Another corrupt bios! :( Epox Please Look.

dresuk · #1 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 06:38 AM

Ok i received my 8rda+ yesterday, I tested it first with 2xCorsair PC3200 LL 2-2-2-5 modules to see what fsb i could get. The stablest fsb i could achieve was around 188mhz, neither my nb or mosfets were hot at all, my vdd is @ 1.60-1.61.
I decided to upgrade my bios. I have read a number of threads where peeps have been gettin corrupt bios flash for no apparent reason, i did not believe i would be one of them.

So i took all the necessary measures when i flashed my bios, i set everything to optimised defaults made sure i formated a new floppy and put the files i needed onto the floppy.

Rebooted, the flash seemed to work how it should. The comp switched off went to reboot; sirens. I never saw my boot up screen again. The code on my LCd was 01. I rang CCL computers where i bought the mthbrd and they confirmed that the code was for a scrambled bios.

Why is this happening???? I have flashed many mthbrds and graphics cards and have NEVER had a problem, and my first EPOX mthbrd which I was highly excited on getting has done this to me. I am very upset, angry and frustrated.

ET or Holst are you able to contact me through this thread, and let me know where i stand. I am a final yr grad student and i need my computer running over thhe weekend. I know that I can get another bios to replace the corrupt one but from where??

Will EPOX pay for this problem their mthbrds have been causing?( this is my own opinion that the mthbrds are causing this problem having read a number of threads pointing to this subjetc).

Money is tight, Im a full time student. What are my options. Please Epox guys can u tell me what i am to do. I was so looking forward to this mthbrd and now I feel just empty.

wilso · #2 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 07:04 AM

Bad luck there dude.

I know the last time I flashed the BIOS on my 8RDA+ the system was OC'd to the crap and it went fine. I used WinFlash.

mastah · #3 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 07:33 AM

Im using the Magic Bios Flash Utility from the software cd, don't know if it works as it should but no big problems so far.

dresuk · #4 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 07:36 AM

ok need info on how to force a flash. Im using my friends 'other' motherboard which uses exactly the same bios type. My epox bios fits perfectly in it.

Anyway i booted the 'other' brd with the epox bios on floppy. When it asked me too type in name of bios to flash i remover the brds bios chip and replaced it with the epox one and pressed enter.
It started to flash then stopped. I m hoping if there is a way to force the flash then i can get this bios fixed. ANyone know?

Please let me know ASAP if someone has this info
Thanxs

Will be now searching internet for solution

To the MODS sorry for double posting but i am desperate to get this seen please show some understanding.

dresuk · #5 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 08:24 AM

Can someone confirm this with me. My LCD stops @ code 01. What does this code exactly stand for?

Thanxs.

Holst please say something.

SteveI · #6 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 08:35 AM

dresuk,
Were you overclocked when you flashed? Even the slightest instability in cpu or mem can corrupt when flashing.

If you have an identical mobo, you can try hot swapping the bios, and flashing it. You can put the good bios into the dead board, boot up, very carefully swap bios chips with the system on, and reflash the bios. There's a bit more to it, but I've never tried it, so I'll defer to someone more experienced.

dresuk · #7 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 08:43 AM

Nope having read pther peeps stories i made sure everything was @ stock. Im looking into hot flashing right now but with a different mobo. I think im gettin somewhere though. I need to find out how to make a autoexec. bat so i can force a write on the boot block sector.

Thanxs 4 everyones reply

If i manage to get this 2 succed i will post a write up with the revlevant links.

So info please everybody.

dod · #8 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dresuk
It started to flash then stopped. I m hoping if there is a way to force the flash then i can get this bios fixed. ANyone know?

Please let me know ASAP if someone has this info
Thanxs

Will be now searching internet for solution

read this

Holst · #9 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 10:10 AM

Hotflashing on another board may not work.

