** OFFICIAL ** Intel DX38BT & DX48BT2 BoneTrail Thread

[Sean-E-Boy]

HighTest, Redphil, all,

As you have mentioned, "everything's fine" with W7 and x38/48. While it works out of the box, it doesnt mean that all of our components are up to date.

even with microsoft update, you will still need to download and install the Chipset INF, the Intel Matrix Storage manager, the LAN driver, and probably the Marvell driver (dont use it, so...)

And as previously explained through this thread, Intel doesnt seem to know how to make an INF updater that works as advertised or expected. To install the chipset drivers, you will need to download the package, extract it with 7-zip or winRAR then go to

start>right click computer>manage>device manager>view devices by connection>expand ACPI x64 based PC>expand Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System>expand PCI bus

every item within the list below Intel ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/PCH SATA RAID Controller can be updated via the files in the folder you extracted from the INF package.

each will need to be updated individually: right click>update driver software>browse my computer>find the folder and select it>tick Include subfolders>next.

do this for each item, some will require restarts, but you can wait until all have been updated for the restart

Sean

[Manel]

BIOS 2006 out, only minor updates it seems.
LAN drivers v14.7 also out but as usual can't dl.

[Dave_OC]

Dave,

I have seen this message before under similar conditions--where the system should start fine with the current settings, but just doesnt want to.

What processor did you have in the board before the q9650?

A few things you should know about this board: It is extremely fickle when you start changing things (usually settings, but I think hardware may fall into this as well). and probably most importantly, there are some strange power issues with the board.

Not to say that there are power fluctuations or anything that will damage your components, but this board hates being powered down or restarted, and you will have problems almost every time the power supply (PSU) is turned off or loses power.

all that being said, Manel has some good points, start with resetting the BIOS to defaults. If that doesnt seem to help, remove power from the PSU, remove the backup battery from the board (little coin battery by the SATA ports), push the power button to drain any remaining power, and let the thing sit for at least 2 hours. then put the coin battery back, plug PSU in, turn on.

this should reset everything to default and clear any history of boot problems that may be popping up and giving you that message.

Sean

Thanks for everyone's help. The problem was fixed with the BIOS update Intel made public on Nov 4th. The update hung at the end, after applying processor updates, but after waiting 10 minutes, a forced reboot went normally, and the issue has been fixed.

Thanks again for your help.

Dave

[Manel]

hi Dave
So the BIOS update went well, sort of. Glad it fixed your problem.
Did you notice any problems with BIOS 2006 yet? Does it look stable?

[Dave_OC]

So far, 2006 seems fine, although I was a bit worried that the install hung at the 'applying processor updates' text. All seems fine after about 2 hours of using the system, 8 hours of uptime after the BIOS update.

[BoneTrail]

Hello everyone.
I was surfing on Internet about Windows 7 compatibility with my DX48BT2 and found that: Windows 7 Compatibility Center - Intel BT2
there is ok but...
what about Intel integrated IDT Audio?
Can I use The IDT audio' Windows Vista drivers?
I tried with the RC W7 x64 and had different problems with the dolby digital and record from microphone.
I need Dolby digital configuration because I have an external decoder via SPDIF.
I hope for the updates... I don't want to buy a sound card when my BT2 has integrated audio with dolby digital live...

[xMrBunglex]

Hello everyone.
I was surfing on Internet about Windows 7 compatibility with my DX48BT2 and found that: Windows 7 Compatibility Center - Intel BT2
there is ok but...
what about Intel integrated IDT Audio?
Can I use The IDT audio' Windows Vista drivers?
I tried with the RC W7 x64 and had different problems with the dolby digital and record from microphone.
I need Dolby digital configuration because I have an external decoder via SPDIF.
I hope for the updates... I don't want to buy a sound card when my BT2 has integrated audio with dolby digital live...

Intel doesn't have Dolby drivers for 64-bit operating systems. i remember complaining about that to Intel a couple years ago - they said they had no plans to make them. you'll either need a sound card, a new motherboard, or downgrade to Win7 x86.

[Dave_OC]

Hello everyone.
I was surfing on Internet about Windows 7 compatibility with my DX48BT2 and found that: Windows 7 Compatibility Center - Intel BT2
there is ok but...
what about Intel integrated IDT Audio?
Can I use The IDT audio' Windows Vista drivers?
I tried with the RC W7 x64 and had different problems with the dolby digital and record from microphone.
I need Dolby digital configuration because I have an external decoder via SPDIF.
I hope for the updates... I don't want to buy a sound card when my BT2 has integrated audio with dolby digital live...

Win 7 32 runs fine. IDT audio installed fine. Would not advise installling the Intel Chipset drivers unless you need to.

