Built new system, but can't access BIOS (Abit AW9D MAX)

[greenuk]

I have put together a new system. No matter what I do, I can't get into the BIOS screen.

I powered on the system and it says "CMOS Checksum error - Defaults loaded". And "Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP".

If I press the DEL key nothing happens. It continues to show aforementioned info on screen and ignores the key press.

I reset the cmos according to mainboard manual and tried again but no luck.

The LED on the mainboard shows POST code "7F" which according to apendix in manual it means:
"Switch back to text mode if full screen logo is supported. - If error occur, report errors and wait for keys. - If no errors occur or F1 key is pressed to continue: Clear EPA or customization logo."

I reboot the system. This time i Press DEL key on the graphical "Abit Max" splash screen. The system then freezes on that screen and nothing else happens. This time the mainboard LED shows POST code "75" which according to manual means "Detect & Install all IDE devices HDD, LS120, ZIP, CDROM...".

I try this with two different keyboards plugged into PS2 connection. Same result. I tried each keyboard plugged into USB. Same result.

If I press F1, it continues to boot from CD. I had a Korarra CD (Linux live demo) handy which I played with last year and worked fine back then, so I thought I'd try it out to see what happens. It spent a minute or so booting up and during bootup the only issue I noticed flagged was that it didnt recognise the graphics card, but it carried on and a few moments later the screen went black and nothing else happened. After about a minute the system reboots by itself and this time shows "CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck - uGuru Utility".

At this stage I've tried booting the system up many times. Not once has it shown the BIOS screen. The F1 continue always works, but the DEL key does nothing at all. All the errors are consistant each time I try it.

Any suggestions why I can't get into the BIOS? Thanks.

My system specs are:

• Abit AW9D MAX
• Intel Core2Duo E6600
• Thermalright ULTRA-120 cooler.
• 2gb Corsair memory
• Antex P180 case
• 430w Seasonic S12 PSU
• WD Raptor 150gb
• WD WD5000AAKS 500gb
• 512MB XFX 7950GT XXX PCI-E graphics
• HP DVD940i DVD drive

[doubledragon5]

Try removing the battery again for about 15min also make sure the jumper is set back to it's normal position.. If all else fails and your specs looks good rma the board it might be defective... Also make sure the ram is fully seated in the slots. Also be sure the heaksink if fully installed over the cpu and proberly connected to the mb..

[greenuk]

Originally Posted by doubledragon5 Try removing the battery again for about 15min also make sure the jumper is set back to it's normal position.. If all else fails and your specs looks good rma the board it might be defective... Also make sure the ram is fully seated in the slots. Also be sure the heaksink if fully installed over the cpu and proberly connected to the mb..

Thanks for the quick reply. I havent touched the battery yet but I guess its worth a try. I'll try that later.

I put the jumper back to normal position after clearing the cmos so that should be fine. I had the problems before touching the cmos jumper also.

This is only my third build, my last being a few years ago. The previous two builds went flawless so I'm a noob when it comes to diagnosing faults. If I have to RMA the board what experience can I expect from doing that and would I do that with Ebuyer in UK (where i bought it) or Abit? I assume I send it back to Ebuyer.

In the meantime if anyone else has suggestions I'd appreciate it.

Best, Ant

[doubledragon5]

You can send it back to ebuyer, or just call Abit tech support and see if they can help you trouble shoot the problems first.. If they fail then you can send it back to them as well. I have had only one bad hardware and always went by way of manufactor... Also have you tried the out of the case build to help trouble shooting a possible hardware problem...

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=132409

[minsonngo]

If replacing the CMOS battery does not work... I would consider exchanging the motherboard... the BIOS could very well be corrupted.

[greenuk]

I tried removing the battery but still no joy.

I switched off the PSU, unplugged the power connector from the mainboard, removed the battery, and cleared the CMOS for over a minute.

It's odd that I can boot up a fair way with the live Linux CD I have, with alot of info shown on screen during bootup and one or two fancy splash screens along the way. Although the screen goes black near the end of booting (maybe because it doesnt like my graphics card) it's surprising the system gets that far if the BIOS was broken badly.

I'm thinking either
1) the backplate of my Thermalright shorted something out on the back of the mainboard.
2) Something is iffy with my keyboard or USB-PS2 adaptor
3) Faulty mainboard.

for #1 I'll try taking the mainboard out the case and connecting up the bear minimum, and the stock Intel CPU heatsink (doesn't use a backplate).

for #2 I've tried a couple of keyboards and a couple of adaptors too but still no joy. Plus pressing F1 always works with both keyboards and continues to boot from CD.

for #3 Well, that will just suck. I've already spent a couple of weeks with this system. First hold back was a heatsink I really wasnt happy with (Scythe Infinity) so I ordered a Thermalright Ultra-120 which was much better. Then I realised the 8-pin CPU power connector wasnt long enough (PSU is on bottom of P180 case) even though I have the newer revision of Seasonic S12 PSU, so I ordered an extension cable off eBay which did the trick. And now this issue!

[greenuk]

It appears this has something to do with the harddisks. With no harddisks plugged in, I'm able to access the BIOS just fine. With one harddisk plugged in, again I can access the BIOS fine. When I have two harddisks plugged I'm not able to enter the BIOS and the DEL key is ignored. Guess I should of removed the drives earlier but I'd of never thought the drives could upset the BIOS to this extent.

