Mobo problem from hell...

Hey guys, long time reader, first time poster. I have a major problem that I just can't figure out.

Just got a new Mobo, proccessor, and memory for my PC. Asus P5LD2-VM, Intel Pentium Dual Core 2.66, and two 512 sticks of DDR2 from Corsair. Hooked it up with an IDE Maxtor model 6L160P0 160 Gb hard drive and a Soublaster Audigy 2 sound card. Both of which I've been using for a while, so I know there isn't a defect with them.

Just bought it, hooked it up, made sure everything was in place. I got it all connected and boot it up, but instead of the normal loading screen it fits all of the loading info (HIMEM test, drives, etc) into a space about 2 inches tall, that constantly flickers with the words jumping around in that 2 inch tall window. I can make out a few words as the rapidly dance across the screen: Error (can't tell what kind) and Press F1 to continue. When I hit F1 to continue it takes me to an equally messed up bios screen. When I hit F10 and Enter (having to guess that it's the standard) to save and exit, it comes up to normal as it checks for drives again, so I know it's not an onboard graphics problem. Then it gets to start loading windows and goes back to the same flickering thing again. If I hit F8, it takes me to a normal display of the way I'd like to run Windows (normal, safe mode, last known good settings, etc). Then, as soon as I pick an option, it goes back to the weird two inch flickering screen and either freezes or reboots on it's own.

Guys, I'm completely bumfuzzled by this. I spent entirely too much time jerking around with it last night. Any ideas or help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

 

Awesome, I'll try it as soon as I get home. Thanks for the speedy reply. At least it's somewhere to start.

 

Ok, sorry it's taken me a few days. Had to wait until the weekend before I had some free time to mess with it. I did what you said, and it seems to have solved the video problem, the display is perfectly normal. I still haven't tried installing the various cards (I can do that later to find out the one that was causing the issue and replace it), but I finally got a clear view of that error message. It says there is a CPU uCode error. Does that mean that the processor is faulty? When booting up, and even in the BIOS it detects the processor and all of it's setting. Any ideas how to proceed?

 

Well, if your removed everything I would assume that it is something that you took out that is causing the problem, not the cpu. My first guess is that one of the sticks of ram is bad. Try both individual sticks and see if it only gives you the error on one of them.

As for the " ...CPU uCode Loading Error" does the full message say: "Intel CPU uCode Loading Error" I am not positive, but I think that this is a common intel motherboard issue. Could very well be that your BIOS needs an update. You said it was onboard gfx, or do you have a card, PCI-E, PCI, or AGP video card if you have one? I'm pretty sure that the cause of the initial error was a RAM issue, but as for the "CPU uCode Loading Error" I think your motherboard is in need of a BIOS update.

Please let us know if the BIOS update solved the problem, or if it still continues.

Best of luck!

 

since you replaced a couple of things, it might be good to reset the bios by setting the correct jumper, or pulling out the battery for a half hour or so.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I have a total noob question. How can I update the BIOS when I can't get to an OS? Is it something I can save to a disk and pop in while the computer is booting up?

 

You'll have to go to your motherboard manufacturers website on some other computer, and install the updated bios through a floppy disc. Your motherboard manual SHOULD tell you how to do it.