Help w/Live Update Please

Wood$tock · 03-16-2005, 04:06 PM

I'm the kinda guy that feels "don't fix it if it aint broke". I haven't even ever updated my BIOS because everything runs (er, ran) great. Well, recently I placed a new CPU in the board and i'm getting all kinds of weird stuff. Windows opening slowly, strange beep codes, just stuff in general that ran GREAT before my old CPU died, but now runs "weird" with my new CPU. So i'm thinking it's probably time to upgrade the BIOS.

Well, the version of Live update I had said it couldn't find anything new for a BIOS. I knew this was wrong so I went to ASUS' site and found a bunch of em. The readme for one of em said I need AT LEAST version X of Live update to install. So I went and got the latest version of Live Update, uninstalled my current version, then TRIED to install the new one.

Here's the problem. When I click the install.exe, I get an hour glass for about 10 seconds, then the hour glass goes away and.. that's it. No messages, no windows, no new entries in Program Files, nothing new on my desktop. Just nothing. I figure it's a bad install, so I try to delete the entire folder (there is no uninstall option, and it doesn't show up in Windows add/remove), but I can't cause it says "something is still in use". So I gotta reboot THEN I can nuke the folder.

I've tried reinstalling my old version, as well as the next fersion up from that, as well as the newest version available. All of them act similarly. I don't get it, and this is VERY frustrating. It's just a simple install. If anything is supposed to blow up, it's after i'm running the program, not while i'm attempting to install it. ARG! I tried using ASUS' help, but the link is broke. I also did a search in these forums but found nothing (sorry if there is a prior post, I didn't see any).

Can anyone tell me what i'm doing wrong? Is there some special way to install live update? Is there something particular to my rig that I need to adjust prior to installing? Specs are below in case they'll help, and thanks to everyone in advance for your time and help. :)

WinXP Pro
ASUS P4C 800 Deluxe
1 GB Corsair RAM running @ 400 mhz
P4 3.0E (old cpu was P4 3.0)
BFG 6800 GT Video
SB Audigy 2 ZS Sound
Couple WD Raptor SATA HDD's
Couple Plextor CDROM/DVD Drives

**quizme1220** · 03-16-2005, 10:32 PM

Hello and Welcome to TSF Wood$tock. First things first 1) have you made sure that the cpu is seated properly the thermal paste has been applied correctly? 2)what are the beep codes that you are receiving?

Wood$tock · 03-17-2005, 03:10 AM

Hiya Quizme1220!

I'm getting 6 beepe total, with 3 different "tones" or "pitches". They happen as follows:

2 Beeps - High Pitched

2 Beeps - Low Pitched

pause (about 1-2 seconds)

1 Beep - High Pitched

1 Beep - Normal Pitch (normal meaning this is the sound i'm used to hearing when it booted and there was only 1, normal, beep).

As for the CPU being seated properly and the right amount of Paste used, I guess they are. I'm not tootin my own horn by any means, but i've made/assembled 5 PC's and I used the same amount of Paste and care of CPU placement on this one that I used on all the others.

In BIOS, my CPU temp fluctuates, as does my MB, but both by a very small amount. CPU is 38-39 C, and MB is 24-24 C.

This all runs in a Koolance case, and the CPU Temp is accurately displayed on the LED that's part of the Koolance case. When playing games, like CS:S or BiA, the temp will jump to 44 C. At 45 C, the fans kick in for extra cooling and it holds steady at 45 C. The game still runs great, no weirdness at all, and as soon as I drop out of the game, the temp gradually drops back to mid 30's.

What's gettting me the most annoyed is the weird behavior of my windows environment since the change. For example:

I open up windows explorer and the whole window appears, but the contents of the window are blank for about 5 seconds then *poof*, they appear...

If I mouse to settings, then control panel (which I have set to expand), it USED to appear right then and their (I have menushowdelay set to 1). Now it takes 3 or 4 seconds. The "outline" of the contents of control panel appears as a big, empty, white area. 3 to 4 seconds later the contents appear...

I click on Explorer and it pauses 3 to 4 seconds THEN opens the window. Then it pauses another 3 to 4 seconds THEN the site appears. Initially I attributed this to lag or problems with my ISP. But given all the other oddities ocurring I don't know...

I just have a nagging suspicion that because of my new CPU I should update my BIOS and that would take care of all these little oddities. But when I went to do that, well, it didn't work (see first post).

