HELP! Ultra-D + X2 no longer posts

aftershxck · 30 Sep 2006 at 20:46

Hi,

I've had an X2 4400 (socket 939) paired with an DFI NF4 ultra & GSkill ram for over a year now (overclocked).

Today I went into bios and set the 'optimised defaults' for both the RAM and CPU (default timings, voltages).

Now the PC doesn't post at all

It would show the graphics card logo, and then show the DFI splash screen with the BEEP but it'd just freeze and I couldn't even enter the bios..

So I opened up the PC and have tried all number of things, from using just one stick of ram, to setting the jumper to reset CMOS, and also removing the CMOS battery.

It seems as if the computer can't handle default settings any more :confused:

At one point when i was fiddling around with one stick of ram and the cmos battery completely removed, it did get past the DFI splash screen and alerted me to the fact there was no keyboard present (of course.. i took everything out, unlucky since i think i might've been able to enter the bios) :confused:

Also - it;s stuck on 2 red LEDs, with 1 stick of ram in the first orange slot going in from the board. However it gives 3 red LEDs if i put the 2nd stick of ram into the other orange slot, so i'm worried i might've killed some ram at the same time :mad:

Can anyone help? Is there an issue with some hardware that's suddenly occured? Or is there another reason it's being tempremental?

Posting this from the ancient laptop... thanks!

russty · 30 Sep 2006 at 20:59

Try removing the ram sticks first to see if its one of those maybe even substitute some older stuff.

This problem can also be caused by the battery being duff - replace it with a new one and then reset the CMOS. Never do this by removing the battery though. also make sure that you are resetting the CMOS properly. move the jumper to the reset postion for about 10secs and move it back whilst the PSU is swithed on at the back. need to do this to get earth.

This can also happen with USB shorts, unplug internally your USB ports and try.

If non of this works, its trial and error time i'm afraid. Remove every component one at a time and switch on. if this doesn't clear it up, you will need to swap working parts into your machine. try using another CPU, etc.

Russty

Neil79 · 30 Sep 2006 at 21:12

Have you tried yellow slots?

Clear cmos fully ie take battery out leave it 10mins, and reset the cmos
boot system with sticks in the yellow slots and try it.....

Probably wont work but heh im stuck with yellow slots now, orange dont work for some reason, they used to work :mad:

Neil79 · 30 Sep 2006 at 21:13

russty said:
Try removing the ram sticks first to see if its one of those maybe even substitute some older stuff.

This problem can also be caused by the battery being duff - replace it with a new one and then reset the CMOS. Never do this by removing the battery though. also make sure that you are resetting the CMOS properly.

Will be abit difficult to replace a duff battery if he cant remove the battery

I know what you mean i think , btw dfi members and staff recommend removing battery for a good 10min total cmos clear

aftershxck · 30 Sep 2006 at 21:23

I can remove the battery

Argh, one of the sticks in the first orange slot leaves me with 3 red LEDs, and the other leaves me with 2 :confused:

Well I'm gonna try leavinng the battery out for longer like you suggested... do i put the jumpers on pin 2+3 with the battery out?

Hope it doesn;t resort to me having to take it apart, espc. considering I really don;t want to tamper with the watercooling, if I just left it overclocked this wouldn;t have happened

..

Thanks for the advice guys

Hamoodii · 30 Sep 2006 at 21:44

aftershxck said:
Hi,

I've had an X2 4400 (socket 939) paired with an DFI NF4 ultra & GSkill ram for over a year now (overclocked).

Today I went into bios and set the 'optimised defaults' for both the RAM and CPU (default timings, voltages).

Now the PC doesn't post at all It would show the graphics card logo, and then show the DFI splash screen with the BEEP but it'd just freeze and I couldn't even enter the bios..

So I opened up the PC and have tried all number of things, from using just one stick of ram, to setting the jumper to reset CMOS, and also removing the CMOS battery.

It seems as if the computer can't handle default settings any more

At one point when i was fiddling around with one stick of ram and the cmos battery completely removed, it did get past the DFI splash screen and alerted me to the fact there was no keyboard present (of course.. i took everything out, unlucky since i think i might've been able to enter the bios)

Also - it;s stuck on 2 red LEDs, with 1 stick of ram in the first orange slot going in from the board. However it gives 3 red LEDs if i put the 2nd stick of ram into the other orange slot, so i'm worried i might've killed some ram at the same time

Can anyone help? Is there an issue with some hardware that's suddenly occured? Or is there another reason it's being tempremental?

Posting this from the ancient laptop... thanks!

Follow this guide:

HERE

Minstadave · 1 Oct 2006 at 10:08

I sometimes had a similar problem, do the full CMOS reset as suggested above, then do a minimal boot, no drives or USB devices connected. Just a PS2 keyboard, graphics, a single stick of RAM in the outer orange slot and the PSU.

aftershxck · 1 Oct 2006 at 14:31

Tried the above.. (left for 8 hrs+) it still doesn't work, stuck on 3 RED LEDs and the power light on the case flashing.. :confused:

aftershxck · 1 Oct 2006 at 14:49

Well I've somehow managed to get something up on screen...

It's giving me multiple fast constant beeps and says:

Award BootBlock BIOS v1.0
Copyright (c) 2000, Award Software, Inc.

BIOS ROM checksum error

Detecting floppy drive A media...
Drive A error. System halt

I guess that's bad

Minstadave · 1 Oct 2006 at 14:52

Yeah your BIOS is corrupt, looks you need to make a bootable floppy with AWDFlash and a new BIOS on.

aftershxck · 1 Oct 2006 at 14:56

Hey,

I'll try that then.. but according to googling it means I have to get a completley new chip or ?

And btw I only get that error after a lot of tampering... I assume I'll have to 'get it' again before I can run the flash program from the floppy and follow the instructions etc..

Hamoodii · 1 Oct 2006 at 19:24

aftershxck said:
Well I've somehow managed to get something up on screen...

It's giving me multiple fast constant beeps and says:

I guess that's bad

Actually thats quite good, flash the BIOS and then all is good, I had same problem on a A8N-SLI a while back, sent the BIOS chip to Asus they flashed the BIOS and the PC was working again!

aftershxck · 1 Oct 2006 at 20:46

Hi,

Yeah I read about that you can send it back, or buy another chip from DFI etc, but its imperative that I get it working ASAP so I ordered another DFI ultra-d.. I just hope it works 'as is' without needing to reinstall windows (since everything is the same)

Neil79 · 1 Oct 2006 at 22:03

aftershxck said:
Hi,

Yeah I read about that you can send it back, or buy another chip from DFI etc, but its imperative that I get it working ASAP so I ordered another DFI ultra-d.. I just hope it works 'as is' without needing to reinstall windows (since everything is the same)

Hmmm put your old bios chip in the board with your system running this is called HOTFLASHING , hot flash your old chip.. Turn the system off put back your original chip back in, and put the old re-flashed chip back in the other board.

p.s DO NOT put the cmos chip in the wrong way you could fry it!

aftershxck · 1 Oct 2006 at 23:24

Could you tell me which board/chip you mean more clearly? That sounds a bit dangerous :eek:

Edit: I didn't go down the awdflashing route since I've only been able to recreate the 'error' with beeping twice.... sending the chip back to get re-flashed/ordering a replacement from DFI, or a new motherboard sounded like the better option..