Intel D975XBX "Bad Axe" Mod Thread (including "Conroe" support for rev 303 and lower)

[okmijun]

What is BEST bios yet?
For OC?
1334?
1378?
14xx?

[Speederlander]

There is 666 beta BIOS but you have to prick your finger and put a drop of blood on the CPU. I hear its a speedy BIOS.

[okmijun]

Did yu test it, already?

[M3kk]

There is 666 beta BIOS but you have to prick your finger and put a drop of blood on the CPU. I hear its a speedy BIOS.

Where? Link please :P

[Kin Hell]

Heres the deal... bought a E6600ES with this pos BADAXE 304 board... the overclock menu is there... and it used to work. i don't know if any mods were previously done to the board but it was running at 3.7ghz stable under water.

I had some bios hang ups so i figured somethings up with this old bios....updated new bios... still hang ups...but now it boots at stock speed no matter what settings i set in the bios... even the memory i set to 5-5-5-15 and it shows up at 5-4-4-13 which according to the board is SPD.

No hang ups with bios now... could of been the keyboard or ty usb support. but still with these settings i keep getting 2.4ghz and 1.16vcore...measured with dmm

Bios Setting:

vcore 1.55
1333
25%
mch = 1.6
fsb = max v

These settings manage to save in bios but windows and cpu-z still reports 2.4ghz.... the memory on the other hand gets reset to spd every reboot.

HELP!!!

Hmmm...My BA2 experience is a cr4p one as well. Seen these issues & my Retailer can offer NO support:

I have a E6600 2.4ES DUO & minimum VCore available is 1.32v??? Should be down to 1.1v from what I read & understand.

CPUz reads my 2.4ES with a 6 Multiplier & I have no way to change this in the Bios. Bios always says 9 with option ghosted out!

Floppy booting is Sooooo Slooooow - perhaps takes a win98 Boot disk 4 to 5 times longer to boot than any other motherboard I have ever used?

Legacy USB is utter cr4p. You need a PS2 KB to install XPpro Sp2.

3.3v rail is undervolting with a 1KW PCP&C PSU - not impressed!

Bios flashed to lots of different versions with no noticeable change in bios options or issues above.

Is there such a thing as a Rev 505 of this board? I cant see 304 anywhere on this one!?

[Zorlac]

Bad Axe 1 rev 306 was released 09/27/2006
http://intel.pcnalert.com/content/eo...N106713-00.pdf

Bad Axe 1 rev 306 final shipment is 04/01/2007
http://intel.pcnalert.com/content/eo...N106981-00.pdf

Bad Axe 2 rev 506 comes out 03/09/2007
http://intel.pcnalert.com/content/eo...N107244-00.pdf

[Kin Hell]

Bad Axe 1 rev 306 was released 09/27/2006
http://intel.pcnalert.com/content/eo...N106713-00.pdf

Bad Axe 1 rev 306 final shipment is 04/01/2007
http://intel.pcnalert.com/content/eo...N106981-00.pdf

Bad Axe 2 rev 506 comes out 03/09/2007
http://intel.pcnalert.com/content/eo...N107244-00.pdf

RMA time!

[blacksun1942]

1478 bios just came out.............and I made the mistake of flashing with them because I fooled myself into believing they would be better than the previous bios.


What a mistake.


These are the worst bios yet.

When I go into BIOS, it freezes after about ten seconds no matter what I do, and no matter how long I wait it never gets unfrozen.

Also, now Oblivion crashes to desktop after about five minutes of playtime, whereas before it NEVER crashed. Not a coincidence that this started happening immediately after I updated to the new bios.

[Mindon]

1478 bios just came out.............and I made the mistake of flashing with them because I fooled myself into believing they would be better than the previous bios.

I made the same mistake.
I run Vista Ultimate and this bios was supposed to be improved for Vista.
My board is the original Bad Axe v1 and I didn't want to use soldering so I make a boot floppy disk and use the maintenance jumper to update O/C settings each time.

