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From: larry moe 'n curly on 29 Apr 2010 20:26


Daniel Prince wrote:

> My brother bought an ASUS M4N78 PRO motherboard.

> He started the computer and was able to get into the BIOS. He set
> the date and time. He also changed the boot order to CDROM first.
> He did NOT change anything else or try to flash the BIOS.
>
> When he rebooted, he did not press a key when the system asked him
> if he wanted to boot from CD. The system then tried to boot from
> the hard drive. The hard drive has Windows 7 (32 bit) on it that he
> installed when he had an ASUS M4A78 Pro motherboard. It seemed as
> if Windows was not loading.
>
> He stopped the boot process. He thought he might have to reinstall
> Windows 7 to remove the drivers that were on the hard drive from the
> previous motherboard. The previous motherboard was an ASUS M4A78 Pro
> that he had returned because it had stopped working just after he
> had installed Windows 7 with it.
>
> He rebooted and got a BIOS checksum error. The BIOS asked for a file
> on the DVD that came with the motherboard. The BIOS said not to
> insert the DVD if the DVD drive was a USB drive. His drive was IDE
> so he inserted the DVD. The system seemed to find the file it was
> looking for.
>
> He does not remember the exact wording but first it said something
> like, "Clearing BIOS," with a small rotating star to indicate that
> it was working. This message disappeared and then it said something
> like, "Writing BIOS," with the same rotating star. This message
> disappeared and then it said reboot to regain system. After
> rebooting, there was no video. The CPU fan and case power light
> came on. There were no beeps from the case speaker.

There's a chance the whole BIOS wasn't erased and that the boot block
BIOS is still there and will allow re-flashing from a CD or DVD. Asus
recommends clearing the CMOS by moving the jumper. But if nothing
works, at least the BIOS chip for that mobo is in a socket (8-pin
thing, between the parallel IDE connector and SATA connectors), and
maybe Asus will sell a replacement BIOS chip cheaply, or a friend
whose mobo also has a socketed 8-pin BIOS chip can do a hot flash
(needs 8 megabit serial flash chip -- Digi-Key, Mouser sell them).
From: Paul on 29 Apr 2010 22:24
Daniel Prince wrote:

>
> How can he tell which CPU and board revision he has?
>

Take a look at this picture of the processor. The part number
is printed right on the device. It may have been printed on
a label on the outside of the box as well.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom%20II%20X3%20720%20-%20HDX720WFK3DGI%20(HDX720WFGIBOX).html

http://www.cpu-world.com/Images/uploaded/0000/31/L_00003109.jpg

>
> I am thinking of buying an Athlon II X3 435. Is that an older
> processor that should work with the BIOS on the DVD?
>

They have "introduction date" listed for the processors here, under
the CPU information tab. This one is Feb 9, 2009.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom%20II%20X3%20720%20Black%20Edition%20-%20HDZ720WFK3DGI%20(HDZ720WFGIBOX).html

This Athlon II X3 435 is listed as Oct 20, 2009.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Athlon%20II%20X3%20435%20-%20ADX435WFK32GI%20(ADX435WFGIBOX).html

The entries on the Asus CPUSupport page, show the 435 needs an even
more recent BIOS.

Athlon IIX3 435( ADX435WFK32GI),2.9GHz,512KB
rev.C2,95W,SocketAM3 1.02G 1303

Athlon IIX3 435( ADX435WFK32GM),2.9GHz,512KB
rev.C3,95W,SocketAM3 ALL 1501

With regard to the board revision, it is likely printed in copper or
white letters, on the surface of the motherboard.

In the Asus table, this would be an example of an older processor.
The CPU-World page doesn't have a date, but a similar processor
is dated May 16, 2006.

Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (CU),512Kx2,65W,rev.F2,SocketAM2

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD-Athlon%2064%20X2%203800%2B%20-%20ADA3800IAA5CU%20(ADA3800CUBOX).html

Paul
From: Daniel Prince on 30 Apr 2010 05:44
Paul <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote:

>It's possible, that the BIOS file on the motherboard DVD, is an
>earlier revision than the one flashed into the board, at the factory.
>
>To start, I'd check the CPUSupport chart.
>
>http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M4A78%20Pro
>
>Phenom IIX3 720 (HDX720WFK3DGI),2.8GHz,95W Board BIOS
>rev.C2,SocketAM3,Triple-Core 1.02G 1005
>
>Phenom IIX3 720 (HDZ720WFK3DGI),2.8GHz,95W,
>rev.C2,SocketAM3,Triple-Core ALL 0409

I checked and he has the HDZ720WFK3DGI CPU and the 1.02G revision
board. Does that mean he needs the 0409 BIOS? How can he get that
BIOS version? When I click on the "GO>>>" icon after the "0409",
with FireFox, all I get is a completely blank screen.

