GA-X79-UP4 Intel Management Engine Driver stuck at version 7.x.x

[zerowing]

I have been a Gigabyte customer for over 10 years now. I had plenty of Gigabyte motherboards.

I just bought a Gigabyte GA-X79-UP4 with 32GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 1600MHz and i7-3930K CPU to upgrade my first PC.  

Before buying it I already checked the support section and saw that the BIOS updates were stuck at November 2012 when the latest Beta-BIOS was released and no non-Beta since then. And that applies to the whole X79 Gigabyte motherboard line of products, all motherboards still only with a Beta-BIOS since November 2012.

Now, when installing Windows7x64 SP1 I found out that the Intel Management Engine support in the BIOS is for version 7.x.x only. At least that on the last non-Beta BIOS F2 the motherboard GA-X79-UP4 came with and I didn't upgrade to the Beta-BIOS

I tried installing Intel Management Engine Driver 8.1.2.1318 first, it reported that it couldn't install because the hardware wasn't compatible.
So I tried the previous driver 8.1.10.1286 but still same error.
I had to go back to driver 7.1.52.1176 which is the same version Gigabyte support pages for X79 motherboards currently lists to install.

So, why Gigabyte for 10 months now didn't release any new non-Beta BIOS for X79 motherboads and the support is stuck at a Beta-BIOS since November 2012 ?
And so no Firmware update for the Intel Management Engine version 8.x.x that must be performed by Gigabyte with the motherboard BIOS has been released yet and so newer Intel drivers can't be installed.

Also.. the X79-UP4 BIOS F2 lacks the ability to set Legacy boot option for both Hard Disk and CD/DVD Optical units. A feature switch that Z77 motherboards got with most recent BIOS version (I installed various Z77 motherboards recently and the feature was there).
The X79-UP4 BIOS F2 only features a "Boot Override" option in the BIOS for one time boot which allows to select non-UEFI just Legacy boot but this option must be used manually each time it's needed otherwise the BIOS will always try booting UEFI first.

I hope to see both these issues solved with the next non-Beta BIOS Update.

[dmdilks]

What problems are you having? I have the same board and not having any problem with Intel Management Engine Driver.

On the boot option a lot of things have change over the years and sometimes you have to go with the changes.

The old saying is that "if isn't broke do fix it".  I have been building computer for almost 20 yrs.

I learn that one on the first day I own a computer. It is up to the person that wants to update things.

I'm not trying to sound smart but if you are not having any problems just leave well enough alone.

[zerowing]

Intel releases Firmware updates to manufacturers for a reason.
Other manufacturers have updated their X79 boards to install the latest Intel Management Engine Driver versions 8.x.x
Gigabyte too updated the firmware on their Z77 motherboards BIOS updates.
The X79 boards from Gigabyte are far behind.

The list of bugfixes for the Intel Management Engine at both Firmware and driver level is pretty big and includes all sort of issues that Intel sorted out thru time, just like this out of many documents shows:

http://faenl.msi.com/ftp/Mainboard/Z77%20MPower%287751%29/Driver/1.5m/1.5MB%20FW%20Release%20Notes%208%200%2010%201464%20%28MR1%29.pdf

The updates provided by Intel range from critical to very important to important. The Intel Management Engine firmware update must be provided by the OEM which means the motherboard manufacturer.
And Gigabyte is far behind supporting X79 motherboards now.

Manufacturers release updates for a reason.
If you don't want to update your machine it's your fault. A machine can look stable but the bugs are there and without the updates you don't know when one out of the many unfixed bugs could kick in and cause issues.
Updating continously without having checked that the updates are stable and the manufacturer didn't pull them or released another quick fix would be dumb and unprofessional indeed BUT not updating machines drivers and firmwares it's just lazy.
Sure it can take time to update hardware and software properly. But at the software level anyone should always make a system backup to avoid any possible issue so that it's possible to revert back if a whole re-install can't be performed in a business environment.

[dmdilks]

The #1 problems on most of these forums are somebody that updated a driver or flash a bois.

Most of the times it is that they were not having any problems till they did those updates.

This is from most board companies:
Warning:
Because BIOS flashing is potentially risky, if you do not encounter problems using the current version of BIOS, it is recommended that you not flash the BIOS. To flash the BIOS, do it with caution. Inadequate BIOS flashing may result in system malfunction.

I have a friend that I built a computer for. When he got it from the time he push the power button till he was in windows was 20sec.

The first thing he start to do was update things and what do you think happen. The computer crash and I had to walk him through it to reinstall windows.

Now the computer is back to where it was when he got it. It boots still in about 20sec. He tells me all the time it is running great.

Plus he will ask me every time we talk that he wants update the bios. So should he update his bios or not?

We have a computer that is running great not having any problems at all. But because there is a newer driver or bios he should do them no matter what.

[zerowing]

All manufacturers put disclaimers for any update they release. It doesn't mean that updates shouldn't be done.
Manufacturers put such a warning for legal reasons first.