Motherboard Fried After BIOS Flash????

[goombawaho]

FoxConn M61PMV Had BIOS P02 Flashed to P05 using a bootable floppy on a USB floppy drive. It was the latest BIOS for that motherboard straight from their web site. I didn't make a mistake.

At the end of the BIOS flash, I got the "OK" message and followed the on-screen prompt and hit F1 to reset the PC.

Now the motherboard starts (CPU and case fans turn on for about 3 seconds) and then turns off. Then it does it again and again and again.

I have already pulled the MOBO out of the case and only attached the power, video and keyboard, using the jumpers to close the switch. I have also tried a different (new) power supply.

I have already reset the BIOS using the CLR CMOS jumper and pulled the CMOS battery out for 10 minutes.

Any ideas for saving this MOBO or have I totally borked it?

 

[kjv1611]

Hmm, have you tried a 12-guage shotgun?

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[goombawaho]

Very funny!!!!!!!!! Not. Should I ask the customer if I can shoot his motherboard or just shoot it and ask questions later.

I've given up though, it's just shocking that it said that the BIOS flash succeeded but then died.

Stupid Foxconn motherboard.

 

[kjv1611]

I think that though Foxconn boards can prove to be good boards, they are cheaper (not just less expensive) than say Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Intel...

My general rule of thumb with Flashing hardware is that if I'm not having any issues, then I'd rather not run the risk of a flash gone bad.

Even if you got the "OK" message saying it was finished at the end, I suppose it's still possible that there was some little bit of programming AFTER the message that went awry.

Also, if it's a new board, you might want to check and see if it could be covered under warranty. It's worth a shot, anyway.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[goombawaho]

Yeah, I would never pick a Foxconn board for me or someone else. Your list is more or less my list of "top" brands.

I did flash it for a reason. It was seeing the hard drive only intermittently but the hard drive tested good.

Out of warranty.

 

[kjv1611]

Sorry to hear. At least if you needed something for target practice, well, now you've got something! Of course, with the customer's permission.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[wahnula]

Have you tried re-flashing it with the original BIOS that came with the board? (Usually on the CD). Or is it impossible to get even that far?

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[kjv1611]

You know, back when I was in college, I worked at a couple of places loading trucks (tractor-trailers/18 wheelers). At one of the places (I'll never for get this), I couldn't get one of the old clunker fork lifts to start after I had shut it off (if I remember correctly, it's an OSHA requirement to turn off forklifts if no one is on it - I wonder why ).

Well, I tried and tried, and it wouldn't start. I was clueless - I mean, I knew it was old, and I knew it very well could just be dead, but I decided to ask a man who had been there before Columbus "discovered" America!

He saw which forklift it was, put up a smirk and a wink, and advised me to follow him over to the forklift. We got there, he lifted up the seat (these were "sit down" models which had the motor underneath the seat), and took a "dock bar" and tapped once or twice on a small flat section. Then he closed down the seat, and I hit the starter - viola!

So, a dock bar is kind of like a crow bar in shape... just a little longer, and much narrower - just slighly more diameter than the typical water turn-off tool doohickey.

Why does all this matter? Well, for one, I figured it could provide at least a little sad entertainment. For another, who knows, maybe you can just tap here or there, and get something working right? Or just try unplugging EVERYTHING from the board, and reseat EVERYTHING from scratch - at least the main components.

So if you want to give it a shot, remove EVERYTHING - CPU, Video, if is PCI/AGP/PCI Express), any other addons, RAM, any cables, etc... THEN pull out the BIOS battery. THEN move the jumper over the BIOS reset pins, and let 'er set a while.

Read a little news, clean your gun, or maybe double-check your ammo, take a nap - whatever suits.

Come back, move the jumper back from the reset pins.
Put back in the CMOS battery
Carefully and meticulously reseat the components, one at a time, as if you were carrying out surgery - might even be worth glancing over the connections to ensure no dust got in there anywhere... blow out where possible/feasible.
Make sure everything seated well.
Try to fire back up the PC.
If it gets further, but still not all the way, see if you can then flash the BIOS as Tony suggested.

