Oh woe is me..

i flashed the bios on my old P3 500.. the flash failed..\

pc refuses to boot now.. anyone know a fix, or a way to use the backup it created beforehand?

Did you remember to put the jumper back to the original position?

Because all you do with a "flash" is short out the jumper making BIOS loose all its previous information.

If you did that ... and it doesn't boot (as in everything is plugged in and you press the button and it does absolutly nothing). Then many things could be wrong: Fried Board, Fried CPU, Funked Up BIOS, etc, etc.

You tried removing the cmos battery for a while then resitting it?

start by disconnecting all secondary HD's and your floppy/disk drives. Try to boot with the essential stuff only.

i called a computer store here in town, i now own many spare parts

thanx guys..

If the bios chip is flashable and it failed, you need a new bios chip, because bios is trashed now you cant turn it on and fix it. Contact the makers and they will replac it.

i called a computer store here in town, i now own many spare parts

thanx guys..

So, it isn't starting at all and you did replace the jumper? If its the case that it shorted, you might not have any spare parts. If there was a major enough of a surge, nothing would be useable from that computer. So, keep working at it and don't give up so easily ... quitter.

it was a windows flash utility recommended by gigabyte..

the only reason i attempted was, the bios couldn't use hard drives over 20gigs.. i had a 40 in it, but it said 20 :sad:

the parts are fine crono, its the bios chip itself thats borked..

sadly, it was a fine machine, clean.. i reckon i will put another mobo in the case..

thanx guys.

so wait wait, if you did a software flash, try doing a jumper flash. that will reset the bios to its defaults.

It will probably restore it to its original state. As for HDD support, there could be a multitude of reasons why it wont support that high, and I guarentee you it isn't going to be " The setting just doesn't get set high enough", there's a reason past that.

Oh, and never install 3rd party crap for your mother board ... it rarely works out well. Unless, the company who made your board is Gigabyte ... in which case they have crappy utilities (obviously).

1st thing i did, after the failed bootup was, remove the battery.. no good.. the bios chip is borked..

the new bios would have supported 75 gig drives..

I didn't say remove the CMOS battery. I said short the jumpers, look in the boards book it'll tell you how. Not to mention, if you gave your model and such I could probably find a troubleshooter.

So, what you did was try to install a new BIOS version? (this isn't what you said earlier)

Crono said:
So, what you did was try to install a new BIOS version? (this isn't what you said earlier)

so, whats the difference between my first post that says "flash the bios" and your last post that says "install a new bios" ???

the mobo is GA-6BXC

Just partition the drive into two 20 gig ones... I think.

Anyway, if you know somebody with an EEPROM programmer, they should be able to sort you out. I have access to one, but I'm not really local. I guess the best idea is do what somebody else said and contact the manufacturer - they will almost certainly have some spare ones kicking around.

Orph, that's like saying, "What's the difference between changing all the radio stations in my car and buying a new radio for my car".

Crono said:
Orph, that's like saying, "What's the difference between changing all the radio stations in my car and buying a new radio for my car".

Quit fighting like women :razz: Dont make me get my purse and fill it with bricks :biggrin:

Crono, We both know what Jon meant. He flashed his BIOS and something effed up. Installing BIOS the way your thinking is just being technical :razz:

Jon, removing the BIOS batery is the same as clearing the CMOS with the motherboard's jumper. Now, BIOS is an actual chip on the mobo whereas CMOS is just the information BIOS uses. So if the user is br0ked, the program, whether cleared or not will not work.

If you blew your BIOS chip, I feel for you. I'd send you a new P3 mobo if I had any, but all I have are 2 Pentium IIs, and a AMD socket A. And a rebuild Im selling. If the BIOS chip is a removable one, you can always get a new one from the manufaturer. If its none removable, you can kiss the mobo good-bye.

And like Jeff said, if your computer cant recognise a drive over 20gb, try running fdisk and partitionning the drive. It should work me thinks.

