8kha+ will not POST

[cpu-uk]

OK, I've had 6 months of reliable service, now I turn on my PC and get a quick double beep at the start, followed by a quick high beep,low beep, then nothing. NO POST.

LED on m/b shows error code 4 1 .

And no I hadn't changed a thing, I just turned it on. All fans spin, and there is no smell of burning silicon ;-)

Help!

[Holst]

Not supprisingly 41 is reserved

Have a look at my post "another one bites the dust" and do the stuff i tried.

Swap components clear CMOS etc.

Im pretty sure mines dead, hopefully yours isnt.

[cpu-uk]

Yes, I did read your posting prior, I was just hoping for a little more concete explanation - error 41 - before I start the methodical guessing of the fault ;-). My money will be on the cmos at this stage.

Thanks for the FYI though.

[Holst]

Try epox tech support.

With the beeps and the error code they might be able to give a quick diagnosis.

I think mine might be dow nto a dead bios chip, but there isnt an easy way to test it.

[BobyJo]

I have killed several bios chips on different Epox mobo's.
All of these were different reasons.
If you will call or e-mail Epox tech USA, they will offer a solution. They always come through for me.
Best tech support anywhere.

[cpu-uk]

Well Epox also says try re-install, bios reset etc. A quick tinker shows that clearing the cmos gets a good boot-up, but any attempt to go into bios and change anything (such as the date) results in locked-up PC again.

So the bios chip is screwed and cannot save any changes. I await Epox advice on what to do next.

[BobyJo]

OK, leave the bios as it is.
Download the version of bios you want.
If you are using W98se, make your self a boot disk.
Unzip the bios file to this disk and boot with it.
At the "A" prompt just type "update".
When the flash is completed, do a reset on your computer, (be sure to remove the boot disk).
Press del key and enter bios to set the bios as you want.
If you still cannot get into bios to change anything.
Tell the Epox tech you need a new bios chip.
He may want you to RMA the board and get a new one.

You also need the 6071 driver set for W2k.
You also need the 9030 driver set for W9x.

After you get this done, you should have a great performing system. Hope this helps.

[cpu-uk]

OK, flashed the bios up to latest rev. It was interesting that the ALT F2 method failed (unable to decompress AWDFLASH from bios).

Problem remains, any attempt to alter a bios setting gets me back to error 41 lock out.

Re-seated cards. No effect.

Re-seated DDR, now I get error C1 (unable to identify ram type). Dropped DDR into other machine, no problems showing.

Anyone know of a good (free) ram testing program, I'd like to double check (curse M$ disk caching) the DDR.

[Holst]

The two id recomend are memtest86 and superPI.

Both in a download called "memory stuff" at AOA files.com

memtest is DOS based, so no windows to get in the way.

[BobyJo]

I fully recommend using the bootdisk method of flashing your bios.
Alt F2 does not work well with a lot of systems.
So please read the above post and try again.
When uning a boot disk, there is nothing loading in memory, only the flash engine is running.
Therefore no conflicts causing the bios flash to fail.
I never use anything except the boot disk method.

When you create the boot disk using W98se.
There will be a file on the boot disk that must be removed before using the disk for flashing the bios.
This file has something to do with compressing the data on the disk.
It uses enough memory, to not allow the awdflash engine to run. You will have to set the system to see all files to find this file and delete it.
There should be only Command.com, MSDos.sys, IO.sys on the disk before you unzip the bios file to the boot disk.

[EPoX Tech]

The ALT + F2 method is only dependant upon a small set of variables :-
[list=1][*]A Good clean floppy disk[*]A floppy drive that works corectly[*]A keyboard that works[*]A mainboard with a PS/2 port that works[*]An uncorrupt and complete BIOS[/list=1]

The boot disk method offers no improvement of functionality unless being used to make backups over this method. Given that all of the above are generally required to flash using the boot disk approach, it is not feasible to suggest that any one method is better or more succesful than the other.

[cpu-uk]

OK, wierd stuff day. Put the 2x 256 DDR back into system, and left them running memtest (thanks Holst) for 3 hours. Did a reboot and went into bios setup, made some changes, and bugga me if the system re-boot correctly with NO errors.

I am deeply worried

I'll re-assemble the system and do some more testing- I hate the wierd faults!