D975XBX2 Marvell Controller Problem

[Dandruff]

let's hope so ...

[Lazzer408]

Hi there. I've been building systems for awhile so I'm not new to hardware.
I have personally tested these boards...

MSI 975X Platinum V.2 (stay FAR away from this board no matter what you hear!!)

ASUS P5B-Deluxe (poor overclock even though reviews rated it well, poor benchmarks)

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe (I give it 4.5/5. Good overclock, good benchmarks, you MUST peel off the tin cover over the NB heatsink and put a fan on it or you'll roast it. Slow POST. Goofy automatic RAID but it works without F6 driver install)

Intel D975XBX2 (Voltage on my chip is locked, HDD light stuck on with Marv. raid disabled, Issues running my 800mhz ran at 800, it just doesn't work. No BIOS reset jumper, it uses a failsave setting jumper. No hardware to o/c from windows. Fast POST)

Here are the -rough- scores from 3dmark05 with the same hardware used on each board.

P975 plat_v2 - 8300
P5B-Deluxe - 8400
P5W DH Deluxe - 9500
D975XBX2 - 8400

My scores are low as I only have a single x1950 pro 256mb. I will also make note that none of these motherboards ran both of my x1950 pro cards in crossfire. After 2 hours on the phone with ATI they were stumped and wouldn't push my call to the next level because my memory wasn't "crossfire certified". Tonight I bought "crossfire certified" memory and it didn't help one bit. Everything else in my system is crossfire certified. =) Lucky me. ATI will here from me in the morning.

Hope this helps someone choose a board. If Intel doesnt fix the voltage lock in there next Bios I will be switching back to the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe because that board zoomed ...once XP loaded. Considering all the tests were done with the same hardware there's something to be said about that P5W DH Deluxe.

PS: No I dont work for any of these companies. I'm just a gamer. =)

[DaddyRabbit]

I am new to building systems, but chose to do so to save some cash. Build was pretty easy, but I am having the same problem with the HD not being recognized (or the array) and still loading windows except only on 137gig of the 250 gig HD. I have reloaded xp a few times, done the whole enablebiglba because I have an original ver. of XP, and updated Bios, and added the service packs. Windows is not activated yet, my Key code is out of installs and have to call MS to renew...that will be fun.

The funny thing is, the bios sees the the HD and sees it at the correct size. The windows system info sees the HD as the right size and under device manager it sees the drive with its full possible capacity and shows me the unallocated space (107 GB). What's the deal? I have read the stuff from intel, but have not called their $25 an incident phone number yet.

Right now I am formatting the unallocated space and have assigned a drive letter of G to it. I guess I'll see what happens....

HD is a WD 250GB SATA.

How do you email Intel, can't find an address?

Any thoughts or solutions?

Thanks, Steve

P.S. Farmatting just finished and drive partition is shown under windows explorer; assuming it is now usable. Need to change sizes of partitions though.

The problem is that with non=SP1 XP it will create a =< 137G partition for the install. One remedy is to install to a partition and get patches, drivers, apps etc installed, enable bigLBA in the registry, use Acronis or Ghost to image the disk to CD/DVD/USB drive and also create a boot disk. Boot from the Acronis or Ghost disk and restore the image back to the 250 resizing the partitions to the full 250G. (this is what I did with my Seagate 320). Enabling "BigLba" simply tells Windows that it can use 48-bit LBA but if the disk was previously partitioned and formatted with 24-bit LBA that doesn't matter.

Or you could use Partition Magic or Powerquest to try to resize existing partitions, XP won't do it however.

[SVP07]

Thanks DR,

I got a new copy of XP with sp2 from my friend at Microsoft. I am now just waiting for the final word on the Intel board, which might be they are no good.

SVP

[D0ug]

New Bios posted yesterday...anyone tried it yet?

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts ... bmit=Go%21

I guess we'll give it a whirl shortly. The readme didn't seem to address the specific symptoms with the boot message and HD light, but hopefully the jargon means these issues were addressed.

[DaddyRabbit]

Not sure what the "Boot Message" issue is but the HDD LED always on with Marvel disabled IS NOT fixed with this latest BIOS release.

[DaddyRabbit]

Thanks DR,

I got a new copy of XP with sp2 from my friend at Microsoft. I am now just waiting for the final word on the Intel board, which might be they are no good.

SVP

SPV07,

No problem, this isn't an issue with the motherboard but is caused by XP. It actually has been a recurring issue with HDs since they went above 32MB. Eventually it will raise it's head again... (I just bought my 5 Terabyte solid state 3 microsecond drive and I can only access 4 TB, whassup?)... It's the nature of the beast

For what it's worth I really am liking my BX2 but I don't overclock much and it's stable as a rock...

[SergioLeNo1]

Hello:

I have downloaded and installed the updated bios version 2433 (jan 11).

Unfortunaltely the three issues are still present

Still have the annoying message at boot about no hard disk found
Still have in lowe right corner at boot the three letters appearing EB 94 and 0
Still have no HDD light.

Previous posters mentioned to disable marvell How do i do this from the bios
As anyone clear one or all the errors ?
If not, does anyone knows if intel still working on issues with Bios ?

[Sporg]

Previous posters mentioned to disable marvell How do i do this from the bios

This has been posted in several of these threads now, but here ya