Asus X59SR BIOS & memory issue

[a431]

Hi!

My Asus X59SR laptop had gotten very loud so I opened it up and cleaned
the CPU Fan. As part of the effort to get it to become less noisy I decided
to update the BIOS from the original v207 to v212 as can be found here:
http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=3&m=X59SR&hashedid=n%2fa

The update worked perfectly and I didn't see anything unexpected during
the process.

Unfortunately, my computer became unstable and started to crash. Windows
refused to boot and my attempt to use the Windows 7 CD as well as Linux CDs
to try and boot a OS failed with constant crashes.

A commonly occuring error was from the "Windows Boot Manager" which
complained about "A recent hardware or software change". The oddest thing was
that I got this message even after starting to boot the Windows 7 install CD &
Linux CDs. It didn't make any sense to me.

The system worked without any problems before.

Eventually, I managed to flash to BIOS v206 as I couldn't find the original
v207 on the Asus site. Oddly, the system became much more stable, and I
managed to install both Windows XP & Vista, though the Win 7 install still
crashed.

After trying to figure things out for awhile I finally noticed the POST messages:

BIOS DATE: 12/12/08 Ver: 206
Chipset Name:SiS671, DDR2 667Mhz, CL:5T

BIOS DATE: 08/17/10 Ver: 212
Chipset Name:SiS671, DDR2 800Mhz, CL:5T

I have a pair of Samsung 2GB 2Rx8 PC2-6400S-666-12-E3 modules for a
total of 4 Gb of RAM.

A memory issue could have resulted in the issues I was facing, so I went into
the BIOS to try and see if I can change anything and found that the BIOS is
almost without any user changeable settings at all.

Could you guys take a look and see if you can help?

Thanks!

---

One more thing, I noticed that Easy Flash identified the PLATFORM as F5SR,
so I took a look at the Asus site and found the following:

http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=3&m=F5SR&hashedid=0ADVFRfbf9DySIik

The BIOS found there seem to have the same dates & filesize as those
on the X59SR. And v207 is there as well. Odd, isn't it?

POST returns the following for this F5SR v207:

BIOS DATE: 02/25/09 Ver: 207
Chipset Name:SiS671, DDR2 667Mhz, CL:5T

The Windows 7 install still fails at roughly the same point it did in v206.

[a431]

Update.

I have tested BIOS v206, v207, v210 & v212. All but v212
run the memory at 667Mhz. The system, while being more
stable than v212 (at least Windows boots!), is still quite
unstable with random crashes. A attempt to play a music
CD-ROM resulted in a sound full of stuttering and distortions.

I am becoming increasingly convinced that the memory
settings are at fault. But as I can't change memory
speed or timing in the BIOS, there is no way for me
to do anything.

Why did the manufacturer insist on doing something this
idiotic? Despite taking what I thought were reasonable
precautions I now have a doorstop, not a computer.

I managed to download AMIBCP 4.53, thinking it might
allow me to take a look at the BIOS, but it won't read
the files. I am unsure if I am doing something wrong due
to lack of documentation.

[a431]

Ok, forget about making v212 work, at this point I'd
simply like to have a working computer.

If anyone out there has a working Asus X59SR laptop
(preferably with 4Gb of RAM) could you please make
a copy of your BIOS and upload it?

A link to instructions:
http://support.asus.com/Documents/detail.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=3&m=X59SR&s=132&hashedid=n/a&os=24&no=1704