Acer Aspire XC-605 BIOS Help. my new RAM is not working because of this issue

Chucko
Chucko Member Posts: 8

Tinkerer

edited December 2022 in Aspire and Veriton Desktops
Hi there everyone, so I have a Acer Aspire XC-605 and im wishing to update the BIOS as I believe my new RAM is not working because of this issue. the RAM is compatable with this board has been checked. My current bios is version P11-A1. Now when I look BIOs Firmware on acer site there are a few different options the most recent P11-B4L or there is also P21.A4 but is slightly older normally i would just do the newest one but have read that P21.A4 could be better. bit confused. i have downloaded both and read the read me files however the english in them is very poor, english is not my first language but i still struggled to understand them. 

any help would be great thanks.

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/4945?b=1
BIOS page 
[Edited the thread to add issue detail]
«1

Answers

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder
    edited February 2019
    Hello Chucko,

    I'll give you instructions for updating the BIOS to the latest P11.B4.  

    I think you should check your existing memory and see if it is DDR3L 1.35 V or DDR3 1.5 V.  It will be written on the label on your memory.

    If your existing memory is 1.5 V, I would recommend the Kingston memory below.  Try to match the same 1.35 or 1.5...whichever you have.

    https://www.kingston.com/us/memory/search?DeviceType=2&Mfr=ACE&Line=Aspire&Model=89520

    In theory, it shouldn't matter mixing DDR3 and DDR3L on your xc-605 desktop mainboard, but I remember someone else had a problem mixing for some unknown reason when using DDR3L Crucial memory on their XC-605.  If you're in doubt, I would recommend the Kingston memory.

    Here's instructions for updating your BIOS, but I don't think that's really your problem. 

    The standard operating procedure (SOP):

     

    1. Download P11.B4

    2. Extract

    3. Copy the Win and ROM folders to a USB flash drive.

    4. Open an admin command prompt

    5. If your USB flash drive has a drive letter of F, then you would type

     F:

    cd win

    flash

     

    6. After the processing completes, restart your computer

    7. When it prompts you to enter the BIOS, press the "delete" key on your keyboard to enter the BIOS settings

    8. Load the BIOS defaults (F9) and then save/exit (F10).

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Chucko
    Chucko Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    your right they are different voltages my new ram is 1.5 and the ram in my pc is 1.35. take it this board cant take 1.5. damm
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder
    edited February 2019
    @Chucko

    Your mainboard should work at either 1.35V or 1.5V.    But for whatever reason, it doesn't like mixed ram.  If you install two 1.35V DDR3L modules, it will work fine.   If you install two DDR3 1.5V modules it will work fine.    DDR3L is supposed to run at 1.35 or 1.5, but for whatever reason, your mainboard/UEFI doesn't like mixing DDR3 and DDR3L.

    My mainboard is running 1.5V DDR3.  (I have TC-605 which uses the same mainboard as XC-605)
    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Chucko
    Chucko Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    hmmmm i dont know then as ive tried the 1.5v ram on its own and does not work either, fans go into turbo mode and just black screen. which is why i thought it could be the old bios.
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder
    It could be just a matter of pulling out the CMOS battery for a couple hours and resetting BIOS.  But I don't want to waste your time with guesses.  If your computer came with 1.35V, it's probably best to just return the 1.5V and get some 1.35.
    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder
    If I remember correctly, if you install a single stick of ram, you must put in the slot closest to the CPU
    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Chucko
    Chucko Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    wont be able to return now i dont think it was brought as a gift before christmas on amazon i think. could try the battery and bios, when you say reset BIOs do you mean update to P11.b4
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder
    If you unplug the computer from the elctrical outlet, and pull out the CMOS battery for a couple hours, it will reset the BIOS.   I wasn't talking about updating the BIOS.
    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Chucko
    Chucko Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer

    could this not cause some boot issues if done incorrectly say?
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder
    If you're not comfortable.........It might be best to just try to sell your 1.5V memory on ebay.  And then get the 1.35V in link below.

    https://www.kingston.com/us/memory/search?DeviceType=2&Mfr=ACE&Line=Aspire&Model=89520
    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • HelpMe35
    HelpMe35 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    To Flash it. Simply unplug your machine and take out the battery. Hold power for 30 seconds, plug machine in, hold fn+esc, press power,  let go of fn +esc after machine starts.

