New Bios update EVGA 680i P23 BETA

Both wrong. nVidia designed the board, at least the reference design, as well as the north bridge, south bridge and who knows what other components. Foxconn is contracted to manufacture it and they brand it for eVGA, BFG and whoever else wants to buy and market them to the general public.

It seems like an interesting plan to allow some of these other popular brand names to jump into the motherboard business that don't have the infrastructure in place to do it themselves.

nVidia knows the design and the inner workings so they would be the ones to write the new BIOS update... If you actually read Kyle's news post, it reflects this...
 
All these years people said get rid of the floppy, (thinking to myself...where did I put that floppy drive?) :eek:
 
Installed the new beta bios, no problems yet. As a side bonus, it seems to have upped my Sandra Memory Bandwidth benchmark by almost 400 MB/s, to ~7600 MB/s... I have not had the SATA errors problem widely reported, but I did have an intemittent "drive busy light" that would occasionally pop up and make me wait about 30 secs for a drive access, always a mystery to me as to what the drives were doing. It hasn't happened since I updated. We'll see if there are any other side effects of the beta bios.

For the sake of all the folks that DID have the SATA problem, let's hope this bios does fix the problem...
 
Stoked to go home and update. I have been plagued by this issue for nearly a month and have been running a highly crippled system thanks to the SATA bug. I had to reinstall XP four times and I've spent countless hours trying to troubleshoot this issue but just ended up waiting for someone else to find a fix. I hope this is that fix. Running DDR2 1066 at 667 with relaxed timings is not my idea of a good time or a wise allocation of funds... :)
 
Just got done flashing bios after finding my floppy drive, surprised it still works. ;) Have fedex dropping off my winxp pro plus another stick of ram plus new sata II drive. After I get the os installed will let you know if I have anything to report back with.
 
I wish everyone good luck with this BIOS update. I'm contemplating going with this board in the near future..
 
I updated the bios through the floppy method and cleared my CMOS. Still get 12 SATA errors when I start WinDVD 8 and load a DVD from a folder. Same error I got before the update.


My system:

Intel 6700
EVGA 680i MB
2GB Corsair Dominator 6400C4
2 7900GTO in Sli
2 Seagate 320 SATA 3Gb perp. drives (RAID 0)
Creative Labs X-Fi Platinum
Cooler Master Realpower 850
Antec P180
Pioneer 111D
 
Replicnt said:
I updated the bios through the floppy method and cleared my CMOS. Still get 12 SATA errors when I start WinDVD 8 and load a DVD from a folder. Same error I got before the update.
Click to expand...

You will most likely have to reformat if your Win XP install was corrupt from the previous errors. Lots of people are reporting that on the evga forums.
 
I am now stable OC'ed @ 3GHZ on my E6600. Worked like a charm!

Windows XP Pro x64
eVGA 680i Mobo (bios p23 beta)
eVGA geforce 8800 gtx 768MB
2 GB OCZ Platinum series r2 800MHZ RAM
Antec 650W PS
Intel Core 2 duo E6600 @ 3ghz
2x320GB seagate Sata2 drives @ RAID 0
 
oneshot said:
You will most likely have to reformat if your Win XP install was corrupt from the previous errors. Lots of people are reporting that on the evga forums.
Click to expand...

I read that but never had any other problems before... The ONLY reproducible errors I can get are from loading a DVD from a folder. I seriously doubt that a reformat and reinstall would cure this. I really only got the errors AFTER I installed the P21 bios rev. P19 (what the board came with) worked fine. I'm not the only person who is still experiencing these errors, read the EVGA message board thread to verify if you like.
 
dabhpr said:
Installed the new beta bios, no problems yet. As a side bonus, it seems to have upped my Sandra Memory Bandwidth benchmark by almost 400 MB/s, to ~7600 MB/s...
Click to expand...
I can confirm this! My memory bandwith went through the roof after the update (at least +500 MB/s), reaching 8600 MB/s :)
 
Replicnt said:
I read that but never had any other problems before... The ONLY reproducible errors I can get are from loading a DVD from a folder. I seriously doubt that a reformat and reinstall would cure this. I really only got the errors AFTER I installed the P21 bios rev. P19 (what the board came with) worked fine. I'm not the only person who is still experiencing these errors, read the EVGA message board thread to verify if you like.
Click to expand...

So wait you're running P21 bios? P23 is the beta bios that fixes the SATA problems...
Your post doesn't make much sense.
 
On my system the BIOS fixed the SATA issue.

