I have a problem similar to this.. got a new P5E Motheboard with a E8400 cpu. Got it all set up with vista, then finally got to where I could do the flash update from the internet. Thought I needed 0203 (yep, later i rechecked and it was 0303 I needed, ARG!) for the unrecognized cpu message at bootup. Flashed it, everything verified okay, rebooted... no post. nada..
My question, if the bios is merely at a point where it won't recognize the cpu now, will I get the no post thing where I get no dos prompt, no video, no bios access, it just sits there with the green motherboard light on, the dvd drive whirs a little and the light blinks for about 5 seconds, then it just sits there with the fans (cpu and case) going merrily away, mocking me.. or is it definately my bios is screwed? It never gave me the chance to go in and save defaults, the 1st time i restarted after flashing from windows, said situation as described above. I'm going to call a local repair place and see if they can help me.. about ready to just ship the mobo back to newegg and get a replacement.
Any help is appreciated.. dammit and it was working fine till I "fixed" the bios...
Oh yeah as for cpu and memory what are the absolute cheapest ones I can try to at least let me flash it to the latest bios? I THINK I need a 775 socket cpu but not sure how far back this p5e will go for cpu compatability... and the memory has me stumped unless crucial has cheap memory listed for this board..