When and why do you flash the BIOS?

[leepark]

When and why do you flash the BIOS? I am experiencing problems with either the video card or motherboard. The BIOS screens are not legible (totally scrambled) but once it enters Windows everything seems to work fine. Also, the screen at the opening and during Prince of Persia stuck (& had to restart) a few times. What is your diagnosis? Is it a video card problem? Motherboard? Etc?

 

[akugami]

With a brand new mobo always update the bios to the most recent non beta release. Especially one that has just been released using a brand new chipset like the nForce4 mobo's.

By the "BIOS screens are not legible" do you mean you pressed delete and went into the bios and it was not legible there or is it during the DOS like loading screens before the Windows loading screen comes up? Either way that sounds like a motherboard problem.

Have you installed all the latest drivers for your mobo, video card and all other hardware that may need it? I'm assuming you've used the regular burn in tools such as 3DMark, Prime95 and memtest86 to test for system stability. These tools can help isolate what the problem is and possible suspects but sometimes you just gotta swap replacement parts in to see if it works.

Maybe you have a friend who lives nearby that you can test the video card in his system and maybe borrow his video card to see if the same problem persists with a different video card in your motherboard.

And also try starting up your system without that Hauppage PVR250 card. That's not exactly common equipment for the average computer user so that might be causing some sort of incompatibility.

 

[leepark]

The "not legible" screens occur both in the DOS-like loading screens and inside BIOS. Does that mean it's a motherboard problem? Can it be fixed with a BIOS flash?

Should I try to flash the BIOS? Or should I RMA the motherboard? Does flashing the BIOS void the warranty?

I haven't used any of the "burn in tools" - don't know how.

I will try taking the Hauppauge out.

If I have to flash the BIOS which one of these do I use: http://www.dfi.com.tw/Support/Download/...?PRODUCT_ID=3471&STATUS_FLAG=A&SITE=US

 

[akugami]

Unfortunately I don't have a DFI board but rather the Asus A8N-SLI board so I don't know which would be better for you. The easiest way to tell if it's your video card or mobo is again swapping out the video card with another one in your motherboard and trying out your video card in a different mobo.

 

[leepark]

It WAS my video card. Everything is displayed properly now.

Now I (still) have one more problem. For some reason, when I install the OS on a newly formatted HDD components are missing upon completion of install. Internet Explorer and any sort of internet connection is missing. I can't get my ethernet connections to function. It won't even let me access the included motherboard installation CD (all drivers). Does anyone know why this is happening? What can I do to resolve this? Is it another component problem?

 

[customcoms]

This sounds like a Windows problem. First, did you install the SATA drivers by pressing F6 when the windows install begins? They should be on an included CD or Floppy. Also, are using a PCI graphics card for the moment? That can cause weird problems. Memtest86 is actually included in some of the latest bios's for your board; you need to stick the bios file on a bootable floppy, and if the boards bios doesn't include awardflash you need that as well (do a google search, check the forums at dfi-street.com, they will help over their more specifically addresed to the board). Otherwise, running memtest of a boot floppy/cd works as well. First I would try fixing your windows installation (are you using a slip-streamed service pack 1/2 install cd?). You need the drivers off the cd to get your ethernet working properly! All the other programs mentioned work directly from windows. Prime95 is free, I also reconmend SuperPI for quick stress testing (also free). They are easy to use once you get them. I would get a good windows install and then run Prime overnight to see how stable the comp. is before you begin overclocking.

Sam