Foxconn BloodRage Issues / BIOS Bugs Thread

[BenchZowner]

Looks like the cause for the failed block writes was the AWDflash version that I was using.
8.83 was giving me block write failures, I tried with AWDflash v8.94 now and it worked like a charm.

Gonna try the secondary BIOS chip now.

[BenchZowner]

New G13 BIOS related bug found:

I decided to give RAID 0 a try, so I installed two Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB ( Samsung HD103UJ ) on the ICH10R ports ( P02, P04 ports if I recall correctly, will edit the post if I'm wrong ) and left my Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB ( Samsung HD501LJ ) boot drive in port 1 ( P01 ).
I installed Vista with the ICH10R in AHCI Mode and kept using it like that.
I entered the BIOS to make sure everything's ok, and re-arrange the HDD Boot Device sequence to make sure the HD501LJ was on top.

After restarting the PC I got the classic "Disk Boot failure, blah blah" message.
So I was "OK, guess it didn't accept the changes with the new HDDs, so let's get back into the BIOS and re-arrange them & save & exit again ).
But I was so wrong, it didn't work, the same result.

Then I said, let's do it the old fashioned way, OC Gear -> Display Smart Menu = Enabled.Save & exit.
The boot menu pops up and I select HDDs -> Samsung HD501LJ and hit Enter.
Once again, Boot disk failure blah blah annoying message...

Then I decided to remove my SuperTalent Pico 8GB USB Flash Disk Drive from the USB port... all out of magic it worked like a charm.
The BIOS Boot Device sequence was kept and used properly, and the Boot Menu pop up menu worked also.

I'll check it out again later on, and give it another try with the G15 BIOS as well.

[Trembledust]

This is not exactly a BIOS issue or bug, please delete this post and create a new thread if you need assistance.

You should update your BIOS to G13 (Click me!) and the options should be there for you afterwards.



Flash to BIOS G13.



Nope, that's Vcore (CPU Voltage )



I tried everything.
Forcing a specific BIOS chip from the jumpers ( tried both BIOS 1 & BIOS 2 forced ).
Set the jumper to "software select with BIOS 1 as default", tried software select with BIOS 2 as default.
And also tried selecting the BIOS chips from the BIOS as well.

I also removed and re-seated the BIOS chips making sure the contact is good.
Still having the flashing problems.

I swapped the BIOS chips, nothing again.

Used only 1 BIOS chip ( removed the other one ).
Tried with 1 BIOS chip in both slots, nothing again ( still flashing problems ).

Tried flashing with ALT + F2 @ POST ( Enter AWDFLASH ), but it doesn't load AWDFLASH no matter what.
It gets stuck at a AHCI BIOS ROM screen.

I'm gonna try flashing with Fox LiveUpdate, but that thing doesn't seem to report if it performed a full BIOS flash or if it skipped or failed to write any blocks, etc.

Flashing with AWDFLASH 8.83 from a bootable USB drive worked flawlessly before, and I don't remember having any failed to write blocks at all.
Now it fails to write 4 blocks if I remember correctly on both BIOS chips.
I'm gonna get some screenies up in a bit.

Ok Thanks. Sorry about the misplaced post.

[OverClocker_gr]

Looks like the cause for the failed block writes was the AWDflash version that I was using.
8.83 was giving me block write failures, I tried with AWDflash v8.94 now and it worked like a charm.

Gonna try the secondary BIOS chip now.

next time ask me before you do all these if i have a newer AWDflash version

[Touge180SX]

Solved the RAID problem I was having but was quite weird:

I am running 2x 250GB WD Caviers and 1x 1TB WD Cavier Black. Once I unplugged the 1TB drive and just used the 2 RAID drives CD booted fine. Then, when the CD started, I plugged in the 1TB drive again and Windows detected all 3 and it worked fine. Not sure how that worked or if it is even a BIOS problem but maybe the Engineers will know more. Thanks for you help Saaya and everyone!

Bench, that's what fixed my RAID problem too. I just unlugged my 1TB backup drive, started the Windows install, plugged the 1TB drive back in and everything worked like a charm! I can also confirm that this is a problem on both G13 and G15.

