System hangs on boot after BIOS upgrade
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From: Glenn on 19 Nov 2009 11:25 Hello, I've just upgraded my bios to 2302 on my M2A-VM HDMI board. The upgrade seemed to go OK and I got a message saying "Rebooting in 5 seconds". The system rebooted but I don't get the POST screen. I backed up my previous bios version which I have on a boot cd but the POST doesn't even get that far. I have a black screen and the HDD light on the front of my system stays on continuously. I've tried a CMOS reset but no joy there. I saw something about a hardware bios reset which I thought might help but I can't see how to do this. Any suggestions to help me please? Thanks Glenn
From: Glenn on 19 Nov 2009 11:28 I meant bios 2203. On Nov 19, 4:25 pm, Glenn <robins...(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > Hello, > > I've just upgraded my bios to 2302 on my M2A-VM HDMI board. > > The upgrade seemed to go OK and I got a message saying "Rebooting in 5 > seconds". The system rebooted but I don't get the POST screen. > > I backed up my previous bios version which I have on a boot cd but the > POST doesn't even get that far. I have a black screen and the HDD > light on the front of my system stays on continuously. > > I've tried a CMOS reset but no joy there. > > I saw something about a hardware bios reset which I thought might help > but I can't see how to do this. > > Any suggestions to help me please? > > Thanks > Glenn
From: Paul on 19 Nov 2009 14:12 Glenn wrote: > I meant bios 2203. > > > On Nov 19, 4:25 pm, Glenn <robins...(a)googlemail.com> wrote: >> Hello, >> >> I've just upgraded my bios to 2302 on my M2A-VM HDMI board. >> >> The upgrade seemed to go OK and I got a message saying "Rebooting in 5 >> seconds". The system rebooted but I don't get the POST screen. >> >> I backed up my previous bios version which I have on a boot cd but the >> POST doesn't even get that far. I have a black screen and the HDD >> light on the front of my system stays on continuously. >> >> I've tried a CMOS reset but no joy there. >> >> I saw something about a hardware bios reset which I thought might help >> but I can't see how to do this. >> >> Any suggestions to help me please? >> >> Thanks >> Glenn > A CMOS reset (with all power removed), was one possibility, but you've already tried that. http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2007/12/26/phenom_motherboards/asus-m2a-vm-hdmi-board.jpg It looks like that board doesn't have a socketed BIOS chip ? The chip near the SATA plugs, looks like it could be the BIOS chip. Sometimes this will have a paper label stuck on it, with the BIOS release number printed on it. I don't see the usual PLCC socket there, to make the chip easy to remove. If the chip was removable, you could order another chip from badflash.com . Some Intel boards now, use serial flash, which is soldered to the board, and if you had a board like that, you'd be screwed. If the BIOS chip is soldered to the board, then you can't (easily) replace the chip to get out of this situation. (Having done some soldering work on a few motherboards, I don't recommend it to others. The copper foil is poor quality, and easy to lift by accident. Fortunately for me, I never damaged anything critical to motherboard operation. The circuit boards my company used to make, were as hard as rock, and could take a lot more abuse than a motherboard can.) Section 2.1.6 of your user manual, claims the board has "CrashFree BIOS 3". The BIOS is split into two sections. If the flash update did not erase the boot block, then the boot block could look for a CD in the CD drive, and reflash the BIOS based on finding a BIOS file at the root level of the CD. That is the closest feature you've got, to a hardware reset. If the boot block was erased by the flash tool you used, then there is nothing at all to POST with. BIOS designs should be such, that they *never* erase the boot block. That is the whole idea of "boot block recovery", that there is one section of BIOS which is never touched, allowing you to bootstrap yourself out of a mess. But Asus has on many occasions, updated both boot block and main BIOS in an update, so on those occasions, the user has no recovery mode if the flash update fails somewhere in the middle. Maybe you'll be lucky, and your board will be different, and have a brown socket holding a flash chip. If so, there is some possibility of replacing the flash with another one. If I had your motherboard, and I noticed the BIOS chip was not socketed, you would not catch me updating the BIOS! And if I needed a BIOS update, to use the processor I bought to go with the new motherboard, I would have sent the motherboard back. I think shipping motherboards with BIOS chips soldered to the motherboard, is reprehensible. Only cheesy manufacturers do that. Paul
From: Glenn on 23 Nov 2009 05:48 On Nov 19, 7:12 pm, Paul <nos...(a)needed.com> wrote: > Glenn wrote: > > I meant bios 2203. > > > On Nov 19, 4:25 pm, Glenn <robins...(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > >> Hello, > > >> I've just upgraded my bios to 2302 on my M2A-VM HDMI board. > > >> The upgrade seemed to go OK and I got a message saying "Rebooting in 5 > >> seconds". The system rebooted but I don't get the POST screen. > > >> I backed up my previous bios version which I have on a boot cd but the > >> POST doesn't even get that far. I have a black screen and the HDD > >> light on the front of my system stays on continuously. > > >> I've tried a CMOS reset but no joy there. > > >> I saw something about a hardware bios reset which I thought might help > >> but I can't see how to do this. > > >> Any suggestions to help me please? > > >> Thanks > >> Glenn > > A CMOS reset (with all power removed), was one possibility, but you've > already tried that. > > http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2007/12/26/phenom_motherboards/asus-m2... > > It looks like that board doesn't have a socketed BIOS chip ? The chip near > the SATA plugs, looks like it could be the BIOS chip. Sometimes this will > have a paper label stuck on it, with the BIOS release number printed on it. > I don't see the usual PLCC socket there, to make the chip easy to remove. > If the chip was removable, you could