Intel D975XBX (Bad Axe)

[Scarpia]

I'm a little puzzled. I've had my BX2 for just over a year but apart from updating the BIOS I've updated none of the other software. I used ICCD to overclock my E6600 to 3.2Ghz with no problems. I have a couple of HDDs in RAID 0, again with no problems. In fact I've been delighted with the BX2 as one of the most stable and forgetable mainboards I've owned.

Am I missing something by not applying all these upgrades? I browse this thread from time to time just in case I miss something important. However, the impression I get overall from the thread is that people who do the most updating seem to be those who encounter the most problems. I'm sure there must be more to this than I am able to see. I wonder whether someone would be kind enough to list any of the many updates Intel has released for this board which are either crucial or which might improve my system's performance?

Many thanks for your attention.

[fvbounty]

There's a old saying and I believe in it "If it ain't broke don't fix it", sounds like your system is stable, no problems, working perfect, what else does a guy want?

[ATINUT]

New bios for D975XBX2. Bios version is 2836

Intel® Desktop Board D975XBX2Â*BIOS Update 2836 [BX97520J.86A] Operating Systems&lang=eng

I'm currently running the 2831 bios, and haven't seen a need to flash to it, as I'm not having any problems that I need to attempt to flash my board.

[Dandruff]

Cool,

changelog really sounds good. hope that this will finally fix my usb mouse problem (sometimes not recognized after boot).

and the optical drive problem @ sata port 2 was something i've reported to them too.



installing ....

[ATINUT]

You're welcome.

[Dandruff]

Obviously it didn't fix the problem with my DVD drive. I have a boot-delay if it's connected at SATA port 1 (which is the second SATA port). In the changelog they talk about SATA port 2 (which is the third SATA port). There I never had a problem.

[Sandog]

Man I wish the BA2 would run Penryn, I wouldn't care about using DDR2 still. This is such a stable board now.

[Dandruff]

yeah, i'll upgrade to a q6700 soon i think (from a e6700) and keep the board for another year. nice to see that intel is still working on the bios.

[Dandruff]

Originally Posted by Dandruff

changelog really sounds good. hope that this will finally fix my usb mouse problem (sometimes not recognized after boot).

It doesn't

Just had the problem again.

[Sandog]

Originally Posted by Dandruff

yeah, i'll upgrade to a q6700 soon i think (from a e6700) and keep the board for another year. nice to see that intel is still working on the bios.

I thought about that, going to a quad on the BA2. Make sure you get a G0 stepping.

[Dandruff]

Originally Posted by Sandog

I thought about that, going to a quad on the BA2. Make sure you get a G0 stepping.

Yeah, I know

[ATINUT]

I'm thinking about upgrading to a Q6600 or a Q6700 within the next few months.

[Dandruff]

New SATA drivers: Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver V8.5.2.1002


EDIT: Looks like Intel did a mistake here. It's the old 8.5.0.1032 version.

[TQ]

By the way, the latest BIOS 2836 had been acting rather flaky for me. In the week since I installed it I've noticed some odd behavior in a couple of apps, but I hadn't thought too much about it.
Come yesterday a friend (an independent IT gun for hire) was hanging over at the house and we decided to ghost my XP partition in preparation for the installing Vista on my workstation. I wanted the XP image to go back to in case of catastrophic app incompatibilities and we were running his various image builders on various optical drives to find one that suited us (and had NIC drivers that would work). At one point the system became unable to get back to the desktop. We were puzzled by this since we weren't actually loading any software on the system. I should say that while in the BIOS we had been moving my three optical drives in and out of boot order. At another point we noticed that the BIOS - which had been showing all the op drives in the advanced view - had begun to show us only my two Plextors. The Samsung - while still being seen in the "normal" view - had vanished from the advanced view. Just gone....yet it had been seen in the advanced view earlier. We set the BIOS to load defaults and were able to get the system to boot to the desktop. We then went back into the BIOS and turned off on-board audio (necessary due to my having two sound cards in this system) and were still able to get back to the desktop.
Like I said...flaky behavior that I can see in day to day operations and even how peripherals are displayed within the BIOS screen itself.
I tried to go back to the previous BIOS (using the Express BIOS Update avenue) but was prevented from doing so with an error message.
In the release notes for BIOS 2836 this is said: "Updated Express BIOS Update" which leads me to believe that it's no longer compatible with previous versions and I'm now stuck with 2836 until - and if - Intel releases a new BIOS.
Until that happens I don't think I'll be installing a new OS or doing anything that will threaten the mission critical status of my workstation.

[Dandruff]

Originally Posted by TQ

By the way, the latest BIOS 2836 had been acting rather flaky for me. In the week since I installed it I've noticed some odd behavior in a couple of apps, but I hadn't thought too much about it.

No problems here in any apps with the 2836 BIOS.