Strange problem with Abit NF7-M

[haze11111]

Specs:
Abit NF7-M (nforce2, the "M" version is the one with on board gForce4 video)
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 333mhz FSB
2-512mb DDR 400 PC-3200 (Crucial CT6464Z40B.16TG2)
WD800BB 7200 RPM Western Digital HDD
Windows XP Pro, updated.

This build has worked great since I put together in...maybe '05 or '06.

Two days ago I started to have spontaneous reboots. After lots of troubleshooting, this problem appears to have been solved by a new power supply. As part of that troubleshooting I noticed the date in the bios had reset, so I replaced the mobo battery.

After I change the system time in the bios, save & exit, I make it to post and then the screen goes black and the speaker does a high beep/low beep continuously. My bios is "Award" and looking up that beep tells me that there is a problem with the CPU or overheating of the CPU.

If I reset the CMOS I get the CMOS reset checksum error on startup which I think you get anytime you reset the CMOS? I can just bypass with F1 and it will boot to Windows just fine.

If I go into the bios and do a save and exit, I get the first problem listed above and can't boot up.

Temperature of the CPU in the bios is around 45C, with windows up and firefox open it only goes up to 47C.

I did try to update to the latest bios for this board (nf728.exe) but it gets to a part where it says "File Name to Program", I hit enter, it then says Please wait, and just sits there. This is just prior to the actual flash of the bios I believe. I've let it sit for 10 minutes and nothing happens. If I type anything on the keyboard I just get clicking noises from the speaker. I assume it just locks up.

I have NOT tried to update the bios since putting in the new battery. I worry that the system will lockup during the flash portion and I'll be screwed. Could the battery have been an issue for flashing? Should I try again?

I am stumped. On one hand I can boot to windows and use the computer now that I have a new power supply, but on the other hand I know something is not quite right with either the mobo, cpu, or bios and I fear future problems. I've backed up and imaged my hard drive.

I'm hoping someone else can shed some light on what I could try next.

Thanks.

 

[Iron Woode]

I had this problem with a BIOS update on my old Abit board.

1. make sure your floppy disks are good.

2. download a win98 bootdisk from http//www.bootdisk.com

3. extract the files from nf728.exe and put them on a separate floppy.

4. boot up off the bootdisk then insert the bios floppy and run runme.bat

 

[nenforcer]

Specs:

I did try to update to the latest bios for this board (nf728.exe) but it gets to a part where it says "File Name to Program", I hit enter, it then says Please wait, and just sits there. This is just prior to the actual flash of the bios I believe. I've let it sit for 10 minutes and nothing happens. If I type anything on the keyboard I just get clicking noises from the speaker. I assume it just locks up.

Thanks.

First, have you gone into the BIOS and chosen "Load Default Values" at the far right and then Saved and exited?

Also, at the point where it says "File Name to Program" you want to actually type the .BIN file name of the new BIOS to flash before pressing "Enter". Just make sure you are doing this from a true DOS command prompt (i.e. a DOS boot disk) and not a shell from within Windows XP.

 

[haze11111]

I did go into the bios and set it to load default settings, but after saving and exiting I got the speaker beeps on restart.

I am attempting to flash the bios from a DOS command prompt (from a floppy startup.) The Abit bios update provides 5 files, one being the .bin and the "launcher" being runme.bat.

At the prompt for File Name to Program the .bin file name is there and I hit enter, but it then says, "Please wait" and sits. After a few moments, if I try to type anything or arrow over the cursor I just get clicking noises from the speaker.

 

[nenforcer]

You might have to double check the RUNME.BAT file and make sure the .BIN filename in the batch file is the same as the .BIN file included in the NF728.EXE file.

 

[Iron Woode]

You might have to double check the RUNME.BAT file and make sure the .BIN filename in the batch file is the same as the .BIN file included in the NF728.EXE file.

its possible he has a bad bin file.

try downloading from a different location.

Like I posted earlier, I had this exact same problem. The answer was 2 fold: a bad floppy disk holding the bios files and a corrupted bin file.

 

[nenforcer]

Yeah ABIT is a defunct manufacturer of motherboards so you might have to double check everything you download from them since it may be rather old or dated. This board is old enough everything should have been taken care of long ago, however.

 

[superunknown98]

Oh man, I had the same problem on an KN9 Ultra board. My symptoms were that I could only boot to windows after resetting the bios. The cure was setting the memory voltages to a higher setting. For some reason it could only boot with lower memory voltage ( still within range) after a bios reset. Otherwise if I saved the bios with 1.8v, the screen would go black and I would have to reset the bios again. Hope this helps.

 

[haze11111]

I checked the batch file and it does launch the correct .bin file. I'm at a point now where, after replacing the power supply, the computer boots and runs fine. I just don't seem to have a way to either update or change any bios settings without breaking the system.

For now I think I'll just leave it go since it is at least functional. I only need this machine to do basic email and web browsing for another year or so anyway and then I'll just replace it. Thanks for all the advice and ideas.