Dave

[BoneTrail]

thank you for your replies.
My problem is that I have 4gb DDR3 then I need a 64 Bit Operating System.
I don't know why Intel doesn't develop Dolby Driver audio for 64 Bit Operating Systems... that is too bad... Extreme Series Suppose high gamma and quality but this problems make seem different ...
I can't believe that The Developers' Team can't make out these drivers...
In general, Boards with Chipset X48 have all drivers with Win7 and others 64 bit Operating Systems... inclusive before that Windows 7 official version was finished...
well, I thought that in Windows Vista x64 Dolby Digital works fine but seems that no...
After all; I will finish to buy a new Sound card... Sad but true...

[Manel]

Guys, Intel doesn't develop Dolby drivers. Audio drivers are developed by IDT (in our BoneTrail case) and supplied to Intel and other OEMs. intel doesn't provide them as regularly as IDT develops them, at least reading the drivers documentation. Maybe some don't pass Intel's quality tests, although most of them are WHQL'ed. Maybe they're just lazy.
BT, you don't really need 64bit OS for 4GB mem, you get about 3.5GB for running apps, since the rest will be taken by hardware mapping, your vid card will ultimatelly tell how much free mem you get. Still, that should be enough in most cases. Now, if you had 8GB that would be another story.

[BoneTrail]

Hi Manel.
I need a 64 Bit Operating System because additional for 4Gb I have one Ati 4850 x2 (2Gb) and one Nvidia 9800Gt (1Gb) for PhysX... This configuration don't work fine on 32 bit Operating System, I wouldn't like waste resources of my hardware limited from Software, when I paid too much for The board, graphics cards, etc...

On the other hand, that Intel doesn't develop Dolby drivers...this isn't excuse to have one Motherboard considered "High Gamma" without official Dolby drivers to the Most recent Microsoft's Operating System... and more when we are talking about one product arranged in Enthusiast Hardware or for gamers... cataloged with "Extreme Series"... My BoneTrail2 is not a bad motherboard, but this details from Intel to the consumers are negatives. I considered that are bad Merchandise's techniques. For the customers is necessary a better attention.

I am too disappointed , I contacted with Intel customer Support and don't give me a serious reply... I contacted with IDT Audio corporation and nothing... only redirected me to: PC Audio Support and Information So it's a loop...

In this point, right now I can't do anymore... Only paid more money to buy a new Sound Card (Creative X-Fi or Asus Xonar, Auzen Prelude maybe) and be grateful for your replies and the time that you take in this forum for help.

Great forum and excellent community .

Thanks a lot and sorry for extend my post.

[Manel]

BT, with all that hardware x64 is a must in fact.
Regarding Intel, it's been their way not really supporting their products the way they should. Usually their support techs just try to avoid this kind of questions.
It was my first Intel board, even knowing how Intel boards are picky and less prone to tweaking I still liked the board and went for it. Don't get me wrong, I love the board but there are still some things that could be better. If you consider that this board still has BIOS updates after all this time this is great. However, the software development and driver availability isn't so good. Not that they don't have available drivers, they do. But most of the times the links won't work or they don't provide all the available latest drivers - IDT drivers for example only come every so often and if you read the documentation there are several versions never released by Intel, WHQL'ed even.
Another grunge I have with them, IDCC never made it to final, still beta. They promised me some 6 months back that a final was coming. Still no show. Good thing the 755 beta works though.
As you said, this an Extreme and expensive board, a lot more care for the customer was in order.

[Manel]

Anyone else flashed 2006 yet? I haven't so far but it looks harmless. Don't know if it brings about any real changes/improvements. Seems it was good for Dave, solved his problem.
Guess I'll flash this weekend.
As usual, audio drivers are updated only every so often, Intel seems to hold updates provided by IDT. Latest 20000.1 came out long time ago. I bet IDT has a lot more versions out in the meantime, thing is Intel will not provide them to us. The Dolby issue is also relevant. I believe I saw somewhere a new version of Dolby control panel, maybe it wasn't for our codedc. I'm really not a Realtek fan but maybe if Intel went for that codec we'd have better support/driver availability. The newer boards use the 889 I believe.
Anyone tried to find info on Dolby Labs page for x64 Win 7 support?

[xMrBunglex]

this is getting interesting again. i installed Win7 x64 on my Bone Trail rig without any issues. the audio obviously worked in Win7 without me having to manually install any drivers. but here's the catch- the Intel download page doesn't have any audio drivers for Win7 x64. nothing at all. so i downloaded and installed the Vista x64 audio driver. the audio control panel had a Dolby page, which surprised me. but there was no sound coming out of my speakers and i didn't feel like messing with it, so i just uninstalled the audio driver and have been using whatever driver Windows automatically installed ever since.

i was happy when i was Dolby in the audio CP. it's worth looking into for someone with more time than me. maybe i could have easily gotten it working by changing a setting or two.


on a side note, the sleep feature works fine in Win7 x64. i can even wake the computer using my USB mouse or keyboard.

