# Asus A8V Deluxe 'Bad BIOS checksum'



## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

First off, let me say this: I've added a lot to my computer in the past month. I've added a new SATA Hard drive, a new DVD-ROM drive, and 2 sticks of DUAL CHANNEL GEIL RAM, 512 each, to accompany my current APACER RAM. It's runnign at 157.3MHz instead of 200 MHz, due to latency timing issues, but that's not my current problem. I've also updated my BIOS, and have reflashed it several times because of the error that is to be described in the following post, but to no avail. Anyways, here's my current computer specs:

300 W Aopen Power Supply
Asus A8V Deluxe K8T800 Pro (Bios V. 1013.005)
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Newcastle Socket 939 0.13u running 2203.2MHz (200 HTT x 11)
ATI Radeon X800 PRO 256 MB
Maxtor 6 Model: Y080M0 80GB SATA HD
Western Digital WDC WD80 0JD-00HKA0 80 GB SATA HD
2 x 512 MB Apacer Generic Dual Channel DDR400 SDRAM (166MHz 2.5-3-3-7, 200MHz 3-4-4-8)
2 x 512 MB GEiL Dual Channel Performance DDR400 SDRAM (166MHz 2-3-3-7, 200Mhz 2.5-4-4-8)
LG CD-RW 52x32x52 CD-RW
LG DVD-ROM
PCI Ethernet Card

Now... where to start. OK, when the problem started: I was trying to adjust the latency of my RAM manually in an attempt to geti t running at 200 MHz despite the different timings, so I adjusted it to 3-4-4-8 and told it to manually run as DDR400. this is after recently installing the RAM and updating the BIOS from 1008 (I believe) to 1013.005 using AsusUPDATE. So I saved the settings and exited, and I got this Error:

"Radeon X800 Pro VO

Bad BIOS checksum. Starting BIOS Recovery.

Checking for floppy.
Floppy not found!

Checking for CD-ROM.
CD-ROM not found!"

The odd thing is, I just turned the computer off for about 10 minutes, and let it cool down, and when I did a cold boot, and reset the settings of the RAM in the BIOS to 'Auto'... It booted up fine. I immediately reflashed the BIOS using AsusUPDATE, and after restarting the computer... The problem occured again! 

This has persisted, and it seems to be a pattern: If I do a cold boot, it starts up fine. However, if I restart the computer, or change settings in the BIOS, I get the Bad Checksum error.

This has lead a friend of mine, a computer guy to say the least, to believe it may be the power supply. I realize my Power supply is only 300W, 330W peak, and that I am probably overtaxing it a bit, but is this a symptom probable for an insufficient power supply, especially considering it happens mostly after the PC has been running for a while and is hotter? What are your guys thoughts on this, if any? And if you need more info, ask away!



Editing in my voltage railings:

CPU Core: 1.50 V
+3.3 V: 3.33V
+5V: 4.93 V
+12V: 11.13V

The +12 V is a little low... My friend is probably right.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

when you start upgrading the first thing to check is the power supply is going to supply enough amps especially upgrading a video card
throw a 550w quality supply in,you are expecting to much from a 300w


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

Granted, I know this, I requested a 350W power supply but the company who ordered the parts gypped me and gave me a 300W, and I'm not finding out until now.

What I WANT to know is that, can these BIOS problems be a RESULT of an insufficient power supply? As I said, they only happen chronically, as opposed to frequently, and it usually happens on restart, whereas cold-boots generally work without a hitch.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

these days a 350 is to small,power supplies can cause all type of problems
reset the cmos


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

But is it possible that my power supply is insufficient, and therefor causing these problems? Or is it more likely a flaky Bios chip? I'll try resetting CMOS, but I want to know about the other diagnostics I just posted. Besides, I don't think it's CMOS just the same. My BIOS is keeping proper time and whatnot, I just get those errors.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

i think it is the power can you borrow a larger quality supply to put in to check
stressing the one that is in will cause temps to rise,could make it an expensive repair job if it is the problem and decides to go


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

Yeah, the symptoms you describe seems to point to the power supply. My computer has been running hotter than usual lately. Normally, before I installed the RAM, hard drive, and DVD-ROM that I did in the past month, I would get mid-high 30 celsius for my Processor, and lately it's been 45 C or above, and my HDs are all 40-43 C.

I think I can rule out the Battery or BIOS, because it's remembering my settings, keeping time, and working properly, the comp just fails to start up some of the time, and the fact that the temperature is a lot hotter inside the case than it use to be makes me think it is, indeed, the power supply. Thanks for confirming that suspicion.

I'm running low on funds at the momment, because I'm still trying to pay off THE computer as is, anyways. I think I'll try and get a 400-430 W power supply, I don't think I can afford 500 at the momment.


