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AMD Phenom II X4 955 / Gigabyte Mobo BIOS Problem?

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First post, by Smack2k

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I have a Gigabyte ga-ma770t-ud3p (Rev 1.0) board with a n AMD Athlon II X3 445 running in it that runs fine, has no issues and is very stable. This past weekend I tried to upgrade it to an AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor. Once upgraded, the machine posts and boots, but once in WIndows blue screens either immediately or after 5 or so minutes. I tried to get it to boot into safe mode, but it will only load the drivers for safe mode before rebooting on its own.

The board is on revision F4 of the BIOS, which from this information (https://www.gigabyte.com/Ajax/SupportFunction … 96&Type=Product) told me that I needed to upgrade the BIOS to at least revision F7 for hte 955 to work properly. I downloaded both F8 and F10 versions of the BIOS (the latest two) and tried to use the QFLash utility to upgrade it, but with either processor installed I get a BIOS ID Check Error on both versions when the utility tries to run. I made a copy of the F4 installed BIOS to a USB Drive from the MOBO and then re-installed the same BIOS using the QFLash with no issues.

I'd really like to get the 955 running, but am having no luck getting the BIOS upgraded, which I think is the issue. Can anyone give any assistance to this or any ideas on what I can do / try to get things working?

Reply 2 of 10, by appiah4

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Athlon II X3 445 is a 95W TDP CPU, Phenom II X4 955 is a 125W TDP CPU. This is most certainly either a thermal or electrical problem. Your system either doesn't have enough cooling for the Phenom or doesn't have enough current on the 12V rail. This is even more likely if you are overclocking. What cooler and PSU are you running?

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Reply 4 of 10, by appiah4

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Smack2k wrote:

The PSU is a 700W Cooler Master and the Cooler is the Stock AMD Cooler / Fan that came with the 955....

The PSU should be fine unless it's kicking the bucket (which it can be) but let's assume it's fine for now. Can you check the CPU thermals in BIOS and in Windows (via HWMonitor or some such) and see what they are like? The CPU Cooler could be making poor contact?

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 5 of 10, by Koltoroc

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Stuff like that is why Gigabyte is often a pain in the ass. Make sure you download the right bios for the right revision. Revisions can often vary wildly in CPU and bios support. For example, I have a 880GA-UD3P Rev. 2.0, that has normal bios and no support for FX cpus. but later revisions have UEFI (3.0, I believe) and FX Support (3.1). The worst part (and why I don't buy gigabyte anymore) is that the revision is generally NOT mentioned on the package, which frankly is unacceptable when support can vary that wildly.

So make sure you use updates for the correct revision, it REALLY matters with gigabyte, more than with most other manufacturers.

On the bright side, the revision is marked either on a sticker or the silk screen directly on the motherboard.

Reply 10 of 10, by kva

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Koltoroc wrote:

Stuff like that is why Gigabyte is often a pain in the ass. Make sure you download the right bios for the right revision. Revisions can often vary wildly in CPU and bios support. For example, I have a 880GA-UD3P Rev. 2.0, that has normal bios and no support for FX cpus. but later revisions have UEFI (3.0, I believe) and FX Support (3.1). The worst part (and why I don't buy gigabyte anymore) is that the revision is generally NOT mentioned on the package, which frankly is unacceptable when support can vary that wildly.

So make sure you use updates for the correct revision, it REALLY matters with gigabyte, more than with most other manufacturers.

On the bright side, the revision is marked either on a sticker or the silk screen directly on the motherboard.

Exactly! Have the same issues with gigabyte twice. I won't buy them anymore.

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