Looks like the cause for the failed block writes was the AWDflash version that I was using.
8.83 was giving me block write failures, I tried with AWDflash v8.94 now and it worked like a charm.

Gonna try the secondary BIOS chip now.

So if I update my USB Flash Drive from 8.83 to 8.94 it should work fine? Thanks Bench!

[BenchZowner]

Bench, that's what fixed my RAID problem too. I just unlugged my 1TB backup drive, started the Windows install, plugged the 1TB drive back in and everything worked like a charm! I can also confirm that this is a problem on both G13 and G15.

Using 2 Samsung HD103UJ ( 1TB drives ) and a HD501LJ ( 500GB ) and a Samsung SH-S223F DVD+/-RW in RAID mode without a single issue here, on G13 BIOS.
Booted fine from the DVD and installed Vista x64.

Perhaps it's a HDD compatibility related issue ?

I'm preparing a 3* Samsung F1 1TB RAID 0 now.

So if I update my USB Flash Drive from 8.83 to 8.94 it should work fine? Thanks Bench!

Yes, update the AWDflash version to 8.94 ( you can download it from here ) and use the classic command ( awdflash BIOSFILENAME.BIN /py /sn /Wb /cc /cd /cp /ch /H2 )

[Touge180SX]

Thanks Bench! I'll give it a try and report my results.

[Touge180SX]

Yes, update the AWDflash version to 8.94 ( you can download it from here ) and use the classic command ( awdflash BIOSFILENAME.BIN /py /sn /Wb /cc /cd /cp /ch /H2 )

Confirmed, worked like a charm Bench! 8.94 resulted in BIOS flash with no write fails. Thanks again Bench!

[blindfitter]

Tried flashing with ALT + F2 @ POST ( Enter AWDFLASH ), but it doesn't load AWDFLASH no matter what.
It gets stuck at a AHCI BIOS ROM screen.

I'm gonna try flashing with Fox LiveUpdate, but that thing doesn't seem to report if it performed a full BIOS flash or if it skipped or failed to write any blocks, etc.

Flashing with AWDFLASH 8.83 from a bootable USB drive worked flawlessly before, and I don't remember having any failed to write blocks at all.
Now it fails to write 4 blocks if I remember correctly on both BIOS chips.


Looks like the cause for the failed block writes was the AWDflash version that I was using.
8.83 was giving me block write failures, I tried with AWDflash v8.94 now and it worked like a charm.

Gonna try the secondary BIOS chip now.


So Benchzowner, am pleased you resolved the bios writing issue with awdflash v8.94, but am confused as to why Alt F2 the built-in bios flash procedure and Fox LiveUpdate dinot result in full and complete flash of bios?

[BenchZowner]

So Benchzowner, am pleased you resolved the bios writing issue with awdflash v8.94, but am confused as to why Alt F2 the built-in bios flash procedure and Fox LiveUpdate dinot result in full and complete flash of bios?

Hi mate,

I don't know why ALT + F2 did not work for me.
It won't load, but since we can flash the BIOS fine from a USB stick I don't care
The Foxconn Live Update might have flashed the BIOS properly, I can't be sure as there's no output regarding the flashing procedure, and I didn't check the checksums when I tried it.

As for a preferred BIOS flashing method, I'd take the bootable USB + AWDflash v8.94 any day.
You can flash and stay in DOS and check the checksum, and if the flash went wrong you can still re-flash, etc.

[Touge180SX]

Hi mate,

I don't know why ALT + F2 did not work for me.
It won't load, but since we can flash the BIOS fine from a USB stick I don't care
The Foxconn Live Update might have flashed the BIOS properly, I can't be sure as there's no output regarding the flashing procedure, and I didn't check the checksums when I tried it.

As for a preferred BIOS flashing method, I'd take the bootable USB + AWDflash v8.94 any day.
You can flash and stay in DOS and check the checksum, and if the flash went wrong you can still re-flash, etc.

It's funny Bench, but I am having all of the same problems as you it seems. RAID, BIOS, etc... When I hit ALT+F2 it just does nothing and I have to do a hard reset.

