Calling all bad axe 2 owners, got a Q for ya

Adding my $0.02 here.

I could NOT just enable AHCI mode after I installed as the default legacy and get the OS to boot - it would just blue screen.
I could NOT install the Matrix drivers unless AHCI mode was enabled as the installer would not allow it.

This is what I did to get around this catch 22:
I enabled the Marvel controller and installed it's drivers.
I moved my HDD's to the Marvel controller.
I enabled AHCI mode and was able to boot into windows and install the Matrix drivers.
I then moved my HDD's back over to the Intel controller.

Everything seems to be working fine now weeks later.
 
OrBy said:
Adding my $0.02 here.

I could NOT just enable AHCI mode after I installed as the default legacy and get the OS to boot - it would just blue screen.
I could NOT install the Matrix drivers unless AHCI mode was enabled as the installer would not allow it.

This is what I did to get around this catch 22:
I enabled the Marvel controller and installed it's drivers.
I moved my HDD's to the Marvel controller.
I enabled AHCI mode and was able to boot into windows and install the Matrix drivers.
I then moved my HDD's back over to the Intel controller.

Everything seems to be working fine now weeks later.
Click to expand...

Hmm, doesnt seem too bad, just switching where the sata plugs are plugged in at then switching them back.

Damn, theres quite a few people saying quite a few different things so I dont know what I should do lol. I've got till about this sunday to decide as the parts will be arriving during this week and then I'll have time on sunday to actually build it. So any more suggestions, comments, concerns are greatly appreciated!
 
I would suggest avoid messing around - get a floppy and install the drivers using the F6 method during the windows install. Save yourself the messing around and risks.
It's the way Intel suggests to do it so that method has to carry some weight.
 
Ok so I guess I'll do it the "right" and "old fashioned" way then to avoid risks lol. So can someone run me thru it 1 more time? And which drivers do I actually put on the floppy anyway? The same ones that InorganicMatter linked to?
 
sorry to bump in but if the drivers are installed in the beginning, they will never need to be installed through a floppy again right (so long as you have access to windows so you can give new SATA drives the driver)? even if you reformat windows on the same SATA drive you wont need to have the floppy to load the driver again right? or will you need to go through this floppy shit everytime you reformat?
 
I don't think you are understanding the concept here.
The drivers are for windows, so that windows can use the SATA ports in AHCI mode.
Every time you format you have to load up the drivers so windows can use the ports and detect the drives.
 
ADWulf said:
I don't think you are understanding the concept here.
The drivers are for windows, so that windows can use the SATA ports in AHCI mode.
Every time you format you have to load up the drivers so windows can use the ports and detect the drives.
Click to expand...
oh, i would think that since you have windows on the drive already it would read the hard-drive if you chose to reformat later. damn
 
InCogneato said:
oh, i would think that since you have windows on the drive already it would read the hard-drive if you chose to reformat later. damn
Click to expand...

Reformatting wipes the drive clean of everything on it so how would windows still be on it?

Unless I'm wrong?
 
devil_trigger said:
Reformatting wipes the drive clean of everything on it so how would windows still be on it?

Unless I'm wrong?
Click to expand...
it does not wipe the drive clean until it begins the reformatting process (which it needs to recognize the drive is there first) that is why i would think that it could recognize the drive. but i guess it would erase the driver after you confirm to reformat which would cause a problem? kinda confusing. ill just make an integrated cd :)
 
InCogneato said:
it does not wipe the drive clean until it begins the reformatting process (which it needs to recognize the drive is there first) that is why i would think that it could recognize the drive. but i guess it would erase the driver after you confirm to reformat which would cause a problem? kinda confusing. ill just make an integrated cd :)
Click to expand...

Oh ok you mean while in the windows setup process, I thought you meant at the windows desktop lol.

