Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe?

boweasel · Jul 8, 2011, 08:35 PM

New to the board. Please be gentle...

Bought a Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit PC at a flea market that someone had built themselves. It has an Intel core 2 duo e7500 processor, 4 GB of RAM, a Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L motherboard, and Award modular BIOS from Phoenix Tech.

The BIOS ID is G41M-ES2L F3 with a system BIOS date of 04/09/09 and a video BIOS date of 08/13/08.

I can't get to the internet with it.

Device manager looked okay at first, but when I opened Network adapters I noticed the little yellow triangle with an exclamation point. When I clicked on properties for the Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC driver it said 'This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12)'.

I tried a different driver - Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller #2, but got the same results about the lack of free resources.

I have been told that I should update the BIOS, but I have no idea where to go for that.

The PC has now decided that it will no longer actually display anything beyond 'Starting Windows' on a normal boot. Booting into safe mode with networking does at least gets me to my desktop, but when I go to device manager, right click on the Realtek NIC card and select properties, I am confronted with the same msg about the lack of free resources.

Can ANYONE who knows this stuff give me a leg up?

Tyrsonswood · Jul 8, 2011, 09:35 PM

For that board your BIOS and drivers are here......

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 775 - GA-G41M-ES2L (rev. 1.3)

Make sure the revision number matches, as that may make a difference. The only reliable place to get a BIOS update is directly from the motherboard manufacturer. I also noticed they have windows 7 64bit drivers.

boweasel · Jul 8, 2011, 09:46 PM

Of course I have no idea what I'm doing here...
I went to the site in the link you supplied, but I haven't a clue what to do next. I downloaded the entry labeled Support codec new version onto a flash drive. I guess I'm supposed to run this one the PC with the problem.

Should I be downloading and installing all 4 of the modules?

boweasel · Jul 8, 2011, 10:08 PM

Extracted the file to the desktop of the homeade PC (in safe mode, of course). And when I clicked on the Flashpi.exe application I got the msg

'The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32bit) or x64 (64bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher'

???

Judas · Jul 8, 2011, 11:35 PM

go into the Bios... select Fail Safe settings and then save and restart..

see what happens then..

i'm betting it's some stupid settings that were applied or messed up..

boweasel · Jul 8, 2011, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

go into the Bios... select Fail Safe settings and then save and restart..

see what happens then..

i'm betting it's some stupid settings that were applied or messed up..

Had already tried the Optimized Settings as well as Fail Safe much earlier with no change - was still getting the the 'not enough free resources' msg.

I've now got the display working again in normal mode, and am running chkdsk /r (17% - stage 4), so when that is done I will try resetting the BIOS (again) to Fail-Safe.

Tyrsonswood · Jul 9, 2011, 12:38 AM

When/If you decide that a BIOS upgrade is needed (and it may not be necessarily for this problem) You need to "Read and UNDERSTAND" the exact procedure for upgrading the bios that is spelled out on the manufacturers website....... IF done wrong you can permanently bork your motherboard. Don't just download something and "run it" if you have no idea what it is......

The procedure is there and it's not difficult in most cases, but it needs to be followed exactly.

boweasel · Jul 9, 2011, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrsonswood

When/If you decide that a BIOS upgrade is needed (and it may not be necessarily for this problem) You need to "Read and UNDERSTAND" the exact procedure for upgrading the bios that is spelled out on the manufacturers website....... IF done wrong you can permanently bork your motherboard. Don't just download something and "run it" if you have no idea what it is......

The procedure is there and it's not difficult in most cases, but it needs to be followed exactly.

Where??? I've been to the manufacturer's website
GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 775 - GA-G41M-ES2L (rev. 1.3)
and it's no paragon of clarity. I have no idea what to do to update this BIOS from that site. If you can go there and explain exactly what I have to do, that would be great - because it's about as clear as mud to me.

boweasel · Jul 9, 2011, 01:41 AM

Chkdsk finished but made no difference. Booted normally and uninstalled the NIC driver from device mgr. Reinstalled from the flash drive. Upon running Setup.exe from the extracted folder I got a message

The Realtek Network Controller was not found. If Deep Sleep Mode is enabled Please Plug the Cable.