I thought about doing the BIOS the old way (with a diskette), but that Live Update works (or worked) very well. Also, I don't even have a floppy drive. I decided I didn't need one, and that if I ever did I could use my thumbdrive. I don't know if I could use a thumbdrive though for flashing my BIOS. So i'd like to use the Live Update, but the damn thing won't even install, and that REALLY has me stumped. I even had my AV (Norton) disabled when I tried it, but it didn't work.

Any ideas?

Wood$tock · 03-17-2005, 12:20 PM

*bump*

**quizme1220** · 03-18-2005, 10:12 PM

Wood$tock, this ones got me but I looked up your BIOS which I believe is AMI take a look at this site http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/amibeep.htm and see if this helps, on the left of the page is the post beep codes and on the right is just beep codes.

Wood$tock · 03-19-2005, 06:16 AM

Thanks fer trying quizme1220, I appreciate it.

Wood$tock · 03-19-2005, 08:18 AM

WOOHOO!

Did it anudda way and it worked. I flashed BIOS using a CDR and EZFLASH (alt + F2). Completely forgot about doing it that way DOH! Anyway, flashed OK and now all the anomalies are gone. Windows acts like it did before, and I get 1 beep at boot time, not 5-7. WOOHOO!

Would still like to know why Asus Update will not install no matter what I did though, if anyone knows...

**quizme1220** · 03-20-2005, 01:02 AM

Glad to hear you got things working again. Maybe when you have time you can give us a step by step of what you did in case someone else has the same problem.

Wood$tock · 03-20-2005, 03:54 AM

CAPITAL IDEA MY GOD MAN! CAPITAL!

Well, as I wrote earlier, don't have a Floppy Drive. Because of this I really REALL wanted/needed to get ASUS Update working. However, it didn't look like that was going to happen.

While going thru Asus' site, I clicked on a link to the "Update BIOS Process" by accident. I think that's what it was called, not sure. I'd post a link but I don't have one and as it was I stumbled upon it by accident. I'm sure with a little searching it can be found again if needed.

Anyway, it listed the process for updating your BIOS with a Floppy Disk. Seeing that, I was about to go to another page when I saw in red letters "EZ Flash". I read that and it turns out that this "EZ Flash" is built in to my motherboard (P4C800 Deluxe). Maybe it's built in to all Asus boards I dunno. But it said to hit Alt + F2 at POST to engage EZ Flash. It said once engaged, it would first check the A Drive for anything with a ".ROM" extension. If it found nothing, it would then check the CD Drive. HA!

Just to see if it would work, I restarted and hit Alt+F2. Sure enough, it checked the A Drive (Tried to actually, since I don't have one. It just acted like it couldn't find the file, the fact that I didn't actually have a Floppy drive didn't matter), then the CD Drive. It even said that it "could not find p4c800.rom". That's important becasue when I read that, it reminded me that I read somewhere (again i'm sorry I don't have a link, but I did read it on Asus' site) that, for my mainboard anyway, when I d/l a BIOS update I need to rename it. So I thought, well it checks the CD after the Floppy. I don't have a floppy but I do have a CD Drive and a CDR Drive. HAHA!

So I d/l the latest BIOS, which if I remember correctly was called "p4c81019.rom". I renamed it to "p4c800.rom". I then burned it to a CDR and placed the burned copy in my primary CD Drive. I then restarted and hit Alt+F2 (just like you would hit del to enter BIOS). It checked the floppy (or tried to since I don't have one), then it checked the CD Drive. It said "BIOS Found!", then "Flashing...", then something like "Flash Successfull".

I restarted and WHAM! No more funny beep codes (even after I went in and "personalized" the BIOS). Only 1 beep now, just like it should be. Also, I got to my desktop and everything is as fast and glitch-free as it was before my original CPU died. So, in my case anyway, flashing my BIOS fixed everything.

The only thing i'm kickin myself in the head for is that if I had RTFB right at the beginning I probably would've seen the "EZ Flash" reference and I would have had this thing fixed A LOT faster than it took me to. As it stands I was able to find that reference to "EZ Flash" at Asus' site and take it from there.

