AW9D-Max Dead BIOS

[Conduit]

Hi.
I bought myself a new system last week. The parts arrived on Friday and I assembled it yesterday. All went pretty well and after a couple of hours the system appeared to be up and running with no problems.
So, I Installed & updated the operating system (XP) & set about getting the latest drivers for everything. It all seemed to be going well and it looked like it was going to be a flyer. Thinking that it would be a good idea to start with latest BIOS, I downloaded the 14 BIOS from the abit site and used the Uguru facility to flash it.
Unplug PSU, clear CMOS, reboot
...Black screen and bleeping from the system speaker.
Checking the post error code pointed to it being a memory problem (sorry, but i can't remember the exact code), and after a little experimentation trying both sticks of ram in different slots, found that it didn't for some reason like DIMM 3. The BIOS seemed a bit buggy in other areas too (hanging a couple of times on start up and not booting for e.g.), so I decided to flash back to an earlier version of the BIOS.
This time I chose version 13, and again using the Uguru facility flashed the Bios. It got to about 90% and then froze. I left it for some minutes, but in the end could do nothing but hit the reset button. When it rebooted I was greeted with black screen almost immediate incessant multiple bleeping from the system speaker.
The BIOS is now dead & I can't do anything about it, including flashing it again from a floppy.
The motherboard is less than a day old...
This is the second Abit mobo that I've had BIOS problems with, the first being an AV8 series and it not recognizing a Winchester CPU, & TBH I was a little bit weary about buying another Abit, but after reading some good customer reviews and looking at the specs of the AW9D-Max I decided to go for it. Now I'm not yet sure whether to regret that decision or not, but one thing i do know is that I'm not a very happy bunny at this moment.
My specs:
Abit - AW9D-Max
Intel - Core 2 DUO E6600 (1066 fsb Conroe)
GeIl - GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz
EVGA - GeForce 8800 GTX
OCZ - GameXStream 700w Silent
Seagate - Barracuda 7200.10 250GB SATA-II 16MB (2 in raid 0 and one as a dump drive)

So, where do I go from here, do I RMA the board or get a new BIOS?

Thanks in advance for any help.
Conduit

[DratUK]

To get a new bios chip

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=97158

The 1.4 bios has had some issues.

http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?t=121244

Have a read through.

If you used the uguru flash menu did you uncheck the bootblock option? If not there are enough reported issues on the Abit Forums on the problems arising from not doing this.

[Conduit]

Thanks very much for your reply.
I didn't uncheck the bootblock option before using the Uguru flash menu, because i didn't know that there was any problem with it

I'm going to have a think overnight about ordering a new BIOS, but I'm not sure that I want, or indeed should have to pay £18 for a new BIOS chip a few hours after just paying £123 for a new mobo that didn't even last a day. It might be better just to return it & swap the board for something else that's not going to fall over with a simple BIOS update. It's a shame because I want to like this board.

Cheers for the links anyway, DratUK.

[DratUK]

I sympathise copletely. You never can tell what can happen with a new board. If you contact Dave24 via PM he may still have a bios chip available. I just bought one from hime for a fiver.
Seriously have a think about this. The board is a cracker once set up. The support for the board through here and and on the Abit USA forum is far far better than any other manufacturer.
http://forum.abit-usa.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3

I insatalled an Asus P5B Deluxe last week just to see what everybody was raving about. Good board but it friewd 3 Flash drives, figured out the power supply to the USB poerts was over spec and burnt the drives out.

I wish you luck in whatever you decide.

If you also PM Abit Sean he maybe able to help out

[dave24]

@Conduit

If you want a bios chip i still have 2 left, 1 has the bios13 on and the other has a bios13 beta on,just give me a pm and i`ll sort you out

[Conduit]

Thanks again for the prompt reply, guys
Dave24 I've sent you a PM, mate.
DratUK; I'd read a lot of good reviews about the board (customer reviews, and tech site reviews) which is why i decided to go for it, and as I said, I really want to like it. I guess I'm just a bit unlucky with the BIOS.

[Optical668]

Yup had the same thing happen to me Conduit a few days ago. The mobo post error was proberly 6F or 7F thats what i got when i did the BIOS 14 update.... I changed the BIOS chip was programmed for 1.2 which is what i had before and im still getting a 7F Error and Blank Screen.

