouldn't
start anymore (no beep, just the cpu fans running). I then assumed that
maybe this module was broken and tried another one. Same thing again. After
trying several more times with always the same three modules I finally got
the beeping again. Then I added the other two modules and it still worked.
So finally I put everything back in and the computer works again as well as
before with all the exact same components. I still don't have a definite
answer why it didn't work right aways when I reinserted the RAM. Since I was
quite carefull to put the memory sticks in securly I do not think this was
the problem. It might have had something to do how long I did wait between
trials. For instance when you turn off the power supply or pull out the
cable the MB is still loaded for a while because of all the condensers. Some
MBs have an LED to indicate when all juice is out. Right now I think this
has caused what I have experienced. Also if you turn off the power supply it
still has some energy for a while. In my case I can hear when there is no
juice left in the PS. If I would turn it back on before I hear that noise
nothing happens, not even the cpu fans. This seems to be some kind of
self-protection.

Robert

 

[Your Name]

Thanks Robert. I removed everything but my RAM so I'll try that.
William

 

[Your Name]

Thanks again Robert but something else must be wrong with my computer. I do
not get a beep after everything is removed. I think I will try a new post.
William