order another chip from badflash.com . > Some Intel boards now, use serial flash, which is soldered to the board, > and if you had a board like that, you'd be screwed. If the BIOS chip is > soldered to the board, then you can't (easily) replace the chip to get > out of this situation. (Having done some soldering work on a few motherboards, > I don't recommend it to others. The copper foil is poor quality, and easy > to lift by accident. Fortunately for me, I never damaged anything critical > to motherboard operation. The circuit boards my company used to make, > were as hard as rock, and could take a lot more abuse than a motherboard > can.) > > Section 2.1.6 of your user manual, claims the board has "CrashFree BIOS 3". > The BIOS is split into two sections. If the flash update did not erase > the boot block, then the boot block could look for a CD in the CD drive, > and reflash the BIOS based on finding a BIOS file at the root level > of the CD. That is the closest feature you've got, to a hardware reset. > If the boot block was erased by the flash tool you used, then there > is nothing at all to POST with. > > BIOS designs should be such, that they *never* erase the boot block. > That is the whole idea of "boot block recovery", that there > is one section of BIOS which is never touched, allowing you to > bootstrap yourself out of a mess. But Asus has on many occasions, > updated both boot block and main BIOS in an update, so on those > occasions, the user has no recovery mode if the flash update fails > somewhere in the middle. > > Maybe you'll be lucky, and your board will be different, and have > a brown socket holding a flash chip. If so, there is some possibility > of replacing the flash with another one. > > If I had your motherboard, and I noticed the BIOS chip was not > socketed, you would not catch me updating the BIOS! And if I needed > a BIOS update, to use the processor I bought to go with the new motherboard, > I would have sent the motherboard back. I think shipping motherboards > with BIOS chips soldered to the motherboard, is reprehensible. > Only cheesy manufacturers do that. > > Paul- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - Paul, Yup, the bios chip is soldered on to the board and it seems that the bios has been erased. Oh well, new motherborad. Glenn
From: W****n S***********g on 23 Nov 2009 17:15
"Glenn" <robinsguk(a)googlemail.com> wrote in message news:b130d57e-0ecc-4f9e-8c90-76dc5a29575e(a)t18g2000vbj.googlegroups.com... On Nov 19, 7:12 pm, Paul <nos...(a)needed.com> wrote: > Glenn wrote: > > I meant bios 2203. > > > On Nov 19, 4:25 pm, Glenn <robins...(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > >> Hello, > > >> I've just upgraded my bios to 2302 on my M2A-VM HDMI board. > > >> The upgrade seemed to go OK and I got a message saying "Rebooting in 5 > >> seconds". The system rebooted but I don't get the POST screen. > > >> I backed up my previous bios version which I have on a boot cd but the > >> POST doesn't even get that far. I have a black screen and the HDD > >> light on the front of my system stays on continuously. > > >> I've tried a CMOS reset but no joy there. > > >> I saw something about a hardware bios reset which I thought might help > >> but I can't see how to do this. > > >> Any suggestions to help me please? > > >> Thanks > >> Glenn > > A CMOS reset (with all power removed), was one possibility, but you've > already tried that. > > http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2007/12/26/phenom_motherboards/asus-m2... > > It looks like that board doesn't have a socketed BIOS chip ? The chip near > the SATA plugs, looks like it could be the BIOS chip. Sometimes this will > have a paper label stuck on it, with the BIOS release number printed on > it. > I don't see the usual PLCC socket there, to make the chip easy to remove. > If the chip was removable, you could order another chip from badflash.com > . > Some Intel boards now, use serial flash, which is soldered to the board, > and if you had a board like that, you'd be screwed. If the BIOS chip is > soldered to the board, then you can't (easily) replace the chip to get > out of this situation. (Having done some soldering work on a few > motherboards, > I don't recommend it to others. The copper foil is poor quality, and easy > to lift by accident. Fortunately for me, I never damaged anything critical > to motherboard operation. The circuit boards my company used to make, > were as hard as rock, and could take a lot more abuse than a motherboard > can.) > > Section 2.1.6 of your user manual, claims the board has "CrashFree BIOS > 3". > The BIOS is split into two sections. If the flash update did not erase > the boot block, then the boot block could look for a CD in the CD drive, > and reflash the BIOS based on finding a BIOS file at the root level > of the CD. That is the closest feature you've got, to a hardware reset. > If the boot block was erased by the flash tool you used, then there > is nothing at all to POST with. > > BIOS designs should be such, that they *never* erase the boot block. > That is the whole idea of "boot block recovery", that there > is one section of BIOS which is never touched, allowing you to > bootstrap yourself out of a mess. But Asus has on many occasions, > updated both boot block and main BIOS in an update, so on those > occasions, the user has no recovery mode if the flash update fails > somewhere in the middle. > > Maybe you'll be lucky, and your board will be different, and have > a brown socket holding a flash chip. If so, there is some possibility > of replacing the flash with another one. > > If I had your motherboard, and I noticed the BIOS chip was not > socketed, you would not catch me updating the BIOS! And if I needed > a BIOS update, to use the processor I bought to go with the new > motherboard, > I would have sent the motherboard back. I think shipping motherboards > with BIOS chips soldered to the motherboard, is reprehensible. > Only cheesy manufacturers do that. > > Paul- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - Paul, Yup, the bios chip is soldered on to the board and it seems that the bios has been erased. Oh well, new motherborad. Glenn Curious, what is it that you were trying to gain with the update?? |