Bad CPU? Bad BIOS Flash? Help

[sarnath]

I bought a Biostar IDEQ 200N, to build for my mother for Xmas. I bought a Duron 1.6 GHz, 20 GB HD, DVD-ROM, 56K modem, floppy, and 128 MB DDR 333MHz RAM. This will replace her 166Mz Pentium Win 95 circa 1996 machine she has now.

Assembly went w/o problems (this is the 4th computer I've assembled). But it failed to post. Fans worked, HD seemed to spin, LED lights worked, but no video. Followed troubleshooting on Biostar's site and lastly tried replacing the CPU with an older Athlon 1.2 GHz. The system finally booted up fine and I could access the BIOS.

Then I decided it would be good to upgrade to the latest BIOS. (I thought maybe then the Duron would work.) I pulled the correct file (double checked) from Biostar, and used their Flasher technology (Upgrade option in the BIOS). There were no error messages (no red bars) and the process ended with the message, "Flashing done. Reset system: Y" But the USB keyboard was unresponsive, so I attached a PS/2 keyboard, which was unresponsive too. So I hit the reset button on the case. Now the system does not boot up, no post, no video, but the fans and HD spin and the LED lights work.

I tried clearing the CMOS, setting the motherboard FSB jumper to safe mode, removing the modem, drives and RAM. No luck. Nothing.

Do you think my first problem (the Duron) was the result of a bad CPU? Should I RMA it?

Do you think that my BIOS was corrupted during the upgrade? There was no indication of anthing wrong until I couldn't hit enter to reboot the system. Biostar has 'BIOS chip' listed on their website as an accessory. Is replacing a BIOS chip really an option? I don't even know where it is on the motherboard. Should I just RMA the whole IDEQ? I ordered it last week, received it Thursday.

Which would give the better performance, the Duron (1.6 GHz, 133 FSB) or the Athlon (1.2GHz, 100 FSB)? I originally assumed the Athlon would be faster, but maybe with the faster FSB the Duron would give better performance. I was planning to buy a 2nd Biostar for myself (and use the Athlon 1.2GHz) but now I think I should go with a Shuttle if I buy another SFF.

Or maybe I will just get an HP for my mom and keep this Biostar for myself when/if I get it working. But that means I bought a new modem, HD, RAM, CPU, and DVD-ROM for nothing because I had spares from older systems I was going to use for my own system. I fear I have wasted a lot of money.

Thanks for any comments/help/suggestions.

Mike

 

[Harvey]

You may need some later version, but not the latest, to get your Duron working, but I've run into situations where the latest version of a BIOS caused problems. Going back to an earlier version fixed it.

Did the flashing prog allow you to back up the original BIOS? If you didn't, go back to Biostar, get the original, and try flashing it back. If that allows you to boot, you'll know the latest flash is bad.

Good luck.

 

[sarnath]

The flashing prog did not offer backing up the original BIOS as an option. The original does not seem to be on Biostar's website, but I could look again. In anycase, there is no video output. Even if it is posting, I can't flash the BIOS without seeing the screen.

When the computer was working (after switching to the Athlon and before I tried to flash the BIOS) the fans would switch to a slower spin rate right after I turned the system on. (The fans are temperature regulated so as to spin quieter when possible). With the Duron, the fans operated at their default spin rate. After I tried to flash the BIOS, they once again only spun at their default spin rate. My conclusion: the system is not posting, not detecting the temperature of the CPU/system, and not regulating the fan speed. Unless the system posts, and launches the BIOS, I think I'm screwed.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

errr, did you plug in the ps2 keyboard while the system was turned on?

if so it's possible (and likely since you never never never plug a ps2 mouse or keyboard unless your board supports hot swap ps2 compatability, and very few destop mobos do.) you killed the board. you should be able to do an rma on it....just don't tell them about the ps2 mishap, and see if your replacement board works w/the 1.2 t-bird and a ps2 keyboard (its never recomended to do anything to system bios settings with a usb keyboard) if it works, try the bios update (boot it up with the 1.2 t-bird and ps2 keyboard first) and then try the 1.6 duron again. (that duron will be faster by a slim margin.)

 

[sarnath]

Well, ummm, since the USB keyboard was unresponsive after the BIOS flash was complete, I thought hey, let's try the ps/2, which wasn't plugged in at the time. I didn't really expect it to work, but didn't think it would hurt since the system seemed to be frozen. Well, maybe the 'Y' was flashing on the screen. I don't remember. Anyway, the USB keyboard was working fine before I tried to upgrade the BIOS. I went through all the menus, changed a setting or two, selected the 'Upgrade BIOS' option. I assumed that in this day and age with so many USB keyboards for sale, modern BIOS' would be able to handle it. Do BIOS manufacturor's really expect us to plug in a ps/2 keyboard every time we want to check out BIOS settings? There was an option, "Enable USB keyboard support," but I didn't know what that was exactly. The USB keyboard was working when I was looking at that menu, so I assumed that the option was for supporting USB keyboards in DOS enviroments. Anyways, you seem to be suggesting that if I had just manually reset the system after it froze and not plugged in the ps/2 keyboard, everything might have been ok. Maybe you're right. But I never thought you could fry a MB that way. I would think that the keyboard just wouldn't work. Once the USB keyboard stopped working, I just got a really bad helpless feeling that finally, after never having a BIOS upgrade go bad before, my luck had just run out.

Oh well. I probably won't mention the failed BIOS upgrade either if I do RMA it. Biostar's website says in on the tech support page: "Always make sure your motherboard has the latest drivers and BIOS," and in the download area: "Biostar is not responsible for any consequence as a result of BIOS updates." Stellar support

If the Duron is faster, then I will Fed Ex a Shuttle SFF and put in the Athlon for my mom, and (hopefully) use the Duron in the new (or repaired) Biostar for myself. Well, hmmmmmmmmmm. I will have to think about this 'cause the Duron didn't seem to work in the Biostar......But if it works in the Shuttle then.......I don't need this stress before Xmas.

Mike