I can happily say that I finally am able to run my system the way I wanted too.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 @ 2.93ghz (x11 versus the stock x10)
EVGA 680i (switched from the Asus Striker Extreme)
Mushkin DDR2 2GB PC-8500 @ 1066mhz, 5-5-4-12 with 2.3v
Seagate Barracuda 750GB (x2, RAID 0)
GeForce 8800 GTX (x2, SLI)
Creative Labs X-Fi Extreme Music
Dell 2407WFP 24" LCD
PPC&C 1KW-Quad PSU

Now the only issues I am having are related to the games I play. Splinter Cell: Double Agent is not fully compatible with the 8800s, SLI.
 
MrSelfDestruct said:
On my system the BIOS fixed the SATA issue.

I can happily say that I finally am able to run my system the way I wanted too.
Click to expand...

I don't have all my parts yet for my new machine but I have had this motherboard sitting in my closet for about 2.5 weeks now. After reading the 30 page thread I was getting worried. Now seeing they released this yesterday and it's fixing 99% of the problems I am back to being excited to build the new machine. Can't wait!
 
oneshot said:
So wait you're running P21 bios? P23 is the beta bios that fixes the SATA problems...
Your post doesn't make much sense.
Click to expand...

Yeah it does - they're saying that their m/b came with the P19 bios and it worked fine. Trying the P21 and later (including the P23) gives errors.
 
MrSelfDestruct said:
On my system the BIOS fixed the SATA issue.

I can happily say that I finally am able to run my system the way I wanted too.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 @ 2.93ghz (x11 versus the stock x10)
EVGA 680i (switched from the Asus Striker Extreme)
Click to expand...

I was wondering why you switched from the Striker Extreme to EVGA. Did you have
the same SATA issues with the Striker ?
 
oneshot said:
Kyle, have you had Dan_D try this out on his eVGA board that he was having all those problems with? Curious about what you guys have found in the labs.
Click to expand...


that was a personal board that he bought for himself and returned for a refund before I could head him off to buy it from him. :( So we dont have any "bad" boards to test.
 
oneshot said:
have you tried the BIOS on any other reference design boards? Thought I read it could work on ref. boards.
Click to expand...


According to NVIDIA this issue is ONLY seen on their reference design motherboards. So no, we have not tried to flash other makers' boards.
 
guess everyone is going to snap up all the bstock new but opened boards and update the bios and have a cheap gaming board ?
 
My Hardware is X6800 @ 3800. 2GB Kingston 1.2ghz 9600 @1266mhz. 1 Raptor 150GB as Primary. Plextor SATA DVD/RW, 400GB WD SATA HDD. 12 Hours ORTHOS Small FFT Stable. 14 Hours ORTHOS Large FFT Stable, Dual Super Pi 32M Stable, 8 Hours Memtest Stable.
While copying 7GB Steam Folder from D: to C: this is what my Event Viewer Showed. My system is completely stable other than these sata issues. If i back the memory down to 1000-1080 errors go away. Most of the people on EVGA forums that are reporting no issues, are not overclocking. This P23 is a great improvement, but issue is not fixed. If you want to use this board as it was advertised (Extreme Overclocker) be prepared to wait a little longer for all the bugs to be worked out. I can tighten my timings and get the same from this memory @ 950 but the problem is still there at high memory freq. I can live with it for now, atleast its Usable. Ive increased voltages per requests, hasn't helped any. I'm down for any suggestions. Also included is a screenshot of some benchmarks. I still like this board better than my striker.
 
firewars said:
I can confirm this! My memory bandwith went through the roof after the update (at least +500 MB/s), reaching 8600 MB/s :)
Click to expand...

I've had zero issues with my board, but I'm a sucker for new BIOS releases and decided to give the P23 beta BIOS a shot. Dusted off my floppy drive and spent a half hour locating a floppy disk that still works... can you even buy them anymore? :p

Anyway, the P23 BIOS seems stable and didn't introduce any problems here. BUT, I didn't notice any of these memory bandwidth increases that are being bandied about. I actually see a very slight decrease across the board in memory bandwidth performance - most likely due to some low level timings in the BIOS changes being slackened up a bit to prevent the SATA problems.

Here's a comparison using Sandra:
eVGA_680i_Bios_Compare.jpg


I can live with this. It's a very, very slight change and if it means more stability and less of a chance of problems down the road, I'm all for it. I'm very happy with my eVGA 680i board...it overclocks great and I've never had any issues. Guess I got lucky.
 
