ASUS PC-DL bios disaster

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

Hi
I recently purchased an ASUS PC-DL and have constucted my new PC with
it.

Specs on my machine are:
MoBo: ASUS PC-DL
CPU: 2 Xeon (Socket 604, 533FSB, 512K) 3.06GHz OEM
RAM: DDRAM TRANSCEND|PC2700 1GB RTL
Graphics card: ATi Radeon 9700 PRO 128MB 8X AGP W/TV DVI
HD: Maxtor 200GB UIDE 3LP 1in 7200RPM MX6Y200P0
PSU: Vantec 520A (520 Watts) - has the 24pin SSI and the 8-pin ATX
power

I have been through the Ram and Power Supply trials (had to swap Ram
and the PS) and it seemed I was well on my way to OS installation,
but nooo......
I flashed the bios to ver6 (PCDL1006.bin) and now it will not boot. It
starts the boot, I get a video signal, which displays
"ASUS..Dual XEON.. Capability , Stability, Reliabiltiy Press [Alt f2]
to enter setup"
but nothing happens. just freezes there. does not respond to any
keystrokes, not even Ctrl-alt-del.

It seems I had a bad BIOS flash. so I thought I should try flashing
the bios again.
I Cleared the RTC ram using the CLRTC jumper, and then rebooted and
pressing del.
I get the same ASUS screen, but at the bottom it says

"Entering Setup....."
but it never enters setup. again no response from any key
combinations, including ctrl-alt-del.

I am wondering if I did indeed get a bad bios flash. If I had a bad
bios flash, would I even get a video signal? Do my symptoms indicate
a faulty bios?

I am assuming that I did experience a bad BIOS flash, and I'm not sure
what to do next. Is it possible to recover from a bad BIOS flash
using the CLRTC1 jumper reset method? (I have tried this a couple
times with no luck) Or must I replace the BIOS ROM chip? I suppose I
should send it back to the manufacturer for an RMA swap.
Does anyone know which version of the BIOS is best? is v004 more
stavle than v006?

thanks

Thomas

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

Paul

thanks for your lengthy detailed response!
a lot of GREAT info in there.

actually I managed to get out of my tar pit by doing the old reliable
method of resetting the bios by removing the CMOS battery. It worked
like a charm! After I pulled it out, waited a few minutes, and put it
back in, it allowed me to reflash the bios (from a floppy of course).
I used v1004 (to be safe, as many postings have stated this one to be
stable). And I was able to proceed with installing windows!!!!

My only remaining problem is that on the boot I get the warning:
"Warning. CPU FAN FAIL!"
but the fans are spinning just fine. This doesn't seem consequential,
as the boot happens anyway. Any ideas how to clear that last lil
ah heck would be appreciated.

Thomas

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

In article <41506d50$1_3@alt.athenanews.com>, t@biomorphica-dot-com.no-
spam.invalid says...
> Paul
>
> thanks for your lengthy detailed response!
> a lot of GREAT info in there.
>
> actually I managed to get out of my tar pit by doing the old reliable
> method of resetting the bios by removing the CMOS battery. It worked
> like a charm! After I pulled it out, waited a few minutes, and put it
> back in, it allowed me to reflash the bios (from a floppy of course).
> I used v1004 (to be safe, as many postings have stated this one to be
> stable). And I was able to proceed with installing windows!!!!
>
> My only remaining problem is that on the boot I get the warning:
> "Warning. CPU FAN FAIL!"
> but the fans are spinning just fine. This doesn't seem consequential,
> as the boot happens anyway. Any ideas how to clear that last lil
> ah heck would be appreciated.

Reflash - also make sure that your fans have 3 wires (2 wire ones will
not show RPM and appear to have failed).

I would reflash 1004 at least one more time just to make sure. Also,
after you reflash, make sure that you reset the BIOS - meaning, remove
the battery, short the two pins for a couple seconds (the ones they
mention in the manual for resetting the BIOS, and then bring it back up.
Once you get past the post, then open the BIOS and start making changes.

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

I have the same problem, although I didn't flash any BIOS, and I have a
different motherboard (P4C800E-DLX). The fan is spinning fine though. It's
not the stock fan, it's the Zalman 7000, and it comes with a potentiometer
with which you can set the maximum speed of the fan. I set it myself to low
speed which is well sufficient to cool the CPU. When I set it to max, the
message "CPU fan error!" disappear at boot time.

"biomorphic" <t@biomorphica-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:41506d50$1_3@alt.athenanews.com...
> Paul
>
> My only remaining problem is that on the boot I get the warning:
> "Warning. CPU FAN FAIL!"
> but the fans are spinning just fine. This doesn't seem consequential,
> as the boot happens anyway. Any ideas how to clear that last lil
> ah heck would be appreciated.
>
> Thomas

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

In article <2rc1p7F1904dmU1@uni-berlin.de>,
raymond_hill@hotmailBLABLA.com says...
> I have the same problem, although I didn't flash any BIOS, and I have a
> different motherboard (P4C800E-DLX). The fan is spinning fine though. It's
> not the stock fan, it's the Zalman 7000, and it comes with a potentiometer
> with which you can set the maximum speed of the fan. I set it myself to low
> speed which is well sufficient to cool the CPU. When I set it to max, the
> message "CPU fan error!" disappear at boot time.

My guess would be that at the lowest level your fan is spinning below
the acceptable limit of the BIOS monitor for fan speed. Is there a BIOS
setting for your FAN speed where you can set limits?

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