Win Xp Restore Frustration!!!!

TJ- · Jan 2, 2005, 05:12 PM

ok heres the problem from begining to end....

bout 2 weeks ago i auto updated the bios for my mother board(asus k8v-se deluxe) then restarted and windows was acting really funny and none of the games would load. I reinstalled windows thinking that it was a bios problem because at the bios load screen when u restart it always came up with..

" no drivers loaded with fast track installer, the bios was not installed"

After reinstalling Windows there was a floppy drive in my computer...

i tried to install all drivers for the fast track, even though i dont have a: drive. Also there is some tool called via raid tool i cant get rid of the appers on start up.

Anyways, ive tried several time to restore my comper using the system restore but it comes up with a error and reboot saing restore was unsuccessful... please try an earlier restore point... i tried like 3 previous ones and they all failed....

how do i fix this, and how do i get my bios to the way it was and stop it from loading the raid tool and fast track thing...ive tried everything including reinstalling windows several times....

MythicaL · Jan 2, 2005, 07:56 PM

How did you flash the BIOS without a floppy drive?

ChoGGi · Jan 2, 2005, 09:13 PM

you can use a cd to boot instead of a floppy drive, it's what i do.
(he could also be using asus EZ flash to do it)

" no drivers loaded with fast track installer, the bios was not installed"
i believe that means you dont have any drives attached to your promise (could be via) sata controller

you flashed your motherboard, so it must have reset your bios options.
im not sure what the differences between our bios's are, but you can disable the sata controller by going into your bios>advanced>onboard devices configuration.
in mine it shows onchip sata bootrom (which is the via sata controller) and the onboard promise controller. as long as you dont have any drives plugged into either then you can disable both of them
if you want to disable your floppy drive goto main>legacy diskette A and set it none.

ps. system restore doesnt really work that well, you might want to try using norton ghost or acronis true image

MythicaL · Jan 2, 2005, 10:05 PM

Ohhh, I know what you mean... You used that Asus utility where you can flash your BIOS through Windows. Well, there's your problem... Press Alt+F2 after POST and it will get you to the BIOS flasher that works really good

TJ- · Jan 2, 2005, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChoGGi

you can use a cd to boot instead of a floppy drive, it's what i do.
(he could also be using asus EZ flash to do it)

" no drivers loaded with fast track installer, the bios was not installed"
i believe that means you dont have any drives attached to your promise (could be via) sata controller

but you can disable the sata controller by going into your bios>advanced>onboard devices configuration.
in mine it shows onchip sata bootrom (which is the via sata controller) and the onboard promise controller. as long as you dont have any drives plugged into either then you can disable both of them
if you want to disable your floppy drive goto main>legacy diskette A and set it none.

and where do i find these options.....?

i deleted the floppy drieve in my computer, went to hardware tab/device manager its showing me..:

IDE/ATA/ITAPI DEVICE CONTROLLER
primary IDE channel
secondary IDE channel
Via bus master IDE channel

have no idea what they are, i guess it has to do with the floppy drive...

and with flashing the bios, i dont know if it actually worked cause half way through flashing with the asus auto update program it stalled and i had to quit through task manager,,, so i dont know if there was a problem there...

ChoGGi · Jan 3, 2005, 12:15 AM

you mean the bios options, press delete when the bios posts

use Mythical's way of flashing your bios and be happy you didnt mess up your board when you stopped the bios update

IDE/ATA/ITAPI DEVICE CONTROLLER
primary IDE channel
secondary IDE channel
Via bus master IDE channel

those are supposed to be there, nothing really to do with your floppy.

under the main menu item in your bios there should be a part that says "system information" that will tell you your bios version

TJ- · Jan 3, 2005, 01:29 AM

ok when i reboot, press delete, goto into system info it gives me..:

AMBIOS
version 08.00.09
Build date: 11/29/04

on the black scrren when it thn loads up the bios for the fast track(or tries to) its giving me

Bios version -- 1.00.0.37

i tried alt f4 but didnt work during the asus screen...

tried to flash bios through asus update again but it said it need a bios image file... I tried auto update again and its tell me : sorry there are no prober bios image files on the server

then goto bios information in the update program and it gives:

version 1005.006

There is also an option tab where it has a bios setting " downgradable bios... do i want to choose this?

