Done!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
Done!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
No problem thanks for replying. :) I would of returned the Asrock Z68 Extreme4 and got a different board but it was beyond the 7 day notification for DSR.Quote:
Originally Posted by piquadrat
I ended up returning the 320 SSD 300GB unused back to retailer, glad I did now as I've saved £420. I have gone back to my Raptor will wait for the next generation of SSD's. :up:
At least we know it's definitly an issue with the Asrock Z68 Extreme4 when using Encryption, seen as your Asus works fine with it, I don't think any of these P67/Z68's will be totally perfect. :)
Nothing ever is, see chaos theory --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory
I've notified R&D about the Encryption issue, once I know something I'll let you all know. Last I knew we were still waiting on the intel SSD to arrive for testing.
Ket: Great thread. I decided to keep my rig below at 4400 via the auto settings. I just tried to install the new lan driver and it said mine was up to date eventhough older?
The driver included with the main package for the Marvell controller is 1.0.0.1051, if you downloaded the previous driver package that is the driver you will be using. The newest driver is available HERE at the bottom of the page :up:
I was referring to the Lan driver for the Broadcom NIC
Don't worry though, I'll be back in a few days :D I'll be offline backing up and formatting my laptop as the install is rather old and all other methods to get the as-new performance back isn't cutting it. In the meantime its probably best if anyone has any questions they want to ask me to send me a PM and I'll reply to them when I'm back up and running.
The upcoming Z68 Extreme 4 Gen 3 has me drooling a little. I'm impressed by the looks, and more importantly, the specs. If they do it up right, it should be fairly stable from the get-go; I'd figure a large part of its UEFI would come from the current Extreme 4, so not as much new work to do.
It might mean I upgrade early rather than waiting for Ivy Bridge, as I already have the new case (Corsair 650D) and RAM (4x4GB G.Skill RipJaws 1866) waiting.
Now I just need to wait for it to be available.
Sorry, I have not read through the 17 pages of this thread. Forgive me if I have double-posted.
Has anyone have similar issue with the ASRock USB 3.0 Front Panel?
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme4 with latest firmware
Thumbdrive: ADATA N005 32GB USB 3.0 Thumbdrive:
Plugged in via the ASRock Front Panel USB 3.0 ports:
http://img2.uploadhouse.com/fileuplo...56ce53a375.png http://img7.uploadhouse.com/fileuplo...89087c8efc.png
Plugged in via the USB 3.0 ports at the back of the motherboard:
http://img0.uploadhouse.com/fileuplo...b5827d452c.png http://img8.uploadhouse.com/fileuplo...fca676e3c1.png
The AData's packaging didn't mention any specification and what it is capable of - I bought it with a leap of faith. I didn't notice this and accepted the thumbdrive's 45mb/s performance UNTIL I read various online articles about it able to achieve 95 mb/s READ speeds. That's when I started toying with it....
The weird thing is that if I plug in an external USB 3.0 HDD case with its own power supply, the performance are normal for both front and back USB3. And if I plug in the Thumbdrive to a USB 3.0 extension cable and connected it to the back of the motherboard, it too have the same performance as the thumbdrive connected via the front panel. So I suspect it may have something to do with the front panel's limited power output....
I always thought a USB thumbdrive can either WORK or NOT WORK. I didn't know not enough power could degrade performance. That's a first for me! :)
Any comments, anyone?
Are you using the latest Etron v1.1 driver? If you are, I would say its probably something weird to do with the Adata drive as other USB devices are ok.
Hi guys, I've been tweaking my OC using some of the tips on here currently sitting at 4.8ghz @ 1.345v. The only odd thing I noticed is that I'm getting just over 60 GFlops when stress testing via LinX. AFAIK the value should be >100? Anyone have any ideas? Cheers
I think you need to download the AVX pack. Here's LinX included with AVX: http://gigaflopd.com/downloads/linx/Quote:
Originally Posted by DracZ
Also make sure you have Win 7 SP1 installed, otherwise AVX won't work.
Has anyone gotten suspsend state s3, s4 or s5 to work with linux ?
