Intel DP45SG (Skyburg)

[DrDuranDuran]

Originally Posted by Sandog

Welcome to ABXZone!

The Toxic 4870 runs cooler than any 4870, even some water cooled ones. You don't need 1GB of GDDR unless you are gaming at very high resolutions. I believe up to 1600x1200 you are good with 512MB. You can research this.

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, Games like Crysis and NWN2 I would imagine have enough textures to qualify for 1 Gig. also, my monitors native resolution is 1980x1200

[riffer]

BIOS 106 came out just a few minutes ago.

Who's going to be the guinea pig?

[riffer]

Originally Posted by riffer

BIOS 106 came out just a few minutes ago.

Who's going to be the guinea pig?

"Fixed issue where system hangs at boot if system is configured for
RAID with a SCSI adaptor installed."

That must be for me

[WillisDM]

Originally Posted by Sandog

Instructions to upgrade the BIOS using the ISO image:
1. Download the ISO image file.
2. Using software capable of uncompressing and writing an ISO image to CD, burn the data
to a blank CD. Note: Copying the ISO image file to CD will not work; the completed CD
should contain multiple files and a directory.
3. Insert the CD that was created from the ISO image in the previous step into the CDROM
drive of the computer to be upgraded and boot the system.
4. Press the ENTER key when presented with the "Press ENTER to continue booting from
CD-ROM" prompt (system will boot from hard drive if no key is pressed within 15
seconds).
5. Press any key at the "Welcome to the Intel Desktop Board BIOS Upgrade CD-ROM"
page to confirm the BIOS upgrade operation.
6. Wait for the BIOS upgrade process to complete.

You have to make the CDROM drive bootable first then should see the familiar- 'Boot to CDROM hit "Enter"' with the CD inserted just like you would with a Windows CD. Intel uses LINUX boot files to do this which you should find on the CD after you extract and burn the ISO file.

I'm fully aware of how to burn an ISO file. I did it correctly. The image is just wrong. The new 0106 is wrong too, it doesn't boot. The BIOS image on the disk is fine, the disk just doesn't have proper boot information.

A simple and easy test to prove this is install MagicISO. All you have to do is open the iso image up, and it will tell you "Non-Bootable" or "Bootable" in the toolbar, and both Intel's images are Non-Bootable.


On to other topics:

ATI video cards: Intel BIOS has been notorious for problems with ATI HD cards in the passed, their G33/P35 boards had issues with 3870s when they first came out, the P45 boards have a lot of issues with 4870s and 4870x2's. Eventually there will be BIOS updates to remedy this, but for those without video in the meantime, it certainly sucks. The 0106 BIOS has a video card fix "Fixed issue where system won’t boot with certain graphics card.", let's hope that helps with some 4870 cards. (My Visiontek 4870 512MB works fine, did with 0088 and 0102 BIOS's).

BluntSpoon: if you see anything that says "Warning" during startup, it should be viewable by entering bios and looking at the event log, could you post what it is recording there?

[WillisDM]

BIOS 0106 update from 0102 trial log:

0106 ISO: once again, not bootable. Fail.
0106 EXE: (Vista x64, 8GB Ram), Unit reboots, then within half a second, reboots again before ever displaying anything, system boots normally with no BIOS update. Fail.
0106 EXE: (Vista x64, 2GB Ram), same as 8GB. Fail.

One step backwards on this attempted BIOS update so far. Still on 0102.

