ASUS P5K Deluxe - Intel P35 Bearlake + E6600 B1 / Q6600 B3

[synergy]

I just read a good 30+ pages looking for this question. My question is can a G0 Q6600 work with BIOS 311? I see some people are reporting that there using BIOS 311 with there G0 E6750CPUs and all is fine, but nothing with the new G0 Q6600's using BIOS 311. Can someone please confirm that BIOS 311 WILL or WILL NOT work with this CPU, so you MUST FLASH TO 501 (or 404). Thanks

I understand from what I've heard from someone who
said they did it is that you CAN boot a Q6600 G0 with
BIOS 0202 or 0311. You MAY see some kind of
"ucode error" message somewhere, but evidentally
that does NOT prevent you from using the BIOS'
built in flash utility to reflash to a newer BIOS that
does support the Q6600 G0 -- which would be 0404 at
least.

That's what I'll be attempting in about 3-4 days since
my motherboard is likely 0202 BIOS and I have no
other compatible CPU to use to reflash the motherboard
to the newer version before using the G0.

I think ASUS MAY still have options enabled that
overclock / overvolt the CPU by default even on
"AUTO" configuration. So if you want to be safer,
I'd quickly hop into the BIOS, head straight to the
Health/Temperature screen, make sure your voltages
and temperatures are sane, head to the
"reset all settings to BIOS defaults" and execute that,
then go to the clock/voltage control stull and disable
automatic overclocking, change any timing/voltage
you NEED to for your RAMs, exit & save all that,
go into BIOS again, reflash to 0404 or newer,
and then go through the careful process of setting
up and checking things in more detail.

Let us know how it works. I'll post an update on this
attempt when I get my CPU installed in a few days.

EDIT:
Here's the thread where I saw it confirmed what some of the options and behavior to expect are:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...keyword1=ucode

Hello, I have a new machine I'm trying to put together.

Asus P5K Deluxe, Q6600 G0, patriot ddr2-800 4GB (2x2GB), evga 8800gts.

Had difficulty getting it to post, eventually did but got the message "Intel cpu uCode error."

I'm assuming a bios update would fix this but was unsure, checking with folks here.

Also, was not sure whether to use 4-pin or 8-pin power connector, mobo came with a cap on 4 of them, power supply supports both. Also, not sure where to put ram, yellow or black slots.

Thanks in advance.

...
Upgraded bios to version 404, no longer get that error, however the system will not post with both sticks of ram, will post with one but not the other stick. I think i have a faulty stick of ram. Anyone have any experience with Patriot RMAs? Do I have to send both back or can I keep the good one and send them the bad one?
...
relia85,

You're just the person I wanted to ask -- could you please explain
a little more about the problem you saw? I am worried that it will happen
to me also because I have a P5K and G0 stepping Q6600 CPU coming for it.
I'm pretty sure my current BIOS is older than 404 and I don't know what's
going to happen when I stick my G0 in there if it'll let me reflash to 404
safely at the right voltage/frequency/stability or not.

What BIOS version were you running BEFORE you reflashed to 404? You're sure
it was something earlier? Would that earlier BIOS let you use the G0 CPU at
all i.e. were you able to use the G0 to reflash TO 404 despite the error message
or other problems?

So where did you see that message, and what happened after you got it? Could
you just continue and ignore it, or would it stop dead or what? Was there a way
to get into the BIOS settings / BIOS based flash utility or whatever even with
the error?

Do you think the uCode error could have had anything to do with the possibly
bad RAM?

I don't know about your RAM problem, sorry, I've got two sticks of patriot here
that I'll be testing as soon as I get my CPU and put the system together.
Hopefully it'll work. I've never RMAed a Patriot stick before.

Maybe check the timings and go to manual override on all the voltages and timings
and put them at very very slow / conservative values to make sure it should work
if it's at all possible.

Some people say 0311 was a better BIOS, others seem to like 0404, others seem
to like 0501... so I guess there could be a BIOS problem that affects your ability
to have the MB be stable so maybe a different version would help. I wouldn't
load anything before 0404, though, if you think you'll go back to having a ucode error
or other CPU problems.

Originally posted by: relia85
Hello, I have a new machine I'm trying to put together.

Asus P5K Deluxe, Q6600 G0, patriot ddr2-800 4GB (2x2GB), evga 8800gts.

Had difficulty getting it to post, eventually did but got the message "Intel cpu uCode error."

I'm assuming a bios update would fix this but was unsure, checking with folks here.

Also, was not sure whether to use 4-pin or 8-pin power connector, mobo came with a cap on 4 of them, power supply supports both. Also, not sure where to put ram, yellow or black slots.

Thanks in advance.

...

The Asus P5K that I recieved had bios version 2.58 if I remember correctly, lets just say some 2.5x version. Using the G0 processor the system boots up just fine and posts, and you can get into the bios to make adjustments, and you can also flash the bios. I don't know if you can properly run the system and boot/install an OS because I didn't go that far but I doubt it. I downloaded bios version 404 to a USB flash drive and used the asus EZ flash utility (alt+F2 at the post screen) because I was way too lazy to break out a floppy drive. After that the error message disappears and I'm assuming you can load an OS just fine (haven't had time to do that yet). I'm just really angry right now that I have to RMA my ram because I have no spare ram to run the system on right now, so I have to wait. I highly doubt the ucode error was due to the ram and manually setting the ram timings and voltage had no effect. However, the mobo did not properly detect the 5-5-5-12 timings and instead posted 5-5-5-15 so I had to adjust that manually. I'm just relieved at least one stick of ram worked so I could confirm the cpu and mobo was fine (first lga 775 experience).
...