And BTW, care to send me one of those CDs?:p
 
feanor1024 said:
Did you try this?
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot! Did the registry edit, rebooted and enabled AHCI in the Bios, and it booted into Vista with no problems. Vista then detected the Serial bus and installed the drivers, rebooted, and I guess I have AHCI enabled now. Thanks for the tip ... don't know how much better my performance will be on my old first-gen 74GB Raptor, but every little bit helps. :)
 
slappynutz said:
Thanks a lot! Did the registry edit, rebooted and enabled AHCI in the Bios, and it booted into Vista with no problems. Vista then detected the Serial bus and installed the drivers, rebooted, and I guess I have AHCI enabled now. Thanks for the tip ... don't know how much better my performance will be on my old first-gen 74GB Raptor, but every little bit helps. :)
Click to expand...
I'm glad I was able to help. :D That's Raptor's still fast...it blows away my Seagate 7200.10s.
 
Ok I just got my board in today along with the rest of the stuff and what do ya know?!...it came with 2 diskettes, 1 for the marvell controller and 1 for the intel controller. But heres the thing, it only says that its the RAID driver, so I'm asking, does the RAID driver have the same thing in it to enable AHCI and all that?
 
he46570 said:
The IDE/Legacy only applies to the black SATA connectors (the other ones are Marvell which actually do need drivers from the beginning).

Say if you're doing a clean install, and all you are using are the black SATAs and the IDE. Before you do the installation, boot into the BIOS and switch the SATA to IDE/Legacy - this will obviate the need for drivers during the installation. Then do the install as normal. Once this is done, go back into BIOS and switch the SATA back to AHCI. When you boot into windows it will automatically install the drivers for you. Then you're done.
Click to expand...

I have a 975XBX2, installed two SATA drives apparently in SATA legacy IDE mode, installed Vista 32 and everything is all done. But now I'd like to add another drive to configure RAID 1, and also consider adding one more drive for just a seperate backup drive. If I"m reading you correct, despite the warning from Intel it has been found that you can add the drives, and on the reboot go into the BIOS and enable SATA AHCI and Windows Vista 32 will find the AHCI driver and load it without risk of BSOD? Sounds good, and I do have a floppy drive if I need to load the Intel supplied floppy AHCI driver as an alternative. Can you confirm this is reasonably safe to proceed?
 
Yes, if you have installed the Intel Matrix software. Sorry if that wasn't clear in my earlier post.
 
Is the supplied diskette that phil is talking about and what I said my board came with the proper sata drivers to enable ahci? I kinda need to know before tomorroe since I'll be doing the build then. If thats the case then I'm gonna go ahead and install those drivers. I was gonna just do IDE/legacy mode until I made the switch to Vista since it came with the drivers lol. But anyway, someone let me know. Thanks.

Another thing, this turned into a pretty huge thread, and I wanna thank everybody for giving your insight and participating
 
Ok just to update everyone, I got my whole system put together and its running fine, but in IDE mode. I'm gonna leave it that way for now till I upgrade to vista. And btw, I didnt even see anything in the BIOS about switching from IDE mode to AHCI mode on this board. Can anyone point me in that direction just so I know for the future? Also, is TAT the temp tool for this board, and where can I find it at?
 
I got mine yesterday and will install very soon. I've just been reviewing the manuals.
Yep, I STILL read them, does that make me a old geek....:p

Is there a misprint in the product guide?
Page 56 which has a picture of PCI Express Graphic card installation
wrongly references the drawing below it. Figure 19, A vs. 19,B single
vs. duel cards. So does a single card go where the B figure point to
I assume? I'ts been a while since I've built a new one from scratch.

Also, does anyone know if the install software works with Windows Vista
or did you have to download from Intel?

Thanks
 
msny said:
I got mine yesterday and will install very soon. I've just been reviewing the manuals.
Yep, I STILL read them, does that make me a old geek....:p

Is there a misprint in the product guide?
Page 56 which has a picture of PCI Express Graphic card installation
wrongly references the drawing below it. Figure 19, A vs. 19,B single
vs. duel cards. So does a single card go where the B figure point to
I assume? I'ts been a while since I've built a new one from scratch.