And if all fails, use the thing for target practice.. or maybe a fencing dummy if you happen to have any sort of sword around - fake/costume ones will do just as well.

And then say, ahh, customer, thou oughtest to pay me enough to get you a good board.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[tlcscousin]

That board supports BIOS Rescue i would assume they should have a document maybe in the manual that explains how to perform the function but so far have not found it.
The board also has super BIOS protect which you would need to short some pins on the board so the BIOS is unprotected so you can flash it.
I would email them or post a message with their support forums, i see a few people that have had the issue i am sure someone knows the steps.

 

[Grenage]

Unless it's got a backup ROM (doubt it, otherwise you wouldn't be here) or the chip is removable, you're out of luck.

"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area" - Major Mike Shearer

 

[goombawaho]

Nothing found matching "rescue" in the PDF of the mobo manual, so I don't think it's an option.

Can't boot even to a floppy with the old BIOS on it, so I'm afraid it can't be re-flashed. I had already removed the mobo from the case and disconnected everything including CMOS battery. Also put the jumper on Clear CMOS for about 20 minutes. Left the battery out overnight as well. Bizarre.

 

[SkipCox]

If that thing won't boot with a floppy attached by a ribbon cable, I'd attempt to RMA the board.



Skip

 

[tlcscousin]

These discusses flashing the BIOs and shows the pins to short to allow flashing the BIOS.

http://www.foxconnsupport.com/faq.a...gory=C000000003&series=en-us0000008&keywords=

http://www.foxconnsupport.com/faq.a...gory=C000000003&series=en-us0000008&keywords=

 

[BadBigBen]

It was seeing the hard drive only intermittently but the hard drive tested good.

is usually a controller, loose cable, or power issue, and not a problem that can be resolved by flashing the BIOS...

and from the symptoms described after the flash, I would say that the mainboard was already on its way out, and it just happened to decide to do it then...

you could try another BIOS chip, these can be had from the manufacturer or even sometimes from eBay... but I'll doubt that it will fix the issue...


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[goombawaho]

My whole premise for flashing the BIOS (and as a result, killing the motherboard), turned out to be a wast of time.

With the new motherboard (same model) which had the same BIOS I was trying to flash to, the hard drive started to disappear at bootup time ONLY WHEN the external USB hard drive was turned ON.

I can't think of any reason why a motherboard couldn't see it's internal hard drive no matter what external usb drive is attached to it.

I could understand if it tried to boot from the external drive if the BIOS were set up that way. But this motherboard stated more or less "no ide drive attached" when the external usb drive was powered up when the PC was started.

Thoughts????? Crappy motherboard??? Strange interaction between external drive and USB bus????

The external drive works perfectly and both drives were tested using WD Diagnostic Tools within Windows.

 

[Grenage]

I would have come to the same conclusion as you, it sounds like a bad motherboard or motherboard BIOS.

"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area" - Major Mike Shearer

 

[Freestone]

Just a wild guess, but if the external drive has a primary partition with the active bit set, it confuses the BIOS? At any rate, it sounds like a BIOS issue to me.

 

[goombawaho]

Brand new motherboard/latest BIOS = confused BIOS???

I didn't see any setting governing booting from external USB drives that could be causing this.

I'm thinking more of a crappy BIOS that can't interpret things correctly that are attached to motherboard.

 

[Freestone]

Does the external drive have the conditions I stated? Just curious...

And I agree, having an external device connected making the internal drive disappear qualifies it as crappy BIOS

 

[626F62]

crappy mobo... me thinks.

PS you might of flashed perfectly and the ok was the end, maybe it was just the the flash image that had corruption in it. maybe Foxconn knew this and put it out there anyway... conspiracy??? probably not... good luck with new problem of USB drive i have no idea.