There are vendors on eBay who sell programmed BIOS chips for his
motherboard for about $15.50. Would installing one of those chips
be likely to solve the problem? How difficult is it to remove and
install those chips?
--
I don't understand why they make gourmet cat foods. I have
known many cats in my life and none of them were gourmets.
They were all gourmands!
From: Paul on 30 Apr 2010 07:34
Daniel Prince wrote:
> Paul <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote:
>
>> It's possible, that the BIOS file on the motherboard DVD, is an
>> earlier revision than the one flashed into the board, at the factory.
>>
>> To start, I'd check the CPUSupport chart.
>>
>> http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M4A78%20Pro
>>
>> Phenom IIX3 720 (HDX720WFK3DGI),2.8GHz,95W Board BIOS
>> rev.C2,SocketAM3,Triple-Core 1.02G 1005
>>
>> Phenom IIX3 720 (HDZ720WFK3DGI),2.8GHz,95W,
>> rev.C2,SocketAM3,Triple-Core ALL 0409
>
> I checked and he has the HDZ720WFK3DGI CPU and the 1.02G revision
> board. Does that mean he needs the 0409 BIOS? How can he get that
> BIOS version? When I click on the "GO>>>" icon after the "0409",
> with FireFox, all I get is a completely blank screen.
>
> There are vendors on eBay who sell programmed BIOS chips for his
> motherboard for about $15.50. Would installing one of those chips
> be likely to solve the problem? How difficult is it to remove and
> install those chips?

He doesn't need *exactly* the 0409 BIOS. That is the minimum BIOS
version that is supposed to be useful. Any BIOS later than that
should be fine as well (barring any bugs). You should take a look through
any vip.asus.com postings, to see whether there are any BIOS versions
to be avoided entirely. Or any flashing methods, known to cause
issues. Every board is different in that regard.

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=1&model=M4N78+Pro&SLanguage=en-us

On older motherboards, the BIOS chip used to have a sticker on it,
indicating what version of BIOS was installed at the factory. With
the new SPI serial flash chips, there probably isn't room for such a
sticker, as the chip is smaller. The older 32-PLCC package gave room
for a sticker.

If you look on the DVD, using the file "explorer", you should be
seeing a file that was used to burn the BIOS on your recovery
attempt. If you can figure out what version that BIOS is, and
compare it to 0409, that may tell you whether this is just a
version issue, or something else happened (such as the flash
going bad, and the flashed info being corrupted). (If the file
name is not suggestive of a version, use a hex editor and look
through the file. Try looking near the end of the file.)

As an example, it is possible to screw up a BIOS flash, by the
clock feeding the flash chip being the wrong frequency. On some
of the older boards, you could do that while overclocking. So if
you knew you were going to flash the BIOS, you'd think about
clearing the CMOS, to get the clocks back to "normal". A risk as
well, might be whether you had to do anything special to get it
running the first time. If the board wouldn't start with some
enthusiast RAM you bought, and you used some "slow" RAM to get
it to POST, you might have considered installing the "slow" RAM
again, before clearing the CMOS and returning the board to defaults.
So while you'd think nothing could go wrong on a re-flash of the
BIOS, there can be plenty of little things that might contribute
to it going wrong. Another would be a power failure in the middle
of an update, which has caught a few people. Using a UPS while
the flash is ongoing, would buy you a few minutes for the flash to
complete. I don't know how long it takes an SPI to flash, as I haven't
flashed one yet.

Depending on your retailer, if your retailer has a short returns
period, and you're within that period, you could consider returning
the board. If it is some deal, where the retailer tells you to RMA
to Asus, then that is going to suck, and could take you three weeks
or more, to get the same board or some other board back.

The reviews on that motherboard, are a bit on the low side.