[DaveLessnau]

Nobody's posted it yet, so here are the changes in 0106:

BIOS Version 0106

About This BIOS:
• December 10, 2008
• SGP4510H.86A.0106.2008.1210.2137
• GBE firmware bin version: 10R_567
• PXE Option Rom file: Intel UNDI,PXE-BA0020Q2.LOM
• ME Version: 1080 (Disable)
• RAID Option Rom version: 8.6.0.1007

New Fixes/Features:
• Fixed issue with Intel® Integrator Toolkit (ITK) where tokens are set to an invalid value.
• Fixed issue where onboard 1394 does not show in Intel® Integrator Assistant (IIA) and is not found in F2 BIOS Setup.
• Fixed issue where Intel Precision Cooling is not displayed.
• Added support for OCZ memory boot.
• Fixed issue where bootable devices except Hard Disk Drive disappear in IIA boot order.
• Fixed issue where date is unreadable characters when CMOS battery low.
• Added support for PC3 1066 9-9-9 1.7v DRAM.
• Updated RAID ROM Ver8.6.0.1007.
• Fixed issue where system is unable to boot to HDD when Boot Type is set to Advanced.
• Fixed issue where all onboard devices are disabled after pressing F9.
• Fixed issue where chassis type is not pre-programmed.
• Fixed issue where system won’t boot with certain graphics card.
• Fixed issue where BIOS language changes to French when pressing F9.
• Fixed issue where system hangs at boot if system is configured for RAID with a SCSI adaptor installed.
• Fixed issue where debug mode can’t boot.

Looks like some interesting things there: OCZ memory boot, 1.7v DRAM, Advanced Boot Type, non-boot with certain graphics card.

EDIT: But, unfortunately, still no Dolby Control Center, Desktop Control Center, or 64-bit Integrator Assistant.

[DrDuranDuran]

Well, I JUST posted a little bit ago about my issue with this board and the ATi 4870 not working and now a BIOS update - one would think I had some juice at Intel ! Well, one would be wrong !! I just updated and put the card back in and no video signal/no post.

Terrific, now I really do have to shop for a new card. This motherboard sucks for gamers (extreme POS)

I normally buy OCZ and I avoided it because of all the people here and everywherer else I saw that had problems, at least they are getting some relief in this update.

and yes, I tried to update the last update using the bootable CD and the boot sector is completely missing - it is simply a bundle of raw files (lame) and I am betting the new one is the same.....

[riffer]

I updated the BIOS using the windows method without issue.

I'll have to wait until I have more time to test if the SCSI issue is truly resolved.

[WillisDM]

0106 BIOS update trials continued:

USB with BootImage: 2GB, fail, same double-reboot problem. Fail.
USB with BootImage: 8GB, fail, same double-reboot problem. Fail.
F2 to BIOS -> Load Optimal, reboot.
USB with BootImage: 8GB. Success.

I had my processor multi & FSB set to manual of their factory defaults, and memory to manual defaults as well, evidently this causes issues with the board booting properly.

How this board was ever labeled an Extreme product is far beyond me, this is regular run-of-the-mill Intel "it only runs the way it was set out of the box" motherboard. Definitely not impressed.

[DrDuranDuran]

Ok, while I was sitting here typing how this BIOS update didn't fix the 4870 Video issue, after about 3 mins of nothing the BIOS screen comes up !

The only catch, it is bathed in cyan, pink (CGA) one inch wide horizontal lines and is hard to read once you enter the BIOS. I tried changing most of the Video options, but alas, nothing.

I let it boot to Vista and it did, but all CGA like with horizontal lines all over.

So, at least I went from no video to 1986 video :/

Is anyone on here using the Asus Dark Knight PCI-E card ? I am returning the Sapphire one to try it at this point. Same chipset and 1 gig of GDDR5 ram, so it seems like a total roll of the dice.

[DaveLessnau]

I'll also confirm the "bootable" 0106 BIOS image is not bootable. I tested it the same way I did with the "bootable" 0102 image. I also mounted the ISO in a Virtual Machine and it refused to boot from it.

