Thanks for the reply. I think I found the chip. Here's what it says..

SK8N1
1001
5F32
GMV18

BIOS 1001

What stinks is I already paid for the AMD FX-51 and can't return it.
If it is BIOS 1001, I guess I'll have to send the BIOS chip to
badflash.com. Again, thanks for all your help.

On Tue, 03 Aug 2004 05:25:41 -0400, (Paul) wrote:

In article , RDellinger
wrote:

I have 2 matched sticks of ram and 2 36gig raptor hard drives. I've
already swapped the power supply with no luck. Is the BIOS revision
also stenciled in the motherboard near the motherboard model #, ie.
SK8N?If it is, then it shows rev. 1003. Thanks for your reply.

That is the revision of the motherboard printed circuit board.
The revision number is revved any time the copper tracks on
the motherboard are changed. Normally, it would read something
like 1.03 and be printed in silk screened white letters, just
like the motherboard name.

What you are looking for, is the paper label on the socketed
flash EEPROM chip. The flash chip has leads on four sides (PLCC),
and the chip sits in a socket. Now, the fun begins when you try to
correlate what is on the label, with what is available on
the download site. I cannot guarantee that I can figure out
what you've got, but it is all you have to go on. As the
cpusupport web page says FX-51 won't boot without BIOS 1003,
it is something to check. Apparently, if you were to plug
an Opteron in there, it is supposed to boot up as slick
as can be. (Sometimes the number on the label, corresponds to
a string in one of the BIOS files, near the end of the file.
I use a hex editor, and download all the BIOS files, and try
and match them up that way.)

I don't understand why Asus didn't put the Voice POST chip
on this board. I bet the SK8N board wasn't cheap to buy, and
there is room on the left hand side of the board for more
circuitry. The Voice POST chips aren't that expensive in
volume, and Asus uses a lot of them.

Another diagnostic device that is sometimes useful, is
a "port card". This is a device with two LED displays on it,
and the BIOS code makes blind writes to I/O port 80 while
the POST code is running. The numbers shown on the display
represent the routine currently executing. If the BIOS
gets stuck, the number on the display then represents what
routine it got stuck in. These cards are sometimes sold on
Ebay, for in the neighbourhood of $29.95 or so. The pictures
I've seen, show a card that can plug in a PCI slot, or an ISA
slot, by rotating the card 90 degrees. Since your motherboard
is beeping, that means at least some BIOS code is running.
At least one motherboard manufacturer integrates this two
digit display, right into the motherboard. The display is a
lot more useful than Voice POST.

HTH,
Paul


On Tue, 03 Aug 2004 00:41:36 -0400, (Paul) wrote:

In article , RDellinger
wrote:

Still having problems with new install. Originally, I wasn't getting
any beeps, no video, and even the hard drives didn't seem to spin. I
swapped memory and power supplies and still the same except I get a
beep but this is after waiting maybe 10 seconds. Aren't usually the
beep codes heard in less than half that time?

On my computer, it takes 30 seconds to a minute, for the BIOS
to figure out no keyboard is connected. The fact that 10 seconds
have passed means this time the BIOS got further through the power
on self test (POST) process.

SK8N motherboard
AMD FX-51 CPU
KVR333X72RC25/512 (don't know how many sticks)
Power supply - model number, brand ?
Number of disk drives ?

If the drive isn't spinning, either that means
one of (+5V, +12V) is not withint spec (overloaded),
or the BIOS has specifically issued a command to
park the drive. A cheap multimeter, applied to a drive
connector (to check +5 and +12) and applied to the six
pin AUX power connector (to check +3.3V), will tell you
whether the supply is at fault.

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/cpusu...pusupport.aspx

AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 ALL 1003

System will not boot with this processor
before updaing to version 1003

Check the paper label on the flash chip, to see
what revision it is running. You may need to
install an Opteron, in order to flash the BIOS.

Also note, there is a thread on Abxzone, where the
flashing process needs the use of a particular command
line option. One of the BIOS downloads contains an .exe
to do the flashing, and that .exe apparently sets the
options for programming the flash. The other BIOS
versions on the download page also have warnings about
how not to flash. The people on Abxzone experienced
non repeatable conditions on their SK8N boards,
where sometimes the board would boot and sometimes
not, when using the early BIOS.

Given you are using an FX-51, and there were issues
with BIOS prior to the 1003 release version, a BIOS
update is most likely to help. You just may need
an Opteron in the socket in order to do it. An
alternative, is to send the flash chip to badflash.com
and have a later version of BIOS flashed into it.

HTH,
Paul