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Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?

Lsdmeasap

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #75 on: February 07, 2012, 11:03:57 am »
The culprit is Intel ME firmware, and BIOS updates have just been posted this week to address the issue, did you try them yet?




lkteer

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #76 on: February 07, 2012, 11:13:40 pm »
The culprit is Intel ME firmware, and BIOS updates have just been posted this week to address the issue, did you try them yet?

Interesting...

I already updated the MA board to f10c which didn't seem to resolve the issue.

I haven't updated the MX board though. Is it the F13d update? Under description "improve power on issue" is listed.
Is this the correct update to apply since it wasn't posted this week but rather on the 1/19.
link to bios downloads for GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3974&dl=1#bios

crossing fingers  :D
« Last Edit: February 07, 2012, 11:17:19 pm by lkteer »

Oubadah

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #77 on: February 08, 2012, 02:55:48 am »
I think Gigabyte have actually broken things that were working in the first place. I've just been experimenting with a H67MA-UD2H-B3 board, and with it's shipping BIOS (F4 I think it was), I couldn't recreate any boot loop at all - it was perfectly normal. Then I flashed it to F6 (latest), and suddenly every reset makes it shut down/loop and I see this "Waiting for ME ready..." that I never saw before.

I don't get the HT reset issue or "failure due to overclocking" though...
« Last Edit: February 08, 2012, 03:00:34 am by Oubadah »

Neil79

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #78 on: February 08, 2012, 07:07:57 pm »
The culprit is Intel ME firmware, and BIOS updates have just been posted this week to address the issue, did you try them yet?

Only took a number of my reports and a number of others from other people before they actually fixed it!. All that it's your board RMA it rubbish, glad it's fixed anyway :)

Dark Mantis

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #79 on: February 09, 2012, 12:24:26 pm »
From looking around the net it would seem that this has indeed fixed the problem apart from a couple of odd ones that were probably due to some other issue altogether. Let's hope that this has finally been put to bed. ;)
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

Oubadah

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #80 on: February 12, 2012, 01:54:09 am »
It is NOT fixed on my z68x-ud3r.

And I don't suppose it'll ever be fixed on the old H67MA-UD2H-B3.
« Last Edit: February 12, 2012, 02:02:09 am by Oubadah »

Dark Mantis

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #81 on: February 12, 2012, 08:31:44 am »
Have you made sure that you have applied the Intel ME update as this is the primary issue ?
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #82 on: February 17, 2012, 03:28:01 pm »
This issue is not fixed DM, at least not on the Z68X-UD7. It's better than it was with the F10C BIOS admittedly, but I still found that

1) The system is finicky as hell to get set up after a BIOS flash. It will still POST loop after a CMOS reset, and it is still possible to prompt the "Your system has failed because of an overclock..." warning (complete with zilched settings) at completely random moments - even when the darn thing's running at stock speeds. This includes, for example, using ctrl-alt-del to reset the system after running through an Alt-F12 backup BIOS flash!

Despite the fact that the mild overclock I'm running is absolutely rock stable (will survive over 24 hours of stress testing inside Windows, and *never* crashes), the only way to get it set up in BIOS is to make small incremental changes, and continually save settings and restart, putting up with random power cycles as I go. If I try to go from stock speeds to the full whack in one go, the system will start to loop, and eventually throw the "Overclock" warning.

Furthermore, once this warning has started to appear, it is almost impossible to force the system to boot. Go into the BIOS, set up any combination of settings you want (mild overclock, stock or underclock), save and exit, and as soon as it restarts, you'll see the warning again, and, once into the BIOS, you'll see that the settings you made a minute ago have been completely ignored, or replaced by the settings you tried a few minutes earlier.

2) The reset button still doesn't work properly. Sometimes it simply doesn't do anything at all, and other times, using it, even for a perfectly legitimate system reset after booting to a command prompt for some reason, will prompt the "overclock" warning - even if the system's running stock or underclocked! I know there's a known issue with the reset button on the GBT 6-series boards, but that doesn't mean Gigabyte have any excuse not to fix it.

