Dead board?! HELP!

[razor2025]

I just got a new retail box of Epox 8RDA+ Rev 1.1. I installed it last night and tried to update its BIOS. I used the Awardflash.exe on a floppy because their internet update software was buggy (it could never finish a DL, always get stuck 1/2 way.). Anyway, as I tried to update the BIOS on their flash utility, it stopped replacing the BIOS saying something of "Set BIOS protection off". So, I tried to restart my PC, and this time, NOTHING comes up. The LED indicator on the motherboard says "FF" all the time. I've tried clearing the CMOS, take out battery, and even tried to hot-swap a BIOS from my old MSI KT3 ULTRA-ARU. Nothing comes up. Not even a blip. Only the HDD indicator LED on the case shows, and even that disappear in 3 min after powering on. What's going on?! I want to try to get it resolve before I RMA the board back to Newegg.

 

[razor2025]

Any suggestion would be appreciated!

 

[KaGee]

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!
Not familiar with EPOX board characteristics, but just the mention of flashing bios sends up red flags.
(Playing "Taps" in the background)
I belive you may have corrupted the bios. You can try to reflash again. Me thinks you killed it.

 

[MDE]

FF= fail. Try hotswapping with another board with the same chipset\BIOS and see if that works.

 

[Buz2b]

Probably dead but you do have another option. You could send the chip to Badflash and have them "reprogram" the ROM chip for about $18 (including return shipping). Or you could opt for having them send you a new ROM chip for around $25. I guess you have to weigh this against the cost of shipping the board back to NewEgg for RMA. The first option would be close. The previous post suggesting a hot swap with a similar chipset/ROM would probably work also.

 

[razor2025]

blah, I think it'll be cheaper to send it back to Newegg for RMA, as the cheapest BIOS recovery option is $18. I tried to hot-swap the BIOS with the one from a MSI KT3 Ultra, but it didn't work o ut.

 

[KaGee]

Originally posted by: razor2025
blah, I think it'll be cheaper to send it back to Newegg for RMA, as the cheapest BIOS recovery option is $18. I tried to hot-swap the BIOS with the one from a MSI KT3 Ultra, but it didn't work o ut.

I feel your pain bro.