I Need of Serious Help!!!

Hey guys,

I'm hoping someone here can help me.

I recently purchase 2 Centon PC100 256MB DIMM memory modules and they dont work in my computer together. This whole thing happened before I got the PC100 chips because I origianlly purchases PC133. The Centon tech tolds me that updating my BIOS would do the trick and HP told me that my motherboard only accepts PC100 memory.

Well I tried the BIOS update but I got an error that said "Files does not contain part number"
Could this be because I recently installed Windows XP?
Was it the wrong update for my motherbaord?

The mother board in my computer is ASUS CUW-AM Intel 810 chips set.

Centon will no longer help me and HP told me that they wouldnt work together.

Any idea what I can do to get these 2 chips to work together?

I also have another problem. I have a computer that I want to totally wipe out and reinstall the OS, why when I put in the OS CD does it not wipe everything out?

If anyone here could help me with these 2 questions it would be greatly greatly appreciated. Or even if you know of a better place to go an get more info would aslo help.

Thanks,
Chris aka Blinnk281

 

Well thanx for taking a look guys. I'm surprised no one here jhas the slightest idea of what could be going on with my computer and these chips. But .....

Can anyone help me with my second problem?
Wiping out my computer and reinstalling the OS?

Thanks Again!!!

 

You need to relax..sometimes problems slip through. We're not machines.


what model HP is it?

 

I waasnt trying to be pushy or anything. I was thanking you guys for taking the time to look at it!!! Some 20 people looked and said nothing so I was just thanking them for taking a look.

HP Pavilion 7940

 

It didn't sound that..

Anyway..lets see what we can do yes?

That board will only take PC100 so a bios update won't fix that.. but it may fix the incompatibility.. if it is that.

this is the location to the lastest download for your PC. They listed US and foreign versions of the machine, so me being in the USA, I chose that.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?product=58464&os=228&lang=en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&softwareitem=pv161en

it sounded like you nabbed the wrong BIOS update for your box and that's why you got the error.

 

Nope thats the BIOS update I had used that gave me that error in my original post.

Well I just emailed tech support of the motherboard I have ... some people suggested that, so I figured why not give it a try.

Maybe not all the HP Pavilion has the same motherboard in them and this is the BIOS update for a different motherbaord? or does the BIOS have nothing to do with the motherboard?

 

BIOS are very motherboard specific... lets see what HP has to say. Maybe it was a replacement board or something..

 

NO NO I emailed ASUS the manufacturer of the motherboard.

HP i spoke to already and they are a bucnh of idiots. They didnt even really help me with my problem. The tech says to me do you still have Windows Me and I told him No I put XP on it. He says Oh you shouldnt have done that, thats not good. I asked him why and he had no explanation.

He said he woulld call me back the next day , which he did and told me that I couldnt use both chips again with no explanation. Horrible service.

Thats why I emailed ASUS and went to a few message boards for some help!!!
Thansk Kodo for whatever you have helped me with so far.

You know anything about my other question? About whiping the computer out and reinstalling it!!!

 

What I also meant to add was that when I start my computer it says that the BIOS is PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0.A and I'm wondering why HP has FresnoCognac BIOS Update!!!

 

Good question as to why the BIOS is different. It makes me think that the board was replaced with a different board at one time. Normally companies like ASUS who make custom boards for OEMs like HP will tell you to acquire the BIOS from the OEM. I hope they don't give you too much of a run around. The other thing is that not ALL RAM is compatible with certain motherboards. For instance, RAM from kingston is certified to work with DELL. You can try ordering some RAM from HP or asking ASUS for a RAM compatibility list for that board.

As for wiping it out, you have to choose that option in the setup. It will ask you if you want to format the drive before the install.

 

What is OEM? Because the tech from ASUS kept mentioning that.

See the thing is that on the Centon website it has a computer configuration and than the chips you can order for your computer.

ASUS told me to email the chip company and make sure they test the chips with ASUS motherboards and if not ask them how they know they will work in a HP PAvilion 7940 if they dont test them.

I'd personally like to try the BIOS update first and see if that works before anything else. Where can I find a website with a bunch of BIOS updates?

Thanks again,
You've been a huge help so far.
Chris