Need Immediate Help [BIOS Recovery]

[macrospect]

Man, I am having a VERY bad night.

I was sitting here reading artiles on the internet, when all of a sudden I heard this click and my computer instantly hard locked. Nothing at all worked.

Shit, I thought, something MUST have fried.

So I immediately pulled the plug and opened my case. I didnt smell anything that was burnt.

After I was also sure that my WC system wasnt leaking (something it has never done in the past) I preceded plugging my computer back in, and turned it on. The floppy attempted to read before the display came up- something it has NEVER done before......

Then the dreaded message. Please insert a system disk. No POST just that. Now, I dont know HOW THE HELL my BIOS just dies in the middle of working in Windows but maybe someone can offer some insight on this. Anyway I turned it back off and went to get the bios again from Asus's site. Luckily I have my laptop with me, and my USB floppy so I could copy the afudos utility and the ROM file.

I went to turn my computer back on once again...... and it is bricked. Its not even trying to read the floppy drive anymore. No video, no nothing.

Let me hear your opinions. I REALLY need to get it working again. I have files I need to work with, and of course they are on a RAID so this is my only way of getting to them.

Lastly, I resorted to the reset jumper- with no avail.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[macrospect]

UPDATE:

Shit, now I am extremely pissed.

So I am looking around in my computer, wondering what the hell that noise was. I took a look at my DangerDen northbridge block and notice that one of the clips has popped off. I wonder how something with at much tention just pops off.

No, it didnt pop off it ripped the f*cking hook right out of the mobo. I know as soon as I take my mobo out (which is a royal pain in the ass) i am going to see all the traces that went with it.

So it looks like it is time for a new board... shit does this suck. I really cant afford this right now.

Anyone know how I can retrieve files off of a RAID without haveing the original board? I JUST wrote them today and didnt have a chance to back them up yet.

...unbelievable. I must be the first person ever to have this happen!

EDIT: Well I fixed the board, but still no go. Instead of screwing around with this thing I am going to buy a new board. I dont want my P4 chip to fry as well. I am pretty sure the NB is shot (it had no cooling for a good 10 minutes).

The good news? Well there isnt much, but a new board costs $100 less than when I bought this one. I am just praying my RAID does not get messed up!

 

[linderman]

Your raid will not get messed up as long as your replace with the exact same model motherboard >>>>>> if you upgrade or alter the motherboard chipset model or brand >>>> then yeah you will get sucked into rebuilding and lsoing your array.

good luck

 

[macrospect]

Well, it looks like I got lucky enough to retrieve my report on my RAID setup. I really didnt want to type it up again! Basically it wont boot, however it will startup enough for me to run data recovery programs in DOS.

I REALLY hope nothing was taken out in this mess. Sure hope my P4 didnt take any kind of beating either. I have a feeling that there is going to be issues with files when I do get up and running again- to the point where I may have to format again.

For now I took my WC kit out and am running back on the stock heatsinks (makes it easier to work inside).

Ill posr back here once I get my replacment board (which is the EXACT same model).

I dont mind if I need to format (well I do slightly) but I do want to recover some data, such as saved games, bookmarks, e-mail, etc.

 

[macrospect]

UPDATE:

Well I spent a good 12 hours yesterday reinstallnig everytnhing into my computer.

I also made a little mistake. When I received the Asus box I noticed it was printed in a different color, and had a slightly different design than my old P4C800-E board. It never dawned on me that it might have been a different model! Yes I made a error in ordering 4AM. I bought the P4P800-E board. As it turns out the P4C800-E was discontinued. This board is still nice although it does have a few minor flaws. The P4 connector is higher up on the board (and of course the cable was too short so I had to extend it (on a side note anyone ever try and remove those P4 pins/ATX pins? Not fun at all!)). Also, the floppy drive connector is backwards on the board (something not too major but its bad if you like to keep your case neat like me). Lastly, the RAM slots have some big issues. You cannot open them when a graphics card is in there. Luckily I rarely take my RAM out.

Now, since this was a different board I was expecting my RAID would be all screwed up. Nope! As soon as I fired it up it detected the array... and failed to load XP. Lost some system files, as well as had a corrupt MBR. So I had to reinstall XP (Repair it), enough to get my files back. After I reinstalled XP I got all of my files and decided to format (I dont like using the repair option all that much).

So, here I am a fully working board and RAID array.

Thanks for the contributions to this thread!

PS. I need some ideas for a NB cooler. That stock one is HORRIBLE! It gets WAY too hot for my tastes. I am thinking of just air cooling it. Since I am sort of constrained to space issues, I was thinking a thermalright HR-05 may do the job. Anyone have any experience with these? I would have liked to water cool it, but thats just not going to happen with 1/2" tygon tubing. I DONT want to break another one of those clips.