Using iFlash from my bootable USB worked fine (I just entered "iflash" this time instead of putting in the exact parameters). BUT, 0106 seems to suffer from the same problems as 0102 did regarding Processor Overrides. Once again, just changing The Prompt (Do You Wish to Continue? on that page) from No to Yes sets the multiplier to 9.5 for my E8400 (it's supposed to be 9.0) and give me a speed of 3.16GHz instead of the default 3.0GHz. Saving, re-booting, and re-entering the BIOS sees the speed on the Main page reset to 2.0GHz. I put The Prompt back to No and went into Vista. Everything looks the same (a quick Sandra (overall and disk) benchmark gives just about the same numbers -- Ditto for a HD Tach run).

I'll leave the benchmarking of overclocked values to those who want to overclock. My guess is that it's still going to disable SpeedStep and force the processor to run at 2.0GHz.

[hawkeyelom]

To Dr DuranDuran
Don't know why you are having problems, but FYI I am runing the saphire 4850-1GB card without problems--I am on bios 102--my second update of BIOS.

What monitor and size are you using--perhaps the problem is in the monitor resolution or driver. Some GPUs won't support extra large monitors (Mine is Samsung 2443BW ar 1920 x 1200).

Everything is running good for me, so I am afarid to try the newest BIOS. The last two I ran from within windows.

[DrDuranDuran]

Originally Posted by hawkeyelom

To Dr DuranDuran
Don't know why you are having problems, but FYI I am runing the saphire 4850-1GB card without problems--I am on bios 102--my second update of BIOS.

What monitor and size are you using--perhaps the problem is in the monitor resolution or driver. Some GPUs won't support extra large monitors (Mine is Samsung 2443BW ar 1920 x 1200).

Everything is running good for me, so I am afarid to try the newest BIOS. The last two I ran from within windows.

Well, you are running a different chipset from myself (slightly) and luckily it is the same manufacturer and the same amount of RAM. I think I will grab your card if you are having success with it. I did have a stupid problem with the power light staying on (others reported it) and now it went away after the BIOS update (didn't care much abou it so I never mentioned it on here).

I am running a Dell 24" LCD, which is fine while I use the Radeon X850 XT right now (I am typing this on the DP45SG machine). Thanks for chipping in your 2 cents, now at least I know of one decent ATi card that works (that has 1 gig of RAM). Now if someone with a 4870 could let me know, I would appreciate it

[hawkeyelom]

To Dr. Duran,
My 4850 is running fine but it runs hot ~60 C at idle, as do the 4870s. YOU MIGHT WANT TO SEARCH ON 4850 cards. I think there are a couple of manufactures who use better cooling than Saphire or ATI reference.

BTW what resolution is your Monitor set to if above 1920 x1200--you earlier said 1980--if so this might be the problem. I have seen references to problems with this card at above 1920 x 1200

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by DaveLessnau

Using iFlash from my bootable USB worked fine (I just entered "iflash" this time instead of putting in the exact parameters). BUT, 0106 seems to suffer from the same problems as 0102 did regarding Processor Overrides. Once again, just changing The Prompt (Do You Wish to Continue? on that page) from No to Yes sets the multiplier to 9.5 for my E8400 (it's supposed to be 9.0) and give me a speed of 3.16GHz instead of the default 3.0GHz. Saving, re-booting, and re-entering the BIOS sees the speed on the Main page reset to 2.0GHz. I put The Prompt back to No and went into Vista. Everything looks the same (a quick Sandra (overall and disk) benchmark gives just about the same numbers -- Ditto for a HD Tach run)..

I tried iFlashing 0106 and gave up on it. The iFlash program loads and asks which operation to do and I select the 1st one (flash main BIOS). I then select the BIOS file (SG0106.BIO) and all I get is a light blue screen with no output information. Maybe I lost my patience but I tried it twice, worked the same both times. I gave up and used Express BIOS update in Vista and it worked fine.

Still have the x9.5/3.16GHz processor settings showing up in BIOS. Haven't discovered any other differences with this new BIOS. Glad Intel came out with this one so quickly and is keeping on fixing issues. Just for curiosity's sake I will play around with OC later after I get a new GTX260 video card and this board irons out some more along with the arrival of IDCC (hopefully).