GA-X58A-UD3R (Rev 2.0) - Audio Crackling/Static

[fox5150]

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone can help me with this problem. I have recently upgraded my motherboard to the GA-X58A-UD3R (rev 2.0) and have a Intel i7 @2.67GHz, 4GB RAM and an ATI Radeon HD4850 installed. I have performed a clean installation of Windows 7 64-bit (Ultimate Edition). I have reinstalled all drivers using the latest versions from either Gigabyte's website or ATI's. I have loaded optimize defaults in the BIOS and the system is not overclocked.

Since doing the upgrade I am experiencing problems with the sound, where it will stutter or crackle. It doesn't happen all the time, but regularly enough to be an issue. Following some investigations I have downloaded DPC Latency Checker and these audio problems coincide with unacceptable (RED) latency issues. The crackles subside fully when the latency falls to acceptable (GREEN) levels.

I have seen mention of a beta BIOS that is supposed to resolve this issue, but the only one I can locate is FB5 on Gigabyte's website. I have applied this and it does not remedy the problem. In another post on this site, someone has kindly provided links to the Rev 1.0 and 2.0 BIOS but the language is French and I'm not sure if that should impact anything. Also, I didn't want to hijack the other chap's thread

Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I might fix this?

Thanks in advance.

[Dark Mantis]

Try turning off disk indexing. In Windows 7 this causes some big latency issues.

[fox5150]

I will try that and see what happens.

If it does need to be switched off that would be a real shame as I use it a lot.

[Dark Mantis]

I don't think that you would notice that much of a difference. However it might not be that it could be  a driver or background program that is causing it.

[fox5150]

I have disabled the Indexing Service and rebooted but unfortunately to no avail. I still experience the latency issues.

The other thread I was referring to is: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2337.0.html

As I mentioned in the first post, I didn't want to hijack his thread but our symptoms do look awfully similar. The only issue I have with the solution is that the posted BIOS is listed as French, not English.

Any thoughts?

[Dark Mantis]

The BIOS update that you are after is the F6m. This is a beta version and not yet for general release as far as i can see. I can only suggest that you contact runn3R(moderator) and see if he can get hold of a copy for you that's in English.

[fox5150]

I shall do just that - thanks

[runn3R]

Hi fox5150

F6m bios is for Rev 1.0 only!

For Rev 2.0 there is the latest FB11 bios . Please try it

[fox5150]

Thanks very much for the swift reply and the link to the updated BIOS. I have applied it and will report back after a few days of running it.

Thanks again

[poolshark021]

Fox I am having the EXACT same problem as you.  I was about to RMA my board until I came across this thread.  I will be trying the new BIOS as well and report back here.

[ex58]

For AMD GA-890FXA-UD7/UD5 (v.2.x) new BIOS are released with fix audio noise issue while running ET6 in Win7,so I expecte will be same issue for Intel X58A.

[Dark Mantis]

Well as poolshark says there has been some success with the AMD chip boards so let's hope the same applies to these Intel chip boards. It would be a nice easy solution.
EDIT My bad I meant ex58

[runn3R]

No, it was ex58 who wrote this

[jsyi]

An official BIOS or driver provided through Gigabyte would be great. Until a surefire fix is available, here's my experience with this.

I believe I am having the same issue. After going through a mess of switching between the onboard sound as well as discrete sound cards and USB sound and with different drivers, I wasn't able to pin the problem down.

In the end, DPC latency seemed to be the culprit (thanks for the link to the tool!).

Disabling various devices in Device Manager was not helping me. After running with NICs, USB, and sound controllers disabled, the DPC latency would go down but eventually spike back up and stay in the red.

On a whim I completely disabled the USB 3.0 controller in the BIOS. Running for a couple hours so far, the problem hasn't resurfaced (through perhaps some fluke of my computer usage, it has always been present). I am running of the onboard Realtek sound and nothing is disabled in Device Manager (the USB 3.0-related entries are obviously no longer there).

I'm hoping this fixes it in the interim so I don't have to lose more time trying pulling my hair out from audio-frustration until an official fix is out.


P.S., I'm willing to try beta BIOS revisions, but the Gigabyte webpage for the Rev 2.0 motherboard shows FB5 as the latest beta. I'm a little wary of flashing my BIOS with files not directly linked to by the manufacturer. I'm guessing this is "closer" to the in-house builds and was obtained directly from communication with Gigabyte employees?

[Dark Mantis]

No, it was ex58 who wrote this

Hey, you're on the ball there runn3R! I will have to be more carefull(can I blame my new keyboard?)