Testing / comparing : Intel D975XBX2 / Asus P5B DX ***56K WARNING***

[theonlybabyface]

BIOS Version 2745

About This BIOS:
- May 08, 2007
- BX97520J.86A.2745.2007.0509.1841
- SATA RAID info:
- Intel(R) RAID for SATA - v5.6.2.1002
- Marvell 88SE6145 SATA BIOS – v1.1.0.34
- PXE UNDI: Initializing Intel(R) Boot Agent GE v1.2.28
- PXE Base Code: Intel(R) Boot Agent GE v1.2.42
- Intel® Active Management Technology info:
- Intel® AMT BX Firmware: v1.2.3

New Fixes/Features:
- Updated processor support.
- Updated the Heceta6 Voltage conversion constants.
- Fixed an issue where with certain processor fan goes 100%.
- Fixed S3 wake-up fails when drives are attached to Marvell* RAID
controller.
- Fixed PXE always attempts to load when drives are attached to
Marvell* controller.
- Fixed audio Code subsystem ID problem after resuming S3.
- Fixed flashing a large BMP Logo caused inability to reflash and
possibly not boot.

This one looks interesting though "Updated the Heceta6 Voltage conversion constants."

[STaRGaZeR]

This one looks interesting though "Updated the Heceta6 Voltage conversion constants."

Exactly, if anyone has it, tell us how it affects to vcore fluctuations and such

[ChaosMinionX]

flashing now.....

[Xilikon]

Will download and flash now, especially since I'm swapping my E4300 for a E6420. I hope it will also fix the issue with memory killing since my FireStix just died last night even at a measly 2.2v and a 80mm fan cooling them. Both of them o_O

[mezcal]

Interesting. I had that issue with the fan running at 100% (all of them actually.)
I was about to RMA the board again but then I installed IDCC and the fan issue was immediately resolved.
Something to do with the smbios driver I presume but don't really know.

[Lyshen]

Question, since some people are having their ram chips die on them. Is it wise to run ram at 2.32v?

Currently have mine my 2x 1GB G.Skill PC2-6400 running at 1000MHz, cas4 @2.32v.

[ChaosMinionX]

Question, since some people are having their ram chips die on them. Is it wise to run ram at 2.32v?

Currently have mine my 2x 1GB G.Skill PC2-6400 running at 1000MHz, cas4 @2.32v.

With proper cooling your fine. I run mine 2.32v 3-3-3-6 DDR2 800

[Xilikon]

Not always, mine both died and it's running at just 2.2v with proper cooling as well

On another subject, i'm really stumped at a issue i had with the new E6420 L707A323. With this processor, I hit a fsb wall very early at 377 MHz Here's what I tried so far :

-Bumped the voltage all the way to 1.6v.
-Updated to the latest BIOS (2745) in case the cpu isn't recognized correctly.
-Checked 5x that Watchdog is disabled in the maintenance menu.
-I configured the RAM so it's not the limiting factor (underclocked to only 230MHz).
-Flashed the BIOS to 2333 in case Watchdog is messing with me unexpectedly.
-Raised the vMCH to 1.4v and vFSB to 1.6v.
-Removed the video card and put a cheap PCI video card.

Fearing I got a problem with the board after both of the RAM sticks died and knowing that I ran 9x375 with my E4300 24/7, I decided to swap the processor back to my E4300 then redid the overclocking till it cannot boot. So far, I booted to 9x400 all the way in Windows and ran SuperPI 1M without balking

The FSB wall I got is when it ran cool and stable at 376 (under 42C load and 1.4v) but just bumping the FSB 1 MHz resulted to no video and no POST sign.

I'm asking here if anyone experienced this issue and if it can be resolved ?? Tonight, I will try to put the cpu back on the board and redo the tests. If nobody know why and I still get a FSB wall, I'm considering to RMA and get another one since it's clearly a dud (I know and feel the CPU can do more, as shown by the low load temp).

