A7N8X flash fails, HELP!

[Pjotr]

I cannot get rid of this buggy G BIOS the A7N8X Deluxe comes with. All my flashing attempts fails.

I've got an A7N8X Deluxe 1.04 bios 1001G and a Tbred-A 1800+, which is factory unlocked. It refuses to run anything else than 100 MHz FSB, no matter if I set the jumper to 100 or 133, no matter if I set auto, manual FSB etc etc in BIOS, nothing works. I read on forums the 1001G BIOS does this. So I want to flash BIOS 1001C or E.

Problem is I can't flash, the ALt-F2 fails, boot floppy and AWDFLASH.EXE fails and even ASUSUpdate fails from within Windows. About 90 % of all blocks gets Write Fail, only a few gets OK. I tried clearing CMOS, load defaults etc, nothing changes this fact.

I've bought a motherboard and CPU that can't run as advertized, plus I'd like to run a higher FSB eventually.

Any hints?

See comments at http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=25137

[PimpJack]

RMA or make sure u have a good bios file and newest flsh utility. The atn8x has a quirky BIOS. Mine froze upon save and bever ever booted again

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by PimpJack
The atn8x has a quirky BIOS. Mine froze upon save and never ever booted again

Same here I'd RMA.

[ruski]

U guys are scaring me!!! I'm getting mine on Sunday, hopefully this wont happen!! Are there any safety precautions to take when flashing?

[scottk]

Originally posted by ruski
U guys are scaring me!!! I'm getting mine on Sunday, hopefully this wont happen!! Are there any safety precautions to take when flashing?

I got errors when using the built-in (Alt+F2) flasher. Downloaded latest AWDFLASH and ran it from HD after booting with floppy.

[PimpJack]

Originally posted by ruski
U guys are scaring me!!! I'm getting mine on Sunday, hopefully this wont happen!! Are there any safety precautions to take when flashing?

Make sure u bought the board from someone good like newegg. No worries BIOS chips are only $18 flshed and ready to go on e-bay. I spoke to the guy and he was very helpful but i opted for an RMA and got an EPOX wich ownz all AMD!

[Mikee]

Just to give you some counter-balancing reassurance. I have never had a problem with this A7N8X over the last 2 months. Never had a problem flashing from "C" to "G" back to "C" then finally now to "E" I always did it through the Winblows program except one time when I used a floppy for the helluva of it. I popped out the cmos battery, moved the jumper & back, replaced the battery then ran the bios flash from floppy.

It always worked perfectly for me, and I'm OC'ing this puppy a lot. Have been in windows at 211x10.5 with timings of 4-2-2-2 and max voltages, but have not vmodded. The highest I can run 3dMark2001 is 204x11 or it freezes up, but I can run all the Sandro-2003 tests and stress test at 207x11.

I'm using 2 sticks of 256mb + 1 stick of 512mb Corsair XMS3500, and I did cut the L12 3rd bridge, and also unlock Athlon XP2700 with the wire in the socket trick. Using Koolance water cooling, and my temps in W2k are never above 28C (immediately going into BIOS they are never above 40C). I have the Vantec Stealth 512 PS.

I'm not sure why others have problem, but it may be random, or PS related, or not enough cooling. I was able to get this score published with 197x11 & radeon OC'd at 385/355 with a score of 17,639 I dropped the FSB a little cause I wanted to OC the Radeon.

[Pjotr]

Originally posted by PimpJack
Make sure u bought the board from someone good like newegg. No worries BIOS chips are only $18 flshed and ready to go on e-bay. I spoke to the guy and he was very helpful but i opted for an RMA and got an EPOX wich ownz all AMD!

My first board also died on BIOS Save and Exit, I RMA and got a new one. This new one can't run my 1800+ factory unlocked at 133 FSB! It always runs 100, no matter what jumper/BIOS settings I use. I want to flash, but all flashing fails, using ALT-F2, using AWDFLASH and using AsusUpdate! I try C, E and G, same thing.

RMA again is sucky, what is the exact chip part number so I can order a replacement BIOS chip instead?

[QuadDamage]

Mine froze upon save and never ever booted again

count me in

[Pjotr]

Tried the new 1002 BIOS, same 90+ % write fails as C and E

[Pjotr]

Mikee, tested 1002 yet, is has FSB up to 250 they say!

[Mikee]

Holy Sh*t Batman! No, I just read about 1002 in this thread. I've been busy whacking off and stuff. LOL

"Have you tried it?" "I'm not gonna try it, you try it" "No I'm not gonna try it...it's sposed to be good for you....Hey I know...let's get Mikee to try it" "Hey Mikee....." (to be continued)

[Mikee]

OK, first I put my Powerstrip OC'ing of Radeon9700 back to defaults, then booted to 1001E BIOS and set it all back to defaults, except disabled that dumbass startup logo, onboard sound, and changed video to AGP.

Rebooted into Winblows 2000-Pro closed down the Powerstrip program and used the ASUS UPDATE utility to flash (connected to UPS) which has a drop down beta choice for this file name: AW4M1002.001 which completed successfully. Rebooted (while holding onto my balls).

Of course it defaults to the dumbass logo, but into the BIOS I go.

CPU defaults to 133 (I cut the L12 3rd Br). Some changes I see:

FSB Settings are now increments of 1 from 100-233 (skipping only 201), then goes 233-236-240-242-244-245-250 !!! That's right Gentlemen!

Memory Frequency "Sync" is replaced by 100% no biggie

Timings same Voltage same cap of 1.85. DDR voltage same range.

I saved my settings of 200x11, 5-2-2-2, 100%, agressive 1.80v booted right into Winblows 2000 and just successfully ran through 3dMark2001 without any lockup. I have not yet OC' d the radeon with Powerstrip again.

But I can endorse this so far!

[Mikee]

I just hit 18,150 in 3dMark2001 by cranking my Radeon up to 403/353 and BIOS 1002 at 197x11.5 1.85v Timings of 5-2-3-2.

This is working out real well for me.