03-16-2005, 04:06 PM	#1 (permalink)
Wood$tock Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 11 OS: XP Pro	Help w/Live Update Please I'm the kinda guy that feels "don't fix it if it aint broke". I haven't even ever updated my BIOS because everything runs (er, ran) great. Well, recently I placed a new CPU in the board and i'm getting all kinds of weird stuff. Windows opening slowly, strange beep codes, just stuff in general that ran GREAT before my old CPU died, but now runs "weird" with my new CPU. So i'm thinking it's probably time to upgrade the BIOS. Well, the version of Live update I had said it couldn't find anything new for a BIOS. I knew this was wrong so I went to ASUS' site and found a bunch of em. The readme for one of em said I need AT LEAST version X of Live update to install. So I went and got the latest version of Live Update, uninstalled my current version, then TRIED to install the new one. Here's the problem. When I click the install.exe, I get an hour glass for about 10 seconds, then the hour glass goes away and.. that's it. No messages, no windows, no new entries in Program Files, nothing new on my desktop. Just nothing. I figure it's a bad install, so I try to delete the entire folder (there is no uninstall option, and it doesn't show up in Windows add/remove), but I can't cause it says "something is still in use". So I gotta reboot THEN I can nuke the folder. I've tried reinstalling my old version, as well as the next fersion up from that, as well as the newest version available. All of them act similarly. I don't get it, and this is VERY frustrating. It's just a simple install. If anything is supposed to blow up, it's after i'm running the program, not while i'm attempting to install it. ARG! I tried using ASUS' help, but the link is broke. I also did a search in these forums but found nothing (sorry if there is a prior post, I didn't see any). Can anyone tell me what i'm doing wrong? Is there some special way to install live update? Is there something particular to my rig that I need to adjust prior to installing? Specs are below in case they'll help, and thanks to everyone in advance for your time and help. :) WinXP Pro ASUS P4C 800 Deluxe 1 GB Corsair RAM running @ 400 mhz P4 3.0E (old cpu was P4 3.0) BFG 6800 GT Video SB Audigy 2 ZS Sound Couple WD Raptor SATA HDD's Couple Plextor CDROM/DVD Drives

03-16-2005, 10:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
quizme1220 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: New York Posts: 1,308 OS: WinXP Pro Sp3 My System	Hello and Welcome to TSF Wood$tock. First things first 1) have you made sure that the cpu is seated properly the thermal paste has been applied correctly? 2)what are the beep codes that you are receiving? __________________ Ad-Aware\|SpywareBlaster\|SpyBot\|AVG Free\|HOSTS File\|HijackThis

03-17-2005, 03:10 AM	#3 (permalink)
Wood$tock Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 11 OS: XP Pro	Hiya Quizme1220! I'm getting 6 beepe total, with 3 different "tones" or "pitches". They happen as follows: 2 Beeps - High Pitched 2 Beeps - Low Pitched pause (about 1-2 seconds) 1 Beep - High Pitched 1 Beep - Normal Pitch (normal meaning this is the sound i'm used to hearing when it booted and there was only 1, normal, beep). As for the CPU being seated properly and the right amount of Paste used, I guess they are. I'm not tootin my own horn by any means, but i've made/assembled 5 PC's and I used the same amount of Paste and care of CPU placement on this one that I used on all the others. In BIOS, my CPU temp fluctuates, as does my MB, but both by a very small amount. CPU is 38-39 C, and MB is 24-24 C. This all runs in a Koolance case, and the CPU Temp is accurately displayed on the LED that's part of the Koolance case. When playing games, like CS:S or BiA, the temp will jump to 44 C. At 45 C, the fans kick in for extra cooling and it holds steady at 45 C. The game still runs great, no weirdness at all, and as soon as I drop out of the game, the temp gradually drops back to mid 30's. What's gettting me the most annoyed is the weird behavior of my windows environment since the change. For example: I open up windows explorer and the whole window appears, but the contents of the window are blank for about 5 seconds then poof, they appear... If I mouse to settings, then control panel (which I have set to expand), it USED to appear right then and their (I have menushowdelay set to 1). Now it takes 3 or 4 seconds. The "outline" of the contents of control panel appears as a big, empty, white area. 3 to 4 seconds later the contents appear... I click on Explorer and it pauses 3 to 4 seconds THEN opens the window. Then it pauses another 3 to 4 seconds THEN the site appears. Initially I attributed this to lag or problems with my ISP. But given all the other oddities ocurring I don't know... I just have a nagging suspicion that because of my new CPU I should update my BIOS and that would take care of all these little oddities. But when I went to do that, well, it didn't work (see first post). I thought about doing the BIOS the old way (with a diskette), but that Live Update works (or worked) very well. Also, I don't even have a floppy drive. I decided I didn't need one, and that if I ever did I could use my thumbdrive. I don't know if I could use a thumbdrive though for flashing my BIOS. So i'd like to use the Live Update, but the damn thing won't even install, and that REALLY has me stumped. I even had my AV (Norton) disabled when I tried it, but it didn't work. Any ideas? Last edited by Wood$tock; 03-17-2005 at 03:28 AM.