3) If I select "Restart" in the shutdown menu of the OS, the system should, well, restart. However, I'm still finding that, almost at random, mine will suddenly shut down for a few secs and pause before powering up and continuing the restart cycle (with the POST meter reading C0 immediately prior to the power down). This is a minor issue but all those extra power cycles add up to extra wear on hard disks, not to to mention other components, and it's something that isn't an issue on other brands of board.

Oh and before anyone asks, this is all with the ME firmware updated.

Speaking of firmware, not sure whether the "culprit" is the ME, or whethe the problem is in the Award/Gigabyte code failing to program the ME. From what I've observed in testing, it would seem as though the main fault is on the GBT side. Seems like there are ways in which the board's backup BIOS/CMOS can cause more problems than it solves. Whatever the cause, though, it's for the board vendor to fix.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2012, 04:02:24 pm by Citizen Crazed »
Z68X-UD7-B3/i7 2600K
8GB Corsair Dominator GT 2133
EVGA 560Ti448/Corsair AX850
Storage - loads
Custom open frame case & cooling
Win7Ultimate64/WinXPProx86

Lsdmeasap

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #83 on: February 22, 2012, 07:41:34 am »
Here's another official update guys, I sent in a report on a few users still seeming to have these issues over the past two weeks, so here is there testing results and full reply.  

Please pass this info along to your fellow Gigabyte users, thanks!

Quote
Test 3 models of Z68 boards with the following BIOS:
 
1.)  Z68X-UD7 with BIOS F10

2.)  Z68XP-UD3 with BIOS F9g

3.)  Z68AP-DS3 with BIOS FB

Our test results:

1.)  Press CTRL + ALT + DEL keys when during boot up or in DOS mode >>  Cannot see “continuous reboot loop”, nor “Waiting for ME ready”, nor “system overclocking  failure” message.  The system just reboot fine.


2.)   Press the Reset button

A.)  Press the button quickly and release immediately  >>  Cannot see any issue.

B.)  Press the reset button for one second or so (This is not normal behavior.)  >> System will shut down, and then power on by itself.  Then the “Waiting for ME ready” message appears and then system will shut down and power on by itself again.  Sometimes, it will show “System overclock failure” message.  

Moreover…

According our testing before,
the issue of “continuous reboot loop” can be fixed by flashing the Backup BIOS with the same version as the main BIOS (latest one).
We Flash the Backup BIOS with the same BIOS version for the main BIOS version before test.

So be careful with that reset button and it should also work properly now too!  But I still say avoid if/when possible :D

And always keep backup BIOS up to date matching with the main BIOS.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2012, 07:47:09 am by Lsdmeasap »

Neil79

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #84 on: March 01, 2012, 11:06:51 pm »
http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3912&dl=1#bios

Quote

    Support Intel 22nm CPU E1 stepping
    Improve power on issue
    Update ME / CPU code

F7

arky33

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #85 on: March 27, 2012, 12:20:20 am »
Hi.

I previously posted in this thread a few weeks ago. Here are my specs, same as before.

Windows 7 x64 Ultimate
Corsair Carbide 500R
XFX 750W Core Edition Single rail PSU
Cool-IT ECO watercooling
Patriot VIPER XTREME 8GB PC3-15000 @1.65V
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P
Gigabyte HD6970
Intel i5 2500k
ADATA 120GB SSD

Just wanted to give a quick update on the issue. I am still plagued with cold boot issues, i.e. the computer looping at boot, trying to start but only trying for a few seconds before shutting down again. I just had to clear the battery again to get it up and running.

I installed the latest bios yesterday to see if it was any better. I know the overclock potential of this 2500K and the settings it likes almost by heart now, so yesterday I went into the bios, did my things, and was up and running @4.7ghz like before, 6 hours prime stable, voltages stable as well. I then put the computer to sleep for the night. In the morning I wanted to check out the news, but it never woke up. I pressed enter on the keyboard, fans started spinning, it tried to start up but shut down immediately. It tried and failed again about 7 times before I finally got under my desk to shut down the PSU.