[djs357]

Manel,
Long time no type, but I have flashed 2006 on both my DX38BT and DX48BT2. If anything it seems a little more stable. Haven't had a Blue screen since doing so.

[djs357]

Just realized my signature was way out of date.

[Manel]

x, sure is promising having the Dolby page there but having no sound kinda ruins it. Anyway, Vista drivers should in most cases work with 7, maybe it's just one of those things that needs tweaking, as you say. I haven't gone 7 yet, so I can't mess with it, maybe someone will eventually figure it out, until Intel comes up with 7 drivers, I can't believe IDT hasn't them available yet. I guess Intel is holding them back as usual, maybe internal testing. Can't imagine why since almost always they are WHQL'ed, maybe just to check with the hardware.
djs, yes, it's been a while. Thanks for sharing, guess I'll go for it this weekend if I have the time. You have both BTs? Feel that BT2 is any better than BT1? I see you don't OC but have you tried to see which goes further? The BT2 is supposed to do it better, X48 is a higher binned X38, but who knows?!

[djs357]

I have oc'd the BT2. I had the Q9550 upto 4GHz for awhile. It was very sensitive to memory. It would run for weeks and then not boot. Haven't pushed the BT1 at all. Side note, the win7 (x64) audio thing is an issue no matter what motherboard. I hate to say it, but I think it is because MS finally got HDMI w/HDCP working. (I hope I am wrong here.)

[xMrBunglex]

the audio driver/CP installed and runs fine on my Gigabyte motherboard. it's Realtek and i'm on Win7 x64. i didn't have any issues at all with this board.



no Dolby here, but i'm not missing out on any features because i'm on x64.

i took that screenshot with the Win7 snipping too, btw. very cool to have that included with the OS

[Manel]

djs, I see your proc is a Q9550S, which is a lower power version of the Q9550. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the oc'ability. Maybe not, still 4GHz is very good anyway. Maybe your mem doesn't like it being oc'ed but it should be ok p till 1600 at least. Or maybe it's just this board we so much love with its quirks.
x, it seems Realtek has better development team, or faster to provide support for 7 than IDT. Or, like I said before, maybe IDT has it but Intel isn't releasing it just yet. Your guess is as good as mine.
I'm not sure this is related to HDCP. I think it's more like lack of support for 7, guess something should be coming out soon, hope so.

[Avantlord]

mine die.... :-(

[GasPipeJimmy]

Intel has a new BIOS glossery out for November.
http://download.intel.com/support/mo...bymenu_v12.pdf

[Manel]

Avantlord, did your BoneTrail die on you? How did that happen? Too much voltage oc'ing?

[GasPipeJimmy]

I just finished reading all 87 pages of this thread and it's a lot to digest.

I was just sent this motherboard by Intel as an upgrade replacement for a string of three DP45SGs that arrived busted (bad network, bad RAM slots, and otherwise damaged). My previous board was an Intel BadAxe2, and that was a fine board, but wouldn't let me take my Q6600 G0 past 333 FSB stably.

Anyways, I have a question for anyone that still has this board.
Is this board worth the trouble?

I'm running this board at stock setting for BIOS 2006 and the thing is amazingly stable, and even booted the very first time with standard settings and all four RAM slots populated with 8GB of RAM. No blue screens, no weird re-starts and overall about as stable as I could wish for, but my real goal is to overclock my Q6600 to something higher than 3.4GHz and preferably to 3.6GHZ.

I don't mind spending time with this board and getting to know how it works, but I don't really want to make it the sole focus of my existence for the next 12 months.
I guess my big decision right now is should I keep this or just send it back to Intel, get my $95 back, and just move on to more current technology?

I was kind of hoping to wait another year before I jumped into an i7-860 and figured this should last me until then, but if this is going to be a nightmare, I'd rather spend the extra money now and just be done with my upgrade problems for the next few years.

[GasPipeJimmy]

OK, after messing around with this board today it's not that bad.
I'm sure I'm benefiting from the earlier works of others with my three pages of notes from this whole thread, and a BIOS that's had many of the bugs worked out, but over all, it's not the huge pain I expected it to be.

My goal was 3.6, but the processor just won't do it. Core 0 goes flaky when I hit it with Prime 95 and that was with the voltage cranked up all the way to 1.5v. Temps were still OK under load at 71c. 3.4 seems to be fine as I can do that at almost default voltage. I'll let it run overnight and see if all is still well, and if so I'll work on my RAM optimization and if that goes OK then I think I'm done.

This turned out to be easier than the BadAxe2, with the exception of the restart bug that still exists.