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## whodat (Mar 13, 2005)

*psu* 

free shipping also

medium grade supply

good luck

i just noticed you mixed and matched ram
is both sets on the qualified vendor list for your main board?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

look for a min of 20+ amps on the +12v line


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

Neither are, actually. But the Apacer RAM has worked for almost a year now hitch free, and I can't see the GEiL RAM causing the problems I'm having.

Nonetheless, once I get the PSU, I want to try and get the RAM running at 200MHz as opposed to 157.3Mhz...


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/directron/sl350.html


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## whodat (Mar 13, 2005)

i am partial to antec also
i have one running 24/7 it seems,we just have to blow it out occassionly with the rest of the case.


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

I got a new 500W power supply cheaper than I thought. Unfortunately, it wasn't Antec or anything, but it was marketed as a gaming power supply, and plus, it looks dang cool and has a huge built in fan and airflow to cool down my computer more. It's running a lot better now, even my hard drives don't randomly seem to 'spin up' now.

Anyways, my problem is solved. No bios errors, and the computer is running cooler and more efficient as a whole, due to the increased airflow and extra fan, so much so that I set the 'auto' overclock manually to 10% and it's working without a hitch at 2419Mhz (My Athlon 64 3500+). Now, to solve the RAM problem... If possible.


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

*Sigh.* Scratch that, I got the error again, the 'Bad Bios checksum' one again. See above. Hmm... seemed to happen when I overclocked it and the dang computer heated up... Maybe it has something to do with that... Or maybe I have a bad bios chip... oy. Anyone else have possible diagnosis?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

As I continue to follow this thread, I have a comment to make to you. There are many 500 watt power supplies out there touted as gaming supplies that do not perform as well or put out the power that an Antec 350 does, so, it is quite possible that is still the root of your problem. 

All 500 watt power supplies are NOT created equal, therefore, Hope you didn't buy another lightweight to power a unit that needs quite a bit of power. That comment comes from the weight of the power supply usually tells what quality it is. 

If it is an off brand and was very reasonable in price, you may have purchased another supply that will not do the job for you on a continual basis. Any good power supply in the 450 to 500 watt range which you do need will cost close to or over $100. If you pay much less, then you get much less power supply. I always buy either an Antec, Enermax, and some times find a good Enlight that works well. Other than that, unless you want to pay real big bucks, you will not find any that are much better. That is my personal opinion on the power supply issue.

The memory issue is that you need to have matched memory that are on the QVL list. If you don't then it will probably work sporatically from time to time. My recommendation is to get matched memory from the QVL list. Sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news, just telling you what I see on a regular basis working on computers.


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## whodat (Mar 13, 2005)

well if you are going to push the ram with an overclocked system, you probably have to give the ram extra juice, bump it up a notch or 2. which might be counter productive with a short power rail.....

matched memory a must, as tumble says, quality on the psu important.....
post back


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

It wasn't a particularly well known brand, I don't believe... COLORSit or something, but I didn't notice it being suspiciously lightweight or anything, and I'm very doubtful that this power supply could be WORSE than an AOpen 300W power supply for this computer, considering the experience I've had with AOpen.

Anyways, 2 more things... I'm still getting the BIOS problem periodically. I've got conflicting advice on this, where some people tell me it might be a flaky BIOS chip or to clear CMOS, yet others tell me that can't be the problem considering that the BIOS keeps the correct time and remembers all settings correctly.

The RAM... I've come into knowledge that this is something the Newcastle AMD 64 3500+ does on it's own, if 4 sticks are installed, it'll clock them down to 157.3MHz instead of the typical 200MHz. I may be wrong, but I've heard that from a couple sources.

Here's the link to the PSU I bought


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

Reviewing the specs for your power supply tells me that it only has 16 amps on a single rail for the +12 volt rail. That is not nearly enough for the unit you are using. Is there any way you can return it and get a brand name that has more power on that rail? I do think you are in for some problems with a power supply that does not have enough power for your unit.

A bad bios checksum suggests a couple of things. 

First of all, it can be a bad battery. There have been some new boards shipped that came from the factory with a bad battery, so that might be an option you want to look at. It is about a five or six buck cost to buy one.

The second thing that comes to mind is the clearing CMOS can help that error. I would clear CMOS as a first line of defense for this error. Might be a good idea to clear the 1 & 2 pin (move it to 2 & 3 for about ten minutes and move it back to 1 & 2. While you are at it, remove the battery for that ten minutes and return it to it's former position. Just make sure that you get it back the same way you took it out.

The third thing that I can think of is a bad BIOS itself. That is caused some times by an improper flashing of bios like a shutdown in the middle of the process, or the good Lord only knows why else this might happen. Unless you are able to recover the bios, the only fix for this is replacing the actual bios chip. Have you tried to flash the bios on this unit? If so, how did it go?


