Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
dont have a different make of card, unfortunatly, and nobody to borow one off :(
i've tried it with everything connected up, drives, etc, or just the motherboard, the 24 pin, the extra 4 pin. and the molex...
tried reseating the cpu, as i changed the cpu....
tried one, two, and three sticks of ram, then each individually, didnt change it
i have tried 2 graphics cards, and i have a third on the way, just to make sure
also am borrowing a friend's bios chip...
see if that fixes it, if it doesnt, then it must be the board itself
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
i'll wait til i get this replacement bios chip...
THEN if THAT doesnt work, i dont think there's anything more i can do
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
I have seen this problem before, more than once.... In one instance, it was an underpowered PSU that was at fault and replacing it fixed the problem, in another case it took a BIOS flash of the graphic card to fixed the problem but thats not something to undertake lightly...
It certainly seems like display corruption, no more, no less, although you cant read the text on the screen and it doesn't seem like english, the computer is interpreting it correctly (or it likely woulndn't get that far in to the POST), so it's not actually crap data, it's just the displaying of it thats fubar, so you should be able to navigate through things and make changes without any problems.
One thing you have not said (or I have missed), does windows load ? can you get that far ? Is this problem just limited to the BIOS ?
Of course, there is no certainty that you are suffering from the exact same issues that I have seen, but the symptoms are cartainly the same.
I am REALLY reluctant to suggest this after all the trouble it caused in the last post I made on the subject, but after the mobo BIOS, the GPU BIOS, the RAM, and the mobo it's self, the only other thing that can cause these symptoms is the power supply.
(For those reading this that feel they want to get in to yet another debate about power supplies, don't bother, Im not wasting any more of my time on you.)
The fact is, without secondary hardware to swap things in and out of, your stuck, a spare PSU, GPU, Mobo, RAM, etc, are required to effectively track down the fault, nothing you have said so far has made me thing it is 100% the motherboard thats at fault, there are many possibilities and you do not have the means to test them all.
Without an alternative, you can always take it to your local computer shop and have them test it.
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
no, windows (well, linux in this case) does not load, it did twice, but its refusing to anymore... it comes up with all the usual crap that ubuntu comes up with on the screen, the first two times, in english, but after that, it turned to gibberish...
i have an alternative psu on the way
currently it is running an Akasa 400W, which was reviewed here at hexus, and on the way is an "EZcool" (crap, i know, but it'll do for testing) 400W ....
bios chip is also in the post....
either way, i will try everything i can to get this fixed.
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
New bios chip came, so i popped it in...same problem...(sigh) ...
later on in the day, the new graphics card arrived...popped that in...problem persists...
only one last thing i am now waiting for...psu...
if that doesnt fix it, i dunno what else i can do...
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
Doh, no closer to fixing it then :/
If the PSU doesn't cure it then it looks like we'll have to write it off.
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
psu arrived, rather late, 10 to 5 today...
so i shal be trying that shortly, i shal report back with results :)
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
after a good 2 hours of trying things....i'm afraid to say, it still isnt working :(
looks like i'll have to get another mainboard :(
this sucks sevearly...
i went through and retied all 3 sticks of ram, my 2 different processors, with and without hard drives, both my graphics cards, in both slots, and nothing :(
kept swaping psu's ....still nothing...
i dont think there's anything more i can do :(
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
it makes no sense that the OS loaded twice, then didn't...
Something has clearly failed, and as you have now tried everything it could possibly be, by reason of deduction, it does indeed, seem to leave the main board as the culprit...
If I were you, there is one last test I would try, I would remove the mobo from the case and lie it on the original foam square that is in the box (if it came with the original box/foam) if thats not available, use a dry bath towel or something bulky, soft and non-conductive.
Hook the board up with 1 stick of ram, a CPU, a GPU and connect the PSU, be sure to connect no other devices, no USB, no PCI, no ethernet, nothing other than the minimum required to POST, and see how it goes, if it posts ok, try adding a hard drive, if it fails to post, try connecting a CD/DVD and see if you can flash the BIOS from the driver disk by hitting the ALT+F2 keys at the point the computer reboots, it can sometimes be tricky to get the timing right, but if you get it right it will enter EZ-Flash which is built in to the BIOS and will let you update the BIOS from the original driver disk that came with the mobo (if indeed it did come with it)
If you can access EZ-Flash ok, this will pretty much confirm that the BIOS is in fact working ok, it's just a display corruption issue.
I understand your using a new BIOS chip, did you clear the CMOS before you tried to boot it ?
If the motherboard has been shorting against the case, then can cause problems, and in fact, damage, so it may be worth trying it 'out the case' to see what happens.
Have you been using a 20-24 pin PSU converter, or was your original PSU a 24 pin ?
Does that x300 use external power ? Forgive me asking, but I assume it's connected up ok ?
Shame you have had these problems, I have been running one of these boards in my main rig, since they were released, and they are rock solid and perform VERY well, the number of on board SATA connectors has prevented me from upgrading this board to something else and I still use it in my main rig to this day....
Still hope you find the problem, it's a board thats still worth having by todays standards, good luck !
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sema4
it makes no sense that the OS loaded twice, then didn't...
Something has clearly failed, and as you have now tried everything it could possibly be, by reason of deduction, it does indeed, seem to leave the main board as the culprit...
I know, i didnt understand that either, the bios was showing the same as it is now, but the os loaded fine.....but now, the os's writing is in the same corrupted stuff as the bios
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sema4
If I were you, there is one last test I would try, I would remove the mobo from the case and lie it on the original foam square that is in the box (if it came with the original box/foam) if thats not available, use a dry bath towel or something bulky, soft and non-conductive.