Might as well be in Greek for all that means to me.

Tyrsonswood · Jul 9, 2011, 02:32 AM

Go into the BIOS setup again, (if you make no changes and save then you won't hurt anything) look to see that the realtek network port is enabled.....

The flash utility is here..... GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 775 - GA-G41M-ES2L (rev. 1.3)

Flash instructions are in the manual, starting on page 64...... Manual is also available for download if you don't have a copy.....

boweasel · Jul 9, 2011, 02:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrsonswood

Go into the BIOS setup again, (if you make no changes and save then you won't hurt anything) look to see that the realtek network port is enabled.....

The flash utility is here..... GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 775 - GA-G41M-ES2L (rev. 1.3)

When I go into the BIOS Integrated Peripherals, I see an entry called Onboard LAB Boot ROM which is disabled. Also one called Green LAN - also disabled. Onboard H/W Lan = Enabled, Smart LAN, which requires me to press Enter, and then reads Virtual Cable Test Port. Link Detected-> 100Mbps,....
All of the Onboard Serial Ports are Enabled

Tyrsonswood · Jul 9, 2011, 03:04 AM

Okay..... Then it's enabled. Not sure why Win7 can't find it. You've been doing a lot of restarts, have you done any that are power off and then power on? In other words shut it off, wait a few seconds and the turn it back on...... Just wondering.

Judas · Jul 9, 2011, 03:08 AM

you don't need boot rom or the green lan enabled.. those are unnecessary functions... your settings in the bios appear to be correct..

i'm a little baffled as to why it would be lacking resources.... i'm now leaning towards one of 2 things...

A: Bad windows install..may need to wipe and reinstall....

B: Bad motherboard.. (can't see this unless your getting BSODs all over the place)

C: Bad NIC (lan adapter)... this is most likely case IF the windows install is just fine.... at which point.. i'd disable the adapter in the bios.. and grab myself a PCI network adapter to slap in and try....

I've had several machines in over the years..... the NIC quiting or failing to work on the Prebuilt machines such as compaq/dell/etc..... aren't uncommon... nor do they seem to be uncommon on many of the add-in boards.

Least a pci network adapter can be picked up for 5 to 10 bucks today.... the 2 or 3 dollar ones are usually kinda junky though... so i usually avoid those

boweasel · Jul 9, 2011, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

i'm now leaning towards one of 2 things...

A: Bad windows install..may need to wipe and reinstall....

Guess that's a possibility, since it did not come pre-installed. But I've never seen such a thing as a bad install. I always though that it either worked or it didn't - and this thing runs like a top. Its failure to connect to the internet seems to be its only problem. So I was never aware of any shades of gray in a Windows install, but you certainly know more about this stuff than I do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

B: Bad motherboard.. (can't see this unless your getting BSODs all over the place)

Not a single BSOD in all the reboots I've done

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

C: Bad NIC (lan adapter)... this is most likely case IF the windows install is just fine.... at which point.. i'd disable the adapter in the bios.. and grab myself a PCI network adapter to slap in and try....

I've had several machines in over the years..... the NIC quiting or failing to work on the Prebuilt machines such as compaq/dell/etc..... aren't uncommon... nor do they seem to be uncommon on many of the add-in boards.

Least a pci network adapter can be picked up for 5 to 10 bucks today.... the 2 or 3 dollar ones are usually kinda junky though... so i usually avoid those

This one has the adapter integrated into the motherboard. I guess it wouldn't hurt to pick one up.

