___ Did I kill the BIOS? ___

[Blain]

I swapped some memory out on an nForce2 MB (AOpen AK79G-1394).
The system booted up the first time, but didn't load Windows (98SE).
I rebooted and relaxed the memory settings (for the lower quality DIMMs).
The system gave me the "Saving BIOS changes... will restart in 3 seconds... Do Not Shut Down Power" message. Well the screen never restarted (at least a full minute), so I hit the restart button.
That was the last I saw anything on the screen.

* I swapped back to the higher quality DIMM - nothing
* I cleared the CMOS - nothing
* I moved the DIMMs around to different slots - nothing

With every restart the fans on the MB start and I can hear the HD spinning. But I never see anything on the screen (using onboard video).

Did I kill the BIOS? :Q

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: Blain
I swapped some memory out on an nForce2 MB (AOpen AK79G-1394).
The system booted up the first time, but didn't load Windows (98SE).
I rebooted and relaxed the memory settings (for the lower quality DIMMs).
The system gave me the "Saving BIOS changes... will restart in 3 seconds... Do Not Shut Down Power" message. Well the screen never restarted (at least a full minute), so I hit the restart button.
That was the last I saw anything on the screen.

* I swapped back to the higher quality DIMM - nothing
* I cleared the CMOS - nothing
* I moved the DIMMs around to different slots - nothing

With every restart the fans on the MB start and I can hear the HD spinning. But I never see anything on the screen (using onboard video).

Did I kill the BIOS? :Q

Maybe.

You should have just left it alone. Mine took nearly 3 mins to restart after a flash.

 

[Blain]

I didn't flash the BIOS. All I did was set the memory timings slower.

 

[Megatomic]

Blain, this is almost exactly what happened to me recently. I just changed a memory timing setpoint, saved the settings and exited the BIOS screen. The system hung at the Saving Settings screen for 10 minutes before I hit the reset button. After that, nothing.

2 days ago I got a replacement BIOS for my NF7-S R2 and when I installed it everything was fine once again. My guess is that you did the same thing to your board, you will have to secure a new BIOS chip. Sorry my friend.

 

[Blain]

I still may have some hope left with "DieHard BIOS Lite".

IF I can get to AOpen's download page. I can't get there with IE 6 or Mozilla Firebird.

 

[Megatomic]

Hmm, dead link it is...

 

[Blain]

My MB doesn't have the JP24 needed for the BIOS rescue.

BIOS chip or replacement MB?? That is the question.

 

[Megatomic]

BIOS chip should only cost you $20 or less. I'd say go that route unless you have money to burn. I sure didn't.