Bios text unreadable.

[eliza]

hello to you.

Until recently i have been able to enter bios using the delete key and do what ever i want. the text is mostly yellow on a blue background.

Now when I enter bios I get the blue background and white lines vertical mostly and sometimes a series of vertical yellows symbols same color as the text.

I took these four pics with a cannon digital camera A650.

i have replaced the motherboard battery. reset Cmos .

no change. each time I go to bios the resulting screen can be Quite different.

If I let the computer boot up normally It is fine and everything works as normal.

I have a K7 M852 motherboard with AMD 2.5 CPU.

Graphics card is a AGP radeon 9200 SE.

Hope this is enough info,

thanks from

Eliza.

 

PS the shiny glow on the screen is the flash reflection.

 

 

 

http://kenwedge.50g.com/final.jpg

[eliza]

addition of closeup

 

thought I would add a close up of the pic with the yellow sqiggles.

 

the computer is not a name brand and was made up for me about 4-5 years ago.

thanks.

 

 

 

 

http://kenwedge.50g.com/closeup.jpg

[Tootech]

Looks like a corrupt BIOS, but everything works???

 

I'd be tempted to find the BIOS for your board and reflash it.

 

It might go horribly wrong, so question is 'Do you really need the BIOS features?' If not leave it alone, if you do, have a go at flashing it.

[eliza]

Flash???

 

Hello Tootech, thanks for your advice. Quote/ "I'd be tempted to find the BIOS for your board and reflash it.It might go horribly wrong," /end quote.

Not sure what you mean by "reflash" and what could go wrong?

Quote/" Looks like a corrupt BIOS, but everything works???"/end quote.

Yes ,everything works fine.

'Do you really need the BIOS features? I want to add a extra harddrive but cannot because i have to go into bios for it to be recognised..

 

If the Bios is corrupt does that mean getting a new motherboard?

or is it the CPU.

thanks from Eliza.

[eliza]

bios scan

 

Here are results from a bios scan I have just done.

maybe someone else can make some sense out of it

thanks from Eliza.

 

- (system summary) Good Bad Download

Check foro BIOS Update

BIOS

Phoenix-Award

 

Disk Drives

WDC WD800BB-00JHC0 Good

Display adapters

RADEON 9200 SE Family (Microsoft Corporation) Bad

RADEON 9200 SE SEC Family (Microsoft Corporation) Bad

DVD/CD-ROM drives

LITE-ON COMBO SOHC-5232K Good

IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers

VIA Bus Master IDE Controller Bad

Keyboards

Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard Good

Mice and other pointing devices

PS/2 Compatible Mouse Good

Monitors

Plug and Play Monitor Good

Network adapters

Linksys Wireless-G PCI Adapter Good

VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter Bad

Ports

Communications Port (COM1) Good

ECP Printer Port (LPT1) Good

Processors

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Good

Printers

Brother HL-2040 series Good

Sound, video and game controllers

VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller (WDM) Bad

System Devices

VIA CPU to AGP2.0/AGP3.0 Controller Good

VIA Standard Host Bridge Bad

VIA Standard PCI to ISA Bridge Bad

Universal Serial Bus controllers

VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller Good

VIA USB Enhanced Host Controller Notes

 

BIOS Type: Phoenix-Award

BIOS Date: December 29th 2003

BIOS ID: 12/29/2003-KT400A-8235-M852C-00-None

BIOS OEM: M852 12/29/2003 - 6.00 PG

Chipset: VIA 82C3189 rev 128

SuperIO: ITE 8705/SiS 950 rev 2 at port 002E

Manufacturer: VIA Technologies, Inc.

Motherboard: KT400A-8235

[Plastic Nev]

First a laymans description of "Flashing" a BIOS, means to update with a new version, this wipes the BIOS and reinstalls new firmware. Unfortunately the process is known to sometimes go wrong, resulting in no BIOS at all.

Considering the BIOS itself is showing as OK I doubt that is the source of the problem, but some quite worrying bad reports, and especially the VIA Bus Master IDE Controller Bad, along with other bad reports doesn't look too good. However Tootech may have some answers, though the one thing I suspected, the graphics card also shows as bad, it just may be all down to that. However wait for a reply from Tootech before going further, he will confirm whether I am right or wrong.

Nev.

[RandyL]

Hi guys.

I'm the last person to offer advice on this but I did have a couple questions if you don't mind.

 

If it has a graphics card and onboard graphics would going into the BIOS cause it to use the card or onboard?

 

I too would suspect a graphics problem but considering what Nev pointed out I'm wondering if it's a mobo problem. Could that be an issue with a card or onboard graphics?

 

Like I said this is not my area. Just trying to help.

[eliza]

Hi guys.

 

If it has a graphics card and onboard graphics would going into the BIOS cause it to use the card or onboard?

 

I too would suspect a graphics problem but considering what Nev pointed out I'm wondering if it's a mobo problem. Could that be an issue with a card or onboard graphics?

 

Like I said this is not my area. Just trying to help.

 

Thanks for that yes it is a thought although the motherboard does not have onbord graphics.

[eliza]

solved.

 

The monitor was the problem. for some reasons the factory setting had been changed.

And the monitor Basic vesa wasn't working. so when I did a factory restore all was readable in the Bios.

Thanks everyone for your help.