BIOS Failure?

[Nocturnal036]

Okay. Quite the sticky situation here.
Heres my hardware.
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
WD 250GB Caviar Hard drive with Win XP on it
WD 500GB Caviar Hard drive for misc storage
2x EVGA 7800GT's
Sony CD rom Drive
Pioneer DVD burner
APG 1100W Power Supply (New)

Again, I'm running Windows XP Home

I just recently preformed the routine of formating my maind 250GB hard drive and then reinstalling windows. The operation was smooth with no bumps. I then installed the new nvidia drivers and noticed that the full screen logo for my bios during a restart came up as the picture below
Asus Full Logo
I then proceeded to flash my BIOS to a new version. I used the in-windows tool that asus provides to flash the BIOS from a downloaded file and then restarts.
When I restarted my compter it progressed through the next three images.
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3

At that point I can press control+alt+del to restart but it still does the same thing. I tried pressing del, the key I normally press to enter bios but nothing happens. When I start up my computer it beeps once like it normally does and then when it comes to the last screen it produces 2 short beeps. The motherboard I have I think runs on a AMI BIOS. I read on a site that if you hear 2 beeps it means theres a "Parity circuit failure"
BIOS Beeps
POST Trouble Shooting

Okay, here's what I've tired so far.
My BIOS is still on the boot from a CD setting. So, I tried putting in my Windows XP Home CD but the same thing still happened.
I switched the video cards and then booted because I thought maybe it would do something. Same results.
I booted using just one video card. Same results.
I then took out the battery on the motherboard and left it out for a good 4-5 minutes. I thin followed the instructions in the motherboard manual and moved the jumper on the pins next to the battery to a different setting for a few minutes. I then replaced the jumper in the original position. The same results occurred when trying to boot.

Do you guys have any recommendations?
Should I try following the steps in POST Trouble Shooting site?
I can do all of those steps besides removing my CPU. I don't have any thermal grease on me and my CPU is attached to my heat sink via a thermal pad which is a bitch to get off I hear. Oh yeah, to top it all off. My new EVGA 9800 GX2 comes in tomorrow. But now, my comp won't be working
Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

 

[Nocturnal036]

Now I tried to start up with nothing but the power cord plugged in. It made its usual one beep but then it beeped three very short beeps. I read that that meant theres something wrong with the memory and I tried resetting the ram because maybe it became jostled out. I plugged my monitors back in. When it comes to the third screen it beeps three times. Then it goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor in the top left hand corner. Then it proceeds to a prompt telling me that windows failed and it asks if I want to start windows normally or in safe mode. When I try to plug in my key board to select to boot in safe mode the keyboard wont work. When I try to boot with my keyboard plugged in, USB. It gives me the two beep error and sits at the blue screen with arrows.

 

[Nocturnal036]

Just tried using a USB to PS2 keyboard adapter. I have a backlit keyboard. When the computer was booting up, it beeped three times with the keyboard plugged in via the PS2 keyboard slot but when it came to the select how to boot screen the keyboard turned off.

 

[mechBgon]

It sounds like a failed BIOS flash is the most likely explaination. One option is to order up a new BIOS chip pre-flashed with the BIOS version you want. http://www.badflash.com is one outfit that does that.

Also, it being an A8N-SLI series board, it couldn't hurt to make sure you do, in fact, have all three power cables firmly hooked up (the third is the EZ Plug, which is the Molex-style receptacle just above the upper video-card slot, as seen in this diagram :camera:).

 

[Nocturnal036]

Yeah. I have all three cables connected. The 24pin connector, the ATX12V 4-pin connector, and the molex looking power connector coming directly from my power supply. Do you really think it could be a failed BIOS flash? The full screen BIOS logo (orange and stuff) was being jarbled BEFORE i flashed my BIOS. Also, I can get to this Screen when I have nothing but my monitors and the power cord plugged in. If I plug my USB keyboard in, I can't get to that screen.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal036
Yeah. I have all three cables connected. The 24pin connector, the ATX12V 4-pin connector, and the molex looking power connector coming directly from my power supply. Do you really think it could be a failed BIOS flash? The full screen BIOS logo (orange and stuff) was being jarbled BEFORE i flashed my BIOS. Also, I can get to this Screen when I have nothing but my monitors and the power cord plugged in. If I plug my USB keyboard in, I can't get to that screen.

Oh, gotcha. I didn't realize it was doing that already.

If you have a PS/2 keyboard or a PS/2-to-USB adapter for your keyboard, you might want to fully turn off the system, pull the power cord plug or turn off the power supply, and connect to your PS/2 port, as a fact-finding step.

One thing that may happen when the BIOS is flashed, is that it gets reverted to default settings. I have the little brother to your board (A8N-E) so I'm fairly familiar with the BIOS, and the main thing that comes to mind is making sure the Serial ATA controller didn't get reverted to a different operational mode than it was in when you installed Windows. Because if the operational mode changes (say, from "normal" to RAID mode), then different drivers are required to boot Windows.

So you might want to confirm that in Advanced > NVRAID Configuration, the RAID Enabled option is set to Disabled, which I presume is how it was set when you installed Windows. If that option had been set to Enabled when you installed Windows, you would've needed to provide third-party drivers, usually done with a floppy diskette, so you'd definitely know if it had been enabled.

Also, if you unplugged the boot drive in the course of your troubleshooting, make sure it's actually connected to the same controller as it was when you installed Windows.

 

[Nocturnal036]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
So you might want to confirm that in Advanced > NVRAID Configuration, the RAID Enabled option is set to Disabled, which I presume is how it was set when you installed Windows. If that option had been set to Enabled when you installed Windows, you would've needed to provide third-party drivers, usually done with a floppy diskette, so you'd definitely know if it had been enabled.

I'm not able to get to my BIOS set up screen to change the RAID status.

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Also, if you unplugged the boot drive in the course of your troubleshooting, make sure it's actually connected to the same controller as it was when you installed Windows.

Yeah, I have my main SATA drive connected to the same SATA port, if that what you mean. I have the main 250GB drive connected to the 0th Sata Port.
I also don't have a floppy drive.

Thanks a bunch for helping me out. I gotta go to be. I'll try using the PS2 connector when it totally unplugged.

 

[Nocturnal036]

I found a PS2 keyboard laying around. When I boot with that in it gives me the 2 quick beep error and stalls on the blue screen with arrows. But, I can boot and get to the "How do you want to start windows" screen and plug in the keyboard and use it then. But each choice makes no difference. I tired booting all combinations of keyboard in/out on boot, Windows CD in on boot in both drives.

 

[Nocturnal036]

Funny thing is, that diagram you linked is the diagram of a A8N SLI Premium even though its labeled deluxe.

 

[Nocturnal036]

Ooops! The motherboard I have is the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe. God damn Asus and their similiar product names.

 

[mechBgon]

Just out of curiosity, do you have any other decent power supplies that could handle the system, at least with just one video card installed, as a fact-finding test to see if there could be something wrong with the new PSU? It's a pretty murky situation at the moment!

 

[Nocturnal036]

Nah, the other power supply's i have are rated at like 300-400 watt. I took it down to a computer repair shop. I explained to the techy all that I had done. Hopefully he wont go through everything i did and charge me for the time he spends on it >.<. Thank you so much for the help. I'll let you know what was wrong as soon as I get the call.