MSI G31TM-P21, black screen after bios flash

[hamid1]

So, I have MSI G31TM-P21 motherboard which has had problems. I have two Gskill ram sticks rated for 800MHz but the board refused to boot with both of them unless I reduced memory frequency to 667MHz.

I decided to try flashing the latest bios from here, using M-Flash:

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/G31TMP21

Flashing was completed succesfully, but now the board wont post, just black screen.
I have PCI diagnostics card which cannot read anything when I power on the board.

I have read that it could be possible to restore the bios somehow but since the diagnostics card cannot read anything does that mean that the board is dead?
I don't have any other ram sticks to test.

 

[vailr]

What video port is being used: video card or on-board VGA ? The bios setting may have re-set the default video out port to the motherboard's VGA port. In that case, you'd need to temporaily connect a VGA monitor, then switch the bios setting back to the video card as first boot device.

 

[hamid1]

What video port is being used: video card or on-board VGA ? The bios setting may have re-set the default video out port to the motherboard's VGA port. In that case, you'd need to temporaily connect a VGA monitor, then switch the bios setting back to the video card as first boot device.

Onboard VGA currently, when I flashed the bios I had graphics card installed but after discovering problems I removed it.

I tried initiating recovery by pressing CTRL and HOME keys but nothing happens (I have bios file on usb stick).

Because the PCI diagnostics card doesn't show any codes it makes me think that the board is dead, however I'm not sure it it should show codes since something is wrong with the bios itself? I might try using floppy disk and other ram sticks later.

 

[vailr]

That motherboard is fairly ancient (in computer terms), and could have a bad button battery.
Sorry: it's not really worth putting much effort into fixing it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, one thing to try might be to disconnect power and use the CLR_CMOS jumper, whether it's a 2-pin (short them for a second or two), or 3-pin (move jumper to "alternate" position, hold for 2 seconds, then switch back), I don't know offhand.

If that doesn't work, then test or replace the CMOS CR2032 lithium coin cell battery, and then try a CLR_CMOS again, then connect power, and see if it powers up.

Some of those older boards, if you flashed the BIOS, you had to manually clear the CMOS settings, because sometimes the memory locations corresponding to certain settings changed between BIOS revisions, and it would refuse to POST correctly, unless the settings were cleared.

 

[hamid1]

Battery should be good it did store settings (after removing power cord) when I change ram frequency to 667MHz, the board refused to boot with both sticks unless frequency was changed. After that I was able to install Windows, test with Geekbench and play Battlefield 2, I hope I would have left it like it was then but because new bios version promised some improved memory support of course I had to try it
I also tried to reset CMOS after discovering problems but that doesn't help.

At the moment I'm testing / using those Gskill sticks in another computer and there are no problems running them both at 800Mhz so clearly there is nothing wrong with the RAM. I will take the old ram from this machine I'm currently using and try them in that problematic board just in case.

Because the PCI diagnostics card cannot read any codes no longer (it could at first) that makes me think the bios is f*cked up and the only hope would be that the AMIBIOS recovery function would still work, but I don't know. I haven't tried with floppy drive and PS/2 keyboard yet.

This problematic board/machine is not my main computer by any means and yes, it is so old that spending lot of money is not worth it.