Lots of minor issues with Gigabyte EX58-UD5

G

grandmaster

Limp Gawd
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Apr 19, 2006
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I upgraded from a rock solid QX6850 based system based on the ASUS P5E WS Pro Workstation board to a Core i920 system built around a Gigabyte EX58-UD5.

At first I was astonished by the gulf of performance between the old and new in terms of my high definition video applications - we are talking a good 30% to 50% leap here.

However, the more I use this system, the more oddities I've found. Maybe other i7 users can chime in.

1. Dead LAN sockets
One day I thought I'd install Vista to see how it performed on the i7. Not liking it, I went back to XP using a backed up ghost image. From that point on, both LAN sockets have been dead. Even installing XP anew doesn't work. Even the BIOS tests for the LAN ports don't seem to work any more.

2. Memory (?) issues?
I can't run Memtest from the bootable CD - it just seems to freeze. I'm running the system at stock. Some memory intensive programs appear to crash without warning.

3. Other weirdness
I can't capture 48000Hz audio any more. Counting onboard audio, I've got three line in devices and they all come in at 48470-48480Hz. I think it is affecting my captured videos too. Whether devices are PCI or PCIe based, all are running too fast. Resetting the BIOS to default doesn't help.

Has any one else seen any weirdness with this board? The dead LAN sockets are enough to make me RMA it and get the ASUS.

Are there any Windows tests for the memory?
 
Item 1, - no clue get with Gigabye tech support ASAP after triple checking your cables and router/modem with another device if possible. You might try unistalling and reinstalling just the lan drivers or checking if updated ones are available from Realtek. ( Realtek 8111D chips ) There appears to be fairly new drivers available from Realtek dated 12/31/08 http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...d=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

It is interesting that a Lan driver is not on Gigabytes driver download page for your board. That makes me think the chip is very commonly used and the driver is included with Windows. But it is sorta strange. I would also suggest resettng/clearing the bios and "load factory defaults", reboot and resetup the bios and then doing the driver change.

Item 2. - Memtest86+ has not yet been updated to support the X58 chipset (X58 IOH and the ICH10).

Item 3 - I would guess at a bug in the audio chip driver for the Realtek ALC889A codec or incompatibility with the capture program. Check for an updated driver directly from Realtek. It looks like there was a driver update on January 9th which is likely newer than what was on the Gigabyte driver disk or is on the driver download page from Gigabyte for your board (I checked). Be sure to uninstall any old driver completely first. Make sure you have Microsoft UAA (Universal Audio Architecture) Bus driver (Full Multi-language version ) installed FIRST before reinstalling any stand alone audio driver. The UAA driver is available on your driver download page. It comes packaged with Gigabytes Audio Driver download or by itself for doing as I am suggesting - uninstall the current driver, install UAA, install newer Realtek driver.
http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ProductID=2961
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

This information is presented on a "at your own risk" basis and while some diligence has been made to check it for correctness I can take no responsibility and strongly suggest proper backup procedures and a contingency plan in case an issue arises.
 
Thanks for the update. The issue with the sound isn't just limited to Realtek though - my Blackmagic Intensity Pro card is doing exactly the same, as is my Terratec Aureon 7.1. What is interesting is that it's consistent between any device whether it's onboard, from a PCI slot or a PCIe slot.

The same LAN cable used to work just fine in the same motherboard until I installed Vista, and indeed, they still work fine on my Xbox 360 and PS3, so I guess I'll have to contact tech support about that.
 
The Lan driver at windows update killed my i-net connection on all three OS'es. I had to go into device manager and choose "roll back driver"
 
FragMagnet: you have the same motherboard as me! Can you run a test for me?

1. Go to www.virtualdub.org and download the latest version... unzip it into a new folder
2. Run it and under file, select 'capture avi'
3. Then, under Device, select 'screen capture'
4. On the bottom, next to the frame rate, change the audio capture setting to 48.00KHz, 16-bit, stereo
5. Now press F7 to do a test capture (streaming to RAM, not to hard disk, it's just a test)

Can you tell me what your relative and average audio rates are? You don't need a capture card installed or anything.

Also, could someone using i7 and a non-Gigabyte board run the same test? At least this way I can see whether it's a program compatibility with the X58 chipset, or just an issue with my board!

The VirtualDub software is totally clean, no Spyware or the like.
 
Fragmagnet Yes same has happened to me in all os updating thru windows the lan ports just dont work at all. And bill the driver for the lan is up on gigabytes site I have just downloaded it today. Also just do a repair on the lan driver of the disk driver disk should be fine also, on the issue with the sound I have found also my sound does the same thing in win 7 and xp and vista no matter if im using on board or stand alone audio card to. Maybe could try updating bios for some issues with the lan and audio but i dont see it helping much there.
 
I'm already on the F4 BIOS and I don't think there is a newer one.

Can any ASUS or other Gigabyte owners try my test in Post #5? It won't take two minutes!
 
OK here are some problems that I've researched, and I'm ready to start loading WIndows too.

The boot disk incompatibility problem. It's true, the chipset doesn't offer things that older boot disks, even newer ones, have yet. It's a SATA controler issue., The ICH9 chipset didn't even have an older IDE/SATA immulation, so boot disks for all programs that use it just failed. The only reason you canon even load VIsta is that Vista uses different safe mode drivers. You can't even load XP from the DVD drive using the IC9 chipset! Way to go Intel. The reason is that it doesn't support ANY IDE PATA anything.

Enter ICH10. It supposedly has a switch in the BIUOS where you can tell the DVD to emulate the older controller, or immulate PATA, I can't remember how they are doing it. As far as memtest, like one poster said, it's probably the incompatiblity with the chipset, but you might try booting to from a USB drive.