I don't run Linux, nor do I have it to hand so somebody else will have to comment on that.
i have been having this problem with ATI Catalyst driver on this board. (didn't have it with the old P55 Gigabyte board, so it is not a problem with the driver or the card ALONE, but a combination of ATI driver, Intel driver, Virtu driver and/or UEFI)
the problem comes up when i try to uninstall the catalyst driver when a new driver is released. i don't think if i update is right on top of the existing driver, this would happen. but since most people recommend the former method, that is what i have been doing.
i use ATI - Software Uninstall Utility link in add remove programs in control panel to uninstall the driver. what happens is, it will uninstall the driver, but then i get blank screen, as if virtu got stuck in ati driver (but now there is nothing there) and couldn't switch to intel driver or even standard VGA driver (i guess this is not supported by virtu). only thing i could do is to hit the reset button. the driver was really uninstalled as i got the standard video controller (why doesn't virtu use intel driver in this case? >_<), but there were few other stuff remaining. the control panel link is still there, and i can remove the rest of it through it without a problem. then install the new driver and reboot and you are good.
i also tried doing this by disabling virtu first, but it didn't do any good.
is this the same with nVidia cards? or is there anything i can do about this?
Thats a very well known ATI uninstall issue. Its not board specific nor is it anything to do with chipset or Virtu, its just a bug with the ATI uninstall process (you should be used to those by now.. ATI drivers have been junk for some time :p: ) Instead of using the ATI uninstaller boot to safe mode and use Driversweeper, restart, done.
really? never had that issue with the old board thoughQuote:
Originally Posted by Ket
with a 5770 as well as the current 5870.
>_<
Yep its just a driver uninstall issue. I had the problem with 2 4830s and a 3870.
Just been reading on the OcUK website, apparantly Overclockers UK will have stock of the new Asrock gen 3 motherboards next week for anyone interested.
I guess that means I'll have to make another thread when the boards are released to deal with all new questions ;)
Is there anybody who could post the CPU-Temps in UEFI-BIOS of an i7-2600K with this mobo directly after turning on the (cold) computer. In UEFI I get 36+°C a few seconds after starting the computer at an ambient temperature of 22°C and it rises approx. 1-2°C per minute. I think the base temp of 36°C would be okay running the UEFI for 10 minutes, but it seems to me too high after 15 seconds in use... Maybe a sensor defect?
Thank you in advance!
Best we have pinned the UEFI temp down to is that it measures the actual core temp and not the IHS temp ;)
Both my msi and asrock mb report similar (high numbers).
Quote:
Originally Posted by extremsparen
@anewbie
Your CPU temps are above 35C as well when turning on the computer? Does the BIOS report the real core temperature or is the value specific for every mobo and not to compare with others (like the differences between all the software tools)?
IT'S HERE!
NewEgg has the Z68 Extreme 4 Gen 3 in stock, only $10 more than the original Extreme 4:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157264
Just ordered one. I've owned a lot of mainboards in the past eighteen years, but this will be my first Asrock. I hope it turns out to be everything my current Gigabyte board has been.
It will be another week before I can order a CPU --probably an i5-2500, though the i7-2600 would be tempting. I already have my RAM (G.Skill Ripjaws 1866, two 8GB kits) and my new case (Corsair 650D).
Once the Extreme4 and Extreme7 work their way into the retail channels in the UK I'll make a thread for them, don't worry ;)
No worries. I figured you'd lump the Gen 3 Extreme4 into this thread, seeing as they're closely related (makes sense to me). Unless of course, a "Gen 3" Asrock thread makes more sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
I was just excited, as it took me awhile to find a board I was really interested in. I'm glad to see Asrock has come a long way from the "budget-line" company they started out as. :)
There are some differences with the Gen3 boards so its best they get their own thread so no info gets muddled up :)
Hi everyone, new user here :) I wanted to say thanks for all the great information and guides. I built my own PC for the first time a few days ago and now trying my first overclock. I have a silly question: after overclocking, is it normal that when I open CPU-Z, the processor runs at the overclocked speed (4GHz currently) non-stop, even when not in use, instead of clocking down to the 16x multiplier to save energy, like it was initially? I followed Ket's instructions and screens pretty much for all the UEFI settings. Is this because I disabled power saving? Is it worth letting the CPU "rest" when not in use, or should I just leave it 4GHz permanently when overclocking? Thanks!
