[indarkflames]

yesterday I upgraded/flashed my BIOS (I have an Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe Motherboard)
and I was informed that the procedure went successfully and it required a reboot. Once it restarted and after loaded the BIOS, I got a message saying "MBR error 2" and it would just sit there, not loading XP.
I was adviced to use the recovery console and perform FIXMBR. Well I did and now it seems to have gotten worse. Now I don't even see the error message but just a blank black dos screen...
What could I do?
Could I recover my files?
Does this require me to buy a new hardware? (HD or motherboard)
If I were to do a fresh install of XP, would that fix the problem? (last resort)

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[ViprXX]

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[indarkflames]

I am just curious if reinstalling or repairing will fix this issue...It seems to be caused by the BIOS, so, does reinstalling or repairing XP fix those kind of issues/problems?
I dont want to risk loosing or formatting my HD if it will not even fix the problem.
Sorry, I am just trying to be cautious...

[peterm]

I Take it you did not make a backup of your old bios 1st.
Does the program you used to flash the bios have a recovery. If not I would try the Flash again. If you need to check if the computer works then you can load a 98 startup disk which will take you to a dos screen. This at least lets us know if the computer works.
What program did you use to Flash.
What Bios do you have
when you go in to the bios can you see your hard disk listed or are you set for auto detect.
Bootdisk

Edited by peterm, 25 January 2007 - 02:50 PM.

[indarkflames]

Alright, first of all, my computer doesn't have a floppy drive, thus I installed and used the "Usus Update" software to flash my BIOS within Windows from version 0305 to 0603. The VERY first image that loads when you boot your computer (Related to BIOS I am assuming) changed after the flash, from the Alienhead of Alienware to something from Asus and since XP hasn't loaded.

[-OCM770-]

Just a cuple of questions.

1) Where did you download the bios from
2)whats your computers model?

I hope you downloaded the BIOS from alienware and not asus....



-OCM770-

Edited by -OCM770-, 25 January 2007 - 06:54 PM.

[indarkflames]

I DID download the BIOS from Asus...I didn't know that was a bad choice...
My computer is Area51 7500.

Hmm this makes me think, I have a driver CD that came with the computer. Could that be booted and somehow fix something?

What about reseting my BIOS?
How would that react to RAID 0?

[-OCM770-]

Thing is, usually OEM manufacturers like Dell, HP, and alienware sell there machines with a locked BIOS. Usually a CD like yours will have an original version of the BIOS that came on the PC. I am know searching alienware for a suitable BIOS. I'll post back


-OCM770-

[-OCM770-]

i cant create an acount to get to the drivers page. I dont have an acount number, if i try to ivent one i "exeed the integer value"


-OCM770-

[indarkflames]

Well I have checked for BIOS on the Alienware page and it doesnt have BIOS for my motherboard, just addons like Raid setups and forth. So, do you think maybe I could boot from the driver CD, and run that? Would that even work?

[indarkflames]

I am happy to inform you guys that I am typing this from my computer
All the problem was that after the Flashing, the SATA RAID 0 settings had gotten defaulted so I enabled them and bam! All running smooth

[peterm]

Care to write out the steps for others to learn

[indarkflames]

It confused me because my SATA hds were read and shown on the BIOS yet it wasn't able to access to them. Well, I guess since the BIOS got flashed, it reset a few things to default, one of them being the Nvidia Raid option, which had been disabled. All I had to do was go to my BIOS and enable it.

I can't believe all this frustration was caused of something so small