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what's the best BIOS for the P4P800?

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ozziegn

Member
Joined
May 18, 2003
okay, I'm trying out the P4P800 tomorrow (Tuesday) and would like to know what is the best BIOS to use.

I've been hearing nightmares about people complaining that the stock BIOS on this board is horrible and that they highly recommend flashing it prior to installing the OS.

so, I would REALLY appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction as far as which BIOS to use.

also, any links (and/additional tips with this board) will be appreciated. :)
 
In my experience:

1005: Very good mem scores, limited vcore, VERY finnicky. Some USB Issues (mouse not initialising after boot). Prior to installing os here's what I had to do---Reset CMOS, reboot, Load Setup Defaults, Reboot, Adjust only basic things (boot order/disabling onboard devices). Reboot. Install windows.

1006: Slower memory scores. Better VCore. Same USB issues. Not nearly as finicky...a simple clear cmos/reboot/tweak should suffice. Removal of Turbo/Standard option.

1007.001b: Memory scores in between the other 2 bioses. Same VCore/behaviour as 1006. Readds Turbo/Standard setting. Fixed USB init problems. (figured my mouse was defective...had init problems on both a p4b533 and p4p800...1007 bios fixed all issues with it.

so for my money 1007 is where its at. OK mem scores, the vcore needed to push a 533 b0 to it's max, stable bios behaviour, and a working mouse
 
Try ASUS "Global" website, I found the final 1007 bios there. The North America website does not have the 1007 listed yet. I'm running the 1007 now
 
Be careful with bios updating. I updated my new one day old P4P800 a couple of days ago and had to RMA it. Maybe I was unlucky but it seems some bios chips aren't too happy when they get flashed.

I did this w/all stock settings in the bios.

-Bobby
 
I used the asusupdate program to update the bios. First it updated the asusupdate program. Then when it restarted I looked for latest bios it only had version 6 listed.

so I download 1007 version bios. Unzipped it and changed the extension to ROM. clicked on the asusupdate in windows and chose "from file" in the dropdown box instead. Located the file i downloaded and selected it. it said please wait flashing then it reboot windows and all was good. This same utility can be used to check the version.

No problems at all with the flash.

sorry you had so much trouble. I wont argue that the bios is finicky. I got the black screen of death several times screwing around with the AI 10-30% auto overclock feature, It sucks not even worth messing with.
 
Freezermug said:


sorry you had so much trouble. I wont argue that the bios is finicky. I got the black screen of death several times screwing around with the AI 10-30% auto overclock feature, It sucks not even worth messing with.

How did you recover from the black screen? Asus tech support had me clear the cmos, then take out my video card and memory. Nothing worked so I had to rma the board. It doesn't look like I'll be getting a new mobo anytime soon :( I ordered a new board on Tues morning and it still hasn't shipped from googlegear.

-Bobby
 
Actually I just got the black screen of death (again hehe) about 2 minutes ago screwing with the memory timings.

No beep. Just blank screen. The power light on the monitor flashes like its in sleep mode. Hard drive does make noise tho. cd roms will open. I put the asus driver cd in. Then I shut down the system. Unplugged the pc and keyed off powersupply. shut down monitor.

count to 60.

plug in pc. turn on powersupply. turn on monitor, then lastly power on pc.

you hear a long beep. it says oc failed. (woohoo I can see) press del to enter setup.

Just as lost as you why this works. But it scares the hell out of me every time.
 
I've only had one bad flash in all my years of building but the p4p800 seems pretty foolproof so far.

Even after pushing things too far it recovers gracefully, at most requiring a clear cmos and a reboot. The auto flash is a godsend tho I havent NEEDED it yet (i did use it to flash 1007 tho)

Oh BTW: 1008 just came out, however I see no real gains from it so far.
 
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