make sure the speedstep UEFI setting is enabled.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fyooree
So, in a nutshell, could you list the major differences? Because as far as Extreme 4 gen 3 goes, it seems to be the same as vanilla Extreme 4 with the addition of pci-e 3.0. What am I missing?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
Hello. OK so speedstep in UEFI is enabled and my CPU still shows 4.4GHz permanently when I open CPU-Z. I even tried disabling speedstep, restarting, and then enabling it again, but no go. So even when overclocked, the processor should go down to 1.6GHz automatically when not under load? How worried should I be :P
it could be a combination of power options. i always turn them ON. i always try to overclock stuff without losing any of the good features of the CPU. i suggest that you do the same, and for 4.4GHz that should not be a problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fyooree
OK guys, thanks for the advice. I will try it out as soon as I get home!
i was able to get a solid OC configuration without disabling any of the fancy features of the CPU. all my CPU-related settings in UEFI relating to hyperthreading, power saving, etc. are at the UEFI default settings. the only "feature" i had to disable was dynamic vcore, and that was because i decided to go with a fixed vcore as i believe this is a much easier configuration to stabilize (and verify the stability of) compared to the alternatives.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fyooree
OK I'm good! I went through the settings one by one. Everything on the "OC Tweaker" page doesn't matter for my downclocking problem, so I left those settings like Ket's overclock screenshots. What did make a difference were the "CPU Configuration" settings under "Advanced". Basically, I had to enable all the States on this page - Enhanced, CPU3, CPU6 on enabled, and Package C on Auto. When I enabled only Enhanced Halt State, the processor would clock down to 1.6GHz in idle, but ocassionally spike up to 4.4 again. So I enabled all the states, but I left Thermal Throttling disabled because it seems some folks have issues with this one.
Here is my hardware for the record: ASRock Z68 Extreme4 board, i7 2600k CPU with a Corsair H60 cooler, 8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM, ASUS Matrix GTX580 graphics, Corsair Force 3 120GB SSD (which has issues, but Corsair is dealing with it), WD Caviar Black 1TB HDD, Corsair HX 1050Watt PSU, and Windows 7 Pro 64bit.
And I have two more questions :) I've been googling this for a while and no luck - my USB speeds are terrible. I plug in my USB key or external hard drive into either USB2 or USB3 and the transfer speed is pathetic. I got Windows 7 Pro 64bit, the latest drivers from ASRock. Some people said to disable legacy USB support. In the UEFI I went into Advanced>USB Settings and disabled USB Legacy Support, but then my keyboard and mouse don't work :s The only USB devices I have are the mouse and keyboard, and a printer. My speeds were fine on my old machine, also under Windows 7. Is there anything specific maybe to the ASRock Z68 boards or USB controllers?
Second one is about overclocking - I got to 4.4GHz relatively easily, but I'm still testing stability. Currently I'm giving it 1.320mV. I cannot get to 4.5GHz though - the machine won't even go into UEFI when I switch to a 45 multiplier and I have to shut down several times (or reset the board with that CMOS button) before I can actually get the ASRock splash screen and restore UEFI settings. The most Vcore I dared set was 1.390 because I thought it was unusual that 4.4 was OK and then 4.5 boom. I'm happy with 4.4GHz and before I start playing with the settings again, I wanted to ask if it's possible that my chip just hits a hard wall at 4.4 and I should make my peace with it?
By the way, thank you very much for the help.
Ket - any chance for the diagnostic LED to show cpu temp when the system is in windows? Kinda shame that it goes dark once the boot is over, could be useful to see temps :)
Sorry to be swarming this thread; I'll stop talking after this. I thought this was kinda important. So after playing in UEFI and getting my CPU to clock down to 1.6GHz in CPU-Z when idle (see above), I did some more tests and immediately saw that my CPU speed was fluctuating wildly in Real Temp, like constantly changing from around 2.3GHz to around 4.4 GHz. I googled it and many people said to just trust CPU-Z on this, but I found a few good comments about how CPU-Z ignores this fluctuation and Real Temp picks up on it accurately because it monitors the current etc. (I did not save the link, stupidly). One person tested this with games and saw again that his frequencies were fluctuating and harming performance. The conclusion was that once you manually set your multiplier (and maybe Vcore, not sure if it's also related) the C States settings (which control this downclocking and powersaving feature) interfere with your overclock and your processor starts switching between the manual speed and the C State idle speed. I don't know if this harms the CPU in any way, but I decided to just disable all States again and let it run at 4.4GHz. Quoting one of the comments I found: "To hell with power-saving."
