Thank you so much for your post!!! Let me update you and the others on the situation:Originally Posted by nemesis326
1. First of all, thanks to you and the others for replying to my original post(s). This confirmed that this is a real bug, not limited to one particular case, mistake, or configuration.
2. This has been confirmed here on Windows Vista SP1 AND XP. Don't know about Vista w/out SP1.
3. This happens no matter what you do, no other devices installed, just Vista and the board drivers and no other drivers, and whether you use the 2007 drivers from the CD or the DX48BT2 web page (8.3.x series), or the new 2008 drivers series 8.6.x included only in the 9.x June 2008 package available only on one page of Intel's site dedicated to Intel Series 4 motherboard (X48). Some techs at Intel are aware of the page and ask to install only those drivers, some other techs don't know about it, and finally the DX48BT2 page has not yet been updated. It's a driver mess. Anyway, it doesn't change the bug.
4. Uninstalling reinstalling reformatting etc etc will not change the bug. Intel reports the installation successful, clean install or not, new or old drivers. I've done many tests.
5. This issue is not observed by people who have the older 6.x series driver from 01/2007, that apparently is installed with IDCC, but yet has the name "SMBus 2.0" (vs. "SMBus").
6. The popup message shown by Vista is random. It may or may not show on your system. It does not stay on long, you can miss it. It appears only once. It is normal to see it given the bug that the SMBus device says "no driver installed"!
7. This is without doubt an Intel bug. Either there is a driver installed, or there isn't. So the fact that no exclamation point are shown in the device manager, and driver date/name/version are provided, conflict with the fact that the status says no driver installed, and that clicking driver details show a message saying that no drivers were loaded.
8. Now, the real news: I've been on the phone, email, etc with Intel for more than a week. I've done all the tests they asked me to do, half of them were not relevant or smart suggestions, but I did it anyway. I asked them to escalate, because they were concluding by: sorry it's just you, or you could try to RMA your board.
[Ignore the message below -- see my updated post 7/18/2008 at 6:57PM, http://www.xtremesystems.org/Forums/...postcount=1314
The situation was handled better by Intel after I posted the information below, and I do think they read it (see my post 7/18/2008 6:57PM for the reason/details)
I've finally gotten a call back. Read on, you will be amazed:
a. A voice mail tells me that the error I found could not be duplicated on Vista SP1 on their systems, and asks me to call back. I have saved the voicemail and can post it if needed.
b. I talk to yet another Intel tech support guy, explain the situation. He says basically it's just me with the bug, no one else. In order to explain the situation better since he's not really top-notch up to date with the situation, I ask him to come to this forum to see the posts, and screenshots of the bug. OK, now he puts me on hold to go talk to other people, for 5-10 minutes.
c. Finally gets back to me. Funny, now the story has changed: they were in fact able to replicate my bug!? He tries to explain a few things that are completely incoherent, then goes on to say that if I want to get rid of the message, I should try to install a RAID system, it could work, because of different drivers. I explain that I do not want to buy another hard drive and RAID it to see if it solves their bug, but am asking simply if this bug is an issue or not. He does not answer the question, and immediately says: it's not an Intel bug, it's Microsoft, it's not our problem, you need to talk to Microsoft.
d. I explain calmly again that this is visible BOTH on Vista and XP, specifically with their drivers, the one that come with the board or on their website, and no other board on the market has this bug, so really, it's up to them to investigate. I tell him again that I simply want to know if I can safely ignore the bug, and if there will be an update, investigation, or maybe a note on the FAQ section of the Intel website.
e. Now he suddenly changes story again, and tells me that I'm really the only one with the bug, "no one else has reported it".
f. At this point, I am wondering how many times he is going to change stories, and if he is under the influence of drugs. So I again explain him that he just said they were able to replicate the bug, that it is posted here by others, and that the DX48BT2 has not been on the market for long (although same bug with DX38BT2). I know he is lying because I know personally someone else who has also wrote to Intel to mention the bug, with an assigned case number. I have his case number too.
g. No hope at this point, I ask if I can talk to someone else or if the case can be reviewed and escalated.
I tell him one more time that I have seen an error message in Vista, have seen the Device Manager bug, and other have seen the same thing, so I simply want to know if they have confirmed the bug and if I can simply ignore it or if they are going to work on it, that's it, I'm not asking for the moon! For God's sake, it's Intel most advanced "Extreme Series", most expensive, most recent board for a company that people buy because of engineering/technical support and reliability vs. some cheaper overseas boards! From the world leader in semiconductors, they make the board, the northbridge and southbridge, and the processor too!!! And their profits are up 25%, announced two days ago(http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/15/tech...ion=2008071518), it's not like they're going under.
I'm sad that the phone conversation was not recorded. I've called Intel before and it was handled in a much more professional way, no complaints. For this case, the previous guy that escalated the issue wasn't great either, and this last one was definitely unprofessional and/or really incomptetent. I will not give his name because it's likely not his real name -- please note that I don't think that the fact that English was not his mother tongue did not create any communication issues, there was no miscommunication. He was just trying to blame anything on anybody, "Intel has no responsibility".
So in the end he said that he would put a note to escalate the issue after I insisted, but "probably nothing would happen", and that "no, he can't say the bug is not an issue, it's not true, I shouldn't have the bug, he says there IS an issue" but tells me I'm on my own. Wonderful. Poll: Should I buy again Intel in the future? (no need to reply)
Note that I also sent an email/letter to Intel, but save your some time: they handle by email only simple requests. When it doesn't work or if there is a real bug, they will eventually ask you to call them.
PLEASE, IF YOU ARE READING:
- Call Intel at (916) 377-7000
- They will ask you first an email address where they can reach you, your motherboard, and give you a case number
- You will be transferred shortly to the Tech Support line; when you get the guy/girl on the phone, reference immediately this thread, specifically page 51 with the screenshot: this will save you a lot of time in explanations
Hopefully if a few people call they will at least do something.
Hopefully someone at Intel who handles customer satisfaction or engineering development or marketing of their top-of-the line boards will read this forum...nooo, who am I kidding
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