M3A32-MVP Deluxe won't post.

[Urbklr]

So, I've tried almost everything, and have yet to get it too post. It is doing something strange, I'll will try and put up a video. Chances are I will have to send it away for repairs, but maybe somebody knows whats happening. I have tried:

Outside a case/Inside a case
Different CPU's/RAM/PSU/Videocards
Clearing CMOS

Maybe the BIOS is corrupt, anyway to force crashfree to turn on?

Until the video is up, the videocard fan ramps up, then down like it is going to post. Then it ramps up again seconds later then starts to randomly slow down and speed up(this was on a 2400Pro). The lights on the back of my HD4850 light up then go away like they are supposed too, then they come back on and flicker and off, and on etc.

 

[Urbklr]

Here is the video the only thing to watch is the red light that is flashing. It is the light on the back of the videocard, anyone know why it is doing that?

 

[Kei]

Have you tried to post without the video card installed? How about without the ram installed? Do you have the speaker installed in the board so you can heard the beeps if any?

Kei

 

[Urbklr]

There is no speaker plugged into the board, but I have speakers plugged into the back jack, I read that beeps codes could be heard from there too. I haven't heard any codes from it yet(Even with GPU/RAM taken out), looking pretty dead to me.

 

[kenkickr]

Sounds exactly like what my M3A32MVP did after a bios flash. I had to send it in. One thing that made me know it was a board issue was to try ram in different slots. On mine, Dimms 1 and 3 worked fine in dual channel but Dimms 2 and 4, when occupied, would either make the system do exactily what yours is doing or would actually bring up the bios screen with different colored blocks on it and the system would lockup at the bios post. I tried this with both my Ballistix set and OCZ Reapers with same results. Have you tried just using one stick of ram in each Dimm?

 

[Urbklr]

Tried a single Ballistx Tracer, Corsair XMS2, and Crucial Rendition in all four slots, same thing. So, the board was flashed to 1502 then shipped to me, do you guys think maybe a hot flash will fix it?

 

[kenkickr]

You can try it but I wouldn't risk voiding your warranty...this coming from me!? Have you tried looking on ebay to see if there are any M3A32MVP bios chips? http://cgi.ebay.com/Bios-Chip-Asus-...04274167QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0 if interested.

 

[Kei]

I would plug in the boards speaker to hear if it says anything when trying to post.

Are you certain that you didn't unplug anything (like the 8 pin power to the board) when moving something around?

You also said that the board was "flashed to 1502 and then shipped"....do you know the person that did this? Why did they flash to 1502 and what bios was on it before 1406? I assume the board has never worked for you correct? Did the board work BEFORE it was shipped to you?

Kei

 

[Urbklr]

I don't know which bios the owner had, but he flashed it to 1502 before he shipped it to me. The board worked 100% before he shipped it to me. The board doesn't work for me, nope. About the hotflash, how would that void the warranty if they didn't know about it?

 

[kenkickr]

I was just saying that incase something went very very wrong, slim chance, but just being cautious. Have you tried to just clear CMOS, pull the battery, put the battery back in and set CMOS to normal; and then try the system?

Nevermind, it would help if I could read this morning(dumb, dumb, DDUUUMMMMBBBBB)

 

[Urbklr]

I have, but I left the board unplugged, without a battery, with the jumer set to clear for the night, haven't tried it yet.

Anyone know if its possible to force crashfree to come up? I have the bios on a floppy ready to go.

 

[kenkickr]

I think if you hold down the insert key it forces it up.

 

[Urbklr]

Thanks, I will try now.

Edit: Nothing, nothing at all is happening. Doesn't even have that sound like it is going to post, but doesn't.

 

[kenkickr]

Sounds like you need to RMA my friend.

 

[95Viper]

If you have a single partition fat 16/32 (smaller than 8GB) usb drive, try this:

1. Insert the Usb drive containing the (bios file).ROM in to the usb port.
2. Turn on system.
3. The utility will automatically check the device for the bios file. When found the utility
will then flash the corrupted bios.
4. Restart after the utility finishes flashing the bios.

