** OFFICIAL ** Intel DX38BT & DX48BT2 BoneTrail Thread

[Randy]

Yeah, me too.

I've also had problems with BIOS updates released since November on another Intel board. Wonder who Intel fired in October and if they should hire him / her back with a raiise! (LOL.)

To all of you with Vista S3 / Suspend to RAM problems:
Have you reinstalled Vista since updating to the latest BIOS? Results?
Also consider giving the following tool a try and see if it helps:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hveijk/mst/indexe.htm

Have you had any luck with the MST tool ?

[Ymir]

Have you had any luck with the MST tool ?

I assume he has since he recommended it. Let's hope he has at least used it

I was thinking of picking up one of these boards myself a small while ago, but now I'm not too sure. I'd like to see a lot more quad results before I jump on board.

[Mr Steveo]

Have you had any luck with the MST tool ?

I wont have access to that computer until Wednesday. At that point I can give first hand impressions of the MST Tool.

Aside from people having good things to say about the latest version of the tool in Vista, here is the other reason I feel there is a chance it will help solve the S3 problem:

At first glance it seems obvious that the new Intel BIOS has made a firmware level (BIOS) change that leads to the malfunctioning of S3 sleep state. So at first glance it is reasonable to just chalk it up to a BIOS bug and not consider the software environment.

However, recall that under WinXP, for example, if you installed XP with S3 enabled in the BIOS - your computer would enter S3 sleep just fine. If you later disabed S3 in the BIOS and booted fully into Windows, S3 would be disabled. Subsequent to that, however, if you re-enabled S3 in the BIOS, unfortunately the computer does not return to being able to enter S3.

S3 sleep state, even though its being disabled was caused by a BIOS change, the only way to re-enable S3 was by using a software tool called dumppo.exe (provided by Microsoft.)

So, there is a scenario where a BIOS settings change made changes to a hidden part of the power management system in Windows. Putting the BIOS settings back proper made no difference - S3 remained disabled. But using a software tool to repair hidden power management settings was effective in re-enabling S3 capability.

Bringing things full circle? The MST Tool was developed to perform dumppo.exe functions on Windows MCE and later Windows Vista. For this reason, and considering the scenario above, there is a reasonable chance it could solve the S3 problems with the latest Intel BIOS update.

Where I am skeptical is if the change in the BIOS setup makes changes to the hardware timeouts which prevent S3 from even being possible in the first place. (Firmware bug prevents certain hardware from shutting down.)

Right now I am slightly more confident than not.

Feel free to wait until later this week when I can report back first hand.

Or if you want to give it a try in the meantime, just make a quick image with "Complete PC Back Up / Back Up My Computer" and give the tool a try. (Vista Business and Ultimate only.) I know a number of folks who have had no problem with the tool, so I highly doubt you are going to damage your PC. But it is always wise to have a backup image before making base level OS changes.