[tripgood]

G15 issues i have found:

cpuz and Aegis panel report vcore .1v higher than bios setting.

tras memory setting auto sets back to 16 after re boot.

Can not remove power from the mobo or all stored oc's will not work. This could be a hardware issue, I don't know but it is troublesome. They all work when re-booting from a power on state.

[BenchZowner]

G15 issues i have found:

cpuz and Aegis panel report vcore .1v higher than bios setting.

tras memory setting auto sets back to 16 after re boot.

Can not remove power from the mobo or all stored oc's will not work. This could be a hardware issue, I don't know but it is troublesome. They all work when re-booting from a power on state.

Check the previous page.
There are two tables with measurements for the CPU Voltage ( Vcore ) settings with DMM and CPU-z info as well.

The BIOS Setting is 0.1V off.
If you set the "Target CPU Voltage" to 1.3V for example, in reality you're feeding your CPU with approx. 1.4V

The tRAS setting isn't working properly for all the listed values, it's been reported by me already in this and the other thread regarding the BIOS ( Bugs, Issues, Features to be added, and Changes/Suggestions ).
tRAS 16, 20, and 31 work fine if I recall correctly ( not sure on the latter ).

[tripgood]

Wow. i read all of the above posts but did not quite understand the impact until experiencing them. RE your post #35 above. Does G13 mess up your stored OC's after re-boot?
It would appear that FoxConn engineers have a LOT of bios work to do.

[BenchZowner]

Are you talking about the OC "Profiles" ?
The configurations that you can save for later usage in the 8 slots ?

Elaborate a bit on that and I'll check it out

[tripgood]

Yes, When i remove power from the board, it will not boot when powering back up. I get the short beeps or long beeps. It goes to oc recovery and I can't boot from any of my stored profiles. A couple of the settings are different from the ones i put in and I have to input everything over. I have to leave the power on and shut the board on and off to boot with the settings I had when shutting down. Ultra 1kw, single velociraptor no raid, sata dvd drive, 4870x2 and various dimms.

I think I may wait until a new bios comes out. This thing is wearing me out

[BenchZowner]

Yes, When i remove power from the board, it will not boot when powering back up. I get the short beeps or long beeps. It goes to oc recovery and I can't boot from any of my stored profiles. A couple of the settings are different from the ones i put in and I have to input everything over. I have to leave the power on and shut the board on and off to boot with the settings I had when shutting down. Ultra 1kw, single velociraptor no raid, sata dvd drive, 4870x2 and various dimms.

I think I may wait until a new bios comes out. This thing is wearing me out

I'll try to replicate your issue when I get back home in a few hours.
At a first glance, it looks like a PSU "compatibility" issue, can't tell for sure yet, I have to test it myself first

[Touge180SX]

When removing power my saved OC's load just fine with a Corsair HX1000 PSU.

[chawks2]

Have to say the oc profiles are working out fine for me. I have been playing around with secondary BIOS chip and I may get a thread spank for this, but the Windows utility does not properly update the BIOS. Used my USB boot and applied BIOS with no issue.

It also saves your oc profiles per BIOS upgrade, was very happy with this feature/availability.

Now I just have to work on those RAM timings.

[tripgood]

My oc profiles are now working also. I disabled vdroop and PRESTO!

[tripgood]

Uh oh, i spoke too soon. I thought my issues were related to the vdroop feature. When I removed power from the board and powered back up, it went into oc recovery. I loaded a proven stable profile and was greeted with the c1 and long beeps. None of my stored settings worked. The only way I could boot was with the optimized default settings . I know c1 usually indicates a dimm problem, but I don't think so. I get it with 3 different proven kits. Everything was working earlier today after making a couple of changes including when shutting the mobo off and on. When I shut off my ups the whole thing went to Most of the psu's i have around here are on the don't use list but i'll dig something out tomorrow and give it a try.

[Trembledust]

LOL Thanks Sayaa @ welcome. Thanks again for the G13 bios, Bench. Im getting the same inaccurate voltage settings on my board as others are reporting. Just adding my two cents in.