M4N78 Pro

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813131382

I went there, looking for a picture. I think I see an 8 pin SPI flash
near the six SATA connectors, and it could be socketed. There should be
a groove or dimple on one end, marking the pin 1 end. And similar markings
either on the socket, or a marking on the silk screen, marking pin 1 as
well. If you remove the chip for any reason, make a drawing of how it
goes back. There are two ways it could be inserted into the sccket.
I don't see a seven pin SPI programming header on the board, and that
wouldn't really help anyway, as the only SPI header programmer I've
seen, costs $150.00.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/13-131-382-S04?$S640W$

The Asus warranty period of three years, is based on the manufacturing
date. The serial number on the outside of the box, has one character
for the year_number, one character for the month_number, and that tells
you when the three year clock starts ticking. Those characters are at the
beginning of the serial number. You likely have some time left on that.
The board I just bought, only had about half the warranty left on it,
so you only get the three years for sure, if you're an "early-adopter".
Later, there is no guarantee whether you're going to get old stock or not,
and most retailers will tell you "I can't see the box from here", so
no cherry picking is typically available.

The one time I was prompted here to:

"Bad checksum

Insert motherboard CD"

I refused. When you see that prompt, the first thing you do is
your research and thinking. The *last* thing you do, is give it
the CD or DVD it is asking for. I managed to recover my board, without
flashing it. In my case, I think clearing CMOS was enough to get me
going again. There are some motherboards, where large numbers of
people have inserted the motherboard disc, only to be greeted
by a dead board. So there have been cases, where the CD/DVD is
"death in a box". It is one reason, to always read the threads on
vip.asus.com or reviews on Newegg, to see if there are any known
serious issues. When I saw the "bad checksum", I was like "hey,
wait a minute - I don't think I'm going to do that...". And that is
because of the history involved, of loopy BIOS files.

Paul
From: Jan Alter on 30 Apr 2010 10:21

If the mb is under warranty get in touch with Asus support. As suggested by
Paul and others the DVD disk most likely has installed a bios is earlier
than the installed cpu or a corrupted bios file that is leaving the board in
pergatory. If the mb is under warranty Asus should warmly ask for you to
send the mb back to them for reflashing.
If the mb is out of warranty then you may be able to replace the bios chip
yourself with a re-imaged one if the chip is removeable

--
Jan Alter
bearpuf(a)verizon.net
"larry moe 'n curly" <larrymoencurly(a)my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:e3985c97-4808-438f-8f83-f122768e1b1f(a)a39g2000prb.googlegroups.com...
>
>
> Daniel Prince wrote:
>
>> My brother bought an ASUS M4N78 PRO motherboard.
>
>> He started the computer and was able to get into the BIOS. He set
>> the date and time. He also changed the boot order to CDROM first.
>> He did NOT change anything else or try to flash the BIOS.
>>
>> When he rebooted, he did not press a key when the system asked him
>> if he wanted to boot from CD. The system then tried to boot from
>> the hard drive. The hard drive has Windows 7 (32 bit) on it that he
>> installed when he had an ASUS M4A78 Pro motherboard. It seemed as
>> if Windows was not loading.
>>
>> He stopped the boot process. He thought he might have to reinstall
>> Windows 7 to remove the drivers that were on the hard drive from the
>> previous motherboard. The previous motherboard was an ASUS M4A78 Pro
>> that he had returned because it had stopped working just after he
>> had installed Windows 7 with it.
>>
>> He rebooted and got a BIOS checksum error. The BIOS asked for a file
>> on the DVD that came with the motherboard. The BIOS said not to
>> insert the DVD if the DVD drive was a USB drive. His drive was IDE
>> so he inserted the DVD. The system seemed to find the file it was
>> looking for.
>>
>> He does not remember the exact wording but first it said something
>> like, "Clearing BIOS," with a small rotating star to indicate that
>> it was working. This message disappeared and then it said something
>> like, "Writing BIOS," with the same rotating star. This message
>> disappeared and then it said reboot to regain system. After
>> rebooting, there was no video. The CPU fan and case power light
>> came on. There were no beeps from the case speaker.
>
> There's a chance the whole BIOS wasn't erased and that the boot block
> BIOS is still there and will allow re-flashing from a CD or DVD. Asus
> recommends clearing the CMOS by moving the jumper. But if nothing
> works, at least the BIOS chip for that mobo is in a socket (8-pin
> thing, between the parallel IDE connector and SATA connectors), and
> maybe Asus will sell a replacement BIOS chip cheaply, or a friend
> whose mobo also has a socketed 8-pin BIOS chip can do a hot flash
> (needs 8 megabit serial flash chip -- Digi-Key, Mouser sell them).


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