Matth · Jul 9, 2011, 04:00 PM

The BIOS update methods appear to be Qflash (an option from boot) or the @BIOS ustility that does it friom within Windows, so the "BIOS Download" may well be for Q-Flash.
You only need the latest version, all BIOS updates are cumulative, so unless the latest one does something that you absolutely do not want changed, you would always just use the latest, even if a particular fix was documented earlier.

Faced with resource issues, the first step I would take would be to use BIOS settings and disable serial, parallel ports if unused.

Another option often found in BIOS is "Plug & Play OS" - if set to no, the BIOS configures any non-boot devices, while if set to YES, the task is handled (often better) by the Operating system - if the OS is capable of plug and play - and all current ones are, then I'd always run this setting as YES

Tyrsonswood · Jul 9, 2011, 05:24 PM

I downloaded the BIOS download and ran it last night, it's a self extracting zip/EXE file. What's in there is the BIOS file and an Autoexec.bat file.... so that's to be used with Qflash.

The windows BIOS updater, @bios, probably wants to download the new BIOS itself, so that wouldn't help if the NIC isn't working to begin with..... I wouldn't use the Windows utility anyways. Qflash would be better, less chance for failure.

Again, this may not have anything to do with the BIOS, an add in NIC card, like Judas mentioned, may be the best fix anyways.

boweasel · Jul 9, 2011, 07:25 PM

Have used QFlash to update the BIOS, and it now posts with an F9 instead of the old F3. I used device mgr and deleted the NIC card. I went to the Gigabyte site and downloaded the Chipset and LAN drivers onto a flash drive and then installed them on the Franken-PC (or just effin-PC), and.....

No difference - 'This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12)'.

I'll look around for another NIC card.

Tyrsonswood · Jul 9, 2011, 08:40 PM

Well at least the BIOS flash went well......

boweasel · Jul 10, 2011, 06:42 AM

Okay....
So I had an old Windows 98 PC in the basement that had a NIC card which I removed. I opened up the problem PC and inserted the card into the PCI slot. I figured 'What's it gonna hurt?'. A NIC card is a NIC card. So what if it comes from a W98 machine?

Anyway when I rebooted I got the msg installing hardware. Then it gave me the msg that the hardware might not have installed correctly.

When I went to device mgr, there was another entry - Other devices. When I opened it up it said Ethernet Controller. No name - just Ethernet Controller. I still had the Realtek device (the one that always said it could not find enough resources) under Network adapters. So now I had 2 ethernet devices that didn't work.

I uninstalled the Ethernet controller, and the Network adapter in Dev Mgr. Then I uninstalled the Realtek device from the setup file in the folder I'd extracted to the desktop. Then I reinstalled the Realtek driver, was prompted to reboot, and am now back with Ethernet Controller under Other devices and the Realtek driver under Network Adapter. The Realtek still has the property of not finding enough resources to run. And the Ethernet adapter under Other devices has no driver, and cannor find one on my PC.

Am I getting closer or further away?

Neshi · Jul 10, 2011, 08:10 AM

try to find a driver on the internet. do you know the precise name/brand of the card?

Sihastru · Jul 10, 2011, 09:05 AM

To me it looks more like you have a conflict between two or more components. What other components do you have in your system? Can you remove any added cards, tv tuners, sound cards, web cameras and so on?

boweasel · Jul 10, 2011, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sihastru

To me it looks more like you have a conflict between two or more components. What other components do you have in your system? Can you remove any added cards, tv tuners, sound cards, web cameras and so on?

I'm fairly sure I've already specified exactly what is plugged into the PC - nothing in any of the slots, except for a video card (and now a NIC Card). About the only device I can uninstall is the one in dev mgr for a floppy disk. 'Course I don't know what all the System devices are for...

Besides, every time I uninstall ANYTHING on dev mgr, it just reinstalls itself on next reboot.

Sihastru · Jul 10, 2011, 01:17 PM

Yeah, sorry, I just skimmed trough. If that is the case, then I would really consider reinstalling the OS.

Other then that a registry cleaner, like Piriform's, but only after you've uninstalled and cleaned the drivers of the network card using, well, surprise surprise, DriverCleaner...

