Oops! Bad BIOS flash...

woolsocks · nFHQ Member

I flashed the backup BIOS on my GA-7NNXP using Q-flash and powered off then powered on. No BIOS screen. It boots and POST's and beeps normally, VGA fan and CPU water pump are running along with drives but no BIOS or CMOS screens and of course no Operating system. I tried unplugging all periferals, add on cards, swapped CPU with older version and switched the FSB to 100MHz.

I definitely screwed up the BIOS. What options do I have? Do I have to replace the BIOS chips? Send the motherboard somewhere to get it repaired? Throw it away? I just ordered an ABIT NF7-S v2 to replace it but jeez... I hate to throw it away after exactly two years of fun and games.

I thought if I only flashed the backup with trial stuff Then I could recover since I boot from the main BIOS. Apparently not.

nitrofc54 · nLightened

HAve you pulled the BATTERY out(with the power unplugged) for say 10 minutes, then put the battery back in and triewd to restart? ALso ive been told IF you hold ineINSERt key while powering on MAY do the trick. Seems ODD it didnt revert to the OTHER bios chip as that was the reason for the"dual bios". I been running mine for about a 6 months or so and flash the bios about 6 different times and settled on the"pr3ach3rs HMII" bios and been runnin great.
http://www.overkillsystems.com/PR3ACH3R/
thats the link to the site, HOPE you get it a running.

woolsocks · nFHQ Member

thats the one I was trying to flash (your link) with an update for Serial ATA thrown in. Yes I pulled the battery for at least 10 minutes with no effect. There were several files on the floppy but only the .bin file was the right size to be accepted by Q-flash. I'm guessing, but the only thing to do with it would be to replace the BIOS chips or send it somewhere to have it hard flashed? Dammit! Well, we'll see how this Abit mobo performs... This old HP, 304w, i'm using now is sooo slow, even though I upped the RAM, CPU and newer hDD and added an ATI 9600 for shz and gigls...

Yea i bought the GA-7NNXP on 10/09/04 for 140$ and killled it on 10/09/06. Coincedence I guess. It was a good mobo, my first one in a build. I'll probably go through a few more before I'm done

wonkanoby · Ultra nForced

http://www.msi.com.tw/html/support/bios/note/boot.htm

worth a try

is there not a jumper or such to change bios in use???????????

nitrofc54 · nLightened

WEll normally ONLY the file to flash the "bios" should be on the floppy. IF anything else is on there(so i been told) especially a .exe file it will trash things. Im NO expert by any means, but its in the bios WHICH "bios chip" comes up first then IF theres a problem is SUPPOSED to revert to the other one,just odd chit. The other thing maybe worth(what another member posted above) a try OR"check the gigabyte" stickys and there WAS a"bios flash gone bad" rescue procedure.

DaFanMan · nForced

Sounds like the insert key trick is the thing to go for.

I would:

Pull the cmos battery for at least 30 mins, pull the power plug from the system as well and hit the power button a couple of time to discharge the capacitors.

Then;

Reinstall the cmos battery, reattach the power cord... hold down the insert key and press the power button on the tower... continue to hold down insert key and if the monitor light changes from amber to green, then let go of the insert key and you should be back to a basic bios setting.

Good luck wth that.

laterz,
dafanman Cool

woolsocks · nFHQ Member

I had to RMA it for a BIOS fix. It wouldn't boot a floppy or CD and the keyboard didn't work. Still under parts warranty so I don't know yet if they will replace the chips or flash them. I got an Abit NF7-S v2 to replace it and the first thing I did was flash it with the wrong BIOS. Lol. Was able to recover with the Award flash utility though so that was good.

Thanks anyway for the tips...

DaFanMan · nForced

Dang woolsocks,

Seems as if you have yourself quite a case of "groundhog effect" going on there Laughing

Maybe you could do a tutorial on how not to flash a bios, lol...j/k.

Gald you were able to recover the Abit... holla back when you get your giga board back it will be intresting to know how they handled the problem.

Laterz,
dafanman Cool

woolsocks · nFHQ Member

Got it back in about a month. Haven't hooked it up yet but there's some fresh stickers on the eeproms that say, "BIOS", I hope that wasn't all they did. I'm in no rush. Waiting on some 500Mhz RAM (BL2KIT6464L505), a tall, finned, fanned NB cooler by Swiftech (MCX159-CU), a Corsair PS (CMPSU-520HX), and a real LCD monitor.
I'm still playing with this Abit Nf7. I like the BIOS options better than GB's and I'm getting better overclocks. Could be the MB or I could be getting better at oc'ing after two years of trial and error...

nitrofc54 · nLightened

my 7nnxp so far with a XP2500-M chip has run at 2.30Ghz, so i thought that was good, this is with the current configuration. The RAm is only CL3 so i figure that good enuff, currently i run it at 2.12Ghz so itll last longer.
Only thing freaky i have found on mine is the memory slots freakin out with certain configurations. BEst sound i have had with just the onbord sound, and its just 2 speakers, has the plugins and connectors for 5.1 surround as well as SPID and optical surround, but for what i do this is good.
If i was smart enuff could have up to 8 HD,s( 2 being SATA) or maybe 4 optical drives,lol. Bought is used and had ALL the original components most still sealed in the baggys, tried the "DPS" and didnt make any difference, so it went back in the box,booted fine with it.
Good deal you have it back, i use the "hard man II" bios based on the F20, works great, easier to find things as well. VEry easy to use in my opionion.