The specs of my system is in my sig (just swap the cpu with a E6420 L707A323).

[Supertim0r]

you NEED good airflow over the chipset heatsink, it's running REALLY hot sometime (can hold back your overclocking)

[Xilikon]

you NEED good airflow over the chipset heatsink, it's running REALLY hot sometime (can hold back your overclocking)

I'm already getting good airflow on the chipset with the SI-128. If it was the case, I wouldn't have gotten my E4300 to 9x400

[Lyshen]

With proper cooling your fine. I run mine 2.32v 3-3-3-6 DDR2 800

Heh tried dropping ram speed down to DDR2-832 and lowering timings to 3-3-3-6... need 2.40+ volts to run. At 2.36v was getting lots of memory errors. I think I'll stick with cas4.

[ubiquityman]

When I flash the latest version (2745) of BIOS, my machine will not boot.

It goes into endless resets during post. The activity lights on my two IDE CDROM drives connected to the ATA port flash endlessly as the mobo reset every 5s or so.

I used the floppy method (takes about 5 minutes) to recover the BIOS.

[azzido]

When I flash the latest version (2745) of BIOS, my machine will not boot.

It goes into endless resets during post. The activity lights on my two IDE CDROM drives connected to the ATA port flash endlessly as the mobo reset every 5s or so.

I used the floppy method (takes about 5 minutes) to recover the BIOS.

Tried to press reset button. It might help

[ChaosMinionX]

When I flash the latest version (2745) of BIOS, my machine will not boot.

It goes into endless resets during post. The activity lights on my two IDE CDROM drives connected to the ATA port flash endlessly as the mobo reset every 5s or so.

I used the floppy method (takes about 5 minutes) to recover the BIOS.

Mines running flawlessly.

[ubiquityman]

Seems like rev 506 of the board works with the flashfile but 505 doesn't. You folks that have flashed successfully, can you look at the bar code tag on the motherboard and tell us what rev you have.
Intel calls it the AA #. Mine is: D53350-505

If any of you have a 505 rev flashed successfully, can you tell us what type of CPU or connections you have to the motherboard?
Right now, I have 4 drives connected to the Intel SATA, 2 IDE DVDs, and 1 Marvel SATA HD. Running a QX6700.

I've tried flashing 2745 again using the floppy method, but same result. System resets endlessly. Monitors don't even turn on.
I also tried putting the BIOS Configuration Jumper into recovery mode.

If it's not a board revision problem, then I'm going to try setting the CMOS settings to DEFAULT before I flash.

Something is hanging up this board. And yes, I did try reset....

[ChaosMinionX]

Bios Rev. 2745...
BadAxe2 revision 505...


Its all there in the screen shots

currently have 4 HDDs plugged in to the board. all sata 2 raptor 150s, 2 caviar 500gb.


EDIT: And thats a modded Enzotech Ultra-X temp at 1.55v
Granted its only idle, under orthos it only goes to like 55-57C
Still damn good for air cooling.

[theonlybabyface]

Seems like rev 506 of the board works with the flashfile but 505 doesn't. You folks that have flashed successfully, can you look at the bar code tag on the motherboard and tell us what rev you have.
Intel calls it the AA #. Mine is: D53350-505

If any of you have a 505 rev flashed successfully, can you tell us what type of CPU or connections you have to the motherboard?
Right now, I have 4 drives connected to the Intel SATA, 2 IDE DVDs, and 1 Marvel SATA HD. Running a QX6700.

I've tried flashing 2745 again using the floppy method, but same result. System resets endlessly. Monitors don't even turn on.
I also tried putting the BIOS Configuration Jumper into recovery mode.

If it's not a board revision problem, then I'm going to try setting the CMOS settings to DEFAULT before I flash.

Something is hanging up this board. And yes, I did try reset....

Pull the power plug, remove cmos jumper completely, remove the battery and wait 10 minutes. Drop battery back in, place cmos jumper to maintenance mode, replace psu plug...fire it up. Go into BIOS, make all of your settings including the date/time...power off when prompted (after saving), move jumper back into normal mode...fire it up. While it's booting, go have a cold beer.