Looks like a forced install of driver, or an incomplete install.

boweasel · Jul 10, 2011, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neshi

try to find a driver on the internet. do you know the precise name/brand of the card?

It's an EtherFast 10/100 LAN Card from Linksys. Model lme100tx v5.1

boweasel · Jul 10, 2011, 06:52 PM

Son of a bitch.... I got the old adapter to work. Joy to the world.

Jul 8, 2011, 08:35 PM	#1
boweasel HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? New to the board. Please be gentle... Bought a Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit PC at a flea market that someone had built themselves. It has an Intel core 2 duo e7500 processor, 4 GB of RAM, a Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L motherboard, and Award modular BIOS from Phoenix Tech. The BIOS ID is G41M-ES2L F3 with a system BIOS date of 04/09/09 and a video BIOS date of 08/13/08. I can't get to the internet with it. Device manager looked okay at first, but when I opened Network adapters I noticed the little yellow triangle with an exclamation point. When I clicked on properties for the Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC driver it said 'This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12)'. I tried a different driver - Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller #2, but got the same results about the lack of free resources. I have been told that I should update the BIOS, but I have no idea where to go for that. The PC has now decided that it will no longer actually display anything beyond 'Starting Windows' on a normal boot. Booting into safe mode with networking does at least gets me to my desktop, but when I go to device manager, right click on the Realtek NIC card and select properties, I am confronted with the same msg about the lack of free resources. Can ANYONE who knows this stuff give me a leg up? Last edited by boweasel; Jul 8, 2011 at 08:42 PM.

Jul 8, 2011, 09:46 PM	Thread Starter #3
boweasel HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Re: Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? Of course I have no idea what I'm doing here... I went to the site in the link you supplied, but I haven't a clue what to do next. I downloaded the entry labeled Support codec new version onto a flash drive. I guess I'm supposed to run this one the PC with the problem. Should I be downloading and installing all 4 of the modules?

Jul 8, 2011, 10:08 PM	Thread Starter #4
boweasel HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Re: Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? Extracted the file to the desktop of the homeade PC (in safe mode, of course). And when I clicked on the Flashpi.exe application I got the msg 'The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32bit) or x64 (64bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher' ???

Jul 9, 2011, 01:41 AM	Thread Starter #9
boweasel HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Re: Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? Chkdsk finished but made no difference. Booted normally and uninstalled the NIC driver from device mgr. Reinstalled from the flash drive. Upon running Setup.exe from the extracted folder I got a message The Realtek Network Controller was not found. If Deep Sleep Mode is enabled Please Plug the Cable. Might as well be in Greek for all that means to me. Last edited by boweasel; Jul 9, 2011 at 01:43 AM. Reason: removed color

Jul 9, 2011, 04:00 PM	#15
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	Re: Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? The BIOS update methods appear to be Qflash (an option from boot) or the @BIOS ustility that does it friom within Windows, so the "BIOS Download" may well be for Q-Flash. You only need the latest version, all BIOS updates are cumulative, so unless the latest one does something that you absolutely do not want changed, you would always just use the latest, even if a particular fix was documented earlier. Faced with resource issues, the first step I would take would be to use BIOS settings and disable serial, parallel ports if unused. Another option often found in BIOS is "Plug & Play OS" - if set to no, the BIOS configures any non-boot devices, while if set to YES, the task is handled (often better) by the Operating system - if the OS is capable of plug and play - and all current ones are, then I'd always run this setting as YES __________________ Mary had a little lamb, Her father shot it dead Now Mary takes her lamb to school, Between two crusts of bread

Jul 9, 2011, 07:25 PM	Thread Starter #17
boweasel HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Re: Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? Have used QFlash to update the BIOS, and it now posts with an F9 instead of the old F3. I used device mgr and deleted the NIC card. I went to the Gigabyte site and downloaded the Chipset and LAN drivers onto a flash drive and then installed them on the Franken-PC (or just effin-PC), and..... No difference - 'This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12)'. I'll look around for another NIC card.

