Supermicro C2SEA problems with Windows 7

B

Bolwerk

I have a homemade box with a Supermicro C2SEA mainboard and installed
Windows 7 on it. I had a major problems with BSODs, which seemed to
partially subside after I installed a few updates.

But I continued to have problems. I decided to try to upgrade the BIOS
using the relevant link on SuperMicro's site:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Core2Duo/G45/C2SEA.cfm

I did it by taking a boot CD that came with the board, booting to DOS,
and then swapping it out with another CD with the BIOS utility and ROM
on it. It didn't reboot as the directions* in the readme said it would.
Rather it just kicked me back to the DOS prompt, so I just rebooted it
manually myself.

Lo and behold, I try to boot and things seem normal until I get to the
Windows 7 splash screen. Then it just freezes. I can't seem to do
anything now. I even tried to reinstall Windows 7 - it even freezes
when I get to the splash screen from the CD. The freeze happens right
as the words "Starting Windows" appear. Right now I'm attempting to
find a copy of the old BIOS somewhere so I can at least get back into
Windows (maybe).

When I try to boot in safe mode, it seems to choke on classpnp.sys.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

* If it helps, here are the instructions I attempted to follow to
install the latest BIOS:

================================================
FOR <filename>.zip
================================================
1. Save this file to your computer.

2. extract the files to a DOS bootable device (such as a bootable USB
stick, or CD).

2. Boot to a DOS prompt and type AMI.BAT filename.rom.

4. Do not interrupt the process until the flashing is complete.

5. If the computer pauses, please wait until it starts to program.

6. The computer will re-boot on completion.


** If the BIOS flash failed, you can contact our RMA dept. to have the
bios chip reprogrammed.
This will require shipping the board to our RMA dept. for BIOS
reprogramming.
The RMA dept's email address is (e-mail address removed)
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

I have a homemade box with a Supermicro C2SEA mainboard and installed
Windows 7 on it. I had a major problems with BSODs, which seemed to
partially subside after I installed a few updates.

But I continued to have problems. I decided to try to upgrade the BIOS
using the relevant link on SuperMicro's site:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Core2Duo/G45/C2SEA.cfm

I did it by taking a boot CD that came with the board, booting to DOS,
and then swapping it out with another CD with the BIOS utility and ROM
on it. It didn't reboot as the directions* in the readme said it would.
Rather it just kicked me back to the DOS prompt, so I just rebooted it
manually myself.

Lo and behold, I try to boot and things seem normal until I get to the
Windows 7 splash screen. Then it just freezes. I can't seem to do
anything now. I even tried to reinstall Windows 7 - it even freezes
when I get to the splash screen from the CD. The freeze happens right
as the words "Starting Windows" appear. Right now I'm attempting to
find a copy of the old BIOS somewhere so I can at least get back into
Windows (maybe).

When I try to boot in safe mode, it seems to choke on classpnp.sys.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

* If it helps, here are the instructions I attempted to follow to
install the latest BIOS:

================================================
FOR <filename>.zip
================================================
1. Save this file to your computer.

2. extract the files to a DOS bootable device (such as a bootable USB
stick, or CD).

2. Boot to a DOS prompt and type AMI.BAT filename.rom.

4. Do not interrupt the process until the flashing is complete.

5. If the computer pauses, please wait until it starts to program.

6. The computer will re-boot on completion.


** If the BIOS flash failed, you can contact our RMA dept. to have the
bios chip reprogrammed.
This will require shipping the board to our RMA dept. for BIOS
reprogramming.
The RMA dept's email address is (e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...
Some motherboards require special Windows drivers (or at least that was
true for me a few years ago). You might have to check into that at the
manufacturer's site.

As I recall, Windows provides an opportunity to install drivers during
installation of the OS - which might not be what you want to do. If there
are drivers needed, and if you're lucky, the manufacturer might tell you
how to install them without reinstalling Windows.
 
B

Bolwerk

Gene said:
Some motherboards require special Windows drivers (or at least that was
true for me a few years ago). You might have to check into that at the
manufacturer's site.

As I recall, Windows provides an opportunity to install drivers during
installation of the OS - which might not be what you want to do. If there
are drivers needed, and if you're lucky, the manufacturer might tell you
how to install them without reinstalling Windows.
Click to expand...
Well, I've had some success. It's definitely a BIOS problem. I mass
disabled some BIOS features. I'll see if I can isolate what the problem
was and report back.
 
B

Bolwerk

Bolwerk said:
Well, I've had some success. It's definitely a BIOS problem. I mass
disabled some BIOS features. I'll see if I can isolate what the problem
was and report back.
Click to expand...
It looks like having Core Multi-Processing enabled in the BIOS was the
show-stopper for Windows. So I am able to get back into Windows again.

I'm still getting blue screens. They're much less frequent (every few
hours, instead of a few times an hour). I'm not sure what the culprit
is. It seems upgrading the video driver improved things, but daily
BSODs is still a bit much.

Anybody have any ideas? Memory?

Thanks!
 
C

Char Jackson

It looks like having Core Multi-Processing enabled in the BIOS was the
show-stopper for Windows. So I am able to get back into Windows again.

I'm still getting blue screens. They're much less frequent (every few
hours, instead of a few times an hour). I'm not sure what the culprit
is. It seems upgrading the video driver improved things, but daily
BSODs is still a bit much.

Anybody have any ideas? Memory?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Memory and power supply are possible culprits. Run Memtest86+ to rule
out memory problems. Memtest86+ is available by itself, or as part of
the (recommended) Hiren's Boot CD.
http://www.hirensbootcd.net/download.html
 
N

noi ance

It looks like having Core Multi-Processing enabled in the BIOS was the
show-stopper for Windows. So I am able to get back into Windows again.

I'm still getting blue screens. They're much less frequent (every few
hours, instead of a few times an hour). I'm not sure what the culprit
is. It seems upgrading the video driver improved things, but daily
BSODs is still a bit much.

Anybody have any ideas? Memory?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Unless I have the problems related to the BIOS upgrades I tend to stay
away from the updates, mostly because some board BIOS updates are
specific to a M/B version, and 1 or 2 updates broke something else.
Backout a bad BIOS update to the original version. More important is
this looks like a very new and well constructed M/B, I can't imagine it
would need BIOS upgrade.

BSOD can occur for 100s of reasons, bad memory, bad/loose PCI card or
memory chip installation, failing PSU or vga card, high cpu/gsu temps, a
bad HD or sectors on the HD, etc. Did you look for BSOD messages in the
event logs? You should set the M/B to optimal settings (basic
compatibility) for your initial installation.

Not sure what would be wrong with Multi-processing enabled in BIOS. That
just means multiple cores running right? My Win7 supports 2 cores now,
so, I think you should be able to support at least 12 cores with Hyper-
Threading, unless you're installing Win7 Basic.
 
K

kony

I can't see the original message so I will reply here.

After flashing the bios it is good to go into the bios menus
and "Load setup defaults" (or however they word it), or
failing that, to write down any changes made in the bios
from the defaults, then unplug AC power, pull the battery
for 10 minutes and use the clear CMOS jumper.

I tend to agree it could be memory related, but you might
see if the AMI.bat file includes the command line switch
that was supposed to reboot upon successful flashing of the
bios and try reflashing the same bios.

There are 3rd party 'sites on the web that will flash the
bios of your choice to a new chip and mail that to you for
installation. The service typically cost $15 last time I
checked though the price might have gone up since then.

PS - to the original poster of this topic please do not post
to so many newsgroups.
 
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