Bios corrupt?

OS / Drivers / BIOS
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bwi
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Bios corrupt?

Post by bwi »

I transefered my bp6 to my daughters computer and for some reason now it just locks up at random times. Ive stripped the computer to bare minimum (m/b , mem, gfx card, cpu ) and it will lock up either after it says celeron 366 2 processors or within the bios.

Now i have an old abit zm6 board with same bios chip (diff serial) can i put that chip in the bp6 and flash it with the latest bp6 bios and fingers crossed work or try again to flash tehg bios on the m/b? already tried the cmos reset btw

Bri
Wolfram
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Post by Wolfram »

I doubt it´s the BIOS chip. If something´s broken now and everything worked ok before, I´d rather assume it´s the capacitors or the PSU. Or maybe you shortened some circuit on the board when you mounted it in the new case? Check if the stand-offs seperate the board from the panel it´s mounted on. What happens if you start the board with only one cpu?

Regards,

Wolfram
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
bwi
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Post by bwi »

ok tried it with different memory , took out a cpu and tried each in cpu skt 1.

sometimes the comouter will lock while in the bios, sometimes when it comes up with some dma update sucess and then stalls. Other times a flashing cursor after showing all the drives etc , sometimes after messing with the bios it just goes black.


bri
Wolfram
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Post by Wolfram »

You could try the "force update escd" setting. And check in the BIOS if the voltages look stable.

I don´t know if those symptoms can be caused by a bad BIOS chip. I´d rather suspect the board itself is broken. But I really don´t know, sorry.

With only one cpu and a stripped down system, correct mounting... wait, what video card are you using?
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
bwi
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Post by bwi »

Video card is a Geforce 2 gts pro, but that worked fine when it was my system. Im wondering if its the psu actually as i just tried the ZM6 in the case and while it got further than the bp6 it failed as i tried to put windows onto the HD.

I managed to fdisk the hd but as soon as windows does the system checking it just stalled.

Bri
Wolfram
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Location: Germany

Post by Wolfram »

With one cpu and a GF2 pro in 2D-mode the board shouldn´t be too power-hungry. If the PSU is really the culprit, it´s probably not overloaded but defective.
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
bwi
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Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2003 2:19 pm
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Post by bwi »

ok just dropped the board into a new case and its came up with


bios rom checksum error

please insert system disk


any ideas mate?

Bri
Wolfram
Posts: 401
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2002 3:19 am
Location: Germany

Post by Wolfram »

Sorry, but it looks like the BIOS is really corrupt. Try to flash it again, with a real DOS bootdisk (ie 6.22, easy to get from www.bootdisk.com), connected as a:.

If it still doesn´t work, you might flash the chip from the BP6 on the ZM6 or use the chip from the ZM6 with the BP6 BIOS. Don´t know if it works if the BIOS chips aren´t exactly the same type.

If you flashed the BP6 chip on the ZM6, you would have to swap chips when the board is operating. Very risky. Did that once, but wouldn´t recommend it. You can damage the pins, you might ruin board and chip when you take the chip out. Would only use that as a last resort if you don´t need the ZM6 anymore.

I´m not sure if it´s possible to flash the chip from the ZM6 with the BP6 BIOS on the ZM6. Maybe not the whole BIOS will be updated, escpecially the emergency / boot block BIOS (the part that gives you the "bios rom checksum error" message on your BP6) might remain unchanged. Do some additional research on that before you try it.
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
Derek
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Post by Derek »

-Derek
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