Also, does anyone know if the install software works with Windows Vista
or did you have to download from Intel?

Thanks
Click to expand...


Yes, it's a misprint and some reported it like me :) Just put the card on the top slot and it will run at 16x. Crossfire setup will be using the top 2 and will run at 8x each.
 
Xilikon said:
Yes, it's a misprint and some reported it like me :) Just put the card on the top slot and it will run at 16x. Crossfire setup will be using the top 2 and will run at 8x each.
Click to expand...

Thanks much!

Since I'm using Vista do I need to download the Vista updates from here?
(or use the software that came with my board)

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/filter_results.aspx?strTypes=all&ProductID=2578&OSFullName=Windows+Vista*+32&lang=eng&strOSs=164&submit=Go%21

What order should they be installed in if that is the case for Vista(32bit) ultimate?

The website has no specific Vista instructions that I could find.
 
i got this board last week. After all the good talk about this being an overclocker board i was expecting a decent bios.

There is nothing about the bios in the manual.

And there are hardly any settings in the bios. The bios looks positively naked!


I have never seen such a barren landscape ...so i'm wondering ...are the advanced settings hidden somewhere? :))
 
Theres plenty of options in the bios, you just have to go into the main part of the cpu and ram categories and override them so you can mess with the settings.

Anyway, since someone revived my thread, I have a couple questions. I recently did a mild OC last nite to 2.7 GHz 11 hours Orthos stable, but I dont want to take it any higher yet because I cant find out where the "failsafe watchdog" is and everyone is saying to disable that. I went into the maintenance bios and disabled a few other things that people said to disable like C1E and EIST and enabled power slope. But does anyone know exactly where the failsafe watchdog is?
 
I have never seen such a barren landscape ...so i'm wondering ...are the advanced settings hidden somewhere? :))

Somewhere at the Intel site is a PDF file that has a little better description of the Bios.
If it wasn't for this forum I would have been lost. Talk about pathetic doc's..why bother sending it..
 
thanks to this thread i have discovered that my sata stuff was set to ide mode and so i have now changed it to achi --so that i can use native command queing.
Making that registry change ...no doubt saved me an hour or so of frustration.

:)

edit: well, for example, i had to set my ram so it would match the stock timings.. i could set it to 4-4-4 15 at 2 volts. But after that i did not see any other memory settings to adjust the others OCZ suggested if available.

I will look for that secret pdf file :)
 
devil_trigger said:
Theres plenty of options in the bios, you just have to go into the main part of the cpu and ram categories and override them so you can mess with the settings.

Anyway, since someone revived my thread, I have a couple questions. I recently did a mild OC last nite to 2.7 GHz 11 hours Orthos stable, but I dont want to take it any higher yet because I cant find out where the "failsafe watchdog" is and everyone is saying to disable that. I went into the maintenance bios and disabled a few other things that people said to disable like C1E and EIST and enabled power slope. But does anyone know exactly where the failsafe watchdog is?
Click to expand...

Depends on which bios version you have. If you are going into bios with the recovery jumper to recovery position and cant find it in the new menu heading that appears...you dont have it.

TIps: Disabling C1E and EIST doesnt do anything...C1E wont mess with your voltage if you have the cpu voltage set to manual...and it will change the mulitplier of your cpu whether it is on or off (bug). Get the latest version of cpu-z to see that happening. Also, you want to keep enhanced power slope...it is supposed to keep the vcore up under load better or something...I havent witnessed it, but I've had it on all the time anyway. Only 2.7 GHz....turn up that FSB...this board loves it! My current Orthos overnight ~10 hour best is 3.7Ghz
 
AndyM said:
Depends on which bios version you have. If you are going into bios with the recovery jumper to recovery position and cant find it in the new menu heading that appears...you dont have it.