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

16A on the 12V rail isn't enough? then how much should I be looking for? Dual rail 18A or something? I'm lacking in funds right now, and even if I return this power supply, I still don't get back 10% of the cost of the supply. Anyways, More bad news, I found the true specs of my Power Supply... the ones listed on the site aren't accurate to my version of the power supply, whatever it is.

+3.3V: 30A
+5V: 50A
+12V: 15A

Anyways... I'll try clearing the CMOS, I suppose, but with regards to a bad BIOS chip... If it was bad, wouldn't I not be able to boot up EVER, as opposed to a chronic thing? And, someone told me that it's unlikely it's a bad chip, because of the fact that it keeps proper time and saves configurations and everything still...

As for flashing the BIOS... I can't pin point WHEN exactly the problem started- Like I said, it's a chronic thing, that usually happens on restarts as opposed to a cold boot- but I recently did use ASUSUpdate to update to 1013.005 from... I can't remember what version, probably 1008. Regardless the version, I never had a hitch with the previous one. And it had told me that the 1013.005 flash was indeed successful. And yes, since then, I tried reflashing the BIOS.

Problem is, I flashed this bios about the same time I added the 2 new sticks of RAM, so it's hard now to pinpoint whether it was originally a power supply issue or somehting else.



Edit: Sorry to ask this, but is my computer in any immediate danger using this power supply? As is, I can't replace it at the momment due to... money flow constraints, and I probably won't be able to for a while, but, if the BIOS issue was a power issue, this power supply should have resolved it, shouldn't it've? I know the 12V railing amperage is low, but still, shouldn't this be 'sufficient' for now, until I have the money for a good one? It won't harm my other components, will it?


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

*Ok... Scratch the previous post. I'm a little scatterbrained, so here's the sitrep.*

I don't want to dance around the issue anymore. I know my power supply is a failure right now, ao I need to get another one.

Apparantly, I need in excess of 22.5 A of power on the 12V rail, with a full load, so I'm going to look into something of the sort. I need to know, however... I need 22.5A full load for the entire computer, so is an Antec power supply with dual rails of 17A and 19A good? Or does the rating for a single rail have to be 22.5A or above? I mean, do I combine the amperage of a dual rail, or do I still look at the amperage per rail?

And the BIOS... I'll begin troubleshooting that soon enough. Does anyone still think it may be the power supply, or is it definitely something else now? I'll try clearing the CMOS, and I'll try other such stuff, even replacing a battery. But the fact that my computer starts up most of the time on a cold boot, and the fact that it remembers settings and whatnot, steers me away from the idea that it's simply a bad chip. And the fact that I've reflashed it several times with version 1013.005 tells me it's probably not an error with the flashing process, unless ASUSUpdate does a poor job as a BIOS flashing program.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

with a dual rail supply combine both lines for the total = 20+


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

Thanks! I'll either get a 400 or 500W Antec power supply when the money trickles through, I just don't know WHERE I'd buy it now. Anyways, my other BIOS issues? any ideas?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

With the BIOS issue, first, clear the CMOS and see what happens. Report back with the results. 

About the power supply, If it works, then I doubt if it will do any harm if you don't put the computer under a lot of stress. The biggest problem you will probably encounter is maybe not booting if not enough power or random shut downs. If you do get some bucks, you might want to consider this story. 

I have just built a new unit and purchased an Antec Sonata II with a 450 power supply and it works great with an A8N-sli deluxe. There are no power problems with the x700 ATI card and it runs real strong. The new case with power supply comes in at about 130 bucks including shipping. If you have an older case, you can buy a new case with a strong power supply for almost the same price as a new power supply. This is a great case and has sound, mike, firewire and USB (2) ports on the front panel. Let me know if I can be of further help.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

Tumble is steering you down the right road my friend !! Here are the specs for a GOOD power supply. NOTE the wieght of this power supply *5.3 lbs * do some research and find the weight of your current PSU weight = *copper windings * = *consistent clean power * 
http://www.antec.com/specs/TPII550_spe.html


as for the bios problems / I would contribute big money to help drown Asus Live Update and rid it from the computer world !!! There are so many posters that report crashes resulting from that trash utility!! they all report that it looks like it flashed properly and then either ran flaky or wont start again !! I have been burned myself twice from that demon of a bios flashing utility !! You may have to go to ebay and research bios chip / you can get a new one for about $20.00 I agree with you about the strangeness of it keeping good time and settings ?????? but who knows

let us know how you progress with this machine / ask more questions any time needed !!

regards

joe


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

Tumbleweed36 said:


> Hi,
> 
> With the BIOS issue, first, clear the CMOS and see what happens. Report back with the results.
> 
> ...


