BIOS Flash Failed, Now Motherboard is Dead...

spirit

spirit

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I flashed the BIOS on my Foxconn H55M-S motherboard so that I could enable AHCI, as the newer BIOS apparently introduces AHCI so that means I can boot into Windows faster, and I flashed the BIOS through Foxconn's LiveUpdate crap thing. I backed up my previous BIOS onto my HDD and then I updated with the newer BIOS and then once I restarted when the updater asked me to, I restarted and then my PC won't POST at all. The lights on the PC and the keyboard are all on, but no display and certainly not POSTING (removed all 4 RAM sticks to see if I would hear a beep and it didn't, so obviously I don't get a beep if something fails).

So, if anybody knows how to recover a previous version BIOS without being able to see what's on the screen, I'd like to know. I'd also like to recommend two things. 1. Don't flash the BIOS through software, and 2. Don't buy Foxconn motherboards! Clearly, you get what you pay for. Cheap build quality, terrible support, awful website, manuals written mainly in Chinese, terrible software (when I was backing up my BIOS it said it was "backuping" my BIOS, great English ha) and generally really rubbish. Now I've got to get an 1156 board to replace this heap of Chinese junk if I can't get it to work again.

Does anybody know if I can do anything or shall I just call it a day? I tried resetting CMOS, didn't work. Would appear now that after having pressing the power button to boot the PC up, it boots up, dies for a couple of seconds, then boots up again. I only replaced the PSU last week so I know it's probably motherboard-related. Any help/advice appreciated.
 
johnb35

johnb35

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If the machine won't post at all, your screwed. You will either have to order a new bios chip if it can be removed and replaced or you will have to send it in to get replaced. Or buy a new motherboard.
 
spirit

spirit

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jamesd1981 said:
Was the machine running ok before the bios flash ?
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It was working absolutely fine before the flash wrecked it.

johnb35 said:
If the machine won't post at all, your screwed. You will either have to order a new bios chip if it can be removed and replaced or you will have to send it in to get replaced. Or buy a new motherboard.
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Thought so. :( Will look into a new motherboard. Is there a chance that it will have damaged my CPU, RAM and hard drives, like a PSU explosion would have done?
 
spirit

spirit

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jamesd1981 said:
And you have tried resetting the bios using the jumpers on the motherboard ?
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Yes to no avail. I had to unlock the BIOS by moving the MDG jumper, but I did this before the flash. I loaded up the flashing software, it said "yo the BIOS is locked" so I turned the PC off by shutting it down, moved the jumper, booted it up again (ran absolutely fine) and then updated the BIOS. It then told me to reboot, so I did, and then when it restarted suddenly there was no display.
 
jamesd1981

jamesd1981

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On most modern motherboards, they actually check to make sure it is a suitable bios before starting the flash did this happen with yours, and did the bios flash reach 100%
 
spirit

spirit

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johnb35 said:
No, it will not do any damage to anything else, just the motherboard.
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Praise the lord. Thank you I think you saved my day by confirming that my worst fears were not going to happen. :D

jamesd1981 said:
On most modern motherboards, they actually check to make sure it is a suitable bios before starting the flash did this happen with yours, and did the bios flash reach 100%
Click to expand...
Don't ever remember it checking as such, it just read the *.ROM file I downloaded from Foxconn's website and went along with it. I think it would have read any ROM file and been happy with it. I think it did reach 100% because it was asking me to restart my machine and that the chances would take effect once I rebooted.
 
spirit

spirit

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jamesd1981 said:
Are you using a graphics card or onboard ?
Click to expand...
I am using a GeForce GTS 450 as the CPU doesn't support onboard video. Even with the card removed it still isn't posting at all. Been having issues of the late with losing the display signal for a couple of seconds meaning my monitor goes blank and then comes back on again, and I've had problems with the NVIDIA drivers being unstable. I replaced my PSU and this seems to have made the issue go away... but it still happens every now and then but not half as much as it used to. The clip that holds the card in secure on the PCI Express slot is broken so it's only being held in by the chassis.

What would you guys recommend as a good replacement 1156 motherboard that won't break the bank? I don't know how much I have to spend so ideally cheap as possible would be best.
 
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jamesd1981

jamesd1981

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Did you use the fox live update utility to do the flash ?

Where do your error beeps come from, do you have a speaker on the motherboard ?
 
spirit

spirit

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jamesd1981 said:
Did you use the fox live update utility to do the flash ?

Where do your error beeps come from, do you have a speaker on the motherboard ?
Click to expand...
Yes I did use the live update and no there were no error beeps, I don't have an onboard speaker in the PC. Even with all 4 RAM sticks removed there are no beeps.
 
jamesd1981

jamesd1981

Active Member
Well to get the audible error beeps, you need a speaker, usually a round black one stuck inside the motherboard, or on your board near the front panel connections there should be four pins in a row that may say speaker printed on the board, you can buy a connector to put on the pins.

The fact that you have had other problems with the system including the loose gpu, i would try to make sure it wasn`t anything else before dumping the board.
 
spirit

spirit

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jamesd1981 said:
Well to get the audible error beeps, you need a speaker, usually a round black one stuck inside the motherboard, or on your board near the front panel connections there should be four pins in a row that may say speaker printed on the board, you can buy a connector to put on the pins.
Click to expand...
This is not a premium board, it's a Foxconn for heaven's sake - it's a cheap crappy Chinese board, so there is no speaker. It doesn't even support RAID or AHCI! Yes I know where it should be but the board doesn't have one. I have an older PC which may have a speaker which I will try on the Foxconn today.

jamesd1981 said:
The fact that you have had other problems with the system including the loose gpu, i would try to make sure it wasn`t anything else before dumping the board.
Click to expand...
I think my GPU itself is fine, I think my GPU problems are a result of the lock on the PCI Express slot on the motherboard. The lock snapped off so now it isn't locked firmly in place. The GPU itself is fine and I tried a GeForce 9800 card on the PC and still had the same problem.

StrangeHold said:
Look and see if the bios chip is removable. If so, get Foxconn to send you a new bios chip.
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It's £11 for a new BIOS chip from a third-party website. I can't get onto Foxconn's website at the moment because everytime I try to access it is says the network is busy. I don't particularly want to buy BIOS chips from a third-party website as they're probably counterfeit and they seem alarmingly cheap. I think it may be an idea to get a new motherboard.

cabinfever1997 said:
and dont flash the bios this time
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Definitely not! Never flashing a BIOS again after my experiences, or certainly not flashing one through Windows.
 
jamesd1981

jamesd1981

Active Member
For future stick to the main brands of motherboard

asus, gigabyte, asrock, msi, and at u push biostar

They all have various was o bios flash that are very easy and reliable.

You can simply flash from within windows, some people don`t like that way but with new modern boards it seems fine i have done it countless times with no problem.

The other way is to get an empty fat filesystem flashdrive and add only the bios rom file, insert it into usb port, reboot the machine, enter the bios and select the motherboards built in flash utility, for example asus ez flash.
 
spirit

spirit

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I have found an ASRock P55 Pro ATX 1156 mobo on Amazon for £80 which looks good. Only has SATA II though. I also know about the ASUS P7P55D-E which is an 1156 board with SATA III. The ASUS is £30 more making it £110 which seems very expensive for an 1156 board I think considering (let's be honest), 1156 is obsolete now. I have a Crucial M4 SSD, is there going to be much difference between SATA II and SATA III? The M4 does take advantage of SATA III. On my Foxconn I couldn't get AHCI (hence for the BIOS upgrade) so that was what was making my SSD slow I reckon.
 
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