Ok, well Hi! (To begin)
Well, the problem is that I had my pc up and running, and then stopped using it for a few months. I switched it on today and the POST is messed up, sometimes it would boot to checking RAM then freeze, sometimes to detecting drives, and finally only the symbol and first 5 letters of the POST (name of manufacturer of something ). I hit reset and kept hold of it for a few seconds, now it doesnt do any of that.
When I start up, I get a beep, floppy reads, beep again, floppy reads etc etc till I switch off. I read about bootblocks and stuff on the forum so I created a Win98 boot disc with the flash util and flash .bin from the manufacturer and slipped it into the drive, when I switch on wth the disc in the single beep changes to 2 beeps, read, 2 beeps, read etc again, until I switch off. If I take the disc out while it is on it goes back to one beep. The CD-ROM reads at start up, floppy light is continuously lit, NO display at all.
The spec is as follows:
AsRock K7VT2 Mobo, AMD Athlon XP 2000+ CPU
BOIS info I could find was:
On sticker:
686
AMIBOIS(R)
(C)1999
8 1 8 3
On Chip:
Winbond
W49F002U-12B
2120H211341801SA
Sticker on BIOS says:
Y8
KVT24
P1.20
(This appears to be bios code information form the manufacturer as P1.20 is their BIOS version)
Naturally I have tried CLRCMOS, even removed all my hardware and left bare essentials. If i unplug the floppy drive however there are 4 beeps instead of 1 or 2.
I would prefer to be able to resolve this with a boot floppy method rather than hotswap as I do not have another working PC to try it in. I have 2 Winbond BIOS's in my loft, working or not I do not know and will get them out sometime tomorrow if I get time between work. If anyone has any ideas on the boot method I would be extremely grateful to hear it as this will drive me mad now until it is fixed. Thanks in advance.
Dead BIOS
Hmm, I fixed it. - Kinda
I read somewhere that there is a method with AMI BIOS's that when system block is corrupt it still has the bootblock or something intact. It allows booting from the floppy.
What happens is You get your BIOS update or flash .... rename it to "AMIBOOT.ROM" and stick it on a blank floppy. Stick the floppy in the drive nd boot up. The system should read the floppy and beep once, then read for a minute or a few then beep four times and stop reading. You can now switch off. Switch back on and hey presto new BIOS.
PROBLEM: now the computer boots and everything but i get a "CMOS Settings wrong" error when i start up, if i enter BIOS then change settings and save them, they reset as soon as i exit the BIOS menu, any ideas how i might fix this and what the problem might be? thanks.
I read somewhere that there is a method with AMI BIOS's that when system block is corrupt it still has the bootblock or something intact. It allows booting from the floppy.
What happens is You get your BIOS update or flash .... rename it to "AMIBOOT.ROM" and stick it on a blank floppy. Stick the floppy in the drive nd boot up. The system should read the floppy and beep once, then read for a minute or a few then beep four times and stop reading. You can now switch off. Switch back on and hey presto new BIOS.
PROBLEM: now the computer boots and everything but i get a "CMOS Settings wrong" error when i start up, if i enter BIOS then change settings and save them, they reset as soon as i exit the BIOS menu, any ideas how i might fix this and what the problem might be? thanks.
Ok, I found the problem. After endless fidlling to be able to boot up from floppy as the BIOS was set to boot from HDD and CDROM and wouldn't save settings I found out that the BIOS version that I used (P1.30) was malfunctioning, i flashed back to (P1.20) and now it works perfectly good as new.
This topic might be handy for anyone with an ASRock Board as their method is slightly specific to them requiring the ASRFLASH.EXE and the bios flash ROM from their website. Hope this is of help to someone.
This topic might be handy for anyone with an ASRock Board as their method is slightly specific to them requiring the ASRFLASH.EXE and the bios flash ROM from their website. Hope this is of help to someone.
Hi,
This is similar to my problem. I have upgraded my CPU on Asrock K7VT2 from Duron 1300 to Athlon 2600. I set the jumpers, but after rebooting it only recognizes it as Athlon XP 1250. I set the speed to Manual in the BIOS and increase the FSB gradually from 133 towards 140 +. I eventually got it as AthlonXP 2400, but when I increased the FSB to 150 + it refused to power (no POST). So I took out the CMOS battery and reselected the FSB_Sel and rebooted a few times. Nothing. Not even POST. All I get is 8 short beeps. I tried to change from AGP to PCI, and changed memory , CPY, PSU to no avail. Sometimes I get 3 long beeps if I change the FSB-Sel1 jumpers between 100-133, and the components and sometimes nothing just silence. The floppy drive goes crazy with intermittent read activity so I unplugged it. Can I flash the BIOS if that's corrupted? How can I do that if there is no video signal?
I looked up the beep codes : 8=display memory error. Have I fried the MoBo Chipset. It seems the CPU gets warm, but the golden chipset heatsink does not!
I hope someone can give me some good advice .... apart from tossing the MoBo into the recycle bin ;(
Cheers
SonicMat
This is similar to my problem. I have upgraded my CPU on Asrock K7VT2 from Duron 1300 to Athlon 2600. I set the jumpers, but after rebooting it only recognizes it as Athlon XP 1250. I set the speed to Manual in the BIOS and increase the FSB gradually from 133 towards 140 +. I eventually got it as AthlonXP 2400, but when I increased the FSB to 150 + it refused to power (no POST). So I took out the CMOS battery and reselected the FSB_Sel and rebooted a few times. Nothing. Not even POST. All I get is 8 short beeps. I tried to change from AGP to PCI, and changed memory , CPY, PSU to no avail. Sometimes I get 3 long beeps if I change the FSB-Sel1 jumpers between 100-133, and the components and sometimes nothing just silence. The floppy drive goes crazy with intermittent read activity so I unplugged it. Can I flash the BIOS if that's corrupted? How can I do that if there is no video signal?
I looked up the beep codes : 8=display memory error. Have I fried the MoBo Chipset. It seems the CPU gets warm, but the golden chipset heatsink does not!
I hope someone can give me some good advice .... apart from tossing the MoBo into the recycle bin ;(
Cheers
SonicMat
