MSI KT3 Ultra Bios problem

[Rayden]

I am building a new computer for a friend and the bios on the motherboard does not work.

Athlon XP 1800+
MSI KT3 Ultra
256mb pc2700 ram
gainward gf4 ti4200 64mb
40gb D740X maxtor hard drive

the computer starts up and gets into windows just fine. but when it is starting up and i hit del to get the bios, the screen flashes and then goes blank. i can then hit ctrl alt del to restart it.
a motherboard without bios accesibility is almost worthless i think. is the motherboard broken? can i just update the bios? also, the board has a thing where you can hit tab while it is starting to get the MSI logo, it also flashes and goes blank when i do this. but i can hit f11 to choose what drive to boot on.

can anyone help me?

 

[natopotato2]

a bios flash is worth a shot. another thing you could try is a different vid card and/or monitor, i doubt the problem lies with either component, but if you have a few extras collecting dust you could give it a try.

 

[Rayden]

ok, i have new data. i uninstalled the gainward driver for the geforce 4 video card and when the computer restarted i was able to get into the bios. i then installed the latest detonator xp drivers off the nvidia site. when it restarted again i was unable to get the bios.
good news - i don't have to flash the bios!
bad news - the problem is in the video card/driver

perhaps the gainward card is messed up. i can't believe that both the gainward driver and the nvidia driver are messed up. i have no idea what to do now. i guess ill put my gf2 that is on my own computer and see if it works

 

[natopotato2]

test that gainward card in another rig before you RMA it. my friend had an odd problem with his gainward GF2 Ti and it's drivers. ran fine in my rig but put it back in his and it was screwed. it was fixed by a low level format of the hard drive(bootwiped it too). might want to try that and see if there are still probs. i'd recommend staying away from the drivers gainward bundles with their cards. just grab a set of recent dets when you reinstall the OS and card/drivers.

i'm guessing that you installed the gainward drivers before installing the dets. i'll bet that is what caused the problem.

 

[Trashman]

Drivers for a video card would not be reason why you can't get into BIOS, think about it for a sec...could be a bad video card, hard to say...what I am sure of though, it's not due to drivers....MSI has some forums, maybe try searching through there.
edit*You mentioned havin a GF2 card....have you tried using that with any success?*

 

[Rayden]

i know, video drivers should affect the bios. but with drivers bios is messed, without it runs.
yes i did install the gainward drivers before the detonator drivers. are you saying i should just wipe the hard drive and start over?

 

[Trashman]

don't reformat....it's not a windows problem, its hardware....but what though?
Try your GF2 card....if you can.

 

[Trashman]

found this...whether or not it help's, i dunno..........LINK.

 

[Rayden]

well i put the gf4 in my computer, it runs fine, i can get the bios.
i put my gf2 in my friend's computer and i can't get the bios. it seems that even when i uninstall the driver it doesn't come up now.

that is the problem i am having, though i haven't ever waited for more than 30 seconds for it to come up.

though now it doesn't flash, it just goes blank.

i just waited and the bios eventually came up. (1min) I won't worry too much about it then, as long as it does come up.

i will be installing winxp on the system soon, i will reformat just for kicks.

thx for all your guy's help

 

[natopotato2]

reformat should do it(bootwipe the drive too, just to be certain).

trashman, while it does go against the conventional wisdom, i have experienced a few probs caused by drivers that theoretically should not have been. i've only seen it happen with gainward cards with the gainward drivers. it's not a common issue but it still exists.