Bios freezes in middle of System Summary Information.

[crispynet]

My machine has a ASUS mobo and the BIOS info is as follows -
Award Modular Bios v4.51PG on enegy star ally(c) 1984-98
ASUS P2-99 ACPI Bios Revision 1012
03/03/00 - i440zx - P2-99

I have transfered two working wd800JB drives from another machine to this machine. They are set as master and slave from the previous installation and are plugged into the primary ide.

The machine goes through the post routine and appears to detect and recognise the two drives as master and slave as well as the two DVD drives which are plugged into the secondary ide also as master and slave.

The System configuration commences to print on the screen. CPU is identified, Co-Processor is installed, Base and Extended memory are both left blank, Diskette Drive A and B are identified and Pri.Master Disk gets as far as LBA, Mode4, and the the activity ceases with the cursor flashing under the last commar.

No key action has any effect only a reboot.

I have detached the two new drives and attached one of the original (40GB Seagate) and it boots up perfectly. I have tried the two new drives one at a time set as Only Master and get the same freezing result. I have flashed the bios with the same Ver 1012 in case the bios was corrupt with no effect. I have been unable to flash with the latest from ASUS because the latest is a Beta Version 1013 but when I try to flash it I get a message "Bios Model doesn't match with the current one used. Do you wish to continue", I am not experienced enough to say yes so have said No and the old bios was left untouched. The current bios file is 1012D9.BIN and the new one is 1013.005.

To flash the bios I disconnected the two HDs and the machine boots up normally.

Could anyone assist me with this problem - I can find no reference to an occurance of the Summary not completing any where.

Crispynet.

[KachiWachi]

Are the drives blank?

Can you access the disks using the HDD manufacturers "test" floppy?

[edwin]

If you're trying only one of the drives set it for single drive, not for master.

[crispynet]

Answers to KachiWachi
- The disks are not blank they are exactly as they were working in my other machine.
- I don't have a manufacturers floppy but I do have a Seagate cd which is bootable. However I am unable to boot from anything until I get past the Post stage unless I disconnect the new drives.

Answer to Edwin
- I have tried setting each drive seperately as a single drive to no effect.

What do you think about using 1013.005 to flash the bios. It gives me the option to proceed with the flashing in spite of the Bios Model Mismatch. Could it do irreperable harm or could I recover by flashing with 1012D9.bin which at least lets me use the old drives fitted previously.

Thanks for your help it is much appreciated.

Crispynet

[edwin]

if the bios chip is in a socket you can always hotflash if needed. I think that 1013.005 is for the P2-99B not the P2-99 board.

[crispynet]

Tks Edwin

Don't know the difference between the 99 and 99B but I guess I am not recommended to use it with my machine.

Also not sure what is involved in Hot Flashing?

Crispynet

[KachiWachi]

What OS is on the primary disk? (I'll assume the second drive is just data.)

[crispynet]

KachiWachi

The primary has Xp Pro loaded and as you surmised only data on the other.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[crispynet]

Hi to anyone who contributed,

I guess the topic was boring.

Got the answer to my problem from ASUS direct and it was as I suspected, I needed an update to the BIOS.

ASUS sent me one with a different file name to the one on their site. But the new one worked and now both drives are working exactly as they were on the other machine.

I still cannot find any other instance anywhere of the POST freezing during that last Summary - Now at least there is one.

[KachiWachi]

Not boring...personally, I didn't know what to suggest next.

Glad the BIOS update fixed you up!

[Denniss]

AFAIK this type of hinging in the system summary just before the HDD size display is typical for Award 4.51PG Bios with 64GB Bug inside.

Please post your current Bios-ID and Asus Bios version string (similar to what's seen in your first post in this thread.)

Why did the earlier flash fail ? Maybe you tried to install a non-Hardwaremonitor Bios to a Board with Hardwaremonitor (sensor chip checking temps/voltages) or vice versa.

[KURIAKI]

ASUS sent me one with a different file name to the one on their site.

If you can upload a copy of the new BIOS file it will be appreciated.

[crispynet]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your input it is much appreciated.

For Denniss - Here's the BIOS ID and ASUS Version as requested after updating.
"Award Modular Bios v4.51PG on enegy star ally(c) 1984-98
ASUS P2-99 ACPI Bios Revision 1013 Beta 005.
10/03/00 - i440zx - P2-99 "
You're probably right about why the 1013.005 failed with the warning "Model mismatch" there were two files named 1013.005 on the ASUS web site and one of them refered to something about hardware. As I did not know what it meant I probably chose the wrong one.

For Kuriaki - I will try to email the bios update file sent to me by ASUS to you kuriaki@supportbios.info address - hope you get it.

Thanks all til next time. Bye now.

[KURIAKI]

For Kuriaki - I will try to email the bios update file sent to me by ASUS to you kuriaki@supportbios.info address - hope you get it.

Thanks all til next time. Bye now.

I have some problems with it.
Please send me the file to kuriaki@gmail.com
Looks like ASUS P2-99 ACPI BIOS Revision 1013 Beta 005, isn't it?