Need some real help

[Urchin]

Hey everyone, I got sort of an odd problem on my hands.  First, some backstory.  

Couple weeks ago I decided to update the bios on my machine (I know, I know.. if it ain't broke...)  After updating my bios and motherboard drivers my computer rebooted, and rebooted, and rebooted.... and rebooted... and rebooted... and, well, you get the point.  

It would load into safe mode and was stable there.  However, I couldn't use the ASUS program to go back to my old BIOS, it just gave me an error that it couldn't find it or something along those lines.  

So, I pulled out my XP CD, wiped the HDD and tried to start fresh.  Now I have a very strange problem.  Almost nothing will update.  I just get errors.  IE crashes randomly, and I get some other error (DRC or something?) where it says IE was shut down due to malicious code.  Adobe reader won't update with the 'updater' (I manually installed the patches it wanted and it worked fine), part of my AV software won't update (the other two parts updated fine), and I've got one update left for Windows XP that will not install.  I installed BFBC2 and it installed fine.. but it won't update.

I've got nothing wierd going on in the device manager tab, no exclamation marks or question marks.  Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance...

[cattb]

I am not a BIOS pro by far.
 When I have updated my BIOS I always make a backup of the existing bios and version number before I update.
 Is there a chance you could re install the old bios?
 Just a thought mabe you could clear the cmos and set the bios to default. I can't remember, when installing updated BIOS if starts at default or from previous settings.
 It would be a good idea to post your board model and bios your working with so someone here that is more knowledgable can help you.

[Urchin]

I've got an Asus A8N-SLI Premium.  The BIOS version the Asus tool shows is Revision 1303 dated 8/10/06.  I tried to find the version number in the BIOS but I couldn't find it anywhere.

[Urchin]

One update - I tried to update BFBC2 and the computer rebooted itself.  I wasn't in the room at the time so I'm not sure exactly what happened though.  It had previously been giving me an error message that the updater program had to be shut down, but not spontaneously rebooting.

[Urchin]

Second Update -

I just checked the BIOS dates on ASUS' website and the date for version 1303 is 7/13/2007.  Could that be causing all these issues?

[cattb]

I don't know if this helps, I had a M2N-E. I updated the BIOS in that board 2 time. I can't quite remember, but there was something about upgrading one way before using the auto software that was supplied with the motherboard. In other words I could not use the auto updtae software because the version of BIOS was to low. I had to manually load a newer version of the BIOS (that would suppoert the auto update software) before I could use the auto update software.
I remember there being red warning sentences if BIOS version was not XXX do not use auto update software. I don't know what would have happened if I tried to update with the auto update software tool when I wasn't suppose to. I don't know your whole story, maybe this is something to look at?

I am about to take my wife to dinner, I don't know if this helps.
The last BIOS I had in my M2N-E I believe was the 1303 revision and worked just fine untill the board died. The motherboard dieing had nothing to do with ASUS, the BIOS, or quality. It was shorted when my daughter stepped on the key drive in front of the PC case and broke the USB plug in crossed the connections.

[JTs]

during system bootup push the pause button and you can see what version of the bios is actually installed. heres a pic of what you should seeing

http://support.asus.com/technicaldocuments/technicaldocuments.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&root=252

[Urchin]

I just don't understand how the computer will boot into windows if the BIOS isn't any good.  I thought it would just beep several times and not boot if that happened.

That is kind of why I'm here... I don't know what the hell is going on with it. 

I tried to run /sfc scannow to check windows and the computer dumped in the middle of it. 

It is weird.

[JTs]

did you install V6.65 of the chipsetdrivers to? hers a link to the nvidia driver archive. hope this helps

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_archive.html