8rda+ weirdness

[waylman]

hi all,

I built my PC with an 8rda+ recently and just lately it will not boot up. Actually, the machine itself sounds like it is booting, but nothing will appear on my monitor. I tried this with another monitor and same thing! To get it to boot, I have to unplug all cables and let is sit for awhile. When I plug everything back in, it boots and monitor works....

So, what is this?????

I would like to try a BIOS update. I downloaded the new BIOS. Do I just copy these files to a boot disk and follow the below?

BIOS Update Instructions

Boot using your DOS floppy disk to the ‘A:\>’ command prompt. At the
DOS command prompt type: UPDATE

When the Flash program completes restart the computer, remove the DOS
floppy disk, and enter your CMOS setup by pressing the <DEL> key
immediately. Using the arrow keys select ‘LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS’ or
'LOAD OPTIMIZED DEFAULTS' and when prompted to confirm press ‘Y’ and
‘ENTER’. Press ‘F10’ to Save & Exit the BIOS. When prompted to
confirm again press ‘Y’ and ‘ENTER’. The system flash is now
completed.

Note: During the use of UPDATE a backup of your original BIOS
date/code will be saved in the same directory as the UPDATE file. It
will be called ‘OLD.BIN’ and can be used with the restore
instructions below in case you need to revert back to the original
BIOS date/code.

[bradmax57]

ok, first of all you say it was working now it isnt?, have you added any hardware at all? First off I would try a fresh install of whatever OS your using, maybe with every thing possibel taken out apart from the essentials then add them back in 1 by 1 and see how things go, what psu what mem etc are you using, shoudl really post a complete spec list when reporting probs

[Jay T]

If you want to flash the bios, simply copy the unzipped file to a blank floppy disc (with nothing else on, not a boot disc!) leave it in the drive. Then reboot at press alt & F2 when the message appears at the bottom of the screen. Thats it! the rest is automatic!

[bradmax57]

Originally posted by Jay T
If you want to flash the bios, simply copy the unzipped file to a blank floppy disc (with nothing else on, not a boot disc!) leave it in the drive. Then reboot at press alt &amp; F2 when the message appears at the bottom of the screen. Thats it! the rest is automatic!

hey jay t what vga you going to use with your new 8rda3? your sig saying your using intergrated?

but to the point he aint going to be able to do that if he cant boot?

[waylman]

thanks guys....i will flash tomorrow......

as I said before.....my pc is up and running now. But if I were to turn it off right now, and then try and boot back up it would be a no go. However, a restart would be fine.

If I shut down now, I would have to unplug all cables from the PC, plug them back in and then boot. I know.....very strange.

Here's what's in the beast:
barton 2500
wd spec ed 80gb
1gb kingston hyperx 2700
antec 350 W
lite on 52X24X52
epox 8rda+
raddy 9500 pro

It runs great........when it's on........I just built it last weekend.....the only changes that have been made are slight vid card tweaks. Im running the defaults on that now so we'll see what happens.

Last thing.....no new h/w has been installed since the initial build. For the first few days everything was running beauty, but Im thinking it may be one of the changes i made to the vid card.....Changing the refresh rate shouldn't be a problem should it?

If nothing else, I'll re-install Windows : (

Anyone experience this b4?

[waylman]

oh great! now, my floppy is not being recognized. I'm trying to copy the new bios to it and it says "please insert disk into drive a" I'll have to screw around with that for a bit and see if I can get it working......any suggestions on the floppy? (It is showing up in BIOS).

[phiphen]

well.. I know that my floppy drive altho good for the most part.. had some problems reading when I first got my mobo.. and couldn't update the bios just yet... and I know that floppy drives are REALLY picky.. what I did was eject and reinsert the disk a few times and that worked.. or a better one is to clean it out, lot's of dust can get in those things..

I took mine out and gave it a shake.. and put it back in.. and it's been working ever since...

hope this helps.. =/

[waylman]

LOL....I'll give it a shake when I get home tonight!

[bETAbILLY]

Cold boot problem? No beeps? Speaker plugged in? Hitting the reset button during a cold boot failure gives a successful boot?

Push your ram in real hard, unplug the ATX connector, clear cmos with the battery removed. Then consider a new 400 watt power supply unit.

Do not try to update your bios if you are having floppy issues or you have severe system instability. You could really muck up the works if a bios update breaks during the flashing operation.

[waylman]

actually the system is very stable.....that's the weird part. I can game and benchmark and have yet to see a crash.

I guess the real question is, why does it allow me to boot only after unplugging everything, and then plugging everything back in???

[phiphen]

mine did that also actually... untill I started using the newer bios.. and the mobo 'burned' in... I keep my computer on 24/7, but when I'd change somthing in the bios with my old bios, it'd hang at 'c1' on the error diod... I knew there wasn't anything wrong with the memory.. all I'd do is turn off the computer, flick the switch on the back of the PSU, and/or unplug it.. then put it back in and it would work.. it should iron out after a proper burn in time.. and newer bios... =)

[waylman]

thanks phiphen. I hope you are right.