Machine wasted after BIOS upgrade from Award BIOS/esupport.com

[skiraly017]

I was getting some ACPI errors after installing XP and after trying all the fixes found on the net, my last choice was a BIOS upgrade. I went to the following page http://www.esupport.com/ and followed all the instructions. Spoke to a salesman and explained the error messages I was getting and he said that a BIOS upgrade was available and that it would fix all my problems. $69.95 and an hour and half later they emailed me the update and I followed the instructions to the letter. The old BIOS was backed up sucessfully and the program indicated that the new BIOS had flashed sucessfully. Went to restart my PC, got four beeps and it powered down. Tried again with the same result. Called their non-toll free tech support (on hold for 45 minutes) and was told they would send out a new chip ASAP. They didn't even try and troubleshoot and when I asked the tech agent what went wrong he just grunted "I don't know". Now today I'm reading these horror stories on the web about people who had similar experiences. Anybody else have the same problem with this company? Is my motherboard/processor/computer wasted? I'm really bent about this.

 

[LTC8K6]

Why didn't you go to the motherboard mfgs site and get the new BIOS for free?

 

[skiraly017]

Spent about two days looking for a BIOS upgrade on the net, but they all pointed back to esupport. It's an older mobo and I figured instead of getting one that "might" work I'd go to the site that the manufacturer recommends. Had I know I was going to pay $70 for someone to kill my PC I would have dealt with the errors. Now I'm just trying figure out how to recover from this and whether or not I need to look into a new system.

 

[intogamer]

I almost tried esupport. it was a bit complicated. retail comps don't really have bios updates.

 

[LTC8K6]

The retail computers I have owned all had websites where you could get drivers and BIOS updates.

Skiraly, you'll just have to wait until you get the chip and hope it fixes the problem. Swapping chips is actually fairly common to get a board going after a bad BIOS flash.

If it's an AMI BIOS, 4 beeps is not good news. What board and BIOS is it?

 

[daniel49]

find the original bios from manufactures website and start over

 

[skiraly017]

It is an Award/AMI BIOS. It's a VIA VT82C686B chipset on a Shuttle (I think) mobo. How "not good" is four beeps? I mean aside from the BIOS being no good and the machine being down. I'm hoping for the best and expecting the worst. I'm hoping the new chip just pops in and I'm good to go. Worst case scenario, what could have happened? Either way, I am another in a list of people that have been burnt by esupport.com and to be honest it sucks. Toll call for tech support on a faulty product and the best answer I get is "we'll send you a new one". Thanks for all the help.

 

[jackschmittusa]

There are a number of free utilities that can determine just exactly what your mb is and its specs. Had you used one before, I am sure that you could have downloaded an updated bios for free at the mb manufacturer's site if one was available. It really does pay to know what's in the box if you intend to make changes.

 

[skiraly017]

Hind sight is always 20/20. I used the BIOS tool at esupport.com to provide them with the information needed. If they needed more info then they should have asked for it. What's done is done. What I need to do now is find out the extent of the damage.

 

[LTC8K6]

4 beeps could mean a bad board.

 

[skiraly017]

Could flashing the BIOS have ruined the mobo? This was a system that was running prior to the flash. Thanks.

 

[GunDog]

If its a shuttle m/b go and get the correct bios and reflash. This may or may not work but worth a shot.
Shuttle FTP site ALL motherboards listed select bios then model #

 

[jackschmittusa]

Flashing should not damage the mb per se, but a bad flash can certainly make it unusable until the bios is re-programed or replaced.

 

[EnDaRi]

A reformat should have solved it with the original bios installed...

 

[skiraly017]

Maybe I didn't elaborate enough. The system will not boot at all. Reflashing the BIOS is not an option. When I push the power button, the machine powers long enough for the mobo to beep four times and then immediately shuts down.