GA EG41MF-S2H - cannot FLASH BIOS

[pjuegos]

hi all,

I have a gigabyte motherboard GA EG41MF-S2H, which was running smothly in both XP and VISTA.
After upgraded to Win7 I have noticed some unusual behaviours, and strange incompatibilities between software and hardware. I have tried everything except succesfully flashing the BIOS, which did not work for me
The current @BIOS version is F3, and there is a newer one available called F4aBETA. http://ee.giga-byte.com/products/mb/bios/ga-eg41mf-s2h_10.html.
I have tried to install it using the@BIOS utility. However, when I try to load the BIN file it I get the following message:
"Cannot load ROM image from BIN file. Maybe BIN file does not match"
I have also tried to reinstall F3, which can be obtained from the gigabyte servers using @BIOS. In this case, at the end of the process I get a "FAIL" message at the end.

Any idea of what is going wrong?
Do you know if this MoBo is compatible with Win7

Thanks

[Fatman]

DO NOT USE @BIOS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Period. Use Qflash, here is a great guide by legendary Lsdmeasap

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/27576-bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide.html

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte UK Forum.

Yes the motherboard is definitely certified for use with Windows 7 so no problem there.

I would certainly not advise you to use @BIOS from within Windows it is far too dangerous. We recommend QFlash the BIOS utility as being much safer and more reliable. This is part of your problem with trying to re-insatal F3 also.

The beta BIOS update F4a should be compatible with your board and I think if you try to update it again using QFlash instead you might be more successsful.

When you do and get to the QFlash main screen make sure that you disable the Keep DMI Data option before continuing.

[pjuegos]

Thanks to both for your replies.

I have flashed the BIOS with F4a using the QFlash tool. Very straighforward to use!

Unfortunately, the problems I have since I migrated to win7 have not been corrected with the flashing...

Thanks for your help!!!

[Dark Mantis]

Glad you found that not too much of a trial anyway!

What problems are you still experiencing?

Are you running 32 or 64 bit Windows 7 ?

[pjuegos]

Hi Dark Mantis,

Thanks for your interest in the problem.

I am running 32 bit at the moment, but I have also tried 64 bit and the same problem persisted.
It is a strange problem but this is basically the description...
I have a WIN7 media center PC, which I use for TV, music, video... The PC uses an external USB DAC for the audio, which connects to the HIFI. Everything is controlled through WMC.
The problem is that the audio crackles when I play video files if WMC/WMP and the DAC are used together. The DAC uses the generic win7 USB DAC driver.

This problem did not happen with VISTA or XP, and I have tried updatding everything: drivers, BIOS,etc...
My thoughts are that either WMC audio buffer scheme is doing something very silly filling the buffer with crakling noise, ir the generic win7 USB DAC driver is not working well

Thanks again

[Dark Mantis]

Can you get the proper drivers for the external DAC?

I am not that knowledgable on audio systems but I would have thought that was the most likely culprit as you say it all worked ok before in XP and Vista.

Has anything else changed apart from the OS installation?

[pjuegos]

Even though it is a good DAC, it does not come with a spicific driver, and uses the generic USB DAC driver, which seems like a problem for future compatibility.

However, something that strikes me iis that if I use a different media player, the DAC works perfectly. So, it is just a problem when WMC/WMP is used in Win7 for that DAC.

And no, nothing else changed apart from the OS.

Thanks

[pjuegos]

Dark Mantis,

I thought of a test to see if the problem is in the USB driver or in WMC's buffer scheme. The DAC has also an optical digital input, and luckily the GIGABYTE MoBo's onboard sound card (Realtek) also has an optical digital output.
If everything works through this link, USB to blame, otherwise, WMC to blame.
Unfortunately, I have a new problem. When I connect the DAC to the MoBo, nothing happens and the sound device is not recognised. Any idea of what could this be? Do you whether this issue is known for this MoBo using REaltek's onboard soundcard?

Thanks

pj

[pjuegos]

It is me again,

I took a look of the manual, and apparently you need an additional internal cable for configuring SPIDF optical.
S/PDIF in cable (Part No. 12CR1-1SPDIN-01R)

However, the manual refers to "in" mode, and I need this for "out" mode. Do I need to get this cable anyway?

Thanks

P.S: please let me know if I am diverting too much from the original topic and I should start a new thread

cheers

[Dark Mantis]

Fine to carry on with the thread  for now as the underlying theme is still the same.

No you dont need to purchase any other cables to use the optical out on the back panel (as long as you have an optical cable) and it is discussed in the manual on pages 81/82 here:

http://download.gigabyte.eu/FileList/Manual/motherboard_manual_ga-eg41mf-s2h_e.pdf

Obviously you would need to select that input on your DAC rather than the normal input.

[pjuegos]

thanks for your reply,

Yes, I have the optical cable, which came with the DAC, and the DAC is set to listen to the optical input.
 I have followed the manual instructions but nothing seems to happen in the PC, and no sound device is recognised.
I launched the realtek audio manager from control panel. The digital audio format settings are fine, but I do no think it is detecting any digital device at all. There is also a button that can be clicked to monitor real time SPDIF devices. When I click, it goes to window sound devices, where no digital device is recognised...

cheers

[Dark Mantis]

I am no expert on audio devices but it sounds (no pun intended) to me like there is a setting that needs changing. You have the output set to digital I take it?

I will ask absic if he can have a look at the thread as he is our resident audio guru.

[pjuegos]

Yes, the DAC is set to optical, but Windows does not see the sound device.
As you said, some setting should probably be configured but I cannot find it.

Thanks

[pjuegos]

I have found the problem! When I configured my USB DAC in the first place, I disabled all inputs I did not need, which included the optical SPDIF!
I have enabled it back and it reappeared in the sound device list!!!

But the best news is that it has also sorted the audio problem. Thus, we can conclude that the Win7 generice USB DAC driver is a complete disaster, and that from now on I will just have to use the optical output.

Thanks Dark Mantis for your help!

pj