Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 92491 2008-08-12 07:23:00 Boot stops after recognising hard drives jackwass (12442) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
696744 2008-08-12 07:23:00 Hi,

I'm sure this is similar to heaps of threads but I couldn't find one with just the same circumstances. My PC worked fine last night, but booting up this evening it froze on the BIOS (motherboard?) splash screen. When I switched over to an analog cable (and the same happened), I pressed Tab to show the boot screen. This is what I got:

Processor:
Memory: 1965056K OK +128M shared memory (Installed Memory: 2097152K)

Primary IDE Master
Primary IDE Slave
(SAT)A 1:
2:
3:
4:

So after recognising the hard drive it stops. When I press F8 or DEL it says it is going to the boot menu or setup but stops at that.

Thanks for your help 		jackwass (12442)
696745 2008-08-12 07:50:00 Will this computer boot from a CD? Like a XP or Vista original CD.
What operating system is being used?
Make and model of computer?

The only thing I can tell from your post is that you appear to use onboard graphics hence the shared memory.

Is the SATA drive the boot drive? 		Sweep (90)
696746 2008-08-12 08:02:00 Sorry, wasn't sure what information would be useful... Operating system is XP (can't remember what service pack) (haven't tried booting from disk yet). It was put together for me (so no make/model), specs are:

A-Data 1x1GB, DDR2-800, PC2-6400, CL5, DIMM

Asus M2A-VM HDMI Support AMD Socket AM2 Athlon 64 CPU mATX AMD690G Chipset Onboard Video Share Up

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ CPU, 2.3GHz, Socket AM2

Seagate Barracuda ST3250623AS Hard Disk Drive, 250GB, 7200rpm, 16384KB Cache, SATA-2 (boot drive in two partitions)

Asus DRW-1814BL DVD Writer

OverclockersNZ Elite ATX Mid Tower, 420W PSU, Black

I've tried booting with nothing but monitor and keyboard plugged in but no difference.

Cheers 		jackwass (12442)
696747 2008-08-12 08:11:00 Hmm I'm making up a system with the same mobo. Hopefully I dont have the same prob

Have you updated the BIOS to 1803? 		Speedy Gonzales (78)
696748 2008-08-12 08:20:00 I've never updated the BIOS...how? jackwass (12442)
696749 2008-08-12 08:25:00 Check to make sure the connectors on the SATA cable and power Connector are seated correctly, both Hard Drive and motherboard. You could also try a different SATA connector on the board as a test.
Some SATA cables can come lose, esp if they don't have the metal clips that snap into place to hold them. If you have any spare SATA Cables, try one of those as well.

Being it did go, and suddenly stopped, it would suggest that something has come lose or failed, or a setting has changed some how.

Also try resetting the BIOS back to default settings.

Maybe since speedy has the same board he can advice as to where that is in the BIOS settings. ?? 		wainuitech (129)
696750 2008-08-12 08:33:00 This mobo supports Crashfree BIOS 3. And Asus EZ flash 2

The easiest way, is you can either flash the BIOS with a floppy (you have to download the update (dlsvr04.asus.com) ). Or a USB flash drive (The USB flash drive HAS to be formatted in FAT/16/32).

And less than 8 GB

Unzip it, rename it to m2a-vm.bin first, then copy it to a floppy or USB flash drive

Then reboot, then press Alt-F2 (together) wait for it to say thats its flashing, and wait for it to finish. It'll say its complete. Then reboot, then go back into the BIOS / set the default settings, then reconfigure the settings, then save them.

Theres a lot of settings, since this mobo also supports 1394 (its got one onboard and one on the back). As well as setting the audio

If you plug the HDMI card into the PCIE-16 slot, (which has HDMI / Video in / SPDIF Out and S-video). You have to change the audio in the BIOS to it.

And then you have the option of choosing AC97 or HD Audio (6 channel). So, you've got 3 options for the sound. 		Speedy Gonzales (78)
696751 2008-08-12 08:49:00 Sorry, wasn't sure what information would be useful... Operating system is XP (can't remember what service pack) (haven't tried booting from disk yet). It was put together for me (so no make/model), specs are:

A-Data 1x1GB, DDR2-800, PC2-6400, CL5, DIMM

Asus M2A-VM HDMI Support AMD Socket AM2 Athlon 64 CPU mATX AMD690G Chipset Onboard Video Share Up

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ CPU, 2.3GHz, Socket AM2

Seagate Barracuda ST3250623AS Hard Disk Drive, 250GB, 7200rpm, 16384KB Cache, SATA-2 (boot drive in two partitions)

Asus DRW-1814BL DVD Writer

OverclockersNZ Elite ATX Mid Tower, 420W PSU, Black

I've tried booting with nothing but monitor and keyboard plugged in but no difference.

Cheers

Any beep codes? Have you tried taking out both RAM sticks and tried rebooting. You should get codes if you do this.

One beep normally indicates a successful POST.
More than that will indicate a hardware failure which would be expected if you remove the RAM or video. What PCI cards are installed like sound or TV tuner cards? 		Sweep (90)
696752 2008-08-12 08:51:00 This mobo supports Crashfree BIOS 3. And Asus EZ flash 2

The easiest way, is you can either flash the BIOS with a floppy (you have to download the update (dlsvr04.asus.com) ). Or a USB flash drive (The USB flash drive HAS to be formatted in FAT/16/32).

And less than 8 GB

Unzip it, rename it to m2a-vm.bin first, then copy it to a floppy or USB flash drive

Then reboot, then press Alt-F2 (together) wait for it to say thats its flashing, and wait for it to finish. It'll say its complete. Then reboot, then go back into the BIOS / set the default settings, then reconfigure the settings, then save them.

Theres a lot of settings, since this mobo also supports 1394 (its got one onboard and one on the back). As well as setting the audio

If you plug the HDMI card into the PCIE-16 slot, (which has HDMI / Video in / SPDIF Out and S-video). You have to change the audio in the BIOS to it.

And then you have the option of choosing AC97 or HD Audio (6 channel). So, you've got 3 options for the sound.

Oops dont use EZ flash (if the BIOS is under 0701, I would say its under 0701), you'll have to unzip the above file and use Afudos (dlsvr04.asus.com) to update it.

This needs to be unzipped too and copied to the USB flash drive / floppy

So the ASUS site says. Then change the bootdisk to one of these. Wait for it to boot, then type in awdflash, then type in the name of the BIOS update.

WAIT for it to finish flashing the BIOS 		Speedy Gonzales (78)
696753 2008-08-12 09:19:00 Thanks for all your help. I adjusted everything inside, reseating cables, etc and it seems to be up and running again now.

Thanks again 		jackwass (12442)
1 2