EtronTech USB3 Treiber (EJ168) 1.00.0000.0104 WHQL
http://www.pctreiber.net/2011/etront...0104-whql.html
1. Make sure you are using the latest Etron Driver (v1.1) you can grab it from the link in the first post.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fyooree
2. No hardware is created equal. Just because a lot of people get 4.5GHz on average, its not a guarantee your CPU will hit 4.5GHz ;)
3. Theres no need to connect a keyboard and mouse to the USB3 ports, connect them to USB2 ports and you won't get a problem with them regardless of if legacy USB is enabled or disabled.
New Lucid Virtu driver available, grab it HERE.
Just a little fun imagery for all of you, prior to any new dedicated thread for this:
EDIT: Moved to the Gen3 thread.
The Z68 Gen3 thread is already up ;)
your dr. debug LED goes blank after booting? mine stays at "AA" after a boot from being off, or "30" after a resume from suspend. information on these codes has actually been a bit tough to find (the manual lists both of these codes as reserved and refers to another table that doesn't exist), but i was able to find some some posts elsewhere that suggest these codes are normal.Quote:
Originally Posted by anzial
the rapid multipler stepping that sandy bridge supports is one of its more compelling features. saving power isn't of particular importance to me, but reducing heat is, and the SB speedstep implementation is very effective at keeping the chip cool at lower load levels and idle.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fyooree
ket, I'm curious, did you ignore my questions on purpose?
What questions?
New beta bios out
http://www.asrock.com/mb/beta.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme4
L1.52B 8/1/2011 Instant Flash 3.20MB Improve USB ODD compatibility.
Just got the Z68 Extreme4 Gen 3 today and have disabled all the power saving features to oc it to 4.5GHz but when under load running LinX it's actually dropping to 3.3GHz anyone any idea why this is happening?
You need to increase the various power limits (i don't know the specific bios, but increase the maximum allowed ampere and watt..)
Heres some bios settings which would i change?
http://i55.tinypic.com/2zxumat.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/2q096o4.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/4v25mw.jpg
1st, you can use the F12 key within the UEFI to dump the screen to a USB flashdrive (FAT/FAT16 format) and capture the screenshot as shown below. No need to get your digicam, transfer to PC... and all that jazz.Quote:
Originally Posted by grimpy
And you can also try the settings as shown too to avoid power throttling on load.
http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/x...I/60f232d1.jpg
HTH
Keep the Gen3 talk in the Gen3 thread guys clicky ta :D
This may have been said i dont know but no bios love for us Pro-M owners
I am pretty much stuck at 4.6ghz.
Any attempt to go higher results in a bsod that says 'machine check acception'
it says that everytime.
Ket, please answer my questions in following posts
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...=1#post4917788
And
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...=1#post4920001
Ad.1 Visit ASRock website and figure it out by yourself.
Ad.2 No
see my post a few pages back.Quote:
Originally Posted by anzial
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...=1#post4904892
Well I want ket to answer it because he's implying there are SIGNIFICANT changes between the two, and I just don't see it, and I'm sure you would agree with that too. I'm just not seeing such significant changes that gen3 deserves a separate thread :rolleyes: For all intents and purposes, it'll behave like the gen 2, and splitting the users between the two types of boards is counterproductive, as it will decrease useful info for both groups of users, they'll be jumping between two threads, wasting time.Quote:
Originally Posted by jpm
Basically, I think only one thread is necessary on Asrock Z68 boards to avoid fragmentation of the user base to improve information flow between them. If anyone agrees, I think Ket should see that.
No, I'm not implying there are significant changes and have never said as such. The Gen3 boards get their own thread so I don't have to keep clarifying to people which board I'm talking about when they ask a question. Keeps confusion to a minimum. Z68 owners have their thread, P67 owners have their thread, and Gen3 owners have their thread.
So, for the last time because its getting rather irritating people posting Gen3 related material in this Z68 thread and the P67 thread, ASK ANY GEN3 QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE ABOUT THE GEN3 BOARDS IN THE GEN3 THREAD! ITS RIGHT HERE!
Ket any chances you could get an update from Asrock regarding the eSATA problem? I am about to give up and buy a USB 3.0 enclosure.
Got to say I am disappointed with Asrock here, they have been sitting on this issue for a while now.