ChoGGi · Jan 3, 2005, 01:52 AM

it's alt+f2
that autoupdate program doesnt really work

heres a link to downloads for your board, the bios is first
http://www.asus.com/support/download...%20SE%20Deluxe
also grab the afudos tool (v2.11)

then read this
http://bootdisk.com/txtfiles/flashcd.txt
and use this
http://bootdisk.com/kelly/flashcd.zip

after you read it stuck these two files in the iso/burn it and reboot, press f8 after your bios posts to show the boot menu and pick your cd drive

files:
K8VSEDX.005
AFUDOS.exe

type this after it boots to flash the bios

afudos /iK8VSEDX.005

do not reboot during the process

after it's done then reboot>goto your bios>advanced>onboard devices configuration>change the onboard promise to disabled.
you could also disable the floppy if you dont want it (you have to go back to advanced then main)

MythicaL · Jan 3, 2005, 01:56 AM

Yes it's Alt-F2, was just gonna repost that. Sorry hehe

TJ- · Jan 3, 2005, 02:01 AM

before i start.... can i use a dvd/rw instead of a cd, cause thats all i got...

ChoGGi · Jan 3, 2005, 02:03 AM

looks to me you said alt+f2?

edit: yeah you can use a dvdrw drive, use a blank cd though

(no sense in wasting a dvd).

ChoGGi · Jan 3, 2005, 02:10 AM

hey Mythical why does it say you have 15 gigs of ram in your specs?

speaking of which im gonna steal your idea and link to a picture

TJ- · Jan 3, 2005, 02:15 AM

"You make a backup of your bios which you should be able to do on your
hard drive but also save the backup to a cd so you can get to it later with
a bootable cd such as this. "

how do i do that...

and i already have the latest version which is 1005, so is it really worth the risk (if any) of flashing

ChoGGi · Jan 3, 2005, 02:32 AM

nope just telling you how to

you could use a win98 bootdisk to save your bios (from bootdisk.com), copy over afudos and type
afudos /ofilename

but since you do have a k8v-se then you can use the asus driver cd that came with it to restore your bios back to the org (it's called crashfree bios 2, use your manual to find out about it)

MythicaL · Jan 3, 2005, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChoGGi

hey Mythical why does it say you have 15 gigs of ram in your specs?

speaking of which im gonna steal your idea and link to a picture

I don't, its two stick of 256mb

Don't multiply it!

ChoGGi · Jan 3, 2005, 03:12 AM

i know i just couldnt resist the temptation

TJ- · Jan 3, 2005, 03:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChoGGi

nope just telling you how to

you could use a win98 bootdisk to save your bios (from bootdisk.com), copy over afudos and type
afudos /ofilename

but since you do have a k8v-se then you can use the asus driver cd that came with it to restore your bios back to the org (it's called crashfree bios 2, use your manual to find out about it)

ok man, heres the deal.... ive thought about this pretty intensivly and come to the conclusion that im to scared shitless to even attempt it...

Tried loading the original bios reading the manuel but it wouldnt load from the cd.

I disabled the promise in the bios and the "drivers not installed" warrnig is not comming up any more, thank god...

Since i already have the latest version of bios installed and im not sure if the flashing was succesfull or not im gunna wait til a new version comes out, update and flash that version.

Thankz for the help guyz.......... and yes you can call me a wimp if you want but im pretty much a n00b when it comes to stuff like this...after attempting install of fedora core i cant get the courage to mess around with any important setting just yet....

TJ- · Jan 3, 2005, 03:34 AM

edit..... back to the original problem... got distracted ...

norton ghost you say...instead of windows restore.... ?