alexanrs wrote:You could try stuff like TweakBIOS and see if you can change the memory timings manually from DOS. Unfortunately the company that made it doesn't exist anymore, and I could not locate the full version (that allows you to save settings and load them automatically in AUTOEXEC.BAT)
Thanks for the tip 😀
I have used that utility for messing with i815 so with luck I have a copy somewhere.
At the moment the memory timings is a secondary issue as the BIOS update diddnt fix the issue I was having.
Even with the latest BIOS the board wont work with a PIII 933 or 1000(133) MHz at 133 MHz FSB, at 100 MHz FSB the same CPUs work perfectly. The (3) PIII 800(133) I have tested all works even at 152 MHz FSB, this is really a Kafkaesk issue. I will try a Tualatin at 133 MHz FSB to see if that works...
Edit
Now it suddenly worked with the Coppermine 933... the board waits for a while after showing you the post screen then continues to post and boot the OS. It seems to only work with CL3 😒.
Edit 2
Im going back to the old F3 BIOS, If I have to run CL3 to be able to run a Coppermine with multiplier 7 or greater at 133 MHz FSB I could aswell do it with the same BIOS as I used for benchmarking all the other CPUs so far so the results dosnt get more skewed than the change in memory timings makes it.
I still dosnt understand why 6x152 works with CL 2-2-2 but 7x133 wont work other than with CL 3-3-3. I have tried 3 different 256 MB modules known to handle 133+ MHz 2-2-2 and even 2x 128 MB but the issue remains the same.
At least I figured out what the board is waiting for when it seems to hang for a minut or so, its doing the memory test but it isnt showing it on screen for some reason. Its very strange, why does the stupid board act differently at post when running 133 MHz FSB with multiplier 7+ than with lower multipliers where it shows the memory testing on screen?
EDIT 3
WTF. The system locked up before the memory test at 133 MHz FSB CL 3-3-3 with the old F3 BIOS, the next post Im back to the shady beta BIOS. I had booted the system more than once at 100 MHz FSB with the F3 BIOS before this happend so Im sure the BIOS downgrade worked... I hate dual BIOS boards and I would disable that function if it wasnt for the fact that the board sometimes likes to corrupt the main BIOS when it fails to do a full post because of the issues Im having.
It seems I will have to do the rest of the benching with the FDc beta BIOS... the board wants it that way. At least the system seems fully stable at 7x133 MHz CL 3-3-3 with this BIOS.
If I thought that the BIOS programmers responsible for this mess still worked at Gigabyte I would send an angry letter!
EDIT 4
The next post im back to the F3 BIOS which still is in one of the BIOS chips it seems 😜
EDIT 5
I flashed the FDc beta again and the next post the board again starts with the F3 BIOS and locked up because of 133 MHz FSB with multiplier 7 😁, I reset again and now it uses the FDc and passes post and boots Windows 😁. It seems when you use the flash utility it flashes the chip the board is using at the moment and the board sometimes switches between the two chips because of something... not only after a failed post.
The board has a built in utility for flashing BIOS from one chip to another so I guess some of this mess could have been avoided. I just have not dared to use that function after reading some forum post written by someone who bricked his board using it.
EDIT 6
Everything is working fine now, the board posts with the FDc BIOS every time while the F3 BIOS is in the other chip. If the board should feel like switching to the chip with the F3 BIOS again it will fail to do a full post and because of that it will return to the FDc BIOS the next reset. No need for me to flash the FDc to the other chip. I can probably flash the other chip by selecting CL2 at 7x133 with the FDc BIOS which will fail to do a full post, then before powering on the system again I can change the dip switches to 100 MHz FSB, the next post will be with the F3 BIOS and as the FSB now is 100 MHz it will not lock up and I can flash that chip aswell without using the built in utility for flashing from one chip to the other.
Awesome work Gigabyte...
New PC: i9 12900K @5GHz all cores @1.2v. MSI PRO Z690-A. 32GB DDR4 3600 CL14. 3070Ti.
Old PC: Dual Xeon X5690@4.6GHz, EVGA SR-2, 48GB DDR3R@2000MHz, Intel X25-M. GTX 980ti.
Older PC: K6-3+ 400@600MHz, PC-Chips M577, 256MB SDRAM, AWE64, Voodoo Banshee.