HELP! EPIA M not posting after bios update

**^tyrant^** · 06-16-2005, 11:53 AM

i updated my EPIA M to the newest driver today, and it flashed fine said press F1 to reboot i did that, the system restarted and never posted, no video nothing.

anyone have any ideas?

ive done cleared the cmos.

**White 350z** · 06-16-2005, 02:19 PM

Well, there are a couple things this could be. The bios update may have changed some settings and it doesn't like your hardware anymore. Try different ram in it and see how that works. I've done a bios update and the update didn't like my ram timings. It wouldn't boot with my Cas 2 RAM. I had to put some 2.5 in to get to the bios and then I could change the RAM settings. It may be something like that. Also, if you have onboard video but use a video card, it may be trying to display through the onboard video again.

Otherwise, the bios may be shot. Was there a power surge or anything while you were updating the bios? Also, is the bios removable? If so, you can get another one and just snap it in if in fact the bios is toast.

Anybody else have any ideas?

**Wiredwrx** · 06-16-2005, 03:52 PM

Originally Posted by ^tyrant^

i updated my EPIA M to the newest driver today, and it flashed fine said press F1 to reboot i did that, the system restarted and never posted, no video nothing.

anyone have any ideas?

ive done cleared the cmos.

Ya,

Do you have a backup of the original. Was his an on board flash, or did you remove the bios and flash it. Try putting the original back in. It will prove if you hosed the bios chip. You can always try and Reflash back to the new flash if that works. Perhaps you had a problem during the flash process that can be corrected with a reflash.

You probably didn't hose the BIOS, it is not that easy to totally kill a BIOS. BIOS updates are pretty tricky. They change the settings, so the settings can be the issue. How to get to the settings once you have flashed can be a big problem.

Try removing all non essential hardware from the system. Get rid of any extra HD's, CD Roms and DVD drives, Extra PCI and ISA cards (Assuming you have any ISA). Try booting with a VERY Basic system. Perhaps you will be able to gain access to the BIOS to make the appropriate changes.

Good luck.
Michael

**White 350z** · 06-16-2005, 04:35 PM

If he can't post, how can he reflash the bios? Never heard of anybody removing the bios to flash it.

**^tyrant^** · 06-16-2005, 04:35 PM

ok guys, i think i found the problem, i came across this thread
http://forums.viaarena.com/messagevi...VIEWTMP=Linear

and it seems there are alot of people having the same problem i am, after updating the bios to the newest. It seems like via changed something in the bios and it doesnt like my board, so it looks like im going to have to send my chip to a place to get flashed with a older working bios.

**Wiredwrx** · 06-16-2005, 04:51 PM

That sucks. Where are you sending it. I have used this place http://www.badflash.com/. I found them during my I-Opener and Websurfer days. They were great then.

Hopefully they can help you out.

Michael

**White 350z** · 06-16-2005, 04:52 PM

Will via reimburse you for this?

**blazinlow** · 07-26-2005, 03:47 AM

Ive gone thru 24 hours of hell because of this stupid 1.16 bios.

I upgraded from 1.0B to 1.16 last night because I had the box out of the car, so I figured what the heck, couldnt hurt, right?

wrong!

I could not get the video working properly. In normal mode, as soon as windows loaded, the screen would go blank. Only viewable video was in VGA or safe mode.

I knew it had something to do with the bios, since I had to use a new video driver with it... so I just reverted back to 1.0B, reformatted, and Im back in business (so far)

Its amazing that the viaarena thread was from 2004 and that dumb 1.16 bios is STILL on via's website.