Jul 10, 2011, 06:42 AM	Thread Starter #19
boweasel HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Re: Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? Okay.... So I had an old Windows 98 PC in the basement that had a NIC card which I removed. I opened up the problem PC and inserted the card into the PCI slot. I figured 'What's it gonna hurt?'. A NIC card is a NIC card. So what if it comes from a W98 machine? Anyway when I rebooted I got the msg installing hardware. Then it gave me the msg that the hardware might not have installed correctly. When I went to device mgr, there was another entry - Other devices. When I opened it up it said Ethernet Controller. No name - just Ethernet Controller. I still had the Realtek device (the one that always said it could not find enough resources) under Network adapters. So now I had 2 ethernet devices that didn't work. I uninstalled the Ethernet controller, and the Network adapter in Dev Mgr. Then I uninstalled the Realtek device from the setup file in the folder I'd extracted to the desktop. Then I reinstalled the Realtek driver, was prompted to reboot, and am now back with Ethernet Controller under Other devices and the Realtek driver under Network Adapter. The Realtek still has the property of not finding enough resources to run. And the Ethernet adapter under Other devices has no driver, and cannor find one on my PC. Am I getting closer or further away?

Jul 10, 2011, 08:10 AM	#20
Neshi S.N.A.F.U. Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Wellington, NZ Posts: 3,384 Rep Power: 177 System Specs	Re: Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? try to find a driver on the internet. do you know the precise name/brand of the card? __________________ If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live? Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Jul 10, 2011, 09:05 AM	#21
Sihastru Never been clicked Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 433 Rep Power: 46 System Specs	Re: Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? To me it looks more like you have a conflict between two or more components. What other components do you have in your system? Can you remove any added cards, tv tuners, sound cards, web cameras and so on? __________________ There are more things in heaven and earth then are dreamt of in your philosophy. Intel Core i7 3820 \| Corsair H80 \| Asus P9X79 \| Kingston HyperX T1 Black 32GB DDR3 \| Gigabyte 8800 GTS 512 \| 2xIntel X25-M 160GB RAID0 + 2xWD 1TB Green RAID1 \| Asus Xonar DX \| Asus ES2-750 \| Sony OptiArc DVD+/-RW \| Corsair AX850 Gold \| Fractal Design Define R3 Titanium \| Dell 3007WFP-HC2 30" 2560x1600 \| Corsair SP2500 \| Logitech UltraX Premium \| CM Storm Advance \| Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64bit

Jul 10, 2011, 01:17 PM	#23
Sihastru Never been clicked Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 433 Rep Power: 46 System Specs	Re: Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? Yeah, sorry, I just skimmed trough. If that is the case, then I would really consider reinstalling the OS. Other then that a registry cleaner, like Piriform's, but only after you've uninstalled and cleaned the drivers of the network card using, well, surprise surprise, DriverCleaner... Looks like a forced install of driver, or an incomplete install. __________________ There are more things in heaven and earth then are dreamt of in your philosophy. Intel Core i7 3820 \| Corsair H80 \| Asus P9X79 \| Kingston HyperX T1 Black 32GB DDR3 \| Gigabyte 8800 GTS 512 \| 2xIntel X25-M 160GB RAID0 + 2xWD 1TB Green RAID1 \| Asus Xonar DX \| Asus ES2-750 \| Sony OptiArc DVD+/-RW \| Corsair AX850 Gold \| Fractal Design Define R3 Titanium \| Dell 3007WFP-HC2 30" 2560x1600 \| Corsair SP2500 \| Logitech UltraX Premium \| CM Storm Advance \| Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64bit

Jul 10, 2011, 06:52 PM	Thread Starter #25
boweasel HardwareHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Re: Please!! Need BIOS update? Maybe? Son of a bitch.... I got the old adapter to work. Joy to the world.