No video signal displayed - FI90HD

[Thebatfink]

Hi,

where to start? Im at my wits end. Ive always brought ABIT but if I dont get this sorted I never will again.

I had a bad motherboard, gpt it replaced couple of years ago. Last year the network controller died so I had to buy a seperate card. Lately the PC has been acting up, general lock ups and what not.

Decided to upgrade bios. Got the latest flashmenu and latest bios and flashed. I told it to clear cmos and then rebooted. On boot it says checksum error or whatever, I hit F1 to continue. PC boots fine.

Now when I reboot I get no video signal through HDMI or Ive just checked, vga. The PC sounds like its booting, the disks make the right noises etc but no video.

If I clear the cmos with jumper, pc boots fine. On the next reboot, yep.. NO VIDEO. Reboot after clearing CMOS works fine, next reboot no VIDEO again! Im so p'd off.

So 2 questions really.. How do I sort this if anyone has any ideas please. GREATLY appreciated!! 2) what brand and model of motherboard do I replace this one with for my HTPC..

Thanks!
Batfink

[BUFF]

Hi,
Ive always brought ABIT but if I dont get this sorted I never will again.

even if you do get it sorted you won't be buying abit again as they pulled out at the end of last year ...

Decided to upgrade bios. Got the latest flashmenu and latest bios and flashed. I told it to clear cmos and then rebooted. On boot it says checksum error or whatever, I hit F1 to continue. PC boots fine.

sure that it's the latest FlashMenu?
Have you tried updating in DOS?

Now when I reboot I get no video signal through HDMI or Ive just checked, vga. The PC sounds like its booting, the disks make the right noises etc but no video.

If I clear the cmos with jumper, pc boots fine. On the next reboot, yep.. NO VIDEO. Reboot after clearing CMOS works fine, next reboot no VIDEO again! Im so p'd off.

So 2 questions really.. How do I sort this if anyone has any ideas please. GREATLY appreciated!!k

Have you searched to see if anyone else has had similar experience? (unfortunately this is where the great repository of knowledge that was the abit forum is greatly missed )
I may be wrong but it sounds like a setting error.

[Thebatfink]

Hi Buff. Thanks for the reply.

I didn't know that Abit had gone under! Oh my.. I guess that means that no Abit employees cover this forum anymore then?? Do you know if the support email in the sticky on this forum is still actively manned?

As for the problem,

It was definately the right version of the flashmenu. I'm so sure because I didn't have flashmenu installed so had to download it from Abits website.. Only the latest version was there and I made a point of checking the version as I saw the red text within each bios download stating it needed this version. I also made sure all Anti virus and that sort of thing, including all running programs and background processes sat in my system tray where closed before performing the update. I updated to the very latest version of the bios.
The update went fine and it reported it sucessful. At the end (or at the start I dont remember) it asked if it should clear the CMOS, I said yes. It then said the new bios would be in effect after the next reboot.
I rebooted and everything appeared fine. It gave a CMOS checksum error as it had been cleared. I clicked F1 to continue and I presume it loaded defaults. PC booted fine and got into windows.

My problems appear when I reboot, I get NO signal from either the HDMI port or the VGA port, I don't see the post, or anything, no signal whatsoever. I know the PC is booting though as there are various levels of hard disk activity which in the end settles down and appears as if its just sat on the desktop.

Now, if I turn the power off, discharge the CMOS using the jumper, the PC will boot up, with video signal and again say CMOS checksum error, I hit F1 to continue and it will boot fine, but yes again when I reboot, NO signal. I can do this as much as I want, I always get a signal on the boot up immediately AFTER clearing the CMOS and I always lose everything after the first reboot of the machine.

I did have a look in the bios for anything untoward. I also tried selecting the defaults and saving. All things like memory speeds and processor speeds are set to default, I never overclocked the machine. Everything looks fine. The only setting I can see that even relates to the video is a setting regarding the HDMI port. It says something along the lines of if you are connecting to a HDMI TV source then the setting should be "Normal", if you aren't you should select "DVI". When I clear the CMOS and go into the bios (when the video signal is working and I can get into windows and see it) the value is populated "DVI". Which is kind of strange as I am using the HDMI port to a HDMI TV.
I have tried connecting both the VGA and HDMI (my TV supports both) and I changed this setting to "Normal" as appose to the default "DVI", I still get no signal from either output..