You will stand a much better chance if you use the latest AWDflash
http://www.epox.org/bios/awdflash/awdflash.exe

Im sorry you have had this trouble with your board dresuk.

dresuk · #10 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 11:24 AM

thanxs for looking at the thread holst. i know you have been trying to corrupt the bios on your brd so u can find a solution this problem, and i know u havnt not manged to achieve it.

I do think that EPOX should not be charging customers for a replacement bios, at least they should be offering a service where customers can send in their 'damaged' bios for repair and at the same time EPOX can analyse them and maybe find a solution to the problem.

I for one would not have minded so much if the cause of corruption was from some extreme overclocking, but it wasnt and should not have happened.

I hope EPOX do take a more serious approach to this problem and acknowledge its existance there are just too many of us having problems with this.

Thanxs again to all.

djokastoka · #11 (**permalink**) 6th February, 2003, 04:22 PM

My bios on 8k5a2+ was also not successful....everything was ok
then C5 rom checksum error or something like that....
I send to epox bios and I must pay 10euros for nothing...
This also is my first bad bios update since 1995.....Thet means not my fault but I must pay and wait......
what a pitty
BTW my motherboard had never worked normaly good
as 8k7a!

dresuk · #12 (**permalink**) 10th February, 2003, 05:50 AM

So does this issue not concern EPOX?

I have seen no official word from EPOX yet, do they like there customers to have to pay extra money for something which isnt there fault?

I am not happy, my frustration is boiling over. Its been over 4 days now and my 8rda+ is just sitting there useless while i rely on other companies to get their act together. Its not right.

Why should we have to suffer like this without any acknowledgement from the company we brought the product from that this problem exists in some cases.

I am a first time EPOX buyer I agree that the support i have received in this forum is excellent which is one of the reasons why i decided to try the 8rda+ after reading about all the helpful people here.

But now its turning into a mini nightmare. I am confident that one day when i have everything running nicely (i hope) that i will look back at these dark days and just think it part of the teething process.

But it still DOES NOT excuse the failure from EPOX to acknowledge this problem exists with an official statement.
I feel my concerns are getting me nowhere apart from the helpful advice i have received from holst and the other peeps in here on a few occasions.

I dont expect the peeps in here who work with EPOX to be able to give me an official response hell no, but at least some feedback from EPOX acknowledging this problem EXISTS.

Im gonna say it again ITS NOT RIGHT that I do not have a working mobo which i paid for from no fault of my own, and that i have to pay MONEY which i AINT got to fix a problem which should not have occured with a product which cost me close to a £100.

There are TOO many peeps with this problem, I am refering to peeps who were NOT overclocking.

NOT RIGHT NOT RIGHT NOT RIGHT

Uncle Bob · #13 (**permalink**) 10th February, 2003, 06:55 AM

Did you ever have any luck hot flashing?

Bondo · #14 (**permalink**) 10th February, 2003, 10:38 AM

My advice to all of you is very simple for flashing your bios.

1} have a boot up floppy that allows you choose a "minimal boot"
meaning no memory managment files or drivers are loaded. I use an old Win ME boot disk. It gives me the "Mimimal" choice.

2} Unzip Epox's bios file to a floppy or hard drive. I never had a problem flashing from my hard drive yet.

3} The reason you use Epox's flash files is that you need to use Awardflash version 22a for N2 boards. Using a different version will increase chances of a bad flash.

4} Right before you decide to flash, set the bios to "Optimized defaults" This is VERY IMPORTANT.

5} Boot from the boot up disk choosing "minimal boot. Put in your Epox bios files and type "Update" You follow directions from there by hitting one more key to flash.

That's it. It's that easy and will always work unless you have a bad bios chip or bad .Bin file. Don't flash from within windows with the N2 chipset. Don't use the Alt + F2 method. Don't flash overclocked. ALWAYS set up Defaults in the bios before you flash.

GFORCE100 · #15 (**permalink**) 10th February, 2003, 11:04 AM

This is most likely not Epox's fault but rather you used a version of AwardFlash that is old and not fully compatible with the flash EEPROM on that motherboard. Having said this don't expect Epox to care much for this problem, they are not a company known for technical support. They should of long ago applied a dual BIOS feature like the othe board makers.

