Need Computer Help

[awwdeit]

I was just putting a computer together for a friend, it was working fine up until I updated the BIOS. The motherboard is a Chaintech 9EJS1. After the BIOS was finished updating, it restared, and now there is nothing on the screen. It is making one long beeping sound, pauses, long beep, pause, and keeps repeating. I would appreciate any help, cause at this point I have no clue what to do.

[depressd]

Did you reset the cmos? There should be a jumber you move from one pin to the other, wait for at least 30 sec and then move it back. Make sure the computer is powered off and unplugged. Then when you boot up, go straight into the bios. Make sure everything is recognized. If your still getting the beeps, you may have flashed incorrectly. Did you get any error messages or anything?

[awwdeit]

No error messages whatsoever. Everything seemed fine until the restart. I try your solution to see if it works. Thanks.

[RAISTLIN]

Been awhile since I diagnosed POST codes, but I think that is the pattern for video card issues. It's one of the first things inited at power up. If your BIOS is knackered at this critical portion of the code, you will not be able to view your settings at all because it is failing to init the video. You may have very well gotten the wrong BIOS for that board's revision. There is a BIOS ID string that will ID the details about the board that flashes at the bottom of the screen during the initial startup test. You need to verify this information against the lists available online. I don't have the links at work, I'll post them when I get home tonight.

If the system has an AGP video card in the AGP slot, you may have to pull it and temporarily install a cheap PCI card (grab a used one from a local store/flea market) so it can init the video so you can get this BIOS string. If it has video on the motherboard (ala Savage, Intel, etc) you will have to check the documentation on how to disable it so you can use the PCI video. Many boards have a jumper for this.

Hope this can get fixed easily--I've seen some boards get replaced bacause of this. If you can't get a good flash to take, you will have to replace the BIOS chip with a known-good preflashed one, or replace the board. Sorry, but it happens sometimes.

Raist

[awwdeit]

It was the right BIOS, but I got it working now anyway. The only problem that I am having now is that it won't restart. It just stops at the first screen and I hear no beep. Any idea about this one? Everything else seems to be fine though.

[RAISTLIN]

Here's the links about the BIOS ID String anyway, in case others may need them in the future:

http://www.wimsbios.com/

http://www.motherboards.org/articles...ions/13_1.html

Wim's is where I've usually found what I needed in the past, but motherboards.org has some nice tools that can help you ID them easily.

Are you absolutely sure you got the right BIOS? In other words, did you verify it against the specific board's ID string, model number and revision number? The reason I ask is there are actually some very minute differences in the revisions that can easily go unnoticed. Some boards are stamped as one brand, but are in fact produced by someone else and require a BIOS from this third party (PC Chips makes an @$$ of knock off boards this way), and you won't know this unless you lookup the Vendor ID from the ID String. Look at the life of the Asus A7/KT266 reference designs: A7v266, A7v266-A, a7v266-C, a7v266-E, revisions 1.00, 1.01, 1.01a.....1.05c, 2.0--there are alot of major and minor revisions that came out. Some boards will only be labeled with the major revision (1.05) but in fact is a later minor revision (1.05a) that has a different clock generator or something that has to be coded differently in the BIOS. MSI did this with the BX Chipsets when they added Coppermine Support to the existing line--the only way to tell them apart was to look for a blue sticker on top of the BIOS chip (which sometimes missed the mark and wound up on the board, or just fell off into the case somewhere) There was no reference on the board or in the manual to let you know you needed the BIOS from the minor revision, and that the ones for the major steps would knacker up the algorhythms for the post 1GHz CPU's--not to mention the need to reduce the voltages in the software configurable voltage regulator. Sometimes it is even just a difference in the size of the BIOS--even though it may have a 256Mbit EEPROM, you HAVE to load the 128Mbit for your revision or it goes FUBAR on you.

It is crucial to always check the BIOS String ID's. You may want to reflash back to the previous BIOS (you did perform the BIOS Dump before flashing the new BIOS, right?) and write down this string then double check it. My brother knackered up his ABIT board because he nabbed the file for the revision printed on the edge of the board, when in fact he needed a newer BIOS because of a change in the AGP Set--he could only run an old ISA card in it after flashing it--not even a PCI VGA card would work!

Good Luck!

Raist

[HypERSoniC]

i rembmer when i flashed my video card incorrectly.. and had to revrt the firmware without any video output. :@ that was hell.. you most likely flased the bios with a different board revision.

if you can't seem to get it fixed at all, you might have to take your board for a trip to the local computer store who can replace your bios

[awwdeit]

I appeciate all the help guys, but my BIOS chip was trashed all along. It was the right bios. The tech support guy said that they have had numerous problems with that BIOS update. Their sending a new one in a couple of days.