Flashing 1478 and running at stock speed didn't cause any problem.
I correctly downloaded the latest Intel Integrator Toolkit and tried to remake my 3.4Ghz O/C floppy for my E6600:
No way I can force the CPU voltage anymore so Windows just crashes of course.

Back to the 1441bios and 3.4Ghz now...

[INFECTED]

Hi guys
I wanted to say that the problem of the last BIOSes (1474 1476 1478) is that they don't allow to change CPU VID even if the option is available in the BIOS through OC Debug Mod.... last BIOS that can do it is 1463
In the meantime I wrote to Intel to signal the problem but I think they will not resolve anything
Sorry for my bad english but I hope I was of help to someone....

[Mindon]

Hi guys
I wanted to say that the problem of the last BIOSes (1474 1476 1478) is that they don't allow to change CPU VID even if the option is available in the BIOS through OC Debug Mod.... last BIOS that can do it is 1463
In the meantime I wrote to Intel to signal the problem but I think they will not resolve anything
Sorry for my bad english but I hope I was of help to someone....

Yes it helps. Thank you for posting this information.
It confirms I didn't do any mistake while trying to overclock with the 1478 BIOS so.
That means no more serious overclocking with the 147x+ bios releases

[INFECTED]

Yes it helps. Thank you for posting this information.
It confirms I didn't do any mistake while trying to overclock with the 1478 BIOS so.
That means no more serious overclocking with the 147x+ bios releases

However, no response from Intel yet....
I'll let you know if they do it...

[INFECTED]

Hi guys,
this is what Intel answered me that I asked:
My Question:
From the bios version 1474 I am not able to set CPU VID anymore... how come? For example if I try to set it at 1,4v, vcore always remains on default while bios version 1463 and lower works perfectly.... why? Thanks Best Regards

Intel Answer:
Dear Mr. INFECTED,
Thank you for contacting Intel® Customer Support.
We are pleased to assist you within the scope of Intel® limited warranty.
First of all I would like to apologise for the late reply to your message.
Would you please try the following if you haven't done it yet and reply to this message with the outcome?
Please flash the BIOS to v1478
If the CPU Voltage ID is still not changeable then Enable EIST under BIOS > Power >EIST
If problem remains then please reply to this message with the following information:
Processor model/ SL number or Frequency/L2 cache/FrontSideBus :
Serial number of the motherboard:
Make/model of the Power Supply:
Kind Regards,
XXXX X
Intel(R) Customer Support (EMEA)
Swindon (UK)



And this evening I sent this in reply:
Hi,
first of all thanks for your support.
So, I've flashed the BIOS v1478 and I've made many tests but the situation
hasn't changed... there's something wrong in this BIOS (in general in the
versions 147x)...
CPU VID doesn't change even if I enable EIST... and I've checked too that
this option doesn't work correctly...
Please find the attached file, it's a table that I made to explain what
happens.... in the first column you can see how the options are set under
BIOS and in the second what really happens under OS....

In succession there are the informations you asked me for:
Core2Duo E4300 / 1.80GHz / 2MB L2 Cache / 800 MHz FSB
Serial number of the motherboard: BQBXxxxxxxxx AA D27094-304
Make/model of the Power Supply: LC-POWER LC6560T V2.0 - 560W TITAN
I'm looking forward for your news.
Best Regards,
INFECTED

I'll let you know if there are news...
Bye

[Kin Hell]

Hi guys,
this is what Intel answered me that I asked:
My Question:
From the bios version 1474 I am not able to set CPU VID anymore... how come? For example if I try to set it at 1,4v, vcore always remains on default while bios version 1463 and lower works perfectly.... why? Thanks Best Regards

Intel Answer:
Dear Mr. INFECTED,
Thank you for contacting Intel® Customer Support.
We are pleased to assist you within the scope of Intel® limited warranty.
First of all I would like to apologise for the late reply to your message.
Would you please try the following if you haven't done it yet and reply to this message with the outcome?
Please flash the BIOS to v1478
If the CPU Voltage ID is still not changeable then Enable EIST under BIOS > Power >EIST
If problem remains then please reply to this message with the following information:
Processor model/ SL number or Frequency/L2 cache/FrontSideBus :
Serial number of the motherboard:
Make/model of the Power Supply:
Kind Regards,
XXXX X
Intel(R) Customer Support (EMEA)
Swindon (UK)



