Tweet
Hello,
I try to find out an a solution to my issue with this X38-DQ6 motherboard I own since 2007: during this period of time, this MB is behaving slow in DOS/BIOS mode with AHCI mode enabled (this means everything outside Windows operating system).
Under Windows OS (XP - x86/x64, Vista x86/x64, Win7 beta-x64) the MB is fast and stable, but as soon I work with this MB in DOS/BIOS mode, it behaves strange:
- in the boot phase, the MB stays 10seconds to detect the SATA HDD (step 10 in BIOS loading), no matter if/what HDD is connected to SATA ports
- in BIOS, the SATA HDDs/DVDRWs are not visible in AHCI mode - but they are visible in Windows ad if I use some other non-Windows applications like Norton Ghost, Acronis, etc.
- file copy operation under DOS mode is VERY slow
- creating a Ghost image for a partition or restoring an image of a partition it takes more than double time compared to other MBs I tried.
- I could not use the eSATA functionality with this MB, when I try to plug an eSATA HDD, the PC is freezing
- booting with an external USB HDD connected is not possible
- installing of a Vista/Win7 OS from an 200x USB stick is very slow compared to other MBs I've tried
- very slow movement of the USB G5 mouse cursor on screen in DOS mode applications (very fast with other MBs)
So, these are some mis-behaviors which lead me to the conclusion that the storage and I/O subsystems of this MB are not working correctly with all existing BIOS codes I've tried until F7 when I gave up.
In order to prove this conclusion, in the same system I've just swapped the x38-DQ6 MB with: P5W-DW (975/ICH8R), P5B Deluxe (P965/ICH8R) and P45 neo2FR (P45/ICH10R) motherboards and all are working correctly and fast under BIOS / DOS applications in AHCI mode (HDDs/DVDRWs are recognized in BIOS, half the time necesarry for copy operations or partition image cration/restoring, no slow movement of mouse cursor, working eSATA, etc.)
If I change the AHCI mode to IDE mode, the things are booting much faster and HDDs/DVDRWs are recognized in BIOS.
Did somebody else faced this kind of issues I have with this MB? This is my first Gigabyte MB and I don't know, maybe all GB motherboards are behaving in the same way?
Many thanks for your hints/ideeas in solving this issues.
Regards,
Nick
Components in my system:
CPU: Q6600 G0
MB: X38-DQ6
RAM: 4x2Gb A-Data PC6400 Extreme+ (during the time I had also some Geil RAM 2x1Gb PC6400, all my RAm is tested and OK under MemTest)
PCI: XFi Xtreme Music and an Sapphire Theatrix 550pro TV tuner
HDD/DVDRW: WD3000HLFS-01G6U0 / DRW-1814BLT / DRW-20B1ST (but I've used during time other HDDs from WD, Seagate and Samsung)
VGA: I used various graphic cards, from an Asus X300se 128Mb to an 4870 1Gb
PSU: actually is a Thermaltake Though Power 750W (but I've used also a Chieftec 550W)
USB peripherals keyboard and mouse
I try to find out an a solution to my issue with this X38-DQ6 motherboard I own since 2007: during this period of time, this MB is behaving slow in DOS/BIOS mode with AHCI mode enabled (this means everything outside Windows operating system).
Under Windows OS (XP - x86/x64, Vista x86/x64, Win7 beta-x64) the MB is fast and stable, but as soon I work with this MB in DOS/BIOS mode, it behaves strange:
- in the boot phase, the MB stays 10seconds to detect the SATA HDD (step 10 in BIOS loading), no matter if/what HDD is connected to SATA ports
- in BIOS, the SATA HDDs/DVDRWs are not visible in AHCI mode - but they are visible in Windows ad if I use some other non-Windows applications like Norton Ghost, Acronis, etc.
- file copy operation under DOS mode is VERY slow
- creating a Ghost image for a partition or restoring an image of a partition it takes more than double time compared to other MBs I tried.
- I could not use the eSATA functionality with this MB, when I try to plug an eSATA HDD, the PC is freezing
- booting with an external USB HDD connected is not possible
- installing of a Vista/Win7 OS from an 200x USB stick is very slow compared to other MBs I've tried
- very slow movement of the USB G5 mouse cursor on screen in DOS mode applications (very fast with other MBs)
So, these are some mis-behaviors which lead me to the conclusion that the storage and I/O subsystems of this MB are not working correctly with all existing BIOS codes I've tried until F7 when I gave up.
In order to prove this conclusion, in the same system I've just swapped the x38-DQ6 MB with: P5W-DW (975/ICH8R), P5B Deluxe (P965/ICH8R) and P45 neo2FR (P45/ICH10R) motherboards and all are working correctly and fast under BIOS / DOS applications in AHCI mode (HDDs/DVDRWs are recognized in BIOS, half the time necesarry for copy operations or partition image cration/restoring, no slow movement of mouse cursor, working eSATA, etc.)
If I change the AHCI mode to IDE mode, the things are booting much faster and HDDs/DVDRWs are recognized in BIOS.
Did somebody else faced this kind of issues I have with this MB? This is my first Gigabyte MB and I don't know, maybe all GB motherboards are behaving in the same way?
Many thanks for your hints/ideeas in solving this issues.
Regards,
Nick
Components in my system:
CPU: Q6600 G0
MB: X38-DQ6
RAM: 4x2Gb A-Data PC6400 Extreme+ (during the time I had also some Geil RAM 2x1Gb PC6400, all my RAm is tested and OK under MemTest)
PCI: XFi Xtreme Music and an Sapphire Theatrix 550pro TV tuner
HDD/DVDRW: WD3000HLFS-01G6U0 / DRW-1814BLT / DRW-20B1ST (but I've used during time other HDDs from WD, Seagate and Samsung)
VGA: I used various graphic cards, from an Asus X300se 128Mb to an 4870 1Gb
PSU: actually is a Thermaltake Though Power 750W (but I've used also a Chieftec 550W)
USB peripherals keyboard and mouse
Comment