Back on topic.
Just to make sure the bios loaded correctly, i've reloaded it through windows and again with floppy. I re-installed windows while overclocked, no errors during install. Installed all drivers and tested file transfer again. 1st 5 minutes of transfer was perfect, no errors. Then system froze for about 3 minutes with HDD activity light on solid. File transfer stopped, event viewer full of errors, d: drive no longer showing until reboot. Is anybody here running memory over 1200 without issues?
 
Hey guys,
I didn't have any of the problems most were experiencing other than a jumpy mouse over 3.5 GHZ,but the P23 took care of that,this board is unbelievable I am really happy so far,hope all goes well with the rest of you :)
 
I have had 0 problems with my evga 680i board. This board oc's real well...
 
darktiger said:
I have had 0 problems with my evga 680i board. This board oc's real well...
Click to expand...

Ditto that.

All I've noticed is some holes in the FSB that have already been mentioned in the review sites. And for some reason 400x9 = 3999MHz to the BIOS but 3600MHz to CPU-Z etc. Same with 359 and 401. Perhaps the new P23 will fix it, but I am going to wait for a non beta version since I don't have the SATA RAID issue.
 
Is anyone else having problems with evga's ftp server? It keeps timing out when I try to download the file?
 
03M5 said:
They already did:
"Given what we have seen today, the nForce 680i reference motherboards are back on the “[H] Recommenced Buy” list."

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTI0NywxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
Click to expand...

I have 5 of these 680i boards now, and have had NO major problems with teh EVGA, BFGTech or the ASUS.

I have a BFG board that is showing some issues I have seen EVGA owners post on. Sees a PS2 error erratically, and mine will sometimes lose the BIOS settings...just some of them and this is when doing restarts. Nothing monumental and likely nothing that is going to be a deal breaker. The BFGTech will also "only" OC to 461MHz FSB, likely higher than most of you will ever need to go.

So my suggestion here is yes, they are OK to buy. You might want to read up and be aware of any issues.

That all said, I still am not confident enough to put one in my own box with sensitive data on it. I am going to wait it out another week or so and see what the community feedback is.

And do keep in mind reading this, if we only suggested you buy perfect motherboards, we would not suggest you ever buy another one.
 
Well I just recovered from a bad flash; that was a scary experience. For those that may be presented with a insert floppy with awdflash.exe message, go to asus's site, choose a random motherboard in the download section and download the flash utility.
 
Something to remember is this "Rule of thumb"-
Only flash the bios if your having a problem. ;)
 
I really love how [H] spearheads investigations like this one. I'm in the market for a new gaming computer, and you can be sure I'm watching this thread :D
 
Any new word from nvidia? it apears they havent "fixed" this issue, only made it a little better.
 
nugzo said:
Any new word from nvidia? it apears they havent "fixed" this issue, only made it a little better.
Click to expand...

What problems are you having?
 
EVGATECH_JacobF
Administrator

1337 Posts

Posted - 12/20/2006 : 10:32:20 AM Show Profile Email Poster Reply with Quote
Hi all,

The P23 BETA 2 BIOS is now released, this further improves upon SATA compatibility.

Here is the official word:

quote:NVIDIA has released a Beta 2 of the P23 BIOS. This BIOS fixes a SATA issue most specifically related to the use of the NCQ function available on some SATA drives. Note this is still a beta BIOS.

For users who downloaded the Beta 1 P23 BIOS, it is recommended that you upgrade to this BIOS version.

Full QA continues on an official production candidate.

Details
BIOS P23 Beta 1 was released to resolve a SATA instability related to signal timings. Additional testing has uncovered a second issue related to the use of NCQ. These fixes have been added to P23 BIOS Beta 2.

Release notes
Fixes NCQ issues. Includes all fixes from P23 Beta 1.



You will find the BIOS instructions below, and please post any feedback.

Thank you for your support and patience through this matter.

Floppy Method

* Download the following file: ftp://ftp.evga.com/BIOS/NF68_P23BETA2.exe
* Insert blank floppy disk into drive and run executable
* Restart your PC and set the floppy drive as the primary boot device
* The BIOS will automatically be updated, after the update restart your PC and clear CMOS

NVIDIA System Update Tool

* Download the following files:
http://us.download.nvidia.com/downloads/evga/updatecenter.exe
and
ftp://ftp.evga.com/BIOS/p23beta2.bin
* Select browse and locate p23beta2.bin
* Select load bios
* Power off PC completely, on reboot load defaults in BIOS
 
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