And this evening I sent this in reply:
Hi,
first of all thanks for your support.
So, I've flashed the BIOS v1478 and I've made many tests but the situation
hasn't changed... there's something wrong in this BIOS (in general in the
versions 147x)...
CPU VID doesn't change even if I enable EIST... and I've checked too that
this option doesn't work correctly...
Please find the attached file, it's a table that I made to explain what
happens.... in the first column you can see how the options are set under
BIOS and in the second what really happens under OS....

In succession there are the informations you asked me for:
Core2Duo E4300 / 1.80GHz / 2MB L2 Cache / 800 MHz FSB
Serial number of the motherboard: BQBXxxxxxxxx AA D27094-304
Make/model of the Power Supply: LC-POWER LC6560T V2.0 - 560W TITAN
I'm looking forward for your news.
Best Regards,
INFECTED

I'll let you know if there are news...
Bye

ROFL Intel.........
Not my most constructive post ever...but ffs.......aint it!

[Dr.Spankenstein]

Hi all,

Let me preface this by saying this was my first build, but I'm a quick study and have no preconceived notions...

With that out of the way, I'll let you know what I'm workin' with (read sig.).
I have tried to perform the OC DEBUG mod with a piece of solder wire and some tape. I am not quite sure if it was successful due to the fact that one of the first things I did once the OS was installed was to update to the most currect BIOS. (After reading the recent poor reports, I realize that this was part of my problem.)

What I'm mainly trying to achieve is access to the "Advanced"/"Performance" menus in the BIOS. With the 1478, I was able to select up to 50% burn-in (only stable @ 30%) but I have no provision to adjust VCore. Would anyone have suggestions as to how I might access this? or more specifically, is my mod no good or is the BIOS version the real issue? I did try to revert to the 1304, but it was completely different from the 1478 (menu wise).
For instance, on the "Main" page of the 1304, there was a heading where the multi-processor enable/disable line would be in the newer Bios that read "single core SW" or something to that effect. When in the "Advanced" menu, selecting "Override Settings" took me to the warnings, but provided no options.

As it stands, I'm using the 30% burn-in with a little bump to MCH and FSB voltages. Running my RAM @ 1:1 533=693Mhz eff.)
I would like to enable Vdroop and adjust the core voltages by what ever means possible. Any help would be appreciated.


p.s. Sorry for the dump!

[theteamaqua]

waht program u guys used to monitor voltage?? speedfan would crash ...

i want to know vcore during full load

[INFECTED]

Hi all,
Let me preface this by saying this was my first build, but I'm a quick study and have no preconceived notions...
With that out of the way, I'll let you know what I'm workin' with (read sig.).
I have tried to perform the OC DEBUG mod with a piece of solder wire and some tape. I am not quite sure if it was successful due to the fact that one of the first things I did once the OS was installed was to update to the most currect BIOS. (After reading the recent poor reports, I realize that this was part of my problem.)
What I'm mainly trying to achieve is access to the "Advanced"/"Performance" menus in the BIOS. With the 1478, I was able to select up to 50% burn-in (only stable @ 30%) but I have no provision to adjust VCore. Would anyone have suggestions as to how I might access this? or more specifically, is my mod no good or is the BIOS version the real issue? I did try to revert to the 1304, but it was completely different from the 1478 (menu wise).
For instance, on the "Main" page of the 1304, there was a heading where the multi-processor enable/disable line would be in the newer Bios that read "single core SW" or something to that effect. When in the "Advanced" menu, selecting "Override Settings" took me to the warnings, but provided no options.
As it stands, I'm using the 30% burn-in with a little bump to MCH and FSB voltages. Running my RAM @ 1:1 533=693Mhz eff.)
I would like to enable Vdroop and adjust the core voltages by what ever means possible. Any help would be appreciated.
p.s. Sorry for the dump!

