Gang,

 

I have an ASUS M5A78L-M LX microATX board with an AthlonX2u on it.  I am having an issue with adding drives.

 

Any time I add a drive, the BIOS returns to its default of making a hard disk the boot priority.  If I enter setup after adding a drive, I can re-enable the board to boot from USB.  But this has to be done every time I add a drive.  Thus my headless server sitting the corner no longer becomes headless. 

 

I'm running BIOS v 0601, build date 11/30/11, for anyone familiar with ASUS board and BIOS revisions.

 

I am quite perplexed as to why this board won't keep my USB device as the permanent boot device.  I have a 10 second delay configured to give the BIOS time to recognize the USB stick as a mass storage device.  I also have it set to treat the USB stick as a hard drive, although I've tried the "auto" option as well.

 

Any time I add or remove disks, my "boot priority" list changes, listing whatever hard disks my system finds.  It doesn't seem to want to boot off the USB stick unless I force the issue -- on each boot!

 

Help!

I run the same board with a Sempron 140 CPU.  It has 1001 bios (07/18/2012).  There is a setting for boot order and you should set it to USB or removable device (can't remember the exact name).  Plug your USB stick into a rear IO port, reboot and go into BIOS.  Go to boot menu and set it to use the USB/removable device.  If your USB stick has an LED on it, it should light as soon as you turn on the power.  If it doesn't and it is not plugged into the rear IO panel of the motherboard move it there.  Not sure if the board connection for case ports is active immediately.  Also once it is set in BIOS, don't power the system without the USB stick in and don't change the port it is plugged into or you will most likely have to set it up again as the boot list is populated by what devices are detected at power-up.

i bought this same mobo today and had same problem tucansam described.  i can tell bios to boot from usb (and it worked ok) but bios did not REMEMBER this change (even after i did SAVE and EXIT).  what worked for me today was to go to the section of bios that lists the hard drives.  tell bios that hard drive 1 is your usb thumb drive.  in the boot order section, set it to boot from disk 1. 

I had tried that at some point, and it worked for a few reboots, but eventually the MB "forgot" the boot order/assignments and the problem came back.  Tried three different CMOS batteries, no effect. 

 

I eventually picked up a cheap Intel 1155 MB (first gen, older, lots of SATA and stupid cheap) and a cheap Gxxxx CPU and have been running great ever since.  Just did a parity drive upgrade, amazing to not have to power down system, drag monitor/kb from garage to living room, plug in, boot server, choose boot device, swap drives, boot server, choose boot device, return monitor/kb to garage with fingers crossed.....  I might have paid $80 total for the MB + CPU combo that replaced the ASUS, and it used the same RAM, so a small price to pay to be able to reboot my server on demand without having to go through the huge hassle every time.

 

The ASUS ran fine with a standard spinner disk for a few months while I tested some hardware, ultimately ended up selling it (essentially covered the cost of the Intel MB + CPU)