Motherboard Dead? Updated BIOS Now what?

[eastonch]

Dear reader,

I'm an experienced user in the field of computing & hardware, however one mistake I made earlier has killed me.

I own a sabertooth 990FX in which I purchased a few months ago, now I have a couple of issues.
One of which, is I downloaded a new BIOS because it was "more stable" and I had encountered a BSOD earlier last week. I updated using the Ai suite and to my surprise it was going well, then at around 80% of flashing, the whole machine frooze up and made jittering noises through the speakers, I left it incase it was still working, it then stopped responding to everything & I had to hard reboot, when I tried this, nothing displayed on either of my two screens, I immediately took the CMOS & RTS Jumpers out and reset both of them & replaced my GPU to another slot, just incase, the mobo would power up & start "self-diagnosing" but then it would just get stuck on "CPU_LED" which would indicate a CPU issue, however I swapped it out for another and it still did the same.

I am confused to what I can do, I tried clearing everything in my arsenal and I don't think I can restore the BIOS unless there is some way that one of you can tell me.

I'm going to RMA this as faulty unless somebody can shed some light onto this.

My MOtherboard:
ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX AM3+

Currently i'm using an old faulty motherboard which likes to pump 12.8V of juice through it self... Lovely huh? And it freezes every couple hours too.

Help with the main point? <3

[Salmon Trout]

If the motherboard is dead because of a failed flash, you might have a problem persuading Asus that the board went faulty if you actually killed it. Anyhow the BIOS is socketed so you can fit a pre-flashed chip from one of the many suppliers on the web for around $10-15, or send them your chip for re-flashing. Probably a good idea to specify which bios version you want on the chip.

just one example

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BIOS-CHIP-ASUS-Sabertooth-990FX-/380378933951

[BC_Programmer]

The BIOS wasn't updated. since the flash process was interrupted (for whatever reason) it never finished, so your BIOS is corrupted.

Depending on the board, there might be a few things you can try.

First: a lot of new Motherboards have two BIOS Chips, and if one fails or is flashed badly, the other one can be used. This is usually rather strongly advertised all over the place. I think it might be a feature of GiGaByte motherboards though, not ASUS.

Additionally, a lot of systems have a teensy basic bit of ROM that is used in such an emergency, where you place the proper files on a floppy disk and the ROM will flash the BIOS using that, at which point you can be up and running again. The instructions for that process vary depending on the specific board in question. I can't really find anything on your model that would point to this as a feature of the board. (Which is a bit weird since my old Super Socket 7 motherboard has this feature)

And there is of course actually replacing the BIOS chip itself.

And of course, although at this point it isn't very helpful at all- there is very seldom a reason to Flash your BIOS. BSOD errors are Issues with Drivers, and are so rarely even remotely related to BIOS revisions that it's not worth considering. Usually the only reason to flash a BIOS is to enable support for newer CPUs or different RAM speeds. (that is, hardware stuff).

Currently i'm using an old faulty motherboard which likes to pump 12.8V of juice through it self... Lovely huh? And it freezes every couple hours too.

the Voltage Rails being given to the Motherboard and other components are controlled by the Power Supply. The motherboard can only vary the amperage that it draws, not the voltages. (the motherboard in this case is not faulty, it's probably the PSU). I know because the aforementioned Super Socket 7 board was extremely unreliable up until I replaced it's power supply.

[Computer_Commando]

...Currently i'm using an old faulty motherboard which likes to pump 12.8V of juice through it self... Lovely huh? And it freezes every couple hours too...

12.8V is just above the maximum for the ATX specification of 12.6V.  How are you measuring the 12V rail?  If you are not using a quality multimeter, your measurement may be incorrect.

[Computer_Commando]

...the Voltage Rails being given to the Motherboard and other components are controlled by the Power Supply....

As worded, you are correct.  +12VDC, +/- 5% is what the spec calls for, but a few percent more or less is not an issue anymore, because the motherboard has voltage regulators, where needed.
From this source & my experience, as well, http://www.freeopenbook.com/upgrading-repairing-pc/ch21lev1sec2.html
The main function of the +12V power is to run disk drive motors as well as the higher-output processor voltage regulators in some of the newer boards.

[eastonch]

Ive looked into this and honestly, it's not the PSU, trust me, I spent 18 months on this issue, I beleive the old PSU was faulty anyhow, this mobo is pushing too much volts or it's recording it wrong.
Anyway, in regards to the BIOS chip;

Where is it?
How do I remove it?
Is there any "quick" sellers whom are not from netherlands? I'm in the UK so I hate to wait 20 days for this.

I can always send this back to the company I bought it from whom will just look, no post, full refund or new mobo.

However I would rather get a chip than send this back.

Regards,
Chris.

[Salmon Trout]

Google for your motherboard manual if you don't have a paper copy. The BIOS chip location is clearly shown. You lift it out with your fingers.

[eastonch]

OK just ordered a new chip,

I took my old one out and out it back in just to see how it worked, however should it click when going in? like, should I push it in until it clicks & doesnt come out easilly?

[Salmon Trout]

should I push it in until it clicks & doesnt come out easilly?

It won't click. Just push it in gently until it won't go any further and you feel it stop.