Acer M5640/MSI OEM motherboard - NO POST

[retiredcaps]

Re: Acer M5640/MSI OEM motherboard - NO POST

Well, since Spinrite was able to see the hard drives (SATA or PATA) by bypassing the BIOS, I decided to reflash the BIOS with the original version even though the original version didn't work, but I wanted to get rid of that CMOS corrupt message. Of course, I couldn't find it on Acer's official website so I had to search around.

I couldn't find the original so I downloaded everything else and tried one version at a time until the CMOS corrupt message went away. I tried 5 different versions (using AMI bios recovery with floppy drive and pressing Ctrl-Home) and none would get rid of the CMOS corrupt message. So I went back to the latest one on Acer's official site.

I just happened to have the PATA drive and Windows XP home CD disc as my last test configuration and I thought I would try reinstalling it again. To my surprise, XP home found the PATA hard drive and I was able to install it. Same for Win 7. Lubuntu, however, cannot see the PATA drive at all. Lubuntu, Win XP, and Win 7 all failed to find the SATA drive. The BIOS reports finding the SATA drive and correctly identifies it.

So I suspect upgrading, downgrading, upgrading, downgrading the BIOS may have cleared up a bad entry or something? It still complains about the CMOS corruption and I have to hit F2 to load defaults and continue, but for now, I will run the system as is with Windows and a PATA drive and move onto the next socket 775 dead motherboard in the pile.

I may do some more research at one of the bios mod forums to see if anyone has this CMOS corruption message.

I have had poor dealings with Acer netbooks with respect to their BIOS having a number of bugs (not properly charging the battery, black screen of death, etc).

A huge thanks to all the regular contributors. Motherboards and its theory of operation and repairs are new to me and I'm learning a lot.

[retiredcaps]

Re: Acer M5640/MSI OEM motherboard - NO POST

I may do some more research at one of the bios mod forums to see if anyone has this CMOS corruption message.

CMOS checksum bad now fixed thanks to info at (destroy cmos checksum was the key).

http://one-sick-psi-guy.blogspot.com...640-m3640.html

Now onto another ASUS board with KZG caps.

[retiredcaps]

Re: Acer M5640/MSI OEM motherboard - NO POST

Running lubuntu off the SATA drive now works. I have never seen a BIOS where you have to actually specify the OS boot system. From the same URL ...

"The only major thing I notice is that the 'AUTO' option has been removed from the 'Installer OS select' parameter and now only lists 'Windows' or 'Linux'."

[momaka]

Re: Acer M5640/MSI OEM motherboard - NO POST

Interesting. At least it's working now.
As for the ASUS with the KZG caps, I have a feeling that one will be "fun" to fix.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Acer M5640/MSI OEM motherboard - NO POST

Clear the CMOS then when done clearing, put the jumper (if any CMOS jumper) back to the normal position and insert a new CR2032 battery.

[Endymion]

Re: Acer M5640/MSI OEM motherboard - NO POST

I joined to say Thank You! doing a reflow fixed the motherboard from a very nice PC someone gave to me "because it was dead." I wanted to note that I did it a little different from you guys, for future reference.

1) I took out the NVIDIA chip's heatsink

2) I used Kapton tape over all the components around the actual chip (those small caps and resistors are very sensitive to heat).

3) I set the hot air pencil from my soldering station to 400ºC (yes, that is celcius) and used the pencil to blow heat on the actual NVIDIA chip's top for around 15-20 seconds (just the actual "chip", not what is mounted on).

If you know what component has the problem (like the known NVIDIA issue), I think this will avoid accidently damaging other componets on the motherboard.

I'm planning on adding a small fan on top of the NVIDIA chip's heatsink to keep this from happening again.

I just wanted to share my experience since the idea of doing a reflow was so helpful. Thank you!!

[Joun]

Re: Acer M5640/MSI OEM motherboard - NO POST

^^ Good for you it worked ,but it will go bad again very soon..
You could at least try to make a decent reflow using flux gel to make it last longer..

[Uranium-235]

Re: Acer M5640/MSI OEM motherboard - NO POST

or buy a cheap new board, something WITHOUT an nvidia chipset. Nvidia chip death is inevitable.

[Joun]

Re: Acer M5640/MSI OEM motherboard - NO POST

Nvidia chip death is inevitable.

Exactly..