[tripgood]

Well i tried another proven psu and the same exact symtoms appeared. On start-up I can access all saved profiles until I remove power and then nothing works when trying to boot again. The weird thing is , the same thing happens when loading a different bios--it works until shutting the psu down. Will try to flash the 2nd bios chip tonight. If that doesn't work it looks like rma unless anyone can suggest otherwise.

[Trembledust]

hmmm ok... weird... almost like windows was waiting for the jmicron controller and if its not there then it causes a problem...weird...
did install the jmicron driver? if you remove it, can you then boot with jmicron disabled?

but with G13 it works, right? hmmm


thats vtt, right? looks like only minor fluctuations, same voltages for both bioses, right?
I think the reason why G15 cant boot with high vtt is because of the bootup procedure...

wow, really?
I sent you that board and before i did i flashed both bios chips...
Hmmm can you remove them and swap them?
Maybe the pins are just not making good contact?
And id recommend you to use the lower 2 bios settings to switch between the bios chips with the jumper, when you do it via the bios option then it might get confusing

if default bios is 1 but you select 2, then try a setting that doesnt work, oc recovery kicks in, and you will see bios1, not bios2. that can be really confusing So either check which bios chip your on atm once you enter bios, or use the jumper.

hmmmm so you installed windows on raid0 on ich10 sata ports and it works fine, but when you connect a sata cdrom then it doesnt detect the cd drive in bios and you cant boot to windows anymore hmmmm

the actual vcore is what you can read in hwmonitor, the default vcore detection doesnt seem to work properly and detects a default vcore of .1v less than it actually is. so it thinks default vcore is 1.2v for example, but really its 1.3v. when you then set it to 1.3v its actually 1.4v

ill ask the bios engineers to bring back the vcore reading into the voltage menu until the vcore detection works properly on all cpus


Yes, id recommend you guys G13... G15 seems to clock memory better but it doesnt coldboot with high vtt.

Btw, an interesting thing our engineers found is that some cpus dont like to boot with high vtt. the same cpu will refuse to boot with high vtt in different boards, while other cpus boot fine. If you have problems booting with high vtt increase the X58 IOH 1.1v VCCA voltage to 1.2v or 1.3v

Update on the PSU problem btw, it seems that it can be fixed by BIOS!
We are still testing and researching this problem, ill let you know when i get more details


Welcome to XtremeSystems Trembledust
G13 and P03 are similar but not the same, and yes, they are newer than P02
And yes, the bios names and structure was changed a bit in G13, so thats why your not seeing the same options. And some boards are shipping with G13, some are shipping with P03 and some with P02 it seems, depending on when they were built and if they were updated by the distributor/shop or not.

I dont know about that superpi time... im not an expert in that at all... is the memory and 3d performance fine otherwise?


when you want to create a raid array you have to enter the intel raid tool first as far as i know. so set it to raid mode, then hit ctrl+i and then create a raid0 array... then set the DVD drive to first boot device, boot from CD/DVD and i think you have to hit F5 to install the ICH10 raid driver otherwise it wont detect the HDD... does that work? theres a pretty good guide in the Manual on how to set up raid iirc, does that help you?

Sry. Late post. The 3d performance works like a charm. Having a lil bit of issues oc'ing the ram though. Using 3 x 2gb stick 1600mhz and seems to not like going over 1500 on ram when using more then 160 Bclock. Tried 190 Bclock, 18x qpi, 8x - 10x muli on mem and 16x - 20x multi on uncore and still doesnt like it. I tried popping one of the sticks out and was able to post with higher mhz but still not close to stock 1600mhz. The vdimm is at 1.65v. Tried 1.85v but really was nervous about letting that sit. Another thing is board seems to like auto setting my timings to 8 8 8 19 timings while sticks are rated 9 9 9 24. Eh. No biggie but the fact I cant post over 1600mhz is irking me. I dont get it. I'll try upping the ram slowly using a 133 Bclock and see what I max out at.

I'm also having issues with oc'ing the core ghz but Bench can tell u about that lol. Think I have been pestering him about it in another forum. Its all good. I still like this board. Good job overall.

[BenchZowner]

Tremble I'll give ya a working set later on that you can try