I'm not one for normally needing help with PCs but mine just died a slow death.

It's not a crappy spec PC, it has; DFI NForce4 LanParty UT SLI-DR mobo, 1Gb Crucial Ballistix, PCIe X800 gfx card, Tagan 480W PSU, A64 3000+ CPU, WD 150Gb Raptor.

Anyways here's the story:

1. Decided to update BIOS to latest as getting a new CPU (X2 4200) and it offered some improvements....never had a problem in updating BIOS in the past 7yrs!
2. Reboots all fine etc, gets to Windows, blue screen and reboot
3. Won't recognise that there's a HDD to boot with unless I point it at the right HDD at which point it causes a blue screen. Can't get into safe mode
4. Install older version of the BIOS...still blue screen but after reboots got into safe mode, disabled a new mass storage driver it found and rebooted....hurrah got into windows normally.....not so good, everything crashes.
5. After several reboots on one of them I notice that right from the beginning there's odd graphics stuff going on....only time I ever saw this before was on a dodgy gfx card.
6. However next reboot all is fine.
7. Nothing again so try putting the latest version back on....bang, BIOS checksum error...eeek. So displays but won't boot to BIOS, decide to try reflashing again as it has that facility if it can't load the BIOS.
8. Nada, nothing, zip, monitor doesn't even recognise there's anything attached. CPU and gfx card fans stay spinning at full speed.

I tried doing the CMOS reset jumpers and everything as well as taking everything apart and back together to no avail.

I'm going to buy a new battery for the CMOS tomorrow but I doubt it'll help....I'm thinking maybe the gfx card has gone or possibly the mobo, any thoughts?

Typical, I buy a nice shiny new monitor then the whole system decides to fall over :(

cmos only affects settings, wont be that

i think you may have b0rk3d the bios
tbh im a little wary of flashing things (i did my ds a couple of times, ooh scary)
and you may have come a cropper, specially doing it that many times

Never had any problems before tho :( System is only just over 2 yrs old.

I'd understand getting the BIOS checksum errors if I'd screwed the BIOS but I get nothing at all. It has diagnostic LEDs and doesn't get past system startup which means it hasn't detected the CPU, memory or gfx card. However the standaby and memory LEDs light up as they should do.

Know any good PC places in Sheffield anyone?

I'll see if anyone I know has a spare PCI or PCIe gfx cards.....also going to get a new battery for the CMOS tomorrow as obviously if that failed then nothing would work :)

Sheffield Computer Services in Hillsborough (Taplin Road) are decent, and that's high praise coming from someone who unreservedly hates small computer shops under normal circumstances.

Google for their site as I don't know it other than it might be www.sheffieldcomputerservices.co.uk or something.

Never had any problems before tho :( System is only just over 2 yrs old.

I'd understand getting the BIOS checksum errors if I'd screwed the BIOS but I get nothing at all. It has diagnostic LEDs and doesn't get past system startup which means it hasn't detected the CPU, memory or gfx card. However the standaby and memory LEDs light up as they should do.

Know any good PC places in Sheffield anyone?

I'll see if anyone I know has a spare PCI or PCIe gfx cards.....also going to get a new battery for the CMOS tomorrow as obviously if that failed then nothing would work :)

well you might be ok flashing the bios loads of times, only takes 1 blip
i hear a slight power fluctuation can cause an error

then again it may not be that tbh, just a thought

Sheffield Computer Services in Hillsborough (Taplin Road) are decent, and that's high praise coming from someone who unreservedly hates small computer shops under normal circumstances.

Google for their site as I don't know it other than it might be www.sheffieldcomputerservices.co.uk or something.

Second that! I got mine from them, genuine helpful guys! Think they charge a basic 20 quid for initial maintainence, which is all you should pay for just geting the BIOS sorted.

Cheers again people. I've emailed SCS and I'll see how much they charge to see if it's actually worth my while getting it repaired/sorted/whatever needs doing.

try resetting the BIOS settings it may be that the new bios introduced a few new settings which were randomly set activating groups of features that interfere with each other, returning to an older BIOS could have left these features active with no way to turn them off so you'd need the new BIOS and default settings to make a stable setup

just an idea, it's either that or an expensive mobo repair/replacement

No way to get to the BIOS now, it's kaput, dead screen on startup.

Oh well, ordered a new mobo. Can't complain £60 for SLI which I'll never use :) Better not have taken anything else with it.

There is normally a jumper near the cmos battery on the mobo were you can reset the bios back to safe settings. Try that before you bin it!

I suspect the BSOD may of been caused by old raid drivers in Windows not working with the new BIOS. The ASUS A8N-SLI has this problem, and seems common to the nForce 4 chipset. The manual says to upgrde the Windows drivers before doing the BIOS, but that doesn't always work.

The BIOS checksum error after stage six is a diferent problem.

K.

There is normally a jumper near the cmos battery on the mobo were you can reset the bios back to safe settings. Try that before you bin it!

Did that....several times.

chri5: I'm now wishing I'd just reinstalled Windows after it blue-screened but not to worry. New mobo was despatched today and has all the features I need and one more the DFI didn't and was half the price :) Also meant I got a shiny new case I've been after for a while.