    To create USB.  Open cmd as admin. 
    Diskpart 
    List disk
    Select disk "your disk number no quote "
    Clean
    Create partition primary 
    List partition 
    Select partition "your partition number"
    active 
    Format fs=fat size=4000 quick 

    Download the Acer bios from drivers and downloads, extract the exe,  and place the contents on the USB

    NOTE: If you try to do the wrong version; and keep holding FN+ESC, you will enter efi shell where you can load EFI protocols and device drivers, and execute simple scripts. 
  • Domicdts
    Domicdts Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    The system cannot find the path specified.

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder
    edited December 2022

    Is F the drive letter of your USB drive? In the instructions, I used drive letter F as an example.

    Also, when you copied the WIN and ROM folders to the USB drive, you have to copy them to the root directory.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Samuel-Acer
    Samuel-Acer Moderator Posts: 686 Moderator

    Requesting you to share the complete model name of your unit and elaborate the issue. This helps us to assist you much better.

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    The instructions for the BIOS update were for a circa 2014 Acer desktop XC-605. Please don’t attempt those instructions if you don’t have an XC-605.

    The original poster didn’t need to update his BIOS. His problem was that he bought the wrong RAM—-he mixed 1.35V with 1.5V RAM on his Acer/Intel H81 XC-605 mainboard. So the solution to his problem on his XC-605 was to install 2 sticks of compatible DDR3L 1.35V. (See previous post above with link to Kingston website).


    compatible ram in link below for XC-605


    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Domicdts
    Domicdts Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    I already solved this problem, but another problem appeared, I do everything exactly according to the instructions, there is no video for this motherboard Aspire XC-605 knocks out an error - Secure Flash enabled, recalculate ROM size with signature...


    - FFS checksums ......... ok


    4 - Error: ROM file ROMID is not compatible with existing BIOS ROMID.

  • Domicdts
    Domicdts Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    Yes, my flash drive was under the letter F and Win and Rom were just on a flash drive, but I solved this problem when I made DOS through a rufus flash drive, but still now another error Secure Flash enabled, recalculate ROM size with signature...
    
    
    
    - FFS checksums ......... ok
    
    
    
    4 - Error: ROM file ROMID is not compatible with existing BIOS ROMID.
    


  • Domicdts
    Domicdts Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer

    Aspire XC-605 but now another error... Secure Flash enabled, recalculate ROM size with signature...
    
     - FFS checksums ......... ok
    
    4 - Error: ROM file ROMID is not compatible with existing BIOS ROMID.
    


  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder
    edited December 2022

    There's two different versions of the mainboard that came from the factory (ok, technically 3, but for compatibility sake, I'll say two.)

    1. XC-605 Windows version (pre-installed with Windows)
    2. XC-605 Linpus linux version (pre-installed with Linpus)

    The Linpus version of the mainboard uses the BIOS with the L (e.g. P11.B4L)

    The Windows mainboard version use the BIOS without the L

    The people that were using Windows 7 would generally use the P21.B4 version if they were still using "launch CSM=enabled" and secure boot disabled (and still had legacy MBR).

    The people that were using Windows 8.1 with secure boot enable and "launch CSM=never" and the modern GPT partitioning style use the P11.B4 version.

    For example, my desktop came pre-installed with Windows 8.1 so I was using BIOS P11.xx. Then I upgraded to the latest which is P11.B4. And then I subsequently did the free upgrade to Windows 10.

    If I had the Linpus version of the mainboard (that uses the L version of the BIOS), then I would have to download the L version of BIOS and follow the README instructions in the extracted P11-B4L BIOS file.


    If your mainboard/computer came pre-installed from factory with Windows, don't use the L version.

    If your mainboard/computer came pre-installed from factory with Linpus, then use the L version.


    "

    Edit: If you have XC-605G, then search for XC-605G instead of XC-605

    https://www.acer.com/us-en/support/drivers-and-manuals

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Domicdts
    Domicdts Member Posts: 7

    Tinkerer


    I don't have windows from the factory, I have free windows 10, and in the bios it is displayed as L