This is the first time I've used SATA drives so I'll see if I can find out if I'm doing something stupid. Do I still need to set one drive as Master and the other as Slave? I thought they did away with Master/Slave with Serial ATA but maybe I misunderstood. There's not a single mention of Master/Slave in the mainboard manual nor mention of having to plug the drives into certain SATA sockets.

What is a little concerning aside from this, is on three or four occasions the screen has gone corrupted when I switch on the system. I can bearly make out what's shown on screen. If I turn off, unplug the drive, then power back up, the screen is perfect. If I plug a drive back in, it's perfect! So it's not consistant. At first I thought I maybe knocked the graphics card slightly with my hand or something, but it's only ever happened with the SATA connector plugged into the mainboard, never when I've been running driveless. The graphics card appears seated fine.

[minsonngo]

Maybe one of your HDDs is faulty.

Try leaving only one plugged in at a time and see if each one of the drives will allow you to enter the BIOS.

You can also download the Ultimate Boot CD (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) and run a HDD diagnostics on them too.


And no... SATA drives don't have the jumper settings.

[chuck4456]

means that your hard drive is dead. Plain and simple. Are they plugged in? Looking back, I see that you didn't indicate (exactly) if these were drives that you already had or new ones. You will get a 75 with a faulty or dead hard drive.

[greenuk]

I wasnt clear enough in my last post. I plug one drive in. I can access the BIOS fine. I unplug that and plug the other drive in. I can access the BIOS fine. In both cases the drive details show up in the BIOS also. If I plug both drives in at the same time then I can not access the BIOS and it effectively ignores me pressing the DEL key.

They're both brand new drives (make/model given in first post).

The ultimate boot cd is a good idea if it'll check for faulty drives. I'll try that tomorrow.

I was going to try updating the BIOS but I couldn't find a floppy disc. I think I'm only one BIOS revision out of date, and the release notes dont say anything about fixing SATA issues but I guess it's worth a try.

[minsonngo]

Do you have the two drives hooked up to SATA1 and SATA2 connectors on the motherboard?

[greenuk]

Yes, SATA1 and SATA2. Also tried SATA1 and SATA3 and other combinations.

I plug one drive in. BIOS works fine. I switch to the other drive and BIOS works fine. I plug both drives in together and I can't get into BIOS (Pressing DEL key gets ignored)

If I run the Ultimate Boot CD while both drives are plugged in and run DLGDIAG 5.04f Data Lifeguard Diagnostics tool by Western Digital I can select and verify both drives. Both pass the drive test with zero errors.

So I could probably install Windows XP and get by fine, but not being able to get into the BIOS obviously leaves me feeling nervous and there's a fault SOMEwhere. Maybe I'll try updating the BIOS next but I'd find it hard to believe any BIOS version means it gets flakey with two SATA drives plugged in. Pretty basic stuff I'd of thought.

Still deciding whether to RMA the mainboard and be done with it.

[doubledragon5]

If you feel RMA the board will work I would.. Don't second yourself if it is faulty then get rid of it.. Did you call tech support for the board to see if they know what the problem might be.. This way here you have a record of it, so the RMA will be easier...

[greenuk]

I sent an email to Abit. First thing they suggested was to check memory timings. So I switched from auto to manual timing and changed the 5-5-5-15 to 4-4-4-12 which my Corsair memory is rated at.

That made no difference to the issue so a follow up email suggested I ensure the 500gb drive is running in SATA 1 mode. I found a jumper (one didnt come with the drive which is kind of silly) and put it on pins 5 and 6 (as shown here http://tinyurl.com/39jq3w ). This didnt help either surprisingly. I put the jumper on pins 3 and 4 by mistake as first and this introduced other errors during bootup so I know the jumper is working at least.

It seems the controller chip can't handle both these drives at the same time. So because I have the MAX mainboard it comes with a second SATA controller chip. So I tried plugging the Raptor into SATA1 and the 500gb drive into SATA5 on assumption that the first controller deals with SATA1 to SATA4 and the second deals with SATA5 to SATA8.

This seems to of worked and I can enter the BIOS with both of these drives plugged in now.

Should I accept this weird behaviour or persist in getting a mainboard with SATA chips that work properly? I guess I just feel uncomfortable with 1) this weird behaviour and knowing there might be issues with the mainboard, and 2) the second drive being treated in a special way, because it's not shown on IDE 1 or 2 like the first harddisk (and DVD drive). I get shown an extra screen of info during bootup now which specifically mentions that the second harddisk (plugged into SATA5) is there. If I go into the BIOS, it only shows the first harddisk (in SATA1) and the DVD drive. I ran the Ultimate Boot CD and that can see both drives at least (and they still pass with zero errors).

Not sure what to do. Suggestions?

I just get the feeling that Abit are going to blame Western Digital and vice versa. Tempted to write off this mainboard and buy a different brand.

Plus I have a second issue with my system. I'm seeing screen issues. It's occasional spikes of interference which last a fraction of a second and looks like white dots scattered all over the screen. I've also seen it where whole horizontal lines dont get shown which makes the BIOS info hard to read. So maybe an issue with the new monitor (Samsung SyncMaster 215tw) or the graphics card (512MB XFX 7950GT XXX). I'm leaning towards the graphics card. I tried an old system plugged in via VGA cable and saw no screen issues. I dont have another system with DVI connector to try out. When it rains it poors.

[Duffasaurus]

Abit is like a big ho. I would stick to intel/asus in the future. Especially if you're new to this...

[greenuk]

Yes I regret not buying the Asus. I shortlisted Abit and Asus boards, and boy do I regret going with Abit now.