K8N Neo2 Platinum unrecoverably borked bios

Question

Last week, I decided it was time to upgrade my PC.  I decided I was going to get an X2 processor, but knew that S939 motherboards of the age of mine won't support them without a Bios upgrade.
I had used Live Update before so that my Winchester processor was recognised correctly, but also know that updating the bios carries with it a risk of rendering a PC inoperable (at work we have to flash the bioses on a number of different PCs and must've done hundreds in my time).
Used Live Update to flash the bios (as is recommended all over the support site) from version 1.5 to 1.B.  As is sensible, I created a repair disk to go back if there is trouble.
Everything appeared to go okay during the process (there were no errors or other cause for concern).  Unfortunately, at the end of the process Live Update asks if you want to reboot.  I clicked on Yes, expecting it to reboot.
I waited, and waited, not wanting to provoke an error.  It didn't look like it was going to reboot, and I was getting impatient, so did the sensible thing, and walked away.
20 minutes later, I came back and it still had not rebooted, so crossed my fingers, and switched the PC off.
I cleared the CMOS jumper as is customary, and switched back on.
The machine ran through it's POST sequence, detecting processor, memory and drives.  It then reported that the "CMOS checksum was invalid, Defaults loaded" (as expected as I'd cleared the CMOS via jumper).  It said "Press F1 ro continue, DEL to enter setup".  I had to enter the setup to set the clock and other options, so pressed Del.  This caused the PC to reboot.  Oh dear.
I then tried to use the repair disk I made earlier, but when I pressed F1 at the same point, the PC just switched to a black screen with a flashing cursor in the top left.
I had a look at the D-Bracket, and found there was a red LED showing, looking it up in the manual, it says "Initializing Floppy Drive Controller".  This is strange, as the PC had been working fine since Christmas, and I'd just used the floppy drive to create the repair disk.
At this point I stripped all extra hardware from the PC (Wifi card, all but one strip of RAM all hard disks and DVD drive) to try and get a different response and breathe some life back into the PC, but nothing worked.
I came here and discovered this post by Syar2003:
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=86257.0
which states that you CANNOT use Live Update to upgrade the BIOS to upgrade to BIOS version 1.B (due to Live Update not flashing the boot block).
To add insult to injury, I've sent this enquiry to MSI using their online support form, and am yet to receive a response (this was sent on Saturday, and it's now Thursday).
Any ideas, guys?

Answer 1

hello Colin,
What you are seeing when your screen goes black with the cursor flashing at the top is a legacy from the old DOS booting days. If you had an older motherboard that still offerred ISA slots, you could put in an old ISA video card and see what the system BIOS is trying to tel you. If I remember right it's message would be the same as your D bracket.
Can't help you much except suggest that you keep asking MSI tech support for assitance. They should be able to seng you a new CMOS chip to insert in your board at no cost since you use their recommended procedures. They have done so for others. Just make sure you are not overly  aggressive when dealing with them.
If this does not work  then see theis web site and  consider bying a new chip for your board. http://www.flashbios.org/catalog/index.php?cPath=22&language=en&osCsid=975ee1b8be41cdf61aa2feba67385bb2
Good luck,