** OFFICIAL ** Intel DX38BT & DX48BT2 BoneTrail Thread

IIA 1.1.3.857a for whoever uses it is available for dl, that's why it was missing yesterday. Still can dl RAID drivers though.
Paty, I understand your grunt against Intel, I have been disappointed as well, but I guess the fact is these mobos are now "old" and they must move on. I'm not sure they completelly set aside development for the BoneTrails, maybe not, but one thing is true, development at Intel is slllloooow. Some time ago I predicted that the BIOS version for these boards wouldn't go past 2000 because SmackOver X58 starts there. So far, I haven't been proven wrong but now I still hope there will be one more BIOS, that will come with the finally final IDCC, if it ever gets final that is.
Matt at Intel told me that they were aiming for a final IDCC till end of June, which is already gone, unless some weird bug would surface. Either it did or they're just testing it for a final release. With it a new BIOS would also be released, but since this was a long time ago maybe the BIOS version he was referring to was 1997, don't know.
Don't loose hope just yet.
My main issue is still the power thing (no boot after power out or disconnect), that's a major flaw that Intel seems unable to solve, although they claimed a few times it was fixed.
Also, some mem tweaks were promised.

Well, it seems after a while, if you're patiente enough, dl links at Intel will eventually work. Marvell RAID drivers are now up for grabs.
What's up with everybody, nobody says a thing latelly?! No reports of things that work better with the newer BIOS? Any higher oc potential? Any new records set?
Come on guys, is this thread dying?!

sorry Manel,

been working on Master's thesis (and no, not in computers!). Still check here a few times a week, but havent had tinkering time with the x38 in a while, and no one is looking for help OCing their system :(.

for me, bios updates havent done much since we hit the ones in the 1800s. they seemed to add some stability with memory OC, but all the later ones have been fixes that i cannot imagine a use for (other than IDCC, but dont use that any more either since im on water).

maybe in a few months i will play with submersed oil cooling or something, but nothing for now.

sean

Hey Sean
So, you're doing your Master's, hope all is going well. I can see a lot of work there, no time for tweaking for a while, right?
Submersed oil is something that seems to work (seen a couple of systems) but I wouldn't go for it myself, can't imagine having to deal with the oil everytime you need to have access to your hardware. Well, it's the next step I guess.
By the way, do you stick with water cooling or go beyond with the likes of dry ice, LN, LHe or whatever you fancy? Do you also go that extreme?

yes, very much work. have an excel file with all my data in it...just numbers...and its over 2.2 MB.

yup, still with water, but when (if, i guess) i get around to going gooey, i plan on implementing some alternative methods for chilling the oil. without having to worry about condensing water from air, i think the possibility exists to get the whole board real cold, not just the CPU. I imagine that the largest improvements would be seen with the MCH. 1:2 @ 500 mhz host clock anyone? (thats 2000mhz fsb and ram).

but who knows? it all comes down to cost. oil alone would probably be good.

Finally on vacation, time to get things up to date. No more automation for a while - I wish, I suppose calls will be coming in as usual!!!
Anyway, I guess now I have the time to take the system apart, clean up, re-wire, format, whatever.
Sean, 500MHz would be it, just not sure our board can cope with it. Other boardshandle it fine, even over 600, but the BoneTrail? Even on oil, do yoou think it will get there? Just thinking of the oil in my mobo I get the creeps!!

Intel have removed the Beta category in the download section, all drivers are (almost) final I guess. Still, LAN drivers v14.2 (still only for 7) are still beta although they removed the beta status in the initial description. Should work though. 7 has reached RTM 4 days ago anyway, some people should have it already. Beginning of August (4 or 6 can't remember now) will be readily available.
been waiting for the final version of IDCC but it seems it's a no show, still beta after all this time. Intel disappointed me on this one also, Matt said it should be out by the end of June - maybe of next year?!

Hiya!

Intel® Matrix Storage Manager v.8.9.0.1023 and Intel® 82566 Gigabit Ethernet PHY v.14.3 are available for download.

Manel, as you can see this thread is still alive (it is huge, but alive. don't worry ;))

petr0id, good to see someone still posting here. Yeah, I see it's not dead just yet, maybe just asleep.
Well, the Matrix Storage Manager is old news but Intel just posted the final v14.2 LAN for Vista/XP in the download page, finally. Still, you found v14.3, funny they're not in our page yet. v14.2 are already dated 29.06.2009 and it didn't come to the top of the download page. v14.3 are quite recent, 23.07.2009. Good find. I always look only in the download page for our board, not the download center main page. Still, the readme shows an earlier date of 30.06.2009.

At least they should update the BIOS with the newer SATA RAID drivers version, support in the 1997 only for the old v8.6.0.1007.
SmackOver is having it's BIOS tuned often I guess, version 4196 earlier this month. Every month a new BIOS, SATA RAID support is up to date there.
Still, IDCC for it is also on hold. When will our final be out?!

IIT v4.0.1.258 available on Intel.

Good news, been waiting for this for ages. It seems a chinese hacker (it seems those guys do all the hacking these days) by the name of Firewings_[CCG] from the Expreview enthusiast comunity has made it enabling SLI for "older" Intel chipsets. He did it on a X38 Asus Maximus Formula and the guys at Expreview confirmed it in a P45 Maximus II. Still, it wasn't fully working but 3Dmark Vantage score is promising. Not many details but it seems this is based on some software he modified. He's working on it to go public.
Great news.

