Solved: updating bios without windows/floppy for biostar TA790GX XE

[ahcollins3]

I just bought a new mb, cpu, and memory when my old 939 motherboard died. I can't get windows to install (it hangs at Setup is Starting Windows), so I'm trying to update the bios. Biostar does not seem to have a bios flasher that doesn't work without windows. I have a floppy drive, but no floppy disks.

I have the following setup:

Biostar TA790GX XE (bios date 1/13/09)
Athlon II x2 250
Seagate Barracuda 640gb SATA 3.0gb/s
Patriot Viper PC2-8500 1066mhz DDR2 4gb (2x2gb)
Diamond Radeon 4670 1gb

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[505090]

Take one stick of ram out and try to install if that doesn't work take out the other or try swapping slots.

Never flash an unstable computer. NEVER.

 

[dontkowna]

I have the same rig as you, and faces the same problem. I believe you could put the new bios in the usb and right after you hit power bottom, you would press F12 until its built-in flasher comes up (from mannual). Unfortunately, I messed up my bios reflash by using third party flasher (didn't know it has a built-in flasher until later) and have to RMA my board. Hopefully the new board will come within a week.

Try and tell me if that works for you

 

[ahcollins3]

505090: Thanks for the tip, tried 4 different configurations between 2 dimms and ran memtest86 for each config no luck. Ram passed all tests.

dontknowna: Ended up flashing the bios (don't know how I missed F12 it in the manual). The system installs windows just fine now.

Thank you both.

 

[505090]

glad it worked out for you

 

[dontkowna]

Congratulation. Did you flash it the bios downloaded from the website?

BTW, I wish I read my manual before I flash it (I believe I killed my board by using a thrid party flasher) . Now I have to pay for my mistake by waiting for another week.

 

[ahcollins3]

Congratulation. Did you flash it the bios downloaded from the website?

BTW, I wish I read my manual before I flash it (I believe I killed my board by using a thrid party flasher) . Now I have to pay for my mistake by waiting for another week.

I download the 6/09 bios. I think the problem was a conflict with the Athlon II being properly recognized. There are a couple of beta bios out there, but I didn't want to risk it.

 

[dontkowna]

Got it. Have fun with you new system.