Lsdmeasap

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #86 on: March 27, 2012, 07:09:02 am »
Sleep issue is not the same as the issues discussed here really.  However, I can try to help you diagnose this.

Do you have the backup BIOS flashed to match the main already?  If not, please do that now following this guide, you may need to use PS/2 keyboard or USB to PS/2 adapter
http://gigabytedaily.blogspot.com/2011/02/video-guide-how-to-update-your-backup.html

Do you have other memory to test with?   For your memory now, have you ran Memtest86+ and or HCI memtest lately?  If not please test now, for at least 5-10 full passes or overnight while you sleep with Memtest86+ latest version.
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

To test with HCI memtest, you run multiple instances based on the number of CPU cores you have (4), then divide all spare memory in windows (minus a few hundred MB) into those 4 instances
http://hcidesign.com/memtest/

So for example, you have 6GB in windows at idle once windows is done loading, verify unused memory amount in task manager.  So let's say you have 6GB left, subtract 200-300 MB from 6GB, you get 5844.   Divide that amongst 4 instances of HCI memtest and let it run to around 500% or more, if they all pass without error then your memory settings or voltage are not the cause of your sleep issue.

I recommend extended testing with both programs mentioned above always, but especially now since you are having sleep issues as these are often memory related.  Is your 8GB 2x4GB or 4x2GB?
« Last Edit: March 27, 2012, 07:09:38 am by Lsdmeasap »

Neil79

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #87 on: March 30, 2012, 06:37:35 pm »
Do you have the backup BIOS flashed to match the main already?  If not, please do that now following this guide, you may need to use PS/2 keyboard or USB to PS/2 adapter
http://gigabytedaily.blogspot.com/2011/02/video-guide-how-to-update-your-backup.html

This board/bios pisses me off, maybe i shouldn't swear but that's how i feel!. Since the f7e bios i've had what a month without issue apart from this last week when I had two cold boots. It passes prime and intel burn test for many hours so it's not system stability!. A week passes by and i read this post, after another successful boot up I decide to back up the bios just incase I get a cold boot. Thanks to this stupid idea it said that the back up bios was flashed successfully and to reset the system. I press the reset button and what does it do, starts up and shuts down, NICE!

I go into bios and it said it had failed because of overclocking NO IT HASN'T it's because i pressed the damn reset button after a back up bios flash. ok then (I set the defaults in bios), Restart the system and get a nice box of text telling me it had started up but failed due to a failed overclock setting, NO IT BLOODY HADN'T!.  Sod this I thought, I booted up the system set my overclock in bios, let the system shut off and pulled the psu cable. Put it back in and it booted it on it's own without me doing anything and wolla it worked fine.Not only did the back up bios idea cause me a great amount of grief but so did hitting that Reset button, Never EVER use the reset button on this board it thinks it's a failed overclock for some stupid reason.

« Last Edit: March 30, 2012, 06:39:01 pm by Neil79 »

Dark Mantis

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #88 on: March 30, 2012, 08:43:18 pm »
Sorry to hear that you are still having problems. You shouldn't use the reset button!  ;) Do an extended clear of the CMOS overnight and it should be fine in the morning. I should uncouple the reset button from the motherboard if I were you.
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

Neil79

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Re: Can we get an official response from Gigabyte regarding Z68 cold boot?
« Reply #89 on: March 30, 2012, 11:41:07 pm »
Sorry to hear that you are still having problems. You shouldn't use the reset button!  ;) Do an extended clear of the CMOS overnight and it should be fine in the morning. I should uncouple the reset button from the motherboard if I were you.

It's fine now, it's still a piece of crap bios and the developers are a bunch of fools

I never use the reset button! only in this instance as it was supposed to be fixed.