On my 2nd 7811FX - still have 2 problems

My 1st 7811 went back because I upgraded the BIOS to 9c.08 and made the mistake of "testing" the RAID setting in BIOS with a 80GB SATA hd I borrowed from my IT dept here at work. I removed the 80GB and it wouldn't even boot into Vista anymore (no, I didn't do any config in the RAID BIOS). For some reason I couldn't get into BIOS by pressing F2 at boot after I did the BIOS update. So I brought it back hoping to get one of the machines with the BIOS update already in it, but all they had were the 9c.05 versions. So I took that one, did the BIOS update and everything seemed to be working fine with one drive...I could get into BIOS, etc. However, now that I've turned on the RAID in BIOS and configured my two 200GB as RAID0, I can no longer get into BIOS anymore and if I have any other boot "option" on the system (DVD/CD in the drive or any USB device hooked up) the system won't boot to Vista - it will if I remove all those things. I still can't get into BIOS.

Sorry if this has been covered before, but there are several threads with 25+ pages that seem to get hijacked every 3rd response so I simply don't have the time (or the patience) to read through each. If someone could link to a resolution (if there is one) I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Rob

 

As soon as it starts to boot press F10 (F2 no longer works in the new BIOS); you'll see a couple of screens flash by and then it will stop on the Boot order screen; one (probably the last) option will be "Setup" - hit that and you'll go to the BIOS Setup where you can change the boot drive order to suit your needs.

As for your wifi issue download the latest 5100/5300 drivers from Intel's web site.

 

The F2 BIOS option is part of every 9c.08.00 BIOS. It's an error on the coders behalf..and is even mentioned in their .bld file. I do have the P2888 model, which came with the new BIOS. And it's the same thing.. you gotta be quick to hit F10 when the first screen flashes up..and I like to tap it continually til it brings up the blue boot screen..with the last option on that list being "Enter Setup". That's the BIOS setup, BTW. It's not a big deal really, but it is annoying sometimes.. I had to reboot 3 times earlier to access the BIOS menu, and I already knew what to do. Anyhow, nothing is perfect.

 

You gotta hit F2 and keep hitting it before the first splash screen ever comes up. If you wait until you see the F2 prompt on the screen, it's too late. This is fixed in the next BIOS, which they are still testing.

 

Thanks guys!

Actually, as long as I tap the F10 key when either the SATA RAID screen is up or the following BIOS summary screen is up then I get the BOOT selection screen with the "Enter Setup" option at the bottom.

Now if I could only figure out why the wireless is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO slow

Here's the thread with the details:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=307210

Thanks again for the responses - any help with the WiFi would be awesome!