Screen flickers after updating my Asus BIOS

[Hittz]

I have an Asus M2A-VM mobo. Upon updating my Asus bios from version 0804 to version 1603 my screen flickers when Windows XP welcome screen appears. It flickers about 4-5 times (3 seconds) It only does it on the welcome screen. There was a beta update version of 1604 but I installed version 1603 just below the beta version. I have uninstalled and reinstalled my video driver, but the fliccker still persists. I have tried to downgrade my bios back to version 0804 to no avail. Can anyone help me to possibly correct this problem??

[budz]

check to see if there's a latest video driver for your video card.

[redwudz]

Looking at the Asus site for the 1603 BIOS, I see:

Support BIOS downgraded protection.(To avoid the system BIOS can be downgraded to BIOS before 1603).

So it doesn't look like you can revert to an older BIOS.

At this point, you could try the 1604 BIOS. It may not make it any better, but then again it might. They don't mention why it was released.

The real cure would be to replace your BIOS chip, but I doubt you want to do that. But you might try resetting the BIOS to default, either by using the reset jumper or pulling the BIOS battery for a few minutes, then replacing it. Unplug the computer during this operation. This may not help either, but it's easy enough to do.

I have seen similar behavior on some motherboards. My guess is it's changing resolutions or video settings before the video driver takes over.

Most motherboard manufacturers don't recommend updating your BIOS unless you have a specific problem that a upgrade may fix.

But I would also try emailing Asus or looking around for a Asus forum where you could ask the same question.

[Hittz]

check to see if there's a latest video driver for your video card.

I did check but saw no update for my video card, would that be the same as updating the chipset Budz?

I will look into resetting the bios chip if its simple enough Redwudz. I was gonna register for their forums but they want to know my whole life history. daaaaaaaam. Oh well I'll give them something, I do need the help. I'll post back after a while.

Thanks much for the help and assistance. Its always much appreciated!!

[budz]

What's the manufacturer of your video card? ATI or NVIDIA? Check either of those websites to see if there's newer drivers for your video card. Sometimes not all video card websites will have the latest drivers for ATI or NVIDIA video chipsets.

[Hittz]

The Manufacturer of the card is ATI Budz (ATI Radeon Xpress 1250)
I went and registered at the Asus Site and read a little, seems several people are having the same problem AFTER updating their bios also. I updated my VGA driver with a beta version and after rebooting the Flicker was GONE. Right now Im a happy camper, and hope to remain that way. I also posted on the Asus Site what seemed to work for me. I rebooted about 3 times to see if I get any flicker and all times I had none. If anyone here has a similar problem with this Asus board I Hope this update will help them as well. Thanks again for all the help.

Fixed my flicker here:http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M2A-VM

Under the Drivers tab:

Beta Version 8.411 2007/12/10 update
OS WinXP / Win2003 / WinXP 64bit / Win2003 64bit / Vista 32bit / Vista 64bit
Description M2A-VM/M2A-VM HDMI Chipset/VGA beta driver 8.411
File Size 280.51 (MBytes)

[budz]

Good to hear you got the flicker fixed!

[TBoneit]

In the future keep saying to yourself "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

I get around 8 people a year at work that flashed the bios on the motherboard and blew it looking for a fix. Of course sometimes even a Bios that should be reflashable won't go.

I have one on the shelf that gives the bootblock bios message because someone tried to flash it. Sad to say the emergency recovery process doesn't work.

I am a firm believer that unless a bios upgrade is needed to fix a problem don't do it. Sometimes it has to be done for CPU support. When that happens I cross my fingers and think positive thoughts and cuss the vendors for selling old stock.

Strangely enough some of the HP servers come with a note to upgrade as the first step before installing the server software after installing the CPU and memory.

[Hittz]

Thanks Budz, Im also happy the thing is still alive.

TBoneit, Point taken, I felt after the problem occured " Why did I ever......." When it was acting fine from the start. I consider myself lucky but I will live by the rule of "If it aint broke dont fix it" from now on.

Again thanks to all who lent a hand