Goodluck

 

[Urbklr]

If you have a single partition fat 16/32 (smaller than 8GB) usb drive, try this:

1. Insert the Usb drive containing the (bios file).ROM in to the usb port.
2. Turn on system.
3. The utility will automatically check the device for the bios file. When found the utility
will then flash the corrupted bios.
4. Restart after the utility finishes flashing the bios.

Goodluck

Crashfree doesn't go for a USB drive/Floppy/DVD. Nothing happens, ever. I will call ASUS soon, will need to find a cheapo board in the meantime, anyone have one?

 

[raidoz]

This sounds extremely similar to what happened to me today. I flashed my M3A32 with 1502(from 1201 I think), rebooted, everything looked OK. Did some work and shut down the PC to put in a new Phenom II 940. But it wouldn't post. Putting back my old CPU does nothing(both CPUs work in my P2 barebone). No beeps, just the video card FAN changing speed and occasionally HDD led flashing - strangely the power led never comes on(the led on the MB is on). Power and reset buttons work. Keyboard doesn't seem to get initialized. I am unable to see a pattern to the HDD led flashes, but it is really odd, on some attempts it flashes, on some it doesn't - actual disk drives don't matter. Does yours do the same?

I have a theory that maybe the 'boot block' of the bios got corrupted somehow(maybe specific to 1201->1502 upgrade or just bad luck) and that it and the recovery part(the part that asus keeps fixing, if you read their changelogs) is not accessed when a soft reboot is performed - that's why it came up the first time(maybe someone has a better insight into this).

I'm going to attempt to hot-flash the BIOS in the morning with my P2-M3A3200 barebone. It doesn't have the exact same SPI chip, but from what I can tell, they are both 8Mbit and with the same configuration. So I'm hoping that MX25L8005 and EN25F80 are compatible. Any thoughts on why I should or shouldn't try this are welcome .

 

[DrPepper]

Try a new bios battery. I just fixed my k9n neo v3 which wasn't working because the battery on it died

 

[Urbklr]

This sounds extremely similar to what happened to me today. I flashed my M3A32 with 1502(from 1201 I think), rebooted, everything looked OK. Did some work and shut down the PC to put in a new Phenom II 940. But it wouldn't post. Putting back my old CPU does nothing(both CPUs work in my P2 barebone). No beeps, just the video card FAN changing speed and occasionally HDD led flashing - strangely the power led never comes on(the led on the MB is on). Power and reset buttons work. Keyboard doesn't seem to get initialized. I am unable to see a pattern to the HDD led flashes, but it is really odd, on some attempts it flashes, on some it doesn't - actual disk drives don't matter. Does yours do the same?

I have a theory that maybe the 'boot block' of the bios got corrupted somehow(maybe specific to 1201->1502 upgrade or just bad luck) and that it and the recovery part(the part that asus keeps fixing, if you read their changelogs) is not accessed when a soft reboot is performed - that's why it came up the first time(maybe someone has a better insight into this).

I'm going to attempt to hot-flash the BIOS in the morning with my P2-M3A3200 barebone. It doesn't have the exact same SPI chip, but from what I can tell, they are both 8Mbit and with the same configuration. So I'm hoping that MX25L8005 and EN25F80 are compatible. Any thoughts on why I should or shouldn't try this are welcome .

That sounds EXACTLY like my problem. Please do try the hotflash, if it works that will save me from RMA'ing I hope

Edit: Go try it now!

 

[raidoz]

No luck. Hot-flashing had no effect, the board is still dead. The flashing procedure itself seemed to be a great success though(tried 1202 - that's probably what it had before, don't think 1201 exists and 1406).

I'm going to look around and see if I can borrow a post diagnostic card(80h) on Monday. Maybe I can get some boot codes out of the MB.

If anyone has any other ideas that might be worth trying, let me know. Otherwise I guess I'm going to have to figure out if it's worth sending back to Germany.