Bad Checksum Error - Be Gone!!

[One4yu2c]

I actually resolved this issue late last night and posted on Maximum PC, then cut/pasted the lenghty ordeal over here, but it got deleted during a forum update. Here's that cut and paste one more time:
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Asus recently released a new BIOS for A8N32-SLI Deluxe owners, version 1205, with the following description:

• 1- Enhance PCI / PCIE compatibility
  2- Support 7900 Series VGA cards
  3- Enhance SATA RAID compatibility

I've been pondering a 7900GTX upgrade, so to prepare for the potential upgrade, I figured I'd go ahead and update the BIOS now while it was still on my mind. My goodness was that a 'fun' experience...

Attempt One
The tried and true method of updating via a floppy disk seemed like a no brainer, but I thought I'd see what Asus recommends:



Hmmm, looking at their chart, it would appear that the closest candidate is Winflash, as I suppose the A8N32-SLI could fall under "newer series." And hey, flashing from within Windows, while not ideal, sure would be convenient, at least if it would work. Alas, any attempts of going this route were met with the following:



Alrighty then, moving on...

Attempt Two
With the expectation that WinFlash would work, I'm left bummed at the minor setback. That's okay though, as AsusUpdate does basically the same thing, so after a quick download, I attempt to fire it up. Unfortunately, I'm not getting off that easy today. AsusUpdate yelled at me not once, but twice:



Attempt Three
Okay, so the Windows method has been exhausted for the time being, it's time to go back to the old reliable floppy. The first problem I ran into was a defective floppy drive. No problem, I'll just steal my girlfriend's FDD. Hooked it up, and the damn thing is also defective. At this point, I'm pondering whether or not karma could be playing a role here, and if so, for what crime am I atoning? Ultimately, I didn't care because I had yet another floppy drive and this one I knew to be good. Now we're in business.

One of the neat things about this Asus motherboard is the built in EZ Flash utility. During POST, simply hit Alt+F2 and you can proceed to flash the BIOS from your floppy disk. So, I hit Alt+F2 and....well, nothing. Screen goes black and I turn a light shade of red. Reboot, try again, same results, except this time I get a bit redder. Grrr...

Attempt Four
The lesson so far is that there aren't going to be any shortcuts. Fine, we'll go the old fashioned route. I create my bootable floppy and throw AFLASH on there along with the BIOS file and proceed to reboot once more. Only AFLASH isn't in a particularly cooperative mood either, spitting out the following:

• ERROR! Can't Find System BIOS 'Hook

Attempt Five
Now it's getting comical. The frustration has mounted by this point, but I was also amused at how such a simple task is turning into a project, a term not usually associated with flashing a BIOS. It is what it is though, and next I turned to AMIFLASH - afterall, it's an American Megatrends chip. This time, the utility has no problem loading up and flashing the BIOS, at least until the end. Just when I thought I was home free, I'm greeted by a simple message telling me there's an error and I need to reboot. That's it - no reason as to what the error was or why it failed in the final stages, or even if the BIOS was nuked. Luckily it wasn't, but it did still need to be flashed.

Attempt (what number are we on now? Ah yes...) Six
This time I turned to AFUDOS. Subconsciously, I was probably drawn by the letters 'FU' and the alternate meaning that needs no clarification. Turns out it was a good choice and the BIOS finally flashed successfully.

My joy was shortlived however, when upon rebooting I was greeted by:

• CMOS Checksum BAD:
  
  1 - Press F1 to enter SETUP
  2 - Press F2 to Load Defaults

This is not particularly uncommon after a BIOS flash and usually disappears after entering the BIOS and saving the proper settings. Unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be one of those 'uncommon' cases and option 1 was met with failure. Option 2, on the other hand, worked...sort of. Loading the defaults allowed me to boot into Windows, but the defaults also brought along some extra baggage that I didn't care for, such as RAID drivers, onboard sound, and a few other un-necessities. Furthermore, loading the defaults still didn't get rid of the CMOS Checksum BAD error message, so not only was my configuration getting hijacked, but now I had an annoyance each time I wanted to reboot.

Well isn't that peachy, now we get to move on to the troubleshooting portion of this episode and hope for a resolution.

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Troubleshooting Step One
The obvious step here is to clear the CMOS via a motherboard jumper. Didn't work.

Troubleshooting Step Two
The next obvious step here is to clear the CMOS a bit more aggressively by also removing the battery for a period of time. Didn't work.

Troubleshooting Step Three
Next up on the list is a combination of Google and Asus' forums, which yielded some suggestions to unplug any USB devices (I have a USB mouse) and hard drives on the A8N32-SLI and try again. Didn't work.

Troubleshooting Step Three
When all else fails, sometimes the only remedy is to flash to a previous BIOS version. Didn't work.

Troubleshooting Step Four
At this point, I'm beginning to run out of both ideas and patience. I fill out an RMA form with Asus and decide I'll pick up a used MSI K8N Diamond Plus, then sell the replacement A8N32-SLI when it arrives.

While waiting for a response, I decided to do one last bit of digging, and I'm glad I did. Turns out that there's a pretty widespread compatibility issue when trying to run the AsusUpdate utility (see attempt two above) if you own a Creative X-Fi soundcard, which I do. Some owners of X-Fi cards are unable to install AsusUpdate, but there's a fix. To get around this issue:

• - Click on START menu and select RUN
  - Type REGEDIT
  - Navigate to \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node
  - Change 'Wow6432Node' to 'aWow6432Node' and reboot

After following the above, the AsusUpdate utility installed and ran without any more silly error messages! From there, I reflashed once more to the latest BIOS (1205), rebooted, and....was STILL greeted by the CMOS Checksum BAD error message. Ready to give up at that point, I entered the BIOS, manually input the appropriate settings, and to my surprise, it FINALLY rebooted normally!

Moral of the Story?
There really isn't one, though I suppose an argument could be made for 'leave well enough alone,' but then I would've missed out on an evening of troubleshooting fun! :P
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[Tyreal]

I guess thats just another problem caused by the X-Fi :D

Good to hear that you've got your problem fixed. Now lets go and frag some people.

[yurimxpxman]

X-Fi? Who needs those? Onboard audio sounds fine to me :P

Then again... I'm half deaf

[Lead Head]

Originally Posted by Tyreal

I guess thats just another problem caused by the X-Fi :D

Good to hear that you've got your problem fixed. Now lets go and frag some people.

I would say that the X-FI itself is good, its the drivers that suck

[One4yu2c]

That's actually Creative Lab's weakest point, is the driver department, which is a shame because the soundcards themselves are great products.

I've mostly been immune to their nefarious driver reputation, with my other bout dating back to the Sound Blaster Live! days.

[yurimxpxman]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

That's actually Creative Lab's weakest point, is the driver department, which is a shame because the soundcards themselves are great products.

I've mostly been immune to their nefarious driver reputation, with my other bout dating back to the Sound Blaster Live! days.

I don't own an X-Fi, so I'm curious; are the Linux drivers very stable?

[One4yu2c]

Couldn't tell ya, as I don't run Linux.

[yurimxpxman]

Bummer. :P I'm thinking about switching to Linux as my primary OS.

[Capper]

Originally Posted by yurimxpxman

Bummer. :P I'm thinking about switching to Linux as my primary OS.

I've been toying around with Fedora core and found it to be decent

[yurimxpxman]

Originally Posted by Capper

I've been toying around with Fedora core and found it to be decent

I've been using FC5 a lot lately, and I really like it. But I've been having troubles with the permissions. I can't seem to figure out how to give the root, apache, and vsftpd users permission to use my WWW directory.