[digikiwi]

I tried posting this in hardware but have had no response, so maybe I was in the wrong forum.

I upgraded the BIOS on my Giga-byte GA-K8NSC939 mobo from F1 to F8. Indications were that it all went successfully. However the BIOS does not have an option to load fail-safe settings. The closest thing is "load optimised default settings". I have tried this but whatever I do, I can't get past the
Verifying DMI Data Pool..................Update Success.

There have been no hardware changes at all. My reason for flashing the BIOS was because my mobo USB ports weren't working anymore (ongoing issue see thread in Hardware forum).

I have also tried erasing the CMOS by removing the battery for a few minutes. No joy in this either.

I can boot from floppy and CD and the two hard drives seem to be getting recognised in the BIOS bootup. However I can't seem to access them at all.

Any helpful ideas hints?

PS I'm running XP ME with SP2


PS If I am breaking a forum rule by "doubleposting" hardware/windows AND you are a moderator/admin then please do remove the thread in the wrong forum - I'm not sure which is more appropriate.


Digikiwi

Edited by digikiwi, 21 May 2006 - 07:48 PM.

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does this motherboard have dual-bios? How did you update? Did you use the q-flash or do it the old fashioned way?

[gerryf]

does this motherboard have dual-bios? How did you update? Did you use the q-flash or do it the old fashioned way?

[digikiwi]

single bios

used qflash via floppy disk

[gerryf]

ok,,,,I've often heard people caution against updating over too broad a range of bios updates, but I have never had an issue myself (nor understood the warning), so let's not go there for the moment....

This PC has multiple usb ports, anything plugged into those? I am wondering if the issue might be related to system level pnp

Try unplugging everything (printer, any usb devices, joysticks, etc)...reboot. If you feel comfortable doing it, also remove any extra pc cards for the moment

Same warning?

[digikiwi]

This PC has multiple usb ports, anything plugged into those? I am wondering if the issue might be related to system level pnp

Try unplugging everything (printer, any usb devices, joysticks, etc)...reboot. If you feel comfortable doing it, also remove any extra pc cards for the moment

I have tried unplugging all except for keyboard, mouse and monitor. The problem remains. I have a Graphics card (Leadtek Winfast GE5900FX Ultra)in the AGP slot. Would the computer start up by reverting to onboard graphics drivers if this was removed?


Meanwhile I'll try removing the
- PCI firewire card
- PCI USB 2.0 card
- PCI Creative Audigy 2 ZS soundcard

I'll let you know soon

[gerryf]

leave the video card...if you just get most of it out of there, that should free up any IRQs if there is an issue. Then add them one at a time


Also, in bios, everything under PNP is set to auto, right?

[digikiwi]

oops duplicate post removed

Edited by digikiwi, 18 May 2006 - 01:25 AM.

[digikiwi]

leave the video card...if you just get most of it out of there, that should free up any IRQs if there is an issue. Then add them one at a time


Also, in bios, everything under PNP is set to auto, right?

Looked in the mobo manual and pulled it out & then realised I needed dvi socket to connect monitor

But seeing I'm getting to bios I presume that it's not a graphics card issue. Removed everything else but no change.

I have noticed the chipset fan is noisy, sounds like something is in the bearing or they're grinding a bit. May try to see how tricky this fan is to replace.


RE PNP - yes all set to auto

[digikiwi]

I finally figured out the problem. Flashing the BIOS removed the RAID settings by returning to default. In Integrated Peripherals I had to enter RAID and then enable "SATA Master" for both drives (Sorry I'm not on my computer at home to check exact name of settings).

This allowed me to enter RAID utility by pressing F10. I then reset the RAID 0 array to striping. Finally after lots of blood sweat and tears I could boot into Windows again.

Hooray......But wait, SAMMS screw up fairy must have had time to sneak in a visit. I had my two 120Gb drives split into two partitions on RAID 0: C: @ 80Gb and E: @ 160Gb. However now my E: is recognised as not formatted and I only have access to C:.

I figure I need to find a way to recover the file partition table for the RAID array.

Question: Do you know any way to revover this from software based NVIDIA RAID?

Digikiwi

[woohoofulness]

does this motherboard have dual-bios? How did you update? Did you use the q-flash or do it the old fashioned way?

<br>
i was just wondering; wat is the old fashioned way, I might like to try it, being the computer junky i am