Strange BIOS Problem!

FinalSquall

FinalSquall

FinalSquall

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MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti Twin FrozR II 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £144.99 1 £144.99
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £141.66 1 £141.66
MSI Z68A-GD65-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £133.32 1 £133.32
Lancool Dragon-Lord PC-K62 Mid Tower - Red Dragon Windowed Edition £72.32 1 £72.32
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99 1 £59.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £57.00 1 £57.00
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Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £34.99 1 £34.99
Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £27.49 1 £27.49
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £21.66 1 £21.66
Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £19.99 1 £19.99
Samsung SH-S222AB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.16 1 £14.16

Ok so I have got the above system, which is running nicely,

I do however have a major issue regarding the BIOS, I have posted about a post error before, which I thought was just my stupid mistake and was fine, however I decided to give overclocking a shot today, after completing it, I rebooted, and encountered a post error (I think it froze on A2 and I couldnt even boot) and couldnt get past, I had to reset CMOS, It seems any change to BIOS causes post errors that stop my PC booting up, because I also tried disabling EIST (Intel Speedboost) without trying any overclocking, with the same result

Any ideas, I am guessing BIOS flash needed?
 
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I dont know sorry mate, I would try googling the error if it were me and seeif you can find someone elses forum posts with the same questiony ou are asking and hope they have better answers
 
It is one of those things that is kind of hard to google really, but it seems like even OCUK isnt that sure =/, that or its so obvious that no1 wants to answer but.

PC is running fine anyhow, I am using it now xD

To simplify it for people who dont like text walls

PC Running fine >> Change any setting in BIOS >> Doesnt boot up, (gets stuck with a screen that has A2 on the bottom right) >> Turn off >> Reset CMOS >> It boots up fine etc
 
Guess on post codes (cannot find explicit info for board).

A2 Display any soft errors
A3 Typematic rate set
A4 Memory wait states set
A5 Display is cleared
A6 Parity and NMI enabled
A7 All Interrupts cleared
A8 System control is turned over to ROM at E0000
A9 All Interrupts cleared
AA Displayed configuration
00 Call to Interrupt 19 for boot loader

presumably A2 has cleared, I would suspect memory.
Use memtest on all sticks, or singly if errors found.
Try with a single stick to see if that helps to OC.
Try other slots.
Try loosening timings to 9-9-9-30 2T

If all else fails, could be a bios flash required.

andy
 
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Have you tried changing other things in the BIOS, even stuff like boot order? Does that make it crash? If so i'd reccomend flashing the BIOS, too.
 
Try updating the BIOS.

The latest release is 23.1 available here.

There's a 23.2 Beta BIOS here but it looks like you need to register to download it.

Use the Beta BIOS at your own risk.
 
presumably A2 has cleared, I would suspect memory.
Use memtest on all sticks, or singly if errors found.
Try with a single stick to see if that helps to OC.
Try other slots.
Try loosening timings to 9-9-9-30 2T
Click to expand...

I dont quite get how the memory would only cause an Issue when I change a BIOS setting, Also I have yet to see a crash from memory when running (I have also DLd memtest and ran it for about 3 hours with no errors) and yea, I think even boot order causes the problem, I guess I could try different RAM slots, and I will just reboot now and double check changing boot order causes the problem aswell.

Thanks a lot for the information guys!
 
Ok, I just tried changing boot order, just switched USB and HDD around in boot, and it still seemed to boot up ok. I then turned Speedstep off again, which caused the same error, and it is DEFINATELY A2 that I see in the bottom right when it is Frozen. not 100% sure what u mean by soft errors, do u mean software errors?
 
It's worth going back to basics - flash and reset the bios, they test with cpu, gfx card, 1hdd and 1 stick of memory. Keep everything at stock clocks and manually set your voltages.
 
FinalSquall said:
Ok, I just tried changing boot order, just switched USB and HDD around in boot, and it still seemed to boot up ok. I then turned Speedstep off again, which caused the same error, and it is DEFINATELY A2 that I see in the bottom right when it is Frozen. not 100% sure what u mean by soft errors, do u mean software errors?
Click to expand...

Got the above list from ami bios post codes. googling soft errors seems to apply to radiation interference with semiconducters, sdram, unlikely to apply methoughts, unless you know different, so I assumed that this test had completed but the following tests had not (based on previous experience with an abit board that displayed the post code prior to the one causing an error). This may be a crock of **** as I can not find specific codes for this bios. It was a lot simpler in the older bios days.

I still suspect memory timings until it is proved otherwise but a simple bios flash may give a result.

andy.
 
Hehe ok cheers mate, boy did I not want to have to do a BIOS flash! =P

This is what the BIOS update says on the page for my mobo

Descripción - Update CPU Micro Code.
- Update M-Flash module.
- Improved gaming mouse compatibility.
- Improved "VDroop Control" function.
Version 23.1
Type AMI BIOS Release Date 2011-08-01
Download 7681vN1.zip Tamaño del Archivo 3.55 MB
Nota N/A

My BIOS I think are v23.0 according to CPU-Z



Does it look paticularly likely that a BIOS flash will fix it, as it is something I would like to avoid having to do if I can =/

Thanks
George
 
Have you tried using the OC Genie button?

Compare what the Genie settings are against your own.

You should change the Multiplier rather than the base clock to OC SandyBridge.
 
Have you tried using the OC Genie button?

Compare what the Genie settings are against your own.

You should change the Multiplier rather than the base clock to OC SandyBridge.
Click to expand...

Not really that useful tbh but, I dont think the settings I used for OC are the issue given that it cant boot up even if all I do is disable SPeedboost and nothing more.

Anyhow, I tried disabling it again, and it randomly booted up after that, for once, so I was like wow, I will reboot it again just incase, and got the same problem, had to reset CMOS, I really dno =/. Also I have no clue at all how to change RAM timings, all I know is that it is running at 1333 Mhz
 
Ok I decided to grab DriverMax just to check out what Drivers were looking like, and it turns out that I have this

Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller 6.1.7601.17514
21 Jun 2006 1.2.0.1003
08 Apr 2011

So it is really old, could this be causing the problem at all?
 
FinalSquall said:
Sigh... Does anyone have anytime to have a look through this, and give me a list of possibilities and potential fixes? BIOS flash is kinda last resort...

Thanks
Click to expand...

Why is flashing the BIOS a last resort? Its dead easy via MSI live update, and will proably be the first thing you should try in most peoples opinion (though i only speak for myself)
 
I have seen some bad things mentioned on the net about Live update, and I am a novice and a student, if I mess up my mobo, I am screwed. Is there anything I can do to make it so that if the Flash goes wrong I can recover it?
 
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