PLEASE HELP!!!! M2N32 sli-deluxe

[theburan]

Originally Posted by jswiderski

When flashing the bios, does it matter if I skip a couple releases instead of flashing every new version?? I dont remember which one I have ( I will find out when i can get past the POST). I know that version I have is at least 10-12 months old or older. I just dont want the situation to get worse because of installing a bios version that is "too new" compared to the current one that I have.

A floppy ?? :( I havent used/ had one of those in years. Is flashing it with a floppy more dependable than with a removable drive?

You should be able to just flash the newest bios available, you don't need to do it step by step or anything like that.

And I've had the most luck with floppy drives, but thats mostly because when I tried using a cd drive I kicked the power cord right in the middle of the flash, so I can't really blame that.

Nowadays though, I just use a usb drive... not sure if your mobo supports that or not though, but it works pretty well.

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by theburan

You should be able to just flash the newest bios available, you don't need to do it step by step or anything like that.

And I've had the most luck with floppy drives, but thats mostly because when I tried using a cd drive I kicked the power cord right in the middle of the flash, so I can't really blame that.

Nowadays though, I just use a usb drive... not sure if your mobo supports that or not though, but it works pretty well.

As Theburan stated, you don't have to flash the bios in a series. Your best bet would be to download the 1802 and the flash utility and put them on a usb drive, since you don't have a floppy drive. The M2N32 sli deluxe does in fact allow usb booting.

[polobunny]

I don't think the BIOS is to blame. Sounds a lot like the RAID array is to blame...

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by polobunny

I don't think the BIOS is to blame. Sounds a lot like the RAID array is to blame...

I think your right there Polo, but some of the later bios's for that board did in fact address some Raid issues. But of course it may have borked the array beyond hope

There is a strong possibility that you will have to format and start over with a fresh copy of windows. But I would suggest flashing the bios to the 1802 version. There are later versions, but there have been a lot of complaints about the board overheating, not booting, etc... with the later bios's above 1802.

That was the last one that I flashed to, about 6 months ago, and have not had one single issue with the board, and I am running a Phenom 9850 with that bios release.

[jswiderski]

Stinger I did not know you could run an AM2+ with that board.. I always thought it was just AM2 (its been a while since ive looked at the system specs and quad cores werent out when I purchased it.)

I will flash it to the 1802 version and then give an update. I think I will break my raid 0 array apart into two independent drives and then throw my damn IDE drive in the trash :). Anyways thanks for your help everyone.

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by jswiderski

Stinger I did not know you could run an AM2+ with that board.. I always thought it was just AM2 (its been a while since ive looked at the system specs and quad cores werent out when I purchased it.)

I will flash it to the 1802 version and then give an update. I think I will break my raid 0 array apart into two independent drives and then throw my damn IDE drive in the trash :). Anyways thanks for your help everyone.

When the board first came out, it would only support the AM2, but with some of the later updates, it now supports the AM2+. Of course it will only support the DDR2 and not DDR3, and it also does not support PCIe 2.0.

But none the less, it is a good board and it does support AM2+ with a bios update.

Really breaking your Raid array down into separate drives might be a good idea. Raids are kind of a pain in the butt, and you really don't get any performance boost in Raid. If you are running a raid one, then of course it is worth it to have the split image on both drives, but if you are running raid 0, then it is probably best to just use the drives as separate drives.

Good luck, and keep us informed!!!

[jswiderski]

Ok so i flashed to the 1802 version ( after realizing that I couldnt format my U3drive in FAT.. I had to buy a 512mb flash drive to get the job done.) I figured out what the actual problem is. My IDE drive shorts out my mobo when it is connected. Even after I flashed the bios it was stil freezing so I got pissed and disconnected my Ide cablefrom my MOBO and VOLA it doesnt freeze anymore at POST !!! :) sO I stil cant log into windows cuz my raid partition is missing a file ('insert system disk and press enter' message pops up) I will just use my disk when I go home this weekend. As for now im booted off of my Knoppix dvd that i made Gotta live a full OS from your CD drive :)* I suggest that anyone dl this version of linix because its a life saver and its free*Just burn as an ISO image.

Anyways This weekend i should be able to fix my windows and then be a 100%

[stinger608]

Thats great news man!!!! Glad that all worked out, but one question, why in the world would you want to format your drives to FAT32? NTFS is much better, and you can only have a file that is no larger than 2gb in FAT32.

[drew and not u]

I think he meant just the flash drive. most BIOS and other low level software can only read FAT and FAT32, so you can't put a bios file on a NTFS flash drive to flash with.

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by drew and not u

I think he meant just the flash drive. most BIOS and other low level software can only read FAT and FAT32, so you can't put a bios file on a NTFS flash drive to flash with.

Ah yea, I guess thats it I don't know what I was thinking