8RDA+ problem

[aleksm]

When I try to power on computer I'm getting message BIOS ROM CHECKSUM ERROR. It happens allmost everytime I boot up comp. Post code is 41. When I press the Reset button everything goes normaly. Please help.

[EPoX Tech]

Gooday,

It sounds as though you have corrupted your BIOS by attempting to flash or failed overclock.

Try to carry out these instructions :-

1. Format a floppy disk
2. Copy to it awdflash.exe which can be downloaded from http://www.epox.org/bios/awdflash/awdflash.exe
3. Copy to the disk also the binary file that is in the zip file at http://www.epox.org/bios/8rda/8rda.zip

Let the computer post to code 41 with this floppy in situe and see if it tries to flash from this disk - it may take 5 minutes or so - but best to leave it to do its thing.

[aleksm]

Hello,
I've tried to do that last night and nothing happens. When the computer post to code 41 I've put floppy disk (previously formated, with awdflash.exe and 8rda4212.bin on it) and press Enter. The comp. load awdflash and then just stop responding (code is 54) . I was waiting for about 10-15 min to see what would happen but nothing. When I press reset button everything goes normaly. If I turn off comp., wait for about 10 min. and then turn on there is again code 41. If I turn off comp, wait for 2-3 min. and then turn on there is normal boot up. How to solve this problem?

[aleksm]

HELP! Anyone?

POST code sequence when comp. won't boot is C1, C1, 05, 0D, 41. Does anyone knows what it is mean?

[dabaerman]

aleksm, welcome to AOA
I believe EPoX Tech wants you to put the floppy disk in the drive, then turn the
computer on and allow the bios time to search for file. you may want to make sure
all settings are at default, not overclocked. or just clear cmos before starting up.
good luck with this and let us know how you get it going.


Ron

[Aedan]

Originally Posted by aleksm

Hello,
I've tried to do that last night and nothing happens. When the computer post to code 41 I've put floppy disk

You need to have put the floppy disk in when you start the system up, not when the post code goes to 41!

[aleksm]

Nothing! Same thing as before. Stuck at code 54. Is it possible that memory is cause of this?

[aleksm]

In this few days I've tried everything. I did flash BIOS several times (from DOS and Win) and nothing has changed. I have next situation:

1. At cold start (comp. didn't work 15-20 min) I get this message: BIOS ROM CHECKSUM ERROR... Sometimes (but rarely) everything is normal (there is no messages).

2. When I power on the comp (which has been working and I turn it off) that didn't work <4 min. there is no messages.

My config:
8RDA+
Barton 2500+
Transcend 256MB pc3200
Eurocase 300W PSU
Sapphire radeon 9600
CD ROM, HDD, FDD
56K modem.

What to do? Please help.

p.s. above mentioned method (Epox tech) won't work for me.

Thanks.

[aleksm]

After many attempts I've partial success with code 41. Here is what I did:

Format floppy disk with Dr DOS 7.0 and copy to it awdflash 8.22 (because 8.33 won't work- always stuck at code 54) and 8rda4212.bin. I put floppy into drive and on code 41 comp flashed itself (it lasts 2 min). After that Load optimized defaults in BIOS and start WinXP. When I start WInXP I got message FOUND NEW HARDWER and it was NETWORK adapter. Normaly I've finished installing network and thought thats it, BUT NO! I turned off comp and wait for 10-15 min. When I push the power button I observe POST LED and there is AGAIN code 41. Don't know what else to do. I'll go crazy.

Please if anybody could help me I'll be very thankfull.

[EPoX Tech]

Please do try to reflash the BIOS using this method once again and please try to repair install your Windows, it seems that a non ACPI compliant Windows installation is causing improper shutdown of the system which due to the way in which NForce2 southbridge data cache of 256bytes writes to eeprom and RAM in interleave during shutdown will unfortunatley cause issue.

With NForce 2 system I would recommend that you do not attempt to shut down the system until the installation of Windows is fully ACPI and STR compliant.

[aleksm]

It seems like the problem is solved. Today I've got 2 diferent mem. modules, one Kingston VR pc2700 and one ACE DDR400. When I replaced my Transcend pc3200 mem module with new one (either Kingston or Ace) there were no more messages. I've tried to place back transcend and there was again well known message. Anyway so much about NForce2 compatibility with mem.

[EPoX Tech]

Compatibility of memory is unfortunatley not something we can do much about here at EPoX, but this does highlight the importance of using compatible parts.

Glad to hear that you have it working though.

[loco]

Welcome to the club..

A quick search shows many 8RDA3+ users have this problems.
Me too.

I use samsung 400MHz (set to 333, as for AMD2500+).

I changed my mobo (as 1 b4 suggested (he changed it twice) ).