Asus A8N-SLi Premium - corrupted bios?

I recently sold my Asus A8N-SLi Premium motherboard to ionicle on here. It was working fine when I stripped the machine a few weeks back, but he's tried building his PC and is having big problems with what looks like a corrupted bios:

A8N-SLi Premium corrupted bios??

Obviously I'm trying to help him sort this out :help: It's not a different language (I don't think), as he said changing the language option (third down from the top) doesn't do anything.

Anyone experienced this before? Should a bios flash do the trick? Could it be something other than the bios?

It looks like it's in French - but not quite. Does selecting a different language change the text on the screen, even if it still gibberish. If it does not change at all then something wrong with the MB/BIOS, flashing it might fix it.

If the BIOS is using one of the low res text video modes its video card provides the data for the characters set. Can you see the message from the video card when it boots? If it's gibberish like the bios text it might be the video card that duff. Can another video card used?

eek, try and flash it :)

selecting a different language does not change the bios screen's content, only the initial post screens content

attempting to flash it does not work, no-matter what the source

because dos, also becomes gibberish, and my keyboard doesnt type the keys its suposed to

so how can i reflash it, when typing doesnt even make up a coherent sentence or word...

i have tried taking the battery out for 4 hours then trying again...nothing

tried taking the graphics card out, and in a different slot, no difference

tried a different stick of ram, and a different processor, no difference,

tried booting without hard drives, or optical drives, no difference

tried booting to a different hard drive, with a different OS on it, no difference

i think its F****D tbh...

i will keep trying any ideas people come up with though...

Can you try a different video card?

thanks for the sugestion, i just tried that

the problem persists

also it doesnt matter which pci-e slot the card is in

and a pci card doesnt work either

Can you try a diff bios chip from another mobo (pref one you don't really need anymore)?

I think, providing it is the right type (ie size/shape) there shouldn't be any probs with doing this.

I had a mobo I couldn't boot because it wouldn't recognize my cpu, just ordered a compatable chip from the web and slotted it in.

i dont have a motherboard with a compatable bios chip unfortunatly :(

Do you have a 3.5 floppy drive?

If so can you make a bootable disk with a flashing software and rom image on, and create a file called a.bat containing the command to use the flashing software?

Boot from the disk and type \'a\' it should flash the BIOS

Just musing out loud, but I wonder if there is a problem with the memory he is using? It\'s almost as if a bit isn\'t being set in the characterset used.

What graphics card and memory were you using - and what is he using?

i dont have a 3.5" floppy drive, or disk, but i tried booting from usb, and it didnt work...

as it came up with the same gibberish as in the bios



i have used the same memory as he did, i bought it off him, but i did try a stick of my own that works perfectly in another system, so that isnt the problem

and as for graphics, i am using an X300

Quote:

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Originally Posted by manwithnoname

If the BIOS is using one of the low res text video modes its video card provides the data for the characters set. Can you see the message from the video card when it boots? If it's gibberish like the bios text it might be the video card that duff. Can another video card used?

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I had forgotten about that and was really hoping that was the case, obviously not :/ ionicle, was the other card you used just another stand pci-e card that defo works?

This is just completely strange, I don't know how or why it's happened :O_o1:

i have used a brand new X300

and a used and guarenteed working X300, in both PCI-E slots, each one tried in each slot

didnt work

tried a pci graphics card (matrox somthing or other)

in all 3 pci ports...

same gibberish came up

Have you tried recovering the bios from the motherboard support cd that came with the mobo? I have the same mobo and I'm reading from the manual page 4-5 about this. Sounds like it is what you should do if your bios is corrupt. I seem to recall reading that there is a backup bios on the board although I can't find anything on it from quickly flicking thru the manual just now. I have the asus product page in my bookmarks if that might help looking there: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

yes, it loaded a form of dos, which was also gibberish...

i tried from the disk, but all the text that came up was gibberish, and you have to select somthing, i tried selecting either option, all i got was more gibberish :(

have u tried a different make of card in the PCI-E slot with your memory?

have u connected everything up or is this just for POST? (ie m/b, cpu, ram & gfx)

id personally try with reseating the cpu and try 1 stick of ram, the gfx card and see what i got n go from there

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

In that case I think you might have to accept that the mobo is unfixable and buy another of ebay or something. Like this one: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 Motherboard on eBay, also For AMD, Motherboards, Desktop PC Components, Computing (end time 05-Dec-07 21:27:06 GMT)

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

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.

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.

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...

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.

psu arrived, rather late, 10 to 5 today...

so i shal be trying that shortly, i shal report back with results :)

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 :(

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 !

Quote:

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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...

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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:

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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.

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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:

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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)

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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:

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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.

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i can access it, as above ^^^^

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sema4

I understand your using a new BIOS chip, did you clear the CMOS before you tried to boot it ?

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the first time, no, but the second time yes, and took the batter out, and left it for about 10 minutes, tried all.... :(

Quote:

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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.

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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:

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Originally Posted by Sema4

Have you been using a 20-24 pin PSU converter, or was your original PSU a 24 pin ?

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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:

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Originally Posted by Sema4

Does that x300 use external power ? Forgive me asking, but I assume it's connected up ok ?

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uses only the pci-e slot...

so no problems there, and have tried both pci-e slots :(

Quote:

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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 !

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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, :(

:(

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

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....

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 !

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!

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 :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ionicle

...
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....

...

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You're more courageous than me (I would have stopped tinkering once I had something that worked) - disappointing to see all the advise in the thread didn't help :) glad you have something running now.

i had to be sure, i didnt wanna cheat the guy out of money, if i had somthing that worked...

atm, its sat in an anti-static bag, on my "out" pile lol