I've chased about the issue persistently. Still the last I knew they were waiting for some devices to test with and after chasing up quite a few times after that nobody seemed to have a answer for me, so I think we are just going to have to underline it and chalk the problem up to a issue with the Marvell controller itself. I even asked repeatedly for the option ROM Marvell BIOS to be updated, but unless theres a beta UEFI sneaking around somewhere, it never got updated :shrug:
Anyone hit 4.8 - 5.0 yet? Curious to see what your settings are.
I'm having this same eSATA problem with the board too and I have a question which might point to the answer:Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
If the eSATA port at the back of the board is driven off the Marvell controller then why does the BIOS have options to enable/disable External SATA Port for each of the ports on the *Intel* chipset ports (under Advanced/Storage) and why are there no options to select which Marvell port should be used for eSATA instead? Is it possible someone at AsRock has switched up the chips for eSATA support when they developed the BIOS or am I missing the point of those options for the 6 Intel ports?
I know its not your fault mate :)
By the way, any chance that Asrock follow Gigabyte's PCI Express 3.0 news?
http://www.techpowerup.com/150333/GI...Ie-Gen.-3.html
Thanks,
Gabriel
I don't know wht Asrock would do that aside from the option for users to turn off ports their not using to save power.Quote:
Originally Posted by glorp
Thats something to ask, but I don't see why Asrock wouldn't release a UEFI update for all of the P67 / Z68 boards to support IvyBridge CPUs.Quote:
Originally Posted by EzyRyder
Please do it seems to me that we don't really need new mainboards for PCI Express 3.0 but I can appreciate that Asrock might be against this as they have just released the Gen 3 boards with PCI Express 3.0 support.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
But the options are all labelled "*External* SATA Port" [Enable/Disable]Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
and they don't actually disable the Intel ports anyway since all mine in use are disabled and they all still work fine.
My theory is that that option was intended to be made available for the 2 Marvell ports to select which one would be set to provide the eSATA functionality but some AsRock BIOS engineer screwed the pooch and set the options up for the Intel ports instead. So the Marvell chip is not told that one of its ports is being used for eSATA and it's not ready to handle the flood of interrupts that it gets when you plug in an external device and that what causes it to lock up the PCI bus.
my assumption is that this UEFI setting should be enabled if the corresponding motherboard SATA port is connected to an eSATA connector, with the most common use being an eSATA connector built into your case. my case happens to have one of these eSATA headers on the top and it attaches to the motherboard internally via a standard SATA cable. so i connected it to one of the intel ports and enabled the corresponding UEFI setting. i'm not sure what the setting does exactly but it may be relevant for the UEFI to be aware of this connection with respect to hotswapping or perhaps slight variances in the electrical characteristics.Quote:
Originally Posted by glorp
Without asking one of the UEFI engineers I can't comment further than I already have. When it comes to the Marvell eSATA issue as nobody had a answer for me I think its one of thos things we have to underline and aknowledge the problem is likely with the Marvell controller itself.
i am partially there (runs linx 4096MB, 10 runs), but upon reboot, it throws up every so often. it's not a temp problem because I barely break 68C. I'm not quite sure what's causing it tho. Been tweaking lots of the other voltages to see if that makes any difference. (i have 4 dimms so maybe the others do need tweaking?)Quote:
Originally Posted by pphx459
2600K 3104C319
bios 1.6
46x100, vcore 1.27, LLC level 1, auto the rest. fully stable.
48x100, vcore 1.38, LLC level 1, auto the rest. strangely enough, i have to set "turbo auto voltage" to "auto" otherwise it won't even let me get into win7. i also think it rather likes bclk at 100.1 and "cpu pll overvolt enabled" for some reason.
Try setting LLC level 2, you might need to nudge up vcore a bit.
cpu pll overvolt enable is needed from 4.8ghz and aboveQuote:
Originally Posted by darckhart
vcore is also need ie 1.4v+
CPU PLL is subjective, some people need it @ 4.4GHz, but not 4.6GHz, others don't need it until 4.8-5GHz. Its a bit of a enigma setting.
New BETA BIOS:
L1.60G 8/16/2011 Instant Flash 3.20MB Improve system stability.
http://europe.asrock.com/downloadsit...e4(L1.60G).zip
Ket, what kind of stability issues?
