Sabertooth 990fx r2.0 - need help

NicoleAsagiri

NicoleAsagiri

New Member
Hello everyone, I've had my sabertooth 990fx mobo since the AMD FX series CPUs came out. i recently attempted to update the bios because i was having trouble with my computer BSODing shortly after upgrading it to windows 10.

I went into the UFIE Bios and followed the correct method, but like a dummy i installed a bios that was older than the current bios i had. When i realized my error, i couldn't stop the bios from completing the update and my monitor went blank. Now i can't seem to get my system to fix itself.....

I've tried removing tthe bios battery and pressing the mem ok button. sofar i haven't seen it fix itself.

i was hoping that there was a way for me to force the bios to update itself from a USB flash drive so that i can salvage my mobo. Otherwise I'll have to get another Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 to fix my desktop....
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
You might be able to get a flashed bios chip from asus, they can send you ones for your board. I received one with a valid image from their site for my crosshair V.

Alternatively you can boot a spare board that uses a similar chip, swap it after boot while on and force flash the sabertooth bios that way, but it's a pita.
 
Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Usually downgrading your BIOS doesn't damage it, did you try to stop it midway through or did it just not work after completing the flash to an older version?
 
NicoleAsagiri

NicoleAsagiri

New Member
Darren said:
Usually downgrading your BIOS doesn't damage it, did you try to stop it midway through or did it just not work after completing the flash to an older version?
Click to expand...
when i installed the bios update from the usb flash drive, once it started it would not let me stop the install of the bios update so the wrong bios was installed. i need to find a way to restore this mobo because i cannot afford another one. and i cannot find anyone that is still carrying the R2.0 Sabertooth 990FX with AMD chip set. i can find R3.0s all day long. I wanted to save myself the hassels of updating everything with the installation of a newer board. The original Bios ver on my mobo was ver 0901. unfortunately, like a novice, I installed the older ver 0402.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
If the board doesn't even post, there isn't much you can do except send it out for repair, which would cost you anyway.
 
NicoleAsagiri

NicoleAsagiri

New Member
The board is is distributing power to all devices. So I know the board isn't fried or bricked. I just need to find a way to get the mobo to "talk" to the video card. I'm going to dig into my collection of computer parts and see if i can find a joe basic vid card that has basic requirements compared to my NVidia 660 TI. Failing that, I'm going to try to piggy back off another computer to reset the bios. Otherwise, I'm going to contact Asus customer support again and see if i can get them to send me a new flashed bios chip. i want to try and exhaust all other options before i resort to purchasing a replacement mobo. I hope i can save my mobo. I'll try to keep you guys updated on the progress. Thank you for your help.

on another note. While looking up replacement mobos for my Sabertooth 990 FX. I realized i May actually have an R1.0... as a habit, i tend to keep the boxes for my mobos when i build my computers, so when i looked at the box, it only has "Sabertooth 990FX" on the box. there is no R series information on the box. all the R2.0s and R3.0s clearly show the R series on the box. this in turn makes it near impossible for me to find an exact replacement for my Sabertooth 990FX. I am curious if there are any serious differences between the R 1.0, R2.0 and R3.0? I would like to know before hand because if there are not signicant differences, I wouldn't have to worry about commpatability issues with my existing components (i.e. GPU, CPU, etc.)
 
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Darren

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
If your BIOS is corrupt that is by definition bricked as you cannot reflash it.
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
Darren said:
If your BIOS is corrupt that is by definition bricked as you cannot reflash it.
Click to expand...
If you have a board that fits the same EEPROM you can force flash another board's image onto it. The contents aren't read after booting so if you had like a PLC extractor tool you can swap the BIOS chip and then flash the image from a 'working environment'.
 
NicoleAsagiri

NicoleAsagiri

New Member
beers said:
If you have a board that fits the same EEPROM you can force flash another board's image onto it. The contents aren't read after booting so if you had like a PLC extractor tool you can swap the BIOS chip and then flash the image from a 'working environment'.
Click to expand...
Could you please explain in more detail about EEPROMs and how to use this method to force flash my Mobo?
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
NicoleAsagiri said:
Could you please explain in more detail about EEPROMs and how to use this method to force flash my Mobo?
Click to expand...
Obtain board with working BIOS
Boot board.
Remove BIOS chip
Replace with BIOS chip you want to flash
Flash the image you want using a flashing utility
Power off system
Remove BIOS chip, place in original board
Attempt to boot original board.
 
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