Bios checksum error

[icyroy05]

Finally got everything for my current system. Installed the basics and got it to post. I then decided to update the bios. Downloaded the 3/10 bios. Flashed it and the system told me to restart and I did. This is where all the problems started. When I restarted the first three debug lights stayed on and couldn't get it to even POST. Restarted again same thing. Turned off the computer and turned it back on using switches on the motherboard. The same three lights stayed on and on the monitor it says " BIOS ROM checksum error". It tells me to put the bios disk in and hit enter. I do and then it goes into flashing utility again and it starts flashing. Everytime it tries to flash it fails at some point and then a screen comes and says "Flash ROM is write protected. Please make sure whether lockout jumpers is set to correct or not" I have no idea what to do now. Hopefully I don't have to return the board because of the bios screw up.

 

Thanks,

Roy

[Poisonsnak]

I had the BIOS checksum error once while OCing but it went away 'on its own'.

 

If the message is legitimate it means your flash failed and you need to re-flash. I got that exact same 'flash rom locked' error while trying to do it myself. I would recommend hotflashing it in someone else's board it's a lot easier and more dangerous (as far as I'm concerned danger=fun) than you have heard I would bet.

[icyroy05]

I would attempt to hotflash it but no one near me has any understanding of computers much less what a Ultra-d is. I wasn't overclocked at all just so people know and that I attemted to reflash it many times. Is there any way to get a new bios chip for the board or something else that will do the trick.

 

Thanks,

Roy

[Poisonsnak]

You can try sending a private message to Angry_Games he may be able to flash the chip for you if you send it to him, I'm pretty sure he does it for the nForce2 boards.

 

Yeah no matter how many attempts I made with the "insert disk to flash" business it never worked. But whenever I flash from a normal dos boot disk it works great.

 

Which command line switches are you using for awdflash? It just occurred to me that the /F switch might make it go through I believe this makes awdflash try flashing in a different manner.

[icyroy05]

The flash I was using was DFI's special no input needed flash utlity. I haven't tried doing it manually since I've never done it that way before. I know there are commands that you can tell the utility to do but I have no idea what those are.

 

Thanks,

Roy

[Poisonsnak]

Hmm, yeah I would make a boot disk (www.bootdisk.com) and toss this in when the computer complains on boot. Then have another disk with awdflash.exe and the bios of your choice.

 

Awdflash + 3/10 BIOS : http://www.dfi.com.tw/Upload/BIOS/NF4LD310.zip

(make sure to extract the zip before you put it on the disk.

 

if you type:

awdflash nf4ld310.bin /py /sn /F

That should do it, well hopefully.

[icyroy05]

Well award started up and now its been saying "please wait" for about seven minutes now and the light to the floppy drive is still on but no sound coming from the drive. Did it ever do that to you when you used it or should I be concerned.

 

Thanks,

Roy

[Poisonsnak]

hmm that's a bit odd is the disk good? Maybe try another. It is usually done in 5 min or so at most.

[icyroy05]

Tried it again. It actually started to program but failed at some location. Tried again with another disk failed in another location when it was programming. I think I have crappy floppy disks. Is there anyway to just completely wipe the BIOS then re-flash it? I'm probably done for tonight because I have a test in Physics and Calculus. Thanks for all the help so far.

 

Thanks,

Roy

[Poisonsnak]

Hmm I always liked physics but not calculus, anyway good luck.

 

When you flash the BIOS it automatically erases before it programs. I guess you could program a .bin file that is all zeros but that would be a little weird. I have had a couple of bad floppy drives in my systems so maybe that is something to look at also.

 

Leave it running though don't want to restart with a bad flash.

[icyroy05]

I think we got this under control now. It failed to flash and would fail at different locations so I e-mailed DFI about it. They said to send the BIOS chip to them and they would reflash it for free. DFI has won a new faithful customer for that sort of support. Thanks Poisonsnak for helping me through this, I probably would of messed more stuff up if I didn't have someone telling me what to do.

 

Thanks,

Roy

[icyroy05]

Got my BIOS chip back from DFI today. I let the CMOS clear during the whole time it was at DFI. I set everything to go back to normal and put the chip back in. Started it up and the system would not POST and only the first light stayed on and I got no signal to the monitor. Cleared CMOS again and turned it back on. This time the same first three lights came on but I got a signal to the monitor and it said the same thing that it said before "BIOS ROM checksum error". Restarted it and I got the one light no monitor deal. Restarted it again and I got three lights and my least favorite message. So I figured why not try flashing it again. I tried flashing it with 3/10 bios and it said the flash was complete and I restarted and the bad checksum thing popped up again. So I tried clearing CMOS and after that it did the same thing about the checksum. Tried flashing again and it would flash all the way but the last half on the bottom row where it would say no change. Restarted and I got the same message again. I've tried all the end parameters and the only one that doesn't fail during the flash is /py/sn/E. /F doesn't let it flash and says the BIOS is locked. Sometimes it will go all the way through and all the blocks are written to. But when I restart it says that the checksum is bad. Its almost like it can't be written to and remeber it.

 

I'm starting to think that I've completely messed the system up or the BIOS chip is just bad. Unless I can make it POST again I'm gonna probably RMA it, unless of course somone else has an idea that I haven't tried.

 

Roy