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CMOS Checksum bad after flash on ECS 945P-A 1.1

Trader05

Trader05

Diamond Member
Hey guys, i just got the Pentium D 820 and ECS 945P-A Combo from Outpost. Hooked everything up and everything was good. I always like to have the latest drivers/bios so i went on ECS's website and downloaded the newer bios. Did a winflash and rebooted. On the bios post screen i get "CMOS CHECKSUM BAD" press F1 to go to setup. So i tried everything and it will not get passed that error. Accidently i left the keyboard out and it ran straight to windows. Anybody have a same problem or any solutions?
 
Find the clear CMOS jumper, with the system powered off set it for about 20 seconds, then reset the jumper. Power on the system, go into the BIOS, set all your settings, then save & exit. Checksum message should go away. Normally it means after a flash that your old BIOS settings were not cleared and do not match with the new BIOS settings properly, so you need to reset all of the options in the BIOS and save.
 
Originally posted by: Trader05
tried it already. i think i'm just gonna rma this board
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Can you go into the BIOS and do a "Load BIOS Defaults" and then save it?
 
I picked up the same combo from Fry's and am going through the same exact thing. Something is funky about this board. Strangeley enough I downloaded the bios for the ecs PF5 board (another 945 board) and it worked - got past the checksum error. But I have tried two different updates for this particular board and keep getting the same Bad Checksum error.

 
Checksum error is common (routine) after a BIOS flash, due to the ESCD and CMOS contents changing. 99% of the time, it is normal and benign. 1% of the time, it is the result of a bad flash.

Enter BIOS/SETUP via the method suggested by the BIOS message (F1, F2, DEL, etc.), load SETUP Defaults ("Y" to confirm), then browse through each category and tailor all settings to personal taste. Save ("Y" to confirm) and exit. Alternatively, Save and Exit after loading SETUP Defaults, let the system reboot, enter BIOS/SETUP again to tailor all your BIOS settings.

If that doesn't work, try downloading the BIOS update and the DOS flash utility, then reflash the BIOS in pure DOS mode.
 
I think trader05 and I are describing similar efforts. I spent about six hours on my board yesterday and have tried all the suggestions noted here and then some. Nothing has worked, except, as I said, I tried the bios for another ecs 945 chipset board. I don't really trust this "fix" either so the board is probably going back.
 
Some boards just need two reboots after the BIOS flash, with the reset of BIOS settings after the second reboot. Or you could reset BIOS defaults before flashing the board.

Does your RAM pass memtest.org's diagnostics?
 
I've tried several reboots. right now, as I said in previous posts, I've got the board running but just not with it's own bios (it flashes OK if I use the bios file for the PF5 board dated 2005/06/07),with no cmos errors. that is the only bios that seems to work. right now i have xp and suse 10 loaded (dual boot) and it seems otherwise to be just fine with both os's. it just won't load the actual bios files intended for this board. so I don't trust it at this point.



 
well i already put in for an rma, emiburke if you want when i receive the board in a couple of days i can make you a backup of the bios i get.

I definitly tried over 6 hours just like emiburke, with no luck.
 
Originally posted by: Trader05
well i already put in for an rma, emiburke if you want when i receive the board in a couple of days i can make you a backup of the bios i get.

I definitly tried over 6 hours just like emiburke, with no luck.
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Any chance you are using a usb keyboard or mouse? On my friends machine, unplugging the usb keyboard made the error go away. I think we then disabled the USB legacy support.

b
 
Hey I have the same problem. Emiburke how did you flash to a different bios? I can't do anything but press F1 to go into the bios setup. I don't have a floppy connected but if I did would it let me boot to that?
 
Okay so here is how I fixed it. I unplugged my usb keyboard and mouse and plugged in a ps2 keyboard. Still got the cmos checksum error and couldn't do anything but go into setup. I unplugged the ps2 keyboard and now it gave the cmos checksum error but it moved past it and booted into Windows. So, I rebooted and once it got past the cmos checksum error I quickly plugged in the ps2 keyboard so I could boot off of the cd drive (since I don't have a floppy attached). I then re-loaded the new bios in dos, rebooted and everything was fine!
 
Originally posted by: stang95
Okay so here is how I fixed it. I unplugged my usb keyboard and mouse and plugged in a ps2 keyboard. Still got the cmos checksum error and couldn't do anything but go into setup. I unplugged the ps2 keyboard and now it gave the cmos checksum error but it moved past it and booted into Windows. So, I rebooted and once it got past the cmos checksum error I quickly plugged in the ps2 keyboard so I could boot off of the cd drive (since I don't have a floppy attached). I then re-loaded the new bios in dos, rebooted and everything was fine!
Click to expand...



I had the same problem with my Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe, but it didn't happen after a flash. I changed a memory setting in BIOS and saved then it wouldn't even post. Went straight to the bad checksum error and kept searching for a floppy or cdrom with the bios on it. I put in the cd with bios and it would "Start Erase" then "Start Programing" but would freeze there. Only after removing the USB keyboard/mouse and the ps2 keyboard (I tried to use after disconnecting the USB) would it complete the flash. Scared the hell out of me, I really didn't feel like RMA'ing my mobo with highspeed on its way this monday.
 
My kv2 lite ecs board has a back up bios. It's a little different from gigabyte's dual bios, but the principal is the same. It allows you to move the backup up bios chip over to the bad bios slot for rebooting, and move the other back when finished. Sort of like a hot flash. I'm surprised your board doesn't have this feature.
 
I have the same board and got the same problem. I was pissed and upset that I was going to have to RMA the board. But stang's suggestion worked for me! I was able to flash back to the BIOS I had before the update. ECS really needs to take down that BIOS file!

Stang95: If you are ever in Oregon, look me up and I'll buy you a beer or three... 🙂
 
So I emailed ECS the day I had this problem (The 20th) and they emailed me back saying they had no idea what I was talking about and couldn't reproduce the problem. But surprisingly enough, they released a new BIOS the same day. It has all the same fixes but also says "Smart Fan disabled"...
 
currently i still can not flash this board. i tried the latest bios, no luck. Stang95 did you flash back to the old bios or did you successfully update to the latest through dos?
 
Does anybody have a working version of bios for this motherboard ? The take out the keyboard let me boot, but I can;t find an older working bios on the ECS website or anywhere else.

Help !
 
So does the 10/28 version work ? I have the same problem, but the keyboard trick worked (cool !!!, thanks )

OK thanks to trader05, I now have a working version 6/17/2005. Anybody have a version newer than that that works ? the 10/28 and 12/20 versions on the ECS site don't work for me, PCB 1.0
 
i tried i think every bios on that page no luck. i contacted support and they suggested that i flash with a bootable floppy. Ive tried that before when i had the first board, nothing. They need to fix this issue. I see that outpost has the 920 chip bundled with this board now.
 
I have a new working BIOS. I'll post some more when I get back to my computer. It's been awhile since I've been on these forums...
 
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