Do I need to update my BIOS?

[halo102]

Hi, im stuck again!

Im building my 1st PC at the moment and Im having some troble. The specs are: PC chips skt A mobo, athlon xp 3000+ CPU, 80GB maxtor HDD, 512MB DDR RAM, sapphire raedion 9800se AGP graphics and sony 16x dual layer DVD/RW.

I put it all together and shorted the motherboard, when id fixed that by mounting it properly I switched it on and tried to install xp, it got as far as asking do you want to install a new version of xp? repair an old one or quit? and it just stops, no lights on the keyboard and what ever I press it does nothing. All of the drives appear correctly and the PC will run software running straight off a floppy disk.

I know the keyboard works because it works in BIOS and the HDD works fine in other PCs. I was told I may have damaged my motherboard when I shorted it so I replaced the motherboard with an identical one but im still getting the same problem. I did notice that my version of BIOS is version 1.54 and the one on the website is version 5. So im thinking do I need to update the BIOS?

If so then has anyone got any advice on how to update a BIOS?

Any help greatly apreciated!

 

[tweebel]

Doesn't sound like a bios update will fix the problem but you can try it anyway. Sounds more like bad IDE cable or something like that to me.

 

[Coyote]

Before trying to update the BIOS, I'd run Memtest86 (works with bootable floppy, you don't need the OS installed) and the Maxtor HD diag proggie. Like memtest you don't need the OS intstalled for it to work.

Mobile XP 2600+ (11X215)
Abit NF7-S v 2.0
Maxtor 60GB ATA 133 7200RPM
512MB Corsair Twinx 3200LL
BBA 9800 Pro
Enermax Noisetaker 420 watts
Win2K sp4

 

[halo102]

Iv tried it with a IDE cable from a PC that I know works and still had the same problem. But thanks for the advice!

 

[halo102]

Wow, that memtest is a great little program! I ran it and my RAM came up with over 100,000 errors. Err I geuss that means its broken? I tried it in all the DIMM slots and got the same result. Back to ebuyer it goes.

 

[Rugger]

I'd have to agree that it's bad memory.
Bad memory - BAD!

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[tweebel]

Take a good look at your memory timings, might be something wrong with them.

 

[halo102]

Ebuyer extra value RAM PC2700, it is compatible with the motherboard. Its had very bad reviews but I thought id give it a got anyway.

 

[halo102]

Dodgy timeings wouldnt cause the whole thing to fail would it? I would have a look at the timeings, err, but its all packed up to go back and iv bought a replacement.

 

[halo102]

I bought some new RAM and it works perfect! xp installed with no problems. Thanks for all the help everyone! I would never have thought of looking at the RAM.