[Raptor.1]

Pull the power plug, remove cmos jumper completely, remove the battery and wait 10 minutes. Drop battery back in, place cmos jumper to maintenance mode, replace psu plug...fire it up. Go into BIOS, make all of your settings including the date/time...power off when prompted (after saving), move jumper back into normal mode...fire it up. While it's booting, go have a cold beer.

Yes, what he said~
Get rid of the floppy too, having a floppy is like having an 8 track player.

Hopefully your boot drive is not the SATA HD using the Marvel chipset, I have had problems with that when flashing bios updates. The Marvel chipset is good for RAID setups but sucks otherwise. I had a Plextor SATA drive pluged into the Marvel once and when I updated my bios I totally lost it and ended up selling the drive. There was a fix for it but it was envasive and I had allready made up my mind to get totally away from Marvel because of the pure hell nightmare I was having with it.

I have the same MB CPU setup as you with the 505 rev. No Problems with the new bios. Updating it trough Windows is the best way for me and I have never had any problem for the exception of the Marvel issue.

If it is a Marvel thing go back to the last bios that worked for you.

[nealh]

so does the 2745 bios add anytinhg worthwhile?

what about watdog?, C1E disabling is this fixed

[ArcticOC]

so does the 2745 bios add anytinhg worthwhile?

what about watdog?, C1E disabling is this fixed

watdog still sucks and no C1E fix

Apart from that everthing else is ok!

[ubiquityman]

Pull the power plug, remove cmos jumper completely, remove the battery and wait 10 minutes. Drop battery back in, place cmos jumper to maintenance mode, replace psu plug...fire it up. Go into BIOS, make all of your settings including the date/time...power off when prompted (after saving), move jumper back into normal mode...fire it up. While it's booting, go have a cold beer.

OK, I did just that. Left the machine for about 15 minutes after unplugging the power supply,removing the battery from the motherboard, and unplugging AC from the power supply (not that would make any difference).

Powered up and same thing. The motherboard resets about every 3s or so. It doesn't complete POST.

After that,

I also tried unplugging all the HD SATA cables, all USB devices, removed the PCI-E video card, unplugged ethernet, unplugged PS2 keyboard, unplugged Floppy and IDE.

Anyone using mb rev 505 with a Quad core processor?

Other than S3 power saving and the PS2 keyboard cold boot issue, the motherboard works perfectly in the previous BIOS version or otherwise I'd suspect hardware.

[theonlybabyface]

So it does post? If so, do you have enough time to press F2 and get into the BIOS?

[ubiquityman]

So it does post? If so, do you have enough time to press F2 and get into the BIOS?

No, that's what I'm talking about. It doesn't even post. It needs to get through the POST sequence to get to the BIOS setup screen. That's about a 30s sequence. When I turn on the machine, it gets about 2-3s into the power up sequence and restarts. It doesn't even get to turning on the monitors.

[ubiquityman]

Possibly related to whether the motherboard has ECC memory?

Anyone out there with a successfully working 2745 have ECC RAM?

[creicks]

Well...I received my replacement video card (XFX 7900GS). Works fine.

So far I have not hit any other snags.

I've just now started to overclock my chip (C2D e6600; L706A499, 4/3/07). As usual my progress has been slowed because of my busy life.

I'm currently running orthos stable at a very non-earth-shattering 3.1Ghz (FSB:320 REF:266 MEM:667).

My Core voltage is 1.35v (1.329-1.341v actual from HW monitor).
Ram (Buffalo Firestix) is at DDR2 866 5-5-5-15 at 2.1v. I've kept the timings loose so as to eliminate RAM as a source of trouble.

All other voltages are set at stock.

My full load temps are at 41 C.

Still working my way up. If I can get to 3.4Ghz orthos stable at less than 55C, I'll probably call it good as I'm not interested in setting any records.