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Just added another $500 to my rig, tough to relax. Don't mind spending my cash but expect that if I'm going to buy the highest quality certified parts the least they could do is test simple basics like sound ;-P :DQuote:
Originally Posted by dinos22
Will be happy when/if I get DDR2-1200 speeds running stable oh and sound problems resolved.
jAkUp has posted a link to the BETA bios on the nvnews forum. I was all ready to purchase EVGA 680i and 2 EVGA 8800GTX tonight but I want to see if this really fixes the problem. Can't wait to hear from all the people who test this out.
http://www.evga.com/download/nf68_beta_bios.zip
New bete bios doesn't seem to fix the problem. Check the evga support forums, lot of unhappy people there atm. :nono:
Sorry to see so many people pulling thier hair out over this board. Makes me kinda glad I didn't have the time to get started on this board over the weekend. Tip of the cap to mdzcpa and others trying to sort through the issues. Hopefully once I get around to to looking at the sound (well after all the benchies are done) I'll just grab all the latest drivers and mobo bios and get to the gaming. :D
The beta bios works fine, just need to flash from dos, not from windows or command prompt, as soon as I did the flash from dos, and cleared cmos, all was right with the world for me.
Yes, thanks linflas, that is the issue. The Windows method IS NOT flashing the BIOS correctly, please flash from only pure DOS mode.
Please see here for instructions:
http://www.evga.com/community/messag...TOPIC_ID=21597
The beta BIOS has worked for me using the floppy disk method. It has cleared up the sound issues I was having using the onboard sound. Thanks very much jakUp, EVGA and NVIDIA for following through and resolving this problem, at least for me:D
How to flash your bios through a usb pen drive
A couple of things you will need
1: A Usb pen drive, or usb storage device
2: This great tool from HP http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/fi...oad/23839.html
3: the image file for flashing http://rapidshare.com/files/4381356/betabios.img.html
mirror http://members.cox.net/linflas/Pictures/betabios.img
mirror 2 http://www.filecrunch.com/file/5n2
Now on to flashing, make sure their is nothing on your pen drive you want, if their is, save it somewhere else.
1: plug your pen drive in
2: Install and open the HP drive Key Boot utility
3: choose the drive letter of your pen drive
4: Create New or Replace existing Configuration
http://members.cox.net/linflas/Pictures/HPutility1.JPG
5: Change to floppy disk
http://members.cox.net/linflas/Pictures/hputility2.JPG
6: select image from file, and point it to the image you downloaded from rapidshare
http://members.cox.net/linflas/Pictures/hputility3.JPG
7: You should be done, The utility should ask you to remove your pen drive, take it out, and then put it back in, and check the files, they should look this
http://members.cox.net/linflas/Pictures/hputility4.JPG
8:OK we are ready to flash, leave your pen drive connected, and reboot into the bios, goto the boot order page, removable devices, of the bios, you should see your pen drive their, select it as the first boot device, save and reboot
http://members.cox.net/linflas/Pictures/bios1.jpg
9: You should have this happen, and viola, you are done, and flashed [size=4]YOU MUST, I REPEAT MUST MANUALLY CLEAR THE CMOS AND RESET YOUR BIOS SETTINGS AS YOU LIKE THEM AFTER THIS FLASH![/size=4]
http://members.cox.net/linflas/Pictures/dos1.jpg
nice one
problem solved
Download-session invalid.Quote:
Originally Posted by linflas
mirror is up http://members.cox.net/linflas/Pictures/betabios.img
mirror 2 http://www.filecrunch.com/file/5n2
thanks that worked. first boot after flash 20 seconds in windows and BSOD. rebooted and it seem fine now. will test to see if it fixed the sound issue.Quote:
Originally Posted by linflas
Edit: sound works fine now. Maybe overclocking will work better now. cheers.
do not forget to manually clear the cmos after the bios flash, this must be done for the bios to take, pain int he ass, but has to be done, reflash if you did not do this
and no, overclocking will not be better, it may actually be worse, as this beta just addresses the sound, and it's changes may affect overall system stability in an overclock, not sure though, my overclock is the same as before, did not tweak it more afterwards.
When you say "manually clear the CMOS" are you implying that I have to move the jumper (PITA with 2nd 8800 GTX in slot) or just cycle power and load defaults"Quote:
Originally Posted by linflas
From the instructions I read for update of P20 bios it only required to load defaults after the flash.
manually clear the cmos just to be sure, I know it is a pain the butt
yep i always clear cmos after a bios flash. I hope my memory overclocking problem was only because of updating the bios via windows.
I've been 24 hours testing with P20 bios @ 1167 4-4-4-12 2.5v and had ZERO issues with Memtest Super PI, Orthos Blend, did that beta bios upgrade and now having serious issues to the tune of BSOD KERNEL_PAGE_ forget the rest of it and lock up in windows.Quote:
Originally Posted by X.T.R.E.M.E_ICE
Now I've been forced to reduce my memory clocks to 1112 to see if that helps solve the issue. Anyone else notice any adverse issues running this beta bios with their previously tested overclock settings?
Yes I manually cleared CMOS via jumper and then loaded defaults etc.
your x-fi should have a heatsink on it...Quote:
Originally Posted by tombman
Yep looks like he's using the original which most of all were replaced due to some crackling issues and heated up XFI chipQuote:
Originally Posted by rpg711
My Asus Striker Extreme still has the cracking/popping audio problem. The 302 bios does not fix this. Also, can anyone tell me what DDR2 Termination Voltage is?
This is getting off topic, but many of the original X-fi cards never had a heatsink cause they did not need one. Mine doesn't and it has never crackled. In fact, the chip itself barely gets warm.Quote:
Originally Posted by pentium777
If you go to creative forums, Creative says that they added the heatsink to address "variation in the production process." What this means is that they had other fabs involved and not everyone was hitting the quality silicon they needed to. I have two X-fi's here in the house, and niether get too warm nor have heatsinks.
Just fyi.
I have 2 X-fi's also. No sinks.
I'm trying to gear my next purchase towards a 680i board. These threads are helping.
I want SLI on Intel. Becuase I want a 30" LCD at 2560x1600 to play ANY game i throw at it without turning down detail levels.
I have one of the two 8800GTX now.
maybe i'll just stay with this crippled P5W DH and get a 24" and go fishing more often..............
Honestly, I think evga has a nice product with their 680i board. I think they did a great good job getting new BIOSes released to fix and improve the board. Yes, the sound problem sucked....but the beta BIOS fixed it. Considering the board has only been out two weeks, and they have addressed the biggest issues quickly, I'd say evga is serious about their mobo market. Frankly, the problems they are having are more nvidias fault.Quote:
Originally Posted by Khaotic
Anywho, I find that my board rocks now. It overclocks well, can be tweaked to no end, and provides SLI on Intel the platform (the main issue for me as well). Its not perfect, but nothing is only 2 weeks out of the gate. A few more BIOS tweaks and I think they'll have the board humming along.
As with everything, early adoption has its risks. That's just common sense in this hobby.
now they need to fix the problem with ram getting killed.Quote:
Originally Posted by mdzcpa
Unlike the sound problem, the reports of "ram dying" is simply scarce. Go to the evga forums and count the posts about the mobo killing ram.Quote:
Originally Posted by X.T.R.E.M.E_ICE
I know you lost a stick, but unless you ran your voltage at 1.9v at all times, its hard to say what happened. In addition, even if your particular board is "bad" and did kill some ram, the reports of this occurence are so slim it appears to be an isolated problem.