Hi,
I think that your mod wasn't successful, otherwise you was able to see VID option to set vcore, even if it doesn't work with last BIOSes (147x)

No response from Intel yet about the problem of the vcore with last BIOSes

[Dr.Spankenstein]

Hi,
I think that your mod wasn't successful, otherwise you was able to see VID option to set vcore, even if it doesn't work with last BIOSes (147x)

No response from Intel yet about the problem of the vcore with last BIOSes

You were right about the mod not being successful, so I went and purchased a CircuitWriter pen. Now we are talkin'! I also flashed back to 1763 BIOS and things seem much more stable. That would agree your findings about CPU VID settings not sticking with the newer BIOSes. (Way to hobble myself right out of the gate! )

Well, at least I can ratchet back my voltage settings to default and start from scratch. I almost piddled myself when I got my first 3DMark05 score over 14000! Me likey the "F" chip+X1950XT goodness!

Thanks for the suggestions and I look forward to hearing what Intel has to say to you.

Cheers,

Bryan

[INFECTED]

Hi guys
I'm here again but unfortunately with bad news
I've contacted Intel by telephone too and I've spoken with the technicians at London... this was their response (by mail):

Intel response:
Dear Mr. INFECTED,
Thank you for contacting Intel® Customer Support.
We are pleased to assist you within the scope of Intel® limited warranty.
Case regarding changinging Voltage ID for the Intel(R) Dekstop Board D975XBX.
I would like to inform that it is not possible anymore to change the Voltage ID in the BIOS of D975XBX. you are right that with older BIOS versions this option was available and was functioning. This option by default is set to default and changing it will not work as expected. This is not an issue but a function we have decided to not implement anymore in the current BIOS versions.
If you need further information then please call us or reply to this email
Kind Regards,
XXXX X
Intel(R) Customer Support (EMEA)
Swindon (UK)

They say that this is for stability reasons with Windows Vista but I think that's not absolutely true! I think they wanna induce to the purchase of Intel Bad Axe 2 D975XBX2, because this remains an exclusive option of this motherboard
Unfortunately with old BIOSes there's not a full support to Windows Vista (I got an error while I tried to install it), so we can't update BIOS from the v1463 anymore if we wanna continue to change CPU VID and do overclocking!
In my own little way I'll continue to send technical email to Intel, about the same problem, hoping that they restore CPU VID... but I need of your help too, do contact Intel you too, maybe together we can change something!

Cheers,
INFECTED

[uOpt]

Just to get that straight, they removed all CPU voltage control in the BIOS?

[INFECTED]

Just to get that straight, they removed all CPU voltage control in the BIOS?

No, you can see it but simply the option doesn't work, even if you try to change it with ITK (Intel Integrator ToolKit, a tool that allow to change overclocking options even without Oc Debug Mod)

[diekaste]

It's true. I've been fighting with this all day, removed the battery once, unplugging and plugging between Vcore changes ect. Using 1476 and 1478. The funny thing is on the Rev.304 with the debug jumpered the options appear. Now the real odd bit is you can enable APS and change the default Vcore but it defaults to the lowest Vcore listed 1.275 I believe. Which will result in a 1.271 Vcore listed in Intel Desktop Utilities. If I enable default Vcore I get 1.254 in IDU mind that I have a ES chip, QPGE. This also seems to apply to MCH and FSB voltage as well.

Just went back to 1463 and all is well again.

[INFECTED]

It's true. I've been fighting with this all day, removed the battery once, unplugging and plugging between Vcore changes ect. Using 1476 and 1478. The funny thing is on the Rev.304 with the debug jumpered the options appear. Now the real odd bit is you can enable APS and change the default Vcore but it defaults to the lowest Vcore listed 1.275 I believe. Which will result in a 1.271 Vcore listed in Intel Desktop Utilities. If I enable default Vcore I get 1.254 in IDU mind that I have a ES chip, QPGE. This also seems to apply to MCH and FSB voltage as well.
Just went back to 1463 and all is well again.

Please, do write to Intel, don't forget

[Barr3l Rid3r]

1463 rox

[DeDaL]

Help plies.
When I change Vcore (In my XBX rev.305) in bios, in real voltage is not changing.
Im measured.