I did try that, last night, with the new psu ...someone sugested it to me on msn after i logged off here, so i figured what the hey, i took it all out, tried it, it didnt boot the first time, so i disconected everything again, and reconnected it, it booted the second time, but again, gibberish ...didnt fix it :(
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sema4
Hook the board up with 1 stick of ram, a CPU, a GPU and connect the PSU, be sure to connect no other devices, no USB, no PCI, no ethernet, nothing other than the minimum required to POST, and see how it goes, if it posts ok, try adding a hard drive, if it fails to post, try connecting a CD/DVD and see if you can flash the BIOS from the driver disk by hitting the ALT+F2 keys at the point the computer reboots, it can sometimes be tricky to get the timing right, but if you get it right it will enter EZ-Flash which is built in to the BIOS and will let you update the BIOS from the original driver disk that came with the mobo (if indeed it did come with it)
i tried booting it from the cd, but the text the cd loads up (you have to choose an option, i believe) and its all in gibberish, so i cant pick one...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sema4
If you can access EZ-Flash ok, this will pretty much confirm that the BIOS is in fact working ok, it's just a display corruption issue.
i can access it, as above ^^^^
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sema4
I understand your using a new BIOS chip, did you clear the CMOS before you tried to boot it ?
the first time, no, but the second time yes, and took the batter out, and left it for about 10 minutes, tried all.... :(
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sema4
If the motherboard has been shorting against the case, then can cause problems, and in fact, damage, so it may be worth trying it 'out the case' to see what happens.
there was nothing to indicate it shorting, no marks on the motherboard, or the cate, nothing that looked like it had been shorting, no screws out of place or anything....
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sema4
Have you been using a 20-24 pin PSU converter, or was your original PSU a 24 pin ?
my origonal psu was 24 pin, the newer one is 20 pin with an optional 4 pins, which i added on..
no difference to either
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sema4
Does that x300 use external power ? Forgive me asking, but I assume it's connected up ok ?
uses only the pci-e slot...
so no problems there, and have tried both pci-e slots :(
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sema4
Shame you have had these problems, I have been running one of these boards in my main rig, since they were released, and they are rock solid and perform VERY well, the number of on board SATA connectors has prevented me from upgrading this board to something else and I still use it in my main rig to this day....
Still hope you find the problem, it's a board thats still worth having by todays standards, good luck !
i know, reading the manual, and looking at what people have said on the net, it apears a very capable board, up there with the dfi sli-dr's, i wish i could get it working, :(
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
:(
trying hard to help....
EZFlash, the screens you are seeing should look like this.... perhaps these will help you navigate ?
http://www.latenightpc.com/pictures/...le-chooser.jpg
http://www.latenightpc.com/pictures/...up-warning.jpg
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
i dont get anything like that, i get a black screen with gibberish on it...
says somthing like
a@''g'd'h'e'h'#'as''g'sd'
Aa:> (then you can type anything here, but the keys aint what they say they are on the keyboard, and no-matter what you type, you get some form of error message in capital letters, but its all randomised...)
EDIT: ordered another one off ebay, shal be here in a couple of days, i shal swap out just the board and see what happens....
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
hmm, from what you describe of the EZFlash thing, it appears your ending up at a command prompt, so it would appear that EZFlash isn't loading at all, I must confess that I have found it tricky to get the timing right for the EZFlash thing my self in the past, but Im sure if you have tried it a few times you should have got it at least once...
Inching ever closer to the board having failed :(
Finger crossed with the replacement, please let us know!
Good luck !
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
getting the timing right is tricky if its in english, imagine my dilema :(
and i will do....the guy said 2 days...so...i'm crossing my figners for sooner!
Re: Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?
sorry i took a while to get back to this
i've been experimenting with every possible idea i could
right, here's for the longest post ever......
new motherboard arrived...so i moved all the parts across, and booted it outside of the case, and hey presto, booted perfectly, first time, no gibberish...perfect....
so i thought, ok...could still be somthing else...
so i took the bios chip from the new board and put it in the old one, and then moved everything back....
i got gibberish...
so i replaced the bios chip in the new board, and.....this is the bad part...i got gibberish...
so ...fortunatly, i had a spare bios chip that someone had sent me, i put that in the new board, and it fixed it, it seems whatever the problem with the old board, its contageous to bios chips...
while the destroyed bios chip (that at the time i didnt know was destroyed) was in the old board, i tried all the aforementioned configurations, no hard or optical drives, or a mixture of some of one, some of the other...nothing...i tried 3 different hard drives with 3 different OS's on them, nothing, one stick of ram, in each of the slots, graphics cards, one, then the other, in both slots, different psu's, hell, i even tried a different heatsink, on the processor, just to be 100% sure...i tried it in and our of the case, to no avail, i even tried a different case, no difference....so then was the point i put the bios chip back in the new board, and found gibberish, i'm just glad it didnt infect the new board, but putting my spare bios chip in it fixed it, so i dont think there should be a problem anymore
to conclude, tbh, it has to be the board, i have tried every possible alternative, and it just isnt having it at all...
unless anyone else has any more tests (i'll hold off throwing the board out for a bit to see if anyone has any other ideas)
EDIT: i'm sure JimNastics will be glad to know his opty can do 3GHz with 1.45v, at a reasonable 44*C.....or it can with the new board :)