If you need to boot using a boot disk, try the USB alternate. It still uses Floppy disk controllers or something like that which allow older boot disk to load.

For instance, the only way I could avoid fatal error stop, trying to boot with True Image 11, was to create the boot disk on my pen drive. Then it would get to it's GUI boot screen.

As you can see I'm not really clear on teh problem here, but you can work around it in some instances. You can also use a USB external drive to boot lots of things that re not yet compatible trying to boot wiht a DVD using the new chipsets.

I would try using teh BIS to see if yuo can find a setting that will emulate the older drivers. I;ve been reading where the C10 chipset allows that option through the BIOS. And I;m not sure waht it is called, but yuo can find it googling.

Please post an update if any of yuo can figure out waht I've found and put it to practical use in the x%*-5 MB, since I have that too and am getting ready to load windows /RAID with the Vista install--never done it before.

Oh yeah, try this in Google: Intel Chipset wiki -- and it will tell you how the C9 differs from the c10, and yuo will see the C9 chipset was only out a few months before the C10 came out. Opps. Nice Intel.

I just read tons of related information because I wanted to image my new laptop, which has the CH9 chipset. I just put it al together and finally came up with a solution by trial and error. I'm sorry I can't give you any really clear information on this topic, but you'll figure it out. Try the USB boot option.

I still could not get XP to load on the new laptop with the C9 CS. My friend told me he could get it to load by using an external USB hard drive and booting from the hard drive suing a copied ISO image to the external hard drive and slip streaming the updated drivers--if that helps you figure out the C9 problems.

I kknow this post if rambling, and I apologize, but I'm really tired and in a hurry. Sorry, and good luck.

Ahhhh ONE more thing my buddy just told me last night--YOU MUST LOAD VISTA SP-1 BEFORE YOU START LOADING DRIVERS! You can get corrupted drivers if you don't install SP1 first, like that LAN issue.
 
Here's an update for the Gigabyte x58 UD5 board.

I got everything installed and all of my programs running, plus RAID 0 with two WD 640 Blacks. I'm not going into performance issues yet, jsut niggles and problems I've encountered.

First, this chipset does have IDE legacy support, not just ACHI. You can tell the SATA DVD and hard drives to use IDE emulation, so at least your stupid DVD drive is bootable. In the bios version 107 F4 it says right when you boot--THIS VERSION ONLY SUPPORTS HARD DRIVES AND OPTICAL DRIVES. Yeah, that's right--you CANNOT boot from this MB version 107 BIOS with a pen drive, or any USB drive. I tried booting True Iamge off of a pen drive and no way. Wouldn't even recognize it. Booted from a DVD though with IDE emulation on in BIOS.

I'm going to try something else to get it to boot from a USB drive, and I'll write back if I get it to work. The MB supports booting from the USB device, but the BIOS isn't configured to do that. Talk about rushing stuff out the door before it's ready. I mean competition hasn't even generated a lower price for tehse expensive boards, and now we pay out the A$$ and the stuff doesn't even work properly.

Next, my LAN port #2 stopped working today. Plugged the LAN cable into the other port and it worked. This same thing happend on my old ASUS board A8N Premuim, but the first A8N Premium a USB port failed. Replacement lasted about 6 months and one of its LAN ports dropped. I guess these on board LANS just suck for some reason. Either that or it's a BIOS problem.

What else?

Oh yeah, there are only TWO on board USB headers. So if you have a case that has USB ports on the front, say 4 of them ran into one header x 2, then that fills both the headers on the MB. That would be cool, except I have a card reader which takes on of the USB headers. So one USB bank on my front case doesn't work.

I still can't believe this BIOS doesn't support Boot from USB. What are we, going back in time? Lame Gigabyte, very lame.
 
My Sandisk Cruzer 4GB flash drive is supported as a 'hard disk' and I'm guessing you'd be able to boot from it. USB flash drives appear to be listed in the hard disk priority bit of the BIOS.
 
DougWD said:
[snip]
I still can't believe this BIOS doesn't support Boot from USB. What are we, going back in time? Lame Gigabyte, very lame.
Click to expand...

hrm... from bios F3 (on the ud5) I was able to boot from my USB mem stick and flash to f5e no problem.. you have to boot once with the USB drive in the system, then go into the bios and it will show up as a hard drive option, move that to the top of the list, then make sure in the boot order that hard drive is the first choice.
 
I had the LAN problem and sent mine off for RMA. I wish I read this thread first.
 
Yes the problem was fixed for me using that technique... of course if I had sent it back for RMA chances are that as it was disconnected from the mains, it probably would've worked for them and I'd have had it sent back.

With regards booting from USB, the problem I have is that even if the flash drive is not selected as the boot drive, it'll still try to boot from it which is EXTREMELY annoying. Means I can't turn the PC on with any kind of external device attached.
 
455olds said:
I had the LAN problem and sent mine off for RMA. I wish I read this thread first.
Click to expand...

I think you should send it back, and I think everyone should send them back with the explanation of what is happening. Make them pay for the time and labor so they don't do that stuff again. The problem is that you are w/o that system until you get the thing back. It's crappy quality control. This MB costs as much as my friggin i7 920!
 
I'll try that boot process. Makes perfect sense. However, now the problem is that True Image won't identify the RAID 0 SATA's because of the new Intel chipset.
 
DougWD said:
I think you should send it back, and I think everyone should send them back with the explanation of what is happening. Make them pay for the time and labor so they don't do that stuff again. The problem is that you are w/o that system until you get the thing back. It's crappy quality control. This MB costs as much as my friggin i7 920!
Click to expand...
I just don't want to get someone else's board that was RMA'd because of a noisy loud choke or instability. I would like to get my original one back or a new one.
 
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