I also have the same RAM as you.

Heres my post about the problem.

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=102237

[Blitzen]

I too bought this board (its great), but read about the dodgy 14 verson bios.

TBPH...i think ABIT should send you a new bios chip free. This board is the best part of £150 and if its releasing bios updates that are rubbish then you should at least be compensated for that by being given a new chip.


Come on ABIT............if the bios revision 14 is cack (which it looks like) then at least take it off you site until its fixed.
You should never be releasing this to the unsuspecting public if its not ready.

[Conduit]

I'm having a nightmare with this board.
I received a new BIOS from Dave a couple of days ago and set about installing it. After earthing myself I removed the old bios with a bios removal tool borrowed from a friend. Inserted the new bios, cleared the cmos, turned on the power supply and pressed the start button.
Well the board lights up, which is a start i guess, but that's as far as it goes... The CPU fan spins for about half a second and then stops and I get the error code 8.2, which is 'enable ATX power supply'. The power supply is brand new (an ocx 700w GameXtreem) and is working fine (tested on another system). I tried putting the old BIOS back in (it was screwed, but at least the CPU fan span and there appeared to be power) only to find that I have the same problem now.
This smiley is very appropriate
So, after I get home from work tonight at around 6, the board is going to be removed from my new case, packed back in it's pretty box and RMA'd to the supplier.
I will not be replacing it with another Abit.
The only reason I'm not sounding off more strongly right now is because I know a couple of people who are running Abit boards without a problem. In fact they love them & are urging me to just get it swapped for another identical board. They're not stupid people, so I must conclude that Abit do make boards that work well, without significant problems... sometimes.
Unfortunately my experience with them will be remembered with something very far from affection. More like frustration tinged with a little anger, & I must be just somewhat unlucky (I'm trying hard to be nice here) to have had 2 Abit boards with different BIOS problems in the past couple of years.
If you have any suggestions on how to fix the board before I return from work this evening I'll give them a go (and it would be nice to see someone with an Abit tag reply to this thread) before I remove the board.

Thanks to the people here who tried to help me. it was appreciated.

[Blitzen]

After reading this thread have you noticed something?

There isnt a single post from anyone from ABIT...........

[DratUK]

Conduit M8 I would save yourself some more frustration and just RMA the board.
There are other issues with your board that a bios change is solving. Like your friends I would say just go for a straight swap.
Whilst we can vent our frustration here, there always going to be bad boards that end up in customers hands. I am not referering to crap bios revisions, but physical defects. I can relate half doz boards I have had over the years from different manufacturers that have failed, the most recent being this Asus P5B Deluxe that is overvolted on the USB ports and has blown 3 flash drives.

Its frustrating and it can I and yourselves get very p**** when it happens, but its fact of life.
Conduit and Blitzen, a bad experience with Abit can also happen with Asus MSI etc at least on here guys are willing to respend and try and help. Try doing that with some of the other manufacturers.
Sorry to go on, but I really feel for you guys and I hope it gets sorted to your satisfaction.

[ABIT Sean]

Conduit if you wish to abits direct RMA service please email your details to returns@abitcomputer.co.uk

I would be more than happy to sort out your problem.

[Blitzen]

Conduit M8 I would save yourself some more frustration and just RMA the board.
There are other issues with your board that a bios change is solving. Like your friends I would say just go for a straight swap.
Whilst we can vent our frustration here, there always going to be bad boards that end up in customers hands. I am not referering to crap bios revisions, but physical defects. I can relate half doz boards I have had over the years from different manufacturers that have failed, the most recent being this Asus P5B Deluxe that is overvolted on the USB ports and has blown 3 flash drives.

Its frustrating and it can I and yourselves get very p**** when it happens, but its fact of life.
Conduit and Blitzen, a bad experience with Abit can also happen with Asus MSI etc at least on here guys are willing to respend and try and help. Try doing that with some of the other manufacturers.
Sorry to go on, but I really feel for you guys and I hope it gets sorted to your satisfaction.

Maybe so///the problem i have with the WIFI though has had just one answer. Ater that it has been ignored!!!

Thats crap service tbh when i have spent £150 on a product that doesnt function correctly

[ABIT Sean]

The WIFI issues is being address and I will more information for you next. Im sorry that its taking so long.