TIps: Disabling C1E and EIST doesnt do anything...C1E wont mess with your voltage if you have the cpu voltage set to manual...and it will change the mulitplier of your cpu whether it is on or off (bug). Get the latest version of cpu-z to see that happening. Also, you want to keep enhanced power slope...it is supposed to keep the vcore up under load better or something...I havent witnessed it, but I've had it on all the time anyway. Only 2.7 GHz....turn up that FSB...this board loves it! My current Orthos overnight ~10 hour best is 3.7Ghz
Click to expand...

Oh ok, yea i went into the bios using the jumper and couldnt find failsafe watchdog anywhere. I also do have enhanced power slope left on. I was only doing 2.7 GHz temporarily to see if I could find the failsafe watchdog before I went any higher. I'm not sure which bios version I have, its the one where the HDD activity light is always on when I disable the marvell sata controller. Thanks though.
 
Hello, I'm new to the |H|.

I just built my new rig last night:
  • Intel D975XBX2 BadAxe2
  • Intel E6600 (cooled with a Zalman CNPS 9700)
  • G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2-800
  • eVGA 8800GTX
  • Enermax Chakra case (LOVE THE CASE, but the side 250mm fan doesn't work!)
  • WD 80GB SATA2
  • Seagate 320GB SATA2
  • HP Lightscribe DVD Burner

The first time I installed Vista Ultimate, I could not set the BIOS to ACHI without the BSOD. This is a well-known problem and if I could read at 4am, I would have avoided it. :) So I wanted to re-install Vista, but I refuse to use floppies, I hate them. I began to despair when I remembered that Vista recognizes USB drives and CD's during its install. Well, I wasn't going to burn a CD for files that totalled udner 100KB, but a USB drive was perfect. So how do I get them on there??

Fortunately, I discovered after downloading the Intel RAID drivers for Vista that if you use the "-A -P<path>" command-line arguments, you can extract just the driver files. Whoo Hooo! Copied them ot my USB drive, re-instaleld Vista, and set the BIOS to ACHI. Yeah, baby, it all works!

Now, when I saw this thread, I thought, hey, let me check out my registry setting. I followed the link to the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article and then checked my registry with RegEdit. Heyyy!!! My setting is a 4 (four), not a 0 (zero). Anyone know why?

Plus, I had done HDTach readings before I re-installed Vista, and I got the same performance after using the drivers during the install. I'm guessing Vista installed the drivers itself, but didn't modify the registry setting preventing me from changing the BIOS to ACHI.

So my questions are:
  1. Why is there a 4 and not a 0 in my registry?
  2. Why were my HDTach readings the same before and after using the drivers? Had Vista installed them itself? Was it using SATA2 speeds? I am seeing burst speeds upwards of 190MB/s and average reads around 50 to 65 MB/s.
  3. What memory timings should I use if I want to get up to around 400FSB?

Thanks in advance...
 
Hmm, I just went into the bios again with the jumper to "config" and looked all over the bios, including the maintenance bios, and I couldnt find anything about the failsafe watchdog. Does anyone know if its actually in this bios version? I'm not sure what version but its the one where the HDD activity light is constantly on when the marvell sata controller is disabled. Is it in some kind of subcategory or something? Like I said, I went into every category and couldnt find it anywhere, so anyone with some knowledge with this bios version would be really helpful. I dont want to keep looking for something that isnt even there lol.
 
AndyM said:
You probably have something before ver. 2431

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/df-support/12892/ENG/BX2_2663_ReleaseNotes.pdf
Click to expand...

I had updated to BIOS 26623 BEFORE installing Vista Ultimate
I'm set to ACHI no problem.

After reading that PDF, what does the "TPM 1.2" referring to mean?

Also, does anyone having a Bad Axe 2 motherboard have an entry
in Device Manage with a yellow flag for there "Storage Controller"
or somethiong like that? Is that what the BIOS PDF is referring to?

The only software on the supplied Intel CD that worked for me were the
chipset drivers.....I think. The others failed to install, even those I
got from the Intel website as being the latest for Vista.

So whats the secret to installing these without Vista saying it can't
or won't?

