P4P800:1 Random "Bad Checksum Error"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Donald L. Deamel
  • Start date Start date
D

Donald L. Deamel

New system recently assembled tested great, passed all memtest & cpu burnin
tests. However one day on a normal bootup a 'bad checksum error' occured out
of the blue and had to reinstall bios from cd. It only happened the one
time...so far.

(I accidentally deleted a "PC Health" file on account McAfee didn't like the
look of one of the files.)

Can anyone suggest the cause or what should be looked into?

SyS Stats:
Asus P4P800 Mainboard
3.06 CPU 800FSB HT
2x256 Kingston HyperX (Dual Channel)
160 GB HDD WD JB
Enermax 350 P/S

Thanx in advance
d
 
Donald said:
New system recently assembled tested great, passed all memtest & cpu
burnin tests. However one day on a normal bootup a 'bad checksum error'
occured out of the blue and had to reinstall bios from cd. It only
happened the one time...so far.
Click to expand...

Reinstall the BIOS from the CD? You lost me...
(I accidentally deleted a "PC Health" file on account McAfee didn't like
the look of one of the files.)

Can anyone suggest the cause or what should be looked into?
Click to expand...

CMOS battery on the motherboard - if it's dead, the settings in the BIOS
will be lost, if you change the settings in the BIOS without letting it
know, the checksum will be wrong.

Ben
 
Donald L. Deamel said:
New system recently assembled tested great, passed all memtest & cpu burnin
tests. However one day on a normal bootup a 'bad checksum error' occured out
of the blue and had to reinstall bios from cd. It only happened the one
time...so far.
Click to expand...

Basically this happens because the BIOS checksum calculation gets ****ed up,
probably due to too high overclock of CPU/RAM.

It is possible that right after startup, when voltage levels aren't quite
right, that either could be briefly unstable.

If it's only happened once I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Donald L. Deamel said:
All settings are factory default, I'm not a proponent of overclocking.
Click to expand...

At least turn Memory Acceleration Mode on, it's not overclocking but it will
greatly improve performance.
 
Its a BIOS recovery feature, will restore from CD if BIOS corrupt.
Click to expand...

I am 100% certain this is a fault with some P4P800 boards. I've had it
too. It tells you the checksum is bad and to insert the CD or floppy.
If you reboot and go into the BIOS, and then exit without any changes,
it will then boot the system no problems! The BIOS checksum is NOT bad
at all. The Asus BIOS checking code is just randomly telling you the BIOS
checksum is bad when it is NOT!

Here's my advice to anyone with a P4P800 - DO NOT give it the CD
or floppy when it asks. See if you can go into the BIOS and just
exit without changes, or reset the default settings, save, and exit.
Your BIOS likely doesn't need reflashed!

My mistake was I eventually got fed up of the annoying messages a few days
ago, and gave it the CD it kept asking for, just to see if it'd help
problems. It proceeded to flash and then failed! I now have a DEAD
P4P800/deluxe motherboard sitting here. THANKS ASUS.

I WASN'T overclocking either when this happened btw. It just told me
it had a bad checksum like usual, and this time I DIDN'T ignore it, and
did as it asked. I've had my board almost 6 months now. It used to do this
only very rarely. After I updated to the latest BIOS it started to do it
more often. All I can say is there is DEFINITELY a problem somewhere
with the motherboards BIOS checksum code checking, or some common hardware
fault with some of the boards.

If you've started seeing this only after you updated to the latest 1012
BIOS, I suggest you go back to the older one. I'm wishing I'd stuck with
the old 1010 BIOS now :( If you do see it, try resetting the BIOS
defaults and saving first, before you let any CD or floppy near it!

Nice time of year to try to be returning stuff. I expect I'll be stuck
without a motherboard for a few weeks now :(
 
Its a BIOS recovery feature, will restore from CD if BIOS corrupt.
Click to expand...

I am 100% certain this is a fault with some P4P800 boards. I've had it
too. It tells you the checksum is bad and to insert the CD or floppy.
If you reboot and go into the BIOS, and then exit without any changes,
it will then boot the system no problems! The BIOS checksum is NOT bad
at all. The Asus BIOS checking code is just randomly telling you the BIOS
checksum is bad when it is NOT!

Here's my advice to anyone with a P4P800 - DO NOT give it the CD
or floppy when it asks. See if you can go into the BIOS and just
exit without changes, or reset the default settings, save, and exit.
Your BIOS likely doesn't need reflashed!

My mistake was I eventually got fed up of the annoying messages a few days

ago, and gave it the CD it kept asking for, just to see if it'd help
problems. It proceeded to flash and then failed! I now have a DEAD
P4P800/deluxe motherboard sitting here. THANKS ASUS.

I WASN'T overclocking either when this happened btw. It just told me
it had a bad checksum like usual, and this time I DIDN'T ignore it, and
did as it asked. I've had my board almost 6 months now. It used to do this

only very rarely. After I updated to the latest BIOS it started to do it
more often. All I can say is there is DEFINITELY a problem somewhere
with the motherboards BIOS checksum code checking, or some common hardware
fault with some of the boards.

If you've started seeing this only after you updated to the latest 1012
BIOS, I suggest you go back to the older one. I'm wishing I'd stuck with
the old 1010 BIOS now :( If you do see it, try resetting the BIOS
defaults and saving first, before you let any CD or floppy near it!

Nice time of year to try to be returning stuff. I expect I'll be stuck
without a motherboard for a few weeks now :(
 
Mooo said:
I am 100% certain this is a fault with some P4P800 boards. I've had it
too. It tells you the checksum is bad and to insert the CD or floppy.
If you reboot and go into the BIOS, and then exit without any changes,
it will then boot the system no problems! The BIOS checksum is NOT bad
at all. The Asus BIOS checking code is just randomly telling you the BIOS
checksum is bad when it is NOT!
Click to expand...

When you get a bad checksum, it's normally because the settings have changed
without BIOS knowing, such as when the CMOS battery is dead. Go into the
BIOS and it'll recalc the checksum.
Here's my advice to anyone with a P4P800 - DO NOT give it the CD
or floppy when it asks. See if you can go into the BIOS and just
exit without changes, or reset the default settings, save, and exit.
Your BIOS likely doesn't need reflashed!

My mistake was I eventually got fed up of the annoying messages a few days
ago, and gave it the CD it kept asking for, just to see if it'd help
problems. It proceeded to flash and then failed! I now have a DEAD
P4P800/deluxe motherboard sitting here. THANKS ASUS.
Click to expand...

You could try either a hotflash, or hopefully the boot block that isn't
normally flashed will be enough to be able to boot from floppy (or maybe
even CD, but we know that one isn't very good :-) and flash from there.

If when you switch it on the floppy light comes on you have a good chance.

My FAQ gives the guide for doing this on the A7N8X which ises AWDFLASH. It
may be different on your board.
I WASN'T overclocking either when this happened btw. It just told me
it had a bad checksum like usual, and this time I DIDN'T ignore it, and
did as it asked. I've had my board almost 6 months now. It used to do this
only very rarely. After I updated to the latest BIOS it started to do it
more often. All I can say is there is DEFINITELY a problem somewhere
with the motherboards BIOS checksum code checking, or some common hardware
fault with some of the boards.
Click to expand...

You tried replacing the CMOS battery?

Ben
 
Back
Top