Version 2000 BIOS is out :)

Quote:

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PRODUCTS: DX38BT, DX48BT2 (Standard BIOS)
BIOS Version 2000
About This Release:
• July 01, 2009
• BTX3810J.86A.2000.2009.0701.1128
• SATA RAID info:
Intel(R) RAID for SATA – v8.9.0.1023
• SATA AHCI info:
Version UPSD src 12-03-2007 for ICH9
• PXE Nahum info:
Intel(R) Boot Agent GE v2.09.00.02
New Fixes/Features:
• Fixed issue with INT15h E820h reporting overlapped memory ranges.
• Updated RAID option ROM: Intel(R) RAID for SATA - v8.9.0.1023.
• Fixed issue where SMBIOS Type 10 (On Board Devices Information)
structure for On-board LAN "Description" field is incorrect when
On-board LAN is disabled.
• Fixed issue where SMBIOS Processor structure shows incorrect CPU
types.
• Fixed issue where SMRR valid bit is not set.
• Fixed issue where VA option is not grayed out after supervisor
password is set.
• Fixed potential intermittent S3 failure.
• Added security changes.
• Added the Downgrade password security check.
• Changed HPET setting to default enabled.
• Added Fault Tolerant Firmware ID solution.
• Fixed string for “Intel® 64 Architecture Capable”.
• Updated support for high power PCIe adapters.

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John

John, beat me to it...
Finally 2000. End of the road i believe.
Only IDCC missing.

They heard me on the RAID thing.

What Watercoolers are you using for the Northbridge of the dx48bt2?

Anyone tried BIOS 2000 yet? Any changes? I'm flashing this week.
Not much is new, mostly fixes which is normal at this stage.
Dated July 1st already, guess they've been testing it.
I guess final IDCC will be next.
Anyone else thinks this will be the last BIOS for this board?

At first there seemed to be stability issues with 2000, but i retract that now. It does seem, however, that 2000 likes to freeze while in BIOS...sort of like one of the 1800 bioses while in the recovery mode.

anyone else have this issue?

Sean, please elaborate on your experience with 2000 so far. So, stability is not an issue after all, right? But those freezes you mention are giving me the chills. I was gonna flash in the next couple of days but not so sure anymore. You mean it freezes while in BIOS? Under certain conditions or just random?
What about oc potential, or mem performance, have you noticed any new tweaks or improvements?
Keep us informed.

Manel,
Well, after flashing i entered bios and moved around from page to page looking for any changes, and about the time i got to the memory page it stopped responding. Then i rebooted, entered W7 and ran intel burn test and it froze again (i am guessing that i ran it too soon after booting and since it is so intensive it caused some other time critical process to delay?). turned it off and tried again the next day and everything seems fine, hevent tried cruising around the bios again, though.

likewise i havent tried changing anything in the bios and seeing if power issues remain (although i still think that this is HW related and not SW, as i mentioned before which is why it hasnt been fixed).

sean

Hey Sean
Did you notice any changes while you were looking around the BIOS? Before it froze that is.
I hope this is not a mem issue, I believe it was looking good in that department. Maybe it was just one of those things.
I'm inclined to be with you on the power issue, being a hw thing, but for the life of me I can't imagine what kind of hw problem it could actually be. Anyway, Intel says it was fixed back in version 1893 if I'm not mistaken. Still, the problem is not fixed yet so can't imagine why they say it's fixed.
Did you get your hands on 7 RTM yet? Or still on RC? TechNet and MSDN have it already so I guess some folks should have it already, torrent should be available as well I guess.

No, there didnt seem to be anything different, but i recall the previous issue where it would freeze in recovery mode being an undervoltage issue of some kind (memory?)? but pc ran all night last night without any issue, nothing intensive, though, just torrents.

I dont remember which one it is, RTM i think...its the 7100 build. i do know that it is the 2nd version of W7 for me, and there are some things about it that dont work as they should, but i see those issues primarily on my laptop which was only "Vista Compatible" or "Vista Ready" whichever one implied the least amount of compatibility, so that could be the cause. Seems to work great on my x38, some issues with artifacting the desktop when the taskbar is set to autohide and you move it from the bottom of the screen to the side or top.

Sean, I have had it freeze up in the bios in recovery mode as well(after 2000 bios upgrade), after hard power cycle though i managed to get back in. As usual the reset back to default then reset everything worked like a charm. I just shrugged and said hell its a bonetrail, it likes things like that.

Just an update on a previous issue with 4870 throwing the low voltage lights at restart only, hard boot ok. It seems that went away when I upgraded my power situation. Bios 1782 helped a little for some reason, could get a little higher clocks out of it. Problem fully ceased with power booster though. Think I was marginal, then when overclocked it was just enough to trip.

hey everyone. I'm probably gonna wait on flashing the bios as well. as for windows 7, I'm going to wait till after quakecon before installing the RTM version. (I'm on msdn). right now I'm still on the 7100 build as well. Ill let you all know how that goes, but so far my experience with it has been fantastic! Anyone going to Quakecon?

Quote:

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Sean, I have had it freeze up in the bios in recovery mode

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Nice that i soldered one old crappy russian switch to choice between BIOS modes :<
So haven't any needs to open case anymore.

Did someone try Wake-On-Lan? Tried many in many ways, and no reaction...