03-18-2005, 10:12 PM	#5 (permalink)
quizme1220 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: New York Posts: 1,308 OS: WinXP Pro Sp3 My System	Wood$tock, this ones got me but I looked up your BIOS which I believe is AMI take a look at this site http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/amibeep.htm and see if this helps, on the left of the page is the post beep codes and on the right is just beep codes. __________________ Ad-Aware\|SpywareBlaster\|SpyBot\|AVG Free\|HOSTS File\|HijackThis

03-20-2005, 01:02 AM	#8 (permalink)
quizme1220 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: New York Posts: 1,308 OS: WinXP Pro Sp3 My System	Glad to hear you got things working again. Maybe when you have time you can give us a step by step of what you did in case someone else has the same problem. __________________ Ad-Aware\|SpywareBlaster\|SpyBot\|AVG Free\|HOSTS File\|HijackThis

03-17-2005, 12:20 PM	#4 (permalink)
Wood$tock Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 11 OS: XP Pro	bump

03-19-2005, 06:16 AM	#6 (permalink)
Wood$tock Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 11 OS: XP Pro	Thanks fer trying quizme1220, I appreciate it.

03-19-2005, 08:18 AM	#7 (permalink)
Wood$tock Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 11 OS: XP Pro	WOOHOO! Did it anudda way and it worked. I flashed BIOS using a CDR and EZFLASH (alt + F2). Completely forgot about doing it that way DOH! Anyway, flashed OK and now all the anomalies are gone. Windows acts like it did before, and I get 1 beep at boot time, not 5-7. WOOHOO! Would still like to know why Asus Update will not install no matter what I did though, if anyone knows...

03-20-2005, 03:54 AM	#9 (permalink)
Wood$tock Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 11 OS: XP Pro	CAPITAL IDEA MY GOD MAN! CAPITAL! Well, as I wrote earlier, don't have a Floppy Drive. Because of this I really REALL wanted/needed to get ASUS Update working. However, it didn't look like that was going to happen. While going thru Asus' site, I clicked on a link to the "Update BIOS Process" by accident. I think that's what it was called, not sure. I'd post a link but I don't have one and as it was I stumbled upon it by accident. I'm sure with a little searching it can be found again if needed. Anyway, it listed the process for updating your BIOS with a Floppy Disk. Seeing that, I was about to go to another page when I saw in red letters "EZ Flash". I read that and it turns out that this "EZ Flash" is built in to my motherboard (P4C800 Deluxe). Maybe it's built in to all Asus boards I dunno. But it said to hit Alt + F2 at POST to engage EZ Flash. It said once engaged, it would first check the A Drive for anything with a ".ROM" extension. If it found nothing, it would then check the CD Drive. HA! Just to see if it would work, I restarted and hit Alt+F2. Sure enough, it checked the A Drive (Tried to actually, since I don't have one. It just acted like it couldn't find the file, the fact that I didn't actually have a Floppy drive didn't matter), then the CD Drive. It even said that it "could not find p4c800.rom". That's important becasue when I read that, it reminded me that I read somewhere (again i'm sorry I don't have a link, but I did read it on Asus' site) that, for my mainboard anyway, when I d/l a BIOS update I need to rename it. So I thought, well it checks the CD after the Floppy. I don't have a floppy but I do have a CD Drive and a CDR Drive. HAHA! So I d/l the latest BIOS, which if I remember correctly was called "p4c81019.rom". I renamed it to "p4c800.rom". I then burned it to a CDR and placed the burned copy in my primary CD Drive. I then restarted and hit Alt+F2 (just like you would hit del to enter BIOS). It checked the floppy (or tried to since I don't have one), then it checked the CD Drive. It said "BIOS Found!", then "Flashing...", then something like "Flash Successfull". I restarted and WHAM! No more funny beep codes (even after I went in and "personalized" the BIOS). Only 1 beep now, just like it should be. Also, I got to my desktop and everything is as fast and glitch-free as it was before my original CPU died. So, in my case anyway, flashing my BIOS fixed everything. The only thing i'm kickin myself in the head for is that if I had RTFB right at the beginning I probably would've seen the "EZ Flash" reference and I would have had this thing fixed A LOT faster than it took me to. As it stands I was able to find that reference to "EZ Flash" at Asus' site and take it from there. Last edited by Wood$tock; 03-20-2005 at 04:00 AM.