Don't worry about the case. It's big, really big. And with regards to the CMOS, I don't EXACTLY know the process with the whole jumpers and everything, but I'll do some research and report back.

The problem with not booting that you described happened to my old power supply. It sometimes just didn't even detect a hard drive or OS installed and I'd have to restart. But yeah, I just get the BIOS checksum periodically now.

I don't know if it was a faulty flash, but Asus just released 1014 anyways, so I'll update to that, and if I still get the problems, I'll clear the CMOS and come back.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

Whatever you do, pay attention to the concern that linderman gave you about the way you flash the BIOS. This alone can cause a checksum error if something is not exactly correct or there is an error. Also, an interrupted flash can also render the BIOS unstable and in some cases unusable. 

I recommend that you look in chapter 4 (I think this is the one) of your motherboard manual, then it will tell you the different ways to flash your BIOS. Just be careful about the live update method, because any errors, then you can be in a world of hurt. Not saying not to flash it, but don't use the method that linderman warned about. Just my two cents worth. 

I would clear CMOS first, take that jumper and move it to pins 2 and 3 for about ten minutes, then put the jumper back on pins 1 and 2. It is that simple.


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

Tumbleweed36 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Whatever you do, pay attention to the concern that linderman gave you about the way you flash the BIOS. This alone can cause a checksum error if something is not exactly correct or there is an error. Also, an interrupted flash can also render the BIOS unstable and in some cases unusable.
> 
> ...



I used the liveupdate function for the v1013.005 version, but when I updated to 1014.003, I went straight to the ASUS site to download it, and then used the AsusUpdate tool to 'update from file' as opposed to the live update, and things seem to be working a little better. I restarted, changed settings in BIOS, had restarted with the computer running 'hotter' than normal and all such things, and I haven't seen the error YET, but I won't get too excited, I'll go a couple days with it first. If all else fails, clear the CMOS then.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

That is good news....now, come back in a few and bring us more good news and that everything is working great. Have a relaxing evening....nice chatting with you.


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

Thanks for all your guys help. The 1014 never solved the problem, nor did the new power supply, although it does seem less frequent now, the bad bios checksums on bootup. I'll take your advice, Linderman, and try to flash without using the ASUSupdate program, even though I am wary of flashing with the whole floppy disk deal now.

I gotta try a few things now. First and foremost: Ordering in an Antec 430W with dual 12V rail or better, second is reflashing without using ASUS Update, third is clearing the CMOS, but I have to do research into how to do this, fourth is testing the memory (Since the problems occured since I've installed 2 new sticks of memory, giving me 4 now, afterall), And fifth would be replacing the BIOS battery. If ALL of that fails, well, I guess it's a flaky chip then, right?


Edit: It couldn't possibly be my videocard, could it?


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

It won't let me edit my previous post, but I just had a thought....

My Harddrives used to be in Adjacent drive bays, which caused a lot of problems due to EMI. Now, because of this, I moved my 80GB Western Digital drive down the the drive bay at the BASE of the computer and that solved the problem. However, I just realized, the drive bays on the 'floor' of this case run parallel to the BIOS chip, only about an inchaway from it, and I'm wondering if this may indeed cause a problem, due to EMI, and perhaps it only got WORSE when I tried to flash the BIOS to 1013, just before the problems started, while receiving EMI from the Western Digital drive. I'm only wondering this because my hard drives had problems when THEY were located so close together, so maybe the same can run true when my hard drive is located next to the BIOS.

I could be completely out to lunch with this, but maybe this could be the problem?

Anyways, back to trying to remove the damn onboard battery. JEez this is actually hard. I can't get the darn thing out


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

easy enough to check the video card if you have one to swap over


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

dai said:


> easy enough to check the video card if you have one to swap over


Nope, I don't have one... I sold my GeForce and my Radeon 9200 with my previous computer. I guess I'll just have to try everything else. Heh. It wold be good to find out if EMI could possilbly be causing my problems, or whatever field HDDs generate, because I haven't been able to find any info on that such.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

never struck that as a problem,if it is not the bootable drive pull the power lead to check


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

It's not. It's the secondary. Alright, add that to my list of things to troubleshoot with, and I'll gt back to you guys. I just cleared the CMOS, so I'm gonna leave it like that for a day or two, and if I get the error, well, gotta move on to the next thing to check.


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## VenomHowell (Jul 31, 2005)

I ordered an Antec Truepower 480W Power Supply today, should be here in a week, and I also mounted my harddrive one slot lower so as to avoid EMI interference on the BIOS chip itself. I'm not holding my breath that this solved the problem, but you know, it couldn't hurt. If this fails, I have to test my memory. I'll keep you all updated as I continue to try and isolate the problem.


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