Strange BIOS Problem!

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Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £141.66 1 £141.66
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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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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
 
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

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?
 
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.

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?
 
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?
 
Sorry thanks for your input mate I have been abroad for a week
Erm, cant say as I know what a bootable USB or floppy is, but im sure google can help with that. And yea, I just tried an overclock from 3.3 to 3.4, and it does the same thing, also just disabling Speedstep causes it to happen so it cant have been my OCing.

Do I need a bootable USB only to create the backup BIOS or does it have to be a bootable USB that you do the BIOS flash with?

Note - PC doesnt have a floppy drive and My USB device is a Sandisc Cruzer Micro 8GB SDCZ6-8192RB
 
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