Good luck either ways,

Crono said:
Orph, that's like saying, "What's the difference between changing all the radio stations in my car and buying a new radio for my car".

ok then.. as i read this.. then you read my 1st reply wrong and made an assumption upon that misreading..

i flashed the bios, i did not install another chip :biggrin:

i weeped for about an hour, i have now laid it to rest.. i needed the parts anyways, but damn it was a clean little comp..

you must understand, people give me these things, or sell them to me cheap, i wipe them and then give them to kids who's parents cannot afford a new computer.. it helps them with school and whatnot.. i have a few kids programs that once installed do not require a cd..

anyways, this comp would have made a great christmas gift to someone.. well live and learn i reckon..

before you ask, the 40 gig wasn't gonna stay in it, in hind sight, i should have left the bios alone, but gigabyte made it sound so simple..

Removing the battery dont always work cos on my old packard bell (I
stupidly put a password on it and forgot it) I removed the battery for
about 3 hours and it didnt reset it but when i switched the jumper
settings that actually reset the bios so i could get in and change it.

and I have learnt dont put a password on the bios. and I never reomve the battery now I just switch the jumper settings

and I have learnt dont put a password on the bios

A heavy, blunt object beside the computer is more effective for security. :smile:

not passwording your BIOS can have consequencies just as disasterous, depending on who can access your machine.

gimpinthesink said:
Removing the battery dont always work cos on my old packard bell (I stupidly put a password on it and forgot it) I removed the battery for about 3 hours and it didnt reset it but when i switched the jumper settings that actually reset the bios so i could get in and change it.

and I have learnt dont put a password on the bios. and I never reomve the battery now I just switch the jumper settings

Was the power cord in the PSU? Because if it was, removing the batery wouldnt do anything.

I dont password my BIOS, firstly because no one in my family is that smart about computers, and secondly, if someone did mess with my BIOS, its real easy to open the side and clear CMOS :biggrin:

ok then.. as i read this.. then you read my 1st reply wrong and made an assumption upon that misreading..

i flashed the bios, i did not install another chip :biggrin:

i weeped for about an hour, i have now laid it to rest.. i needed the parts anyways, but damn it was a clean little comp..

you must understand, people give me these things, or sell them to me cheap, i wipe them and then give them to kids who's parents cannot afford a new computer.. it helps them with school and whatnot.. i have a few kids programs that once installed do not require a cd..

anyways, this comp would have made a great christmas gift to someone.. well live and learn i reckon..

before you ask, the 40 gig wasn't gonna stay in it, in hind sight, i should have left the bios alone, but gigabyte made it sound so simple..

Erm, I didn't say anything about replacing any chips. You can upgrade your BIOS through software.
What I thought you did (which is what you said) was that you tried clearing BIOS ... that's what you said, obviously, that's not what you meant.

Then, you said, you tried to upgrade the BIOS through software. These are two different things. And yes, removing the CMOS battery is not the same as shorting your jumpers. Not to mention, shorting your jumpers is WAY easier. Also, if you remove the battery you reset your system clock and date.

So, really, Orph, if you haven't tried resetting the jumpers, try it. Or if you have no freakin' clue where they are, look the boards manual up.

Obviously, if that doesn't work, contact Gigabyte ... if they're still in business.

I'm just pointing out the difference in the three areas you spoke about as if they were one thing. :biggrin:

[EDIT]
Dear lord, why would you password BIOS on your personal computer?? That's like a death trap. Just put passwords on operating system software, it has the same effect without half the hassle for you.

The only time I'd password BIOS is if my computer was in a truely dangerous area. If I just didn't want my family touching it, I'd put passwords on the OS.
[/EDIT]

very true, password'd bios's are silly and unnessesary at home. May be required at LAN partys (public) if there has been a warning, and definatly at schools. peeps try to mess with them, and fail.

Well, the only problem with that is, you'll most likely be getting up and down from your computer at a LAN, meaning, it'll be on. In that case an OS password would be best as well. I mean you can easily sleep it or something as such in which is would wake up in a matter of seconds.

The only way BIOS password would work there is if you hibernated the computer whenever you stood up.

It'd be much easier to just log out of your workstation.

Also BIOS often seems to have a default password or some keys you can hold down to bypass it...