ASUS P5N-E - Best Bios Version???

[mattydies]

My mobo is an ASUS P5N-E sli. It has the first bios (0202). Would I bennifit from updating my bios? If so, which version is best? I have had no issues yet, and I am in the process of overclocking.


Thanks for the help,


Matty

[SugarJ]

The newer versions of the bios fix a couple of suspend/resume problems and some thermal throttling stuff. They also add all the new processors released since the 1st batch of Conroes. 0801 and 0803 fix a problem with Creative XiFi cards not being able to enable EAX in games, which is why I updated mine.

If you have no issues now, there really isn't any reason you must update.

WARNING: if you update, there are a couple of new options in the bios, which means you must clear your CMOS before the system will boot. At least that's what I found I had to do to get my system back up.

Running a E6400 on stock voltage at 2.6Ghz with no problems. I haven't tried pushing the envelope as stability is more important than speeding up the processor another couple percent to me. Waiting for the new E8400 to be available.

[Shampoo]

I've updated to the latest 0803 bios and it's great.

Huge thread over at Anandtech about this motherboard with myself and a few others providing enough information to help you out.

If you have the original bios on this board I'd recommend updating it as there are many fixes to cold boot issues and issues with running 4GB of ram on this motherboard.

The 0803 I discovered seemed to get rid of a FSB hole from high 700MHz to low 800MHz when using 4GB of ram. I could post with these bios when previous ones I would have to take out a stick of ram to get it to post, then set my voltage and memory frequencies then put the last stick back in.

You could also wait a week since Asus is releasing a newer bios to support 45nm cpus.

Cheers,
Mike

[mattydies]

I updated to the 803 Bios a few days before reading Shampoo's reply.

The bios update seemed to proceed in proper fashion.

BUT!!!!!!!!! Now My computer turns on, shows the CPU Spec and freezes.

If I reset perhaps a dozen times (rough guess) I can actually get into my bios. I have tried making changes but to no avail.

I reset the bios on the mobo (pop the battery and change the jumper, yes I put the battery back in and the jumper back to the right spot) and the bios settings were reset, but no change.

So when in BIOS I tried downgrading to 3 or 4 other BIOS versions for my board, A message comes up saying that these bios files are not suitable for downgrading.

I have a MUCH better track record with re-flashing XBOX Bios (original xbox, on the mobo - NO mod chip) and downgrading PSP's THAN COMPUTERS!!!


Any thoughts????




Matty

[SugarJ]

Sorry to hear you're having problems. I'd start by reseating your memory and any cards in the slots, I've had issues in the past where this has solved the problem. (I think I bumped the memory while trying to take the battery out) You may also try reseating your CPU. If you can eventually get into your bios, check that your FSB speed is set correctly, you may have issues there.

As Shampoo said, there's a huge thread at Anandtech about this board, you may have more luck getting help with your problem there. I love this site, but I think there's more people on that thread.

Let us know how you make out.