Searching around is proving unsucessful. The only mention of something similar I can find is here on these forums where someone seems to have an identical problem (in that the first boot works, but subsequent reboots do not) but it was resolved by buying a new bios chip?!

I could try updating the bios via DOS but the problem is I have no floppy drive.. All I have is usb sticks (does anyone actually use floppy anymore!!)..

I guess it would appear the bios is somehow broken being as I can remedy the issue at least for one update via the bios / cmos. I dont know where the bios chip is or how to remove it, and even if I did, I have no idea how to get a new one or the original fixed and if Abit are now dead then unless you have any ideas I guess I'm screwed??

What do you think?

Thanks
Batfink

[Thebatfink]

http://forums.hexus.net/abit-care-he...y-problem.html -< thats the link I found.

[jclafi]

I strongly recommend that you make a boot disc or boot pen drive and make your BIOS UPDATE under DOS MODE, anything except the FlashMenu. That&#180;s because my board only worked fine after i make a BIOS UPDATE under DOS MODE.

Also dont give-up before try to use the older BIOS version, maybe the new one is problematic. After the BIOS UPDATE make a full clear cmos on the board.

Good Luck

Good Luck!

[Thebatfink]

Reflashed with the bios in DOS mode (salvaged a floppy drive from a friend) and I have exactly the same issues..

I'll try once more with an older version then its probably going to have to go on the scrap heap if no one has any other ideas. Such a waste.

Thanks for the help. Will post back with results.

[BUFF]

Hi Buff. Thanks for the reply.

I didn't know that Abit had gone under! Oh my.. I guess that means that no Abit employees cover this forum anymore then?? Do you know if the support email in the sticky on this forum is still actively manned?

they didn't actually go under, more just gave up as they couldn't make the margins that their parent company wanted them to. I suspect that after seeing the last 9 months or so they they are happy that they made the decision at the time (last Summer).

haven't seen an abit employee around here for months so I guess so.
Where are you? Afaik abit are still running a skeleton support staff in both USA & here in Europe (from the Netherlands).

I could try updating the bios via DOS but the problem is I have no floppy drive.. All I have is usb sticks (does anyone actually use floppy anymore!!)..

not a problem, see http://www.theraptorpit.com/forum/in...showtopic=2628

I dont know where the bios chip is or how to remove it, and even if I did, I have no idea how to get a new one or the original fixed and if Abit are now dead then unless you have any ideas I guess I'm screwed??

again not a problem, we can cover that if/when we have to.

[Thebatfink]

Thanks again for the replies. I have again reflashed in DOS with version 14 of the bios (released prior to me owning the board) 5 revisions below the latest. The same problem persists.. Only the first boot after cmos clear actually gives anykind of video signal. First reboot and nothing..

Im in the uk and emailed the email in the sticky of this forum and tge email hasnt got through after 27 hours.. (got an email from my providers server).

Im considering just buying a asus geforce 9300 motherboard and transplanting everything. Its not the first or second time something on these boards has died on me and i'm losing faith with them.

Found somewhere that sells bios chips for 15 quid delivered but its only 80 for a guarenteed working board.. Can we say with any certainty that the bios chip is to blame here?? Its flashed 3 times now without errors?

Any ideas?

Thanks
Batfink

[Thebatfink]

Just noticed on all the motherboards I'm looking at there is 3 years warrenty on them? Does that mean my board is still under warrenty.

I brought it from overclockers.co.uk.. What should my line of attack be here? Tap up overclockers?

[BUFF]

2 years warranty on abit mobos in Europe.

Tel: +1-408-213-2618
Fax: +1-408-213-2619
Europe
Universal ABIT NL B.V.
Jan van Riebeeckweg 15, 5928LG , Venlo, The Netherlands
Tel: 31-77-3204428
Fax: 31-77-3204420

Office times:
Monday – Thursday from 09:00 – 18:00
Friday from 09:00 – 16:15

tbh the I-F90HD wasn't a great board but I tend to lay the blame more on the chipset than on abit & afaik Asrock was the only other company that made 1 with the same chipset.

[Thebatfink]

Im out of warrenty by a week on my first replacement board then. Typical. Will just by the GeForce board instead. No other ideas for fixing the board?