I have not had a happy experience with Vista so far.
 
Well I guess I dont have the failsafe watchdog cuz rite now Im at 3.15 GHz with stock volts and 12 hours into OCCT.:)
 
Try out 3.4...mine went that far with no voltage changes anywhere, 6600's rock!
 
My unrecognized device was the marvell sata controller...i disabled that.

my new problem is that the intel windows bios updater does not work with my vista 64.
(i had a professional try to do it...he also tried usb but the bios wanted to format that device first.)

Anyone else having problems with updating the bios with the windows updater?

Or are you all still happily using cursed floppy drives? :)

edit: i'm gonna guess thta tpm 1.2 refers to
http://community.bartdesmet.net/blogs/bart/archive/2005/08/17/3471.aspx (scroll to near the bottom or find on trusted platform module.

"So, Secure Startup wants to provide a way to offload certain aspects of data protection to the hardware, but in an OS-controlled fashion. Very concretely, the Secure Startup feature uses a Trusted Platform Module (TPM 1.2) to protect the user data and to protect against tampering while the system is offline. Just like EFS, Secure Startup is transparent to the users. Basically what it does is encrypting the entire Windows volume."
 
RedStarSQD said:
My unrecognized device was the marvell sata controller...i disabled that.

my new problem is that the intel windows bios updater does not work with my vista 64.
(i had a professional try to do it...he also tried usb but the bios wanted to format that device first.)

Anyone else having problems with updating the bios with the windows updater?

Or are you all still happily using cursed floppy drives? :)

edit: i'm gonna guess thta tpm 1.2 refers to
http://community.bartdesmet.net/blogs/bart/archive/2005/08/17/3471.aspx (scroll to near the bottom or find on trusted platform module.

"So, Secure Startup wants to provide a way to offload certain aspects of data protection to the hardware, but in an OS-controlled fashion. Very concretely, the Secure Startup feature uses a Trusted Platform Module (TPM 1.2) to protect the user data and to protect against tampering while the system is offline. Just like EFS, Secure Startup is transparent to the users. Basically what it does is encrypting the entire Windows volume."
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I used the BIOS updater within windows and I had no issues.
I downloaded it from Intel. Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit
 
AndyM said:
Try out 3.4...mine went that far with no voltage changes anywhere, 6600's rock!
Click to expand...

Nah I had a goal for 3.2 and I got it so I'm happy for now. I had to up the vcore a little to 1.35v to get 3.2ghz stable. Kinda dissapointed with that but I saw no increase in temps so its all good. I do agee though, 6600's ftw!

EDIT: Just realized you WCing too lol.
 
devil_trigger said:
Nah I had a goal for 3.2 and I got it so I'm happy for now. I had to up the vcore a little to 1.35v to get 3.2ghz stable. Kinda dissapointed with that but I saw no increase in temps so its all good. I do agee though, 6600's ftw!

EDIT: Just realized you WCing too lol.
Click to expand...

Hey everyone, AndyM, Devil_Trigger. Well, I am not water cooling, but I have a Zalman CNPS 9700 keeping things pretty cool ~34C at idle. I can get to 333FSB (3.0GHz with the E6600) with no voltage changes and memory set to 1:1, but it is a little unstable, failing to POST properly on occasion.

I have G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2-800 memory. What do I need to do to move beyond 3.0GHz? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
 
I think fail to post usually is memory as far as my 'feel' for what breaks these things goes. You say you are doing 1:1...which strap? 800 or 1066? When I was playing with 3.0 I set my Promos IC (weak) memory at 266/667 to make 836DDR2. I am sure the subtimings on the 1066 strap are looser than 800, so this might help. You know, I kind of remember that I wasnt having much luck with the 800 strap. I guess just keep the memory out of the loop when testing OC's by keeping the speeds below what they are rated at so you can focus on the cpu speeds, and use the 1066 strap, seems to work best.

I'm sure you seen this also, it helps quite a bit figuring out what's happening
 
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