Also new USB driver
Etron USB 3.0 driver ver:0.104_WHQL
http://europe.asrock.com/downloadsit....104_WHQL).zip
New ASRock XFast USB Utility ver:3.02.19
http://europe.asrock.com/downloadsit...B(3.02.19).zip
might be just me and totally my fault for ignoring if it aint broke don't fix it, but i tried the beta bios and have lost the ability to overclock atm, nothing apart from stock will boot, even reverting back to the old bios and loading my settings results in constant failed overclock :(
i did notice though they changed the bios default to fixed voltage at 1.19v
Hey I got a problem with this board and cannot get it sorted. Every time I try to shutdown, it turns off then powers back on by itself a few seconds later so I have to turn it off at the PSU switch
Is this a common problem with these boards and does anyone know what might be causing it? Any help would be great Im about to go nuts trying to solve it.
All settings are at stock, ram settings are configured manually. These are the things I have already tried:
1] Changed the ram for a different set
2] Took board out and tried running on a box to eliminate shorts.
3] Tried a different old CoolIT 480watt PSU I have, same problem.
4] Removing all devices except the ps2 keyboard and dvi cable.
5] Tried with onboard graphics and 6950 same problem with both, no difference.
6] Took off my A70 and install stock heatsink.
7] Reset cmos/ changed cmos battery.
8] Tried running with one stick in several slots.
9] Unticked every device in device manager that could wake the computer.
10] Changed every power saving, boot from keyboard, all features I could think off in Bios.
11] Changed the power cord.
12] Changed hard drive.
13] Changed the bios.
Im baffled. Would like to get this sorted as I do love the board. Anyone any ideas or experienced anything similar?
do u have instant boot running? it caused the same thing until i remoed it. maybe ket can give a good answer.
I have tested under a fresh install of windows with no drivers installed and it still does it. Also booted up from live linux cd and tried shutting it down but get the same problem :(
:confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by EzyRyder
Power DownQuote:
Originally Posted by orb
Remove CMOS battery
Set CMOS jumper to "clear"
Remove PSU cord
Press power button 2-3 times
Leave for 1-5 mins
DO NOT LOAD ANY SAVED PROFILES (overwrite them)
What you describe is usually linked with a dodgy PSU, as you already tried a different PSU try reseating the CPU. If that doesn't work, best idea would be to return the board for replacement.Quote:
Originally Posted by Collins00
i don't know if this is related to the board or a driver or something else,
but ever since i bought the board, people say they cannot hear my voice properly through skype calls. i'm using the microsoft's lifecam cinema's mic for talking. it used to be soooo loud, that i could talk from the kitcken and the other end could hear everything clearly. now they cannot hear even when i am right in front of the PC. there is no problem with the webcam as when i plug it to my laptop, it works perfectly.
tried USB2 ports as well as USB3 ports. i cannot really tell there difference from the skype test call. but they say they cannot here. >_<
could be an issue with Windows though...
Checked the mic volume? Really... my 5yr old nephew knows to do that before asking a question like that......
volume is at full. guess your nephew won't know what to do in this case. maybe you do. that's why i'm asking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
and the other party is not one person. i call two parties, and both of them cannot hear what i am saying *properly*. issue is, i don't know if it is low volume or distorted volume or high noise. they are not tech savvy at all. it's not a problem with their end though, because as soon as i switched to laptop (they say even the built in mic in the laptop sounds better) they said it was back to the way it was. all this time i was blaming them for their poor connection. it happens to be me all along. it could be related to something other than the mobo, but it all started after the upgrade. never had the problem with the old PC (same webcam).
If you did a dirty install (by which I mean just removed all the system drivers and let Windows redo everything with the new board) that could be a likely cause. I would also check any independent software you have that can control mic volume. Eitherway, its a very simple problem which a bit of nosing around in various volume settings will fix.
it's a clean install. ok i'll try to figure it out somehow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
If you use Skype, MSN, or anything like that they have options for mic volume so it'll be worth checking to make sure its not set low there. Apart from any CP you may have for your audio device, it will also be worth looking at the Windows sound CP as well. To get at it, Right-click on the normal Windows sound icon in the bottom right corner, select "Recording devices", click your microphone then click "Properties". Click the "Level" tab, and there you go. Windows mic volume along with a mic boost option. Set mic boost to something like +20dB and you should be good.
