Please help, serious BIOS failure!

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 16:56

Spec in sig, I just tried to flash my BIOS using the update utility in the nvidia control centre from the P23 beta to the final P23 version. It got half way through then crashed to the blue screen of death, rebooted. And now all I get is constant repeated short beeps from the case speaker and this on screen:

I have a keyboard plugged and but not a floppy drive. I could get one if need be though. Please help, I really don't know what to do to sort this out

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 17:35

clearing CMOS didn't do anything. And when I try to use a bootable floppy it's no good because it doesn't detect my keyboard

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 17:42

eracer2006 said:
can you get into bios to change the HALT ON ALL ERRORS to HALT ON NO ERRORS ?

no

LoadsaMoney said:
Try getting a floppy and reflashing that way.

It says I need AWDFLASH.EXE, not only that but the PC doesn't see my keyboard any more so I can't update the BIOS because I can't select anything

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 17:47

it's a USB, I have a USB to ps2 keyboard adapter knocking around somewhere. I'm looking for a copy of AWDFLASH on the interweb too at the moment.

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 17:56

that's exactly what i've done though. And it says it needs AWDFLASH.EXE just after it loads from the floppy

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 18:23

Ok, with AWDFLASH on the disk too (thanks LoadsaMoney) it comes up with a promising BIOS update screen. However, no ports on the motherboard seem to be working. Everything is dead, even the ethernet port doesn't have the little green light.

I don't have a ps2 keyboard, but I do have one of these:

I use it for the mouse that is part of the Microsoft wireless keyboard/mouse combo of the family PC. Would it be safe to try this with my Saitek Eclipse II?

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 18:27

XtAsY said:
might as well give it a try. It's not going to hurt anything.

isn't it though? It was designed for use with the mouse, I'm a bit reluctant 'cos I don't want to trash more hardware then I fear I might have done already

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 18:34

ok I guess I'll have to try to get a ps2 one another way then.

XtAsY said:
I once had a similar problem. To correct it I went onto another computer and got a new floppy disk and made it a bootable floppy. The I put AWDFLASH on the floppy along with the latest BIOS for the motherboard. I then ran AWDFLASH to reflash the BIOS and all went well and I could boot again. Make sure you know the name of the .bin file for your new BIOS because AWDFLASH will ask for it before you can flash.

I feel a little more optimistic after hearing that, But it still concerns me that the USB/ethernet ports arn't responding as of yet. What's the chance that ps2 stuff is going to be any different?

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 18:44

update: the adapter didn't work

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 18:46

lowrider007 said:
i have'nt played around editing or making *.bat file for years but someone on here may be able to help or build on my initial idea.

It would be great if someone would

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 18:57

I'm beggining to think you're right actually

when I put the USB->ps2 adapted keyboard in, though it didn't work the lights came on briefly, at least there's power to it which is more than can be said for the rest of the ports...

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 19:51

lowrider007 said:
can you not steal away a ps/2 keboard from somewhere, i'd be knocking on peoples houses if it was me .

and that's exactly what i've just done

I have a ps2 keyboard and mouse now which has solved the problem of the 'no keyboard present' thing. However, this is the stage i'm at now:

Any key I press makes no difference, it just won't load the .bin file

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 20:15

Edit: scrap that, i was getting confused. It seems I have made the worlds largest paperweight this evening

anyone got any more ideas?

AWBbox · 23 Dec 2006 at 22:58

Thanks for that

I've tried the new bios chip route and it's a non-starter. EVGA don't replace them, they only do RMAs. I'll try to get in touch with this T'mod guy though.

edit, i can't find any use named "T'mod" :confused:

AWBbox · 24 Dec 2006 at 11:44

this_is_gav said:
I don't think he can type anything on that PC, but if you add that line to an Autoexec.bat file (on your current working PC), then it should do that command automatically.

It can't do that i'm afraid, it just sticks at the 'Unknown flash type' screen and never gets any further than that. I've even found the lastest version of awdflash (8.64 as opposed to 8.22a) but it makes no difference

AWBbox · 24 Dec 2006 at 12:06

lowrider007 said:
I don't know if your still up dude but try doing it manually (presuming your keyboard works),

download the bios *.bin file HERE and Awardflash utility HERE then download this utility to make a bootable floppy disk HERE

First make a bootable floppy disk using the win98se.exe, then copy across onto the route directory of that disk the NF68P23.bin & awdflash.exe, now boot up the computer using the boot disk you have just made, once at the command line make sure you are in the route directory of A:, now type the following *awdflash NF68P23.bin* (don't include the *) if that does'nt work then try *awdflash NF68P23.bin /f*

I can't get this method to work either, after I use win98se.exe the disk is full so i can't put either the bios file or awdflash on the floppy too

am i doing something wrong?

If I format the floppy as is MS-DOS startup disk from 'My Computer' there is enough room to put the BIOS file on too. Would this work?

AWBbox · 24 Dec 2006 at 12:40

ns400r said:
Of course you can !

COMMAND LINE SWITCHES !

Why is this taking so long to be fixed ?

Just make sure that the bios file you use is the CORRECT one!

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/tutorial/article/flash-award-bios

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jefn/bootblock.html

http://www.biosman.com/biosrecovery.html

Google Bootblock

wow that looks good :eek:

i'll give this a go...

edit: didn't make any difference. It's just the same as before

AWBbox · 24 Dec 2006 at 12:54

lowrider007 said:
If you've got another floppy then keep the startup disk and copy the NF68P23.bin & awdflash.exe onto the other formatted floppy disk , once booted up take out the startup disk and insert the disk with the NF68P23.bin & awdflash.exe files on and then try it.

ok, i'll try this. But should I use the win98se.exe to make the disk bootable or the one from 'My Computer'?

AWBbox · 24 Dec 2006 at 13:08

lowrider007 said:
use the win98se.exe to make a boot disk, then use that to boot into your computer with the currupt bios, then take out the disk and put in the another floppy disk that you have copied the NF68P23.bin & awdflash.exe files on to then make sure your on the A: drive at the command prompt then try typeing the following *awdflash NF68P23.bin* (don't include the *) if that does'nt work then try *awdflash NF68P23.bin /f*

I'm afraid there's no opertunity for me to type anything in this process. And when I tried this method, when the win98se boot disk was in it came up with

then when I put the disk with the .bin and awdflash etc in it came up with

the screen was more messed up looking than the picture can show, many white blotches were flashing all over the screen, sometimes with purple letter 'm's inside

not pretty

AWBbox · 24 Dec 2006 at 14:12

speedy2004 said:
Theres 2 files not only the AWDFLASH.EXE. The AWDFLASH.EXE is the utilty software that flashes the bios, but you need the other file to, so the AWDFLASH.EXE has something to update, if that makes sense?

I would download the bois version you had on before and extract the files to a bootable floppy. Hopefully it should boot up from the floopy and run the flash utilty then you shoud be able to get your previous version of you bios back.

I had both files and the BIOS file on the disk at the time. The result was shown on the last screen I posted.