Quote:

Originally posted by dresuk
So does this issue not concern EPOX?

I have seen no official word from EPOX yet, do they like there customers to have to pay extra money for something which isnt there fault?

I am not happy, my frustration is boiling over. Its been over 4 days now and my 8rda+ is just sitting there useless while i rely on other companies to get their act together. Its not right.

Why should we have to suffer like this without any acknowledgement from the company we brought the product from that this problem exists in some cases.

I am a first time EPOX buyer I agree that the support i have received in this forum is excellent which is one of the reasons why i decided to try the 8rda+ after reading about all the helpful people here.

But now its turning into a mini nightmare. I am confident that one day when i have everything running nicely (i hope) that i will look back at these dark days and just think it part of the teething process.

But it still DOES NOT excuse the failure from EPOX to acknowledge this problem exists with an official statement.
I feel my concerns are getting me nowhere apart from the helpful advice i have received from holst and the other peeps in here on a few occasions.

I dont expect the peeps in here who work with EPOX to be able to give me an official response hell no, but at least some feedback from EPOX acknowledging this problem EXISTS.

Im gonna say it again ITS NOT RIGHT that I do not have a working mobo which i paid for from no fault of my own, and that i have to pay MONEY which i AINT got to fix a problem which should not have occured with a product which cost me close to a £100.

There are TOO many peeps with this problem, I am refering to peeps who were NOT overclocking.

NOT RIGHT NOT RIGHT NOT RIGHT

Bondo · #16 (**permalink**) 10th February, 2003, 11:06 AM

You can get a Win Me boot disk here:

http://www.nerdlabs.org/bootdisks/diskimages/bootme.exe

Photon · #17 (**permalink**) 10th February, 2003, 11:22 AM

I agree with Bondo that flashing from the hard drive is very reliable. I've flashed many mobos and probably flashed a total of more than a hundred times with no errors. If you run NTFS partitions, consider making a very small (5MB) FAT32 partition with just awdflash and room for several versions of BIOS. That way you can boot from a diskette and flash from the hard drive. I have never considered floppies to be reliable enough to trust for flashing a mobo (although I have risked it before).

dresuk · #18 (**permalink**) 10th February, 2003, 11:58 AM

Yo dudes thanxs 4 da attention.

Everything was done CORRECTLY

All your information apart from transfering files to harddrive were done.

New floppy, latest award flash, optimised defaults etc.

Update for ya especially Uncle Bob, the hot flashing from 8rda+ on a MSI brd did not work but................

I received another 8rda+ a few minutes ago took the good bios put it in me other epox brd booted up on floppy, typed awdflash exchanged bioses flashed .....

everything worked fine the corrupt bios is fixed and now i have two brds to try and test and choose the best one. In the long run the hassel will probably be worth it ( I learned some new stuff trying to fix this problem)

Thanxs for all that tried to help me....

and EPOX peeps you really DO NEED TO ADDRESS THIS!!!
its the least one should expect from a PROFESSIONAL company with a strong community behind them

L8rs i have brds to test

SteveI · #19 (**permalink**) 10th February, 2003, 12:27 PM

dresuk,
I appreciate your frustration.
Keep in mind that this is not an officially supported Epox forum. Epox's only involvement here is to allow a couple of its employees to come here and answer questions... on their own time.

If you feel you have a legitemit concern and are looking for help, direct contact with an Epox support center... by phone or email, is your best course of action.

Any support you get here for Epox products, is purely voluntary... by a bunch of guys who are familiar with Epox products (some more than others) and care.

I just don't want you to get more upset waiting for an official response that may or may not come from here.

Uncle Bob · #20 (**permalink**) 10th February, 2003, 01:11 PM

Way to go , dresuk. Glad it worked out in some fashion.

Stevie is absolutely right. No official anything here except brotherly concern and help.

One bit of advice...All advice given here is free and may just be worth exactly what you payed for it.