UEFI 1.70
http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.as...xtreme4&o=BIOSQuote:
Support XMP ver. 1.3.
all of them checked. it has no mic boost option. i don't recall ever having it there anyways. >_>Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
In your Realtek HD Audio Manager within the Microphone tab there is a button under the heading "Recording Volume" that is for "Microphone Boost". From there it will bring up a window where you can use the slider to select what kind of gain you want.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anusha
for one, this is a USB mic so realtek sound options don't matter. for two, i am not using onboard audio.
i formatted the PC. made a brief call but couldn't ask if it is better now. will let you know if formatting fixed the prob. it might be some driver thingy. or something going wrong somewhere, because i am using the same set of software as before.
That sounds like a possible issue with your mic and Windows, rather than the board.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anusha
Just for grins, do you have an analog mic you can try with either your onboard audio or (if you're using one instead) a discrete sound card?
yes, but i cannot guarantee that it will be conclusive, because i never used the mic of my headset. there was no reason to use the mic of the headset. if something was good about the MS lifecam cinema, it would be the mic, not the video quality. (autofocus was crap).
after formatting windows, things seemed to be better on the first day, but it has gone back to bad shape again. could have been a coincidence. i still cannot pin point to a cause. first i thought it was USB ports/drivers, but i guess not. i will try calling someone closeby (i.e. in Japan) to rule out an issue with the connectivity. (issue is, i can clearly hear from the other side- that is Sri Lanka (i know, internet sucks and that is an understatement) - and using the same webcam on the laptop connected via wifi to the same LAN, brings things back to normal.) possibly a software - which fiddles with the audio - or a driver (usb, sound card possibly? webcam? - but it is the same drie) is causing this.
ah there is one more thing i can try. i cannot believe i didn't think of this before. i was using video calls, but to rule out the problems with the internet, i can try an audio call. (but again, laptop works fine on the same network.) i do not see a problem with the network either. i mean, i can download at 4-5MBps if servers can provide at that rate. (for example, downloading iTunes setup from Apple server saturates my connection ~6MBps/50Mbps) but skype shows bad network all the time. it was like that before. same on the laptop as well.
this is driving me insane!!! why is it that whenever you try to fix one thing, you break something else? >_<
The only mic I have to hand is one built into a Quickcam Pro 4000 (USB), so its safe to assume the mic isn't going to be anything special but it still supports a mic boost option as can been seen in the below screenshot. You sure there is no mic boost option?
yes i am sure
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/4...1090122530.png
Thats strange. You could have a system specific problem. Such issues usually can't be resolved without replacing the hardware having a problem, in you case that would mean a different mic. Its very unusual a mic does not support mic boost though I'll give you that :confused:. When you have connected the mic to your laptop, have you looked to see if the mic boost option is available on your laptop? If it is, its safe to say your issue is system specific and a new mic would be the only way around the problem.
FYI folks, I'm updating the driver packages now for both P67 and Z68 boards. The packages include the installer version of all the drivers to make things easy for n00bies. On the downside, the package sizes are bigger. The most interesting thing to note is the driver I found for the intel HD graphics - 8.15.10.2476. This driver you can't even download from the intel download center for some bizzarre reason. I aquired it through a intel mirror.
intel does put the latest hd graphics drivers up on their site, they are just a bit difficult to find:Quote:
Originally Posted by Ket
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...adType=Drivers
you won't find them when you browse through their categories under Graphics > Desktop graphics controllers > HD Graphiccs because intel has not rated a version of their drivers for general use across z68 boards since build 2361. the reason is that the on-board graphics have been causing some fairly prominent issues across non-intel motherboards that intel has been trying and failing to fix for at least 5 months. check out this gripe thread for a taste:
http://communities.intel.com/thread/20439?tstart=60
the thread got so angry and popular that intel had to close it down and bury it in the forum.
intel knows there are some serious driver bugs with their HD graphics on non-intel motherboards, particularly related to HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, and they haven't been able to isolate and fix them yet. as a result, the numerous recent driver releases since build 2361 have only been published officially for intel-brand motherboards. but you can still find them either by navigating to one of intel's z68 motherboards or by searching on the string "HD graphics".
While that HDMI issue is a bad one to have, intel should make the latest HD driver more readily available still as it fixes a lot of bugs 2361 has. I've said it for a long time and I'll say it again, intel are terrible at writing graphics drivers its about time they saw the reality of their awful graphics driver writing. If anyone hasn't seen it already, theres a modded INF I put up on the first page, it'll improve things and should fix one or two bugs.