ASUS BIOS Settings won't save

Sarakosti wrote:
> My ASUS motherboard just burned its southbridge and I just re-stalled
> its replacement. Upon starting my computer there is 1 beep and then
> the usual messages. Then I hear a 2nd beep and a new messsage
> appears: New CPU install! Please Enter Setup to configure your
> system.
> F1 to run Setup
> F2 to load default values and continue
>
> If I press F2, my computer will start up the way it always has. I just
> find it annoying.
>
> If I press F1 and go to the BIOS setup, I see that some of the
> settings are incorrect. I correct them and save them and then reboot,
> only to have the process repeat itself. My new settings were not
> saved. As far as I know, the BIOS has been updated.
>
> Is my new ASUS motherboard bad or do I have some other problem? I have
> searched several forums and have found nothing that fits my
> description. Can you help me?
>

During POST, some info about the computer is stored in DMI/ESCD. That
is actually a reserved area in the flash chip itself. In other words,
when a new processor is detected, the BIOS wants to write the good
news into the flash chip itself.

Now, say someone installs the wrong kind of flash chip in the motherboard.
The flashing algorithm in the BIOS, may not be correct for the flash
operation. The flashing operation that updates the DMI/ESCD may fail.
The symptom would be as you describe - the computer would keep
discovering a new processor.

So one possibility, is the wrong kind of flash chip was used
in the board.

A second possibility, is the flash chip is worn out. Flash chips
can be flash thousands of times, but eventually they cannot be
flashed properly any more. I doubt that is the problem.

There is also a third possibility. If the BIOS release used is
too old for the processor being used, the BIOS may not actually be
recognizing the processor properly. I have read a few postings
in USENET, where a user had the symptoms you describe. In those
cases, the processors are weird ones, like Extreme Edition,
or perhaps the fastest processors available for the socket.
The implication is, the BIOS does not parse the info
from the processor properly, and on the next POST, discovers
a discrepancy between what was stored in the DMI/ESCD and
what the processor is claiming. That can lead to an infinite
loop of "discovering new processor". The only potential fix
for that, is to upgrade the BIOS to the latest release.

Your action plan:

1) Flash upgrade the latest BIOS. Or try a couple different BIOS
releases, and stop when you find one that works properly.

2) Get a replacement BIOS flash chip from badflash.com .
Make sure it is correct for the motherboard.

3) Talk to Asus tech support. In some countries, you can
buy a BIOS flash chip from them. Or you could also
return the motherboard under warranty again, and get
them to put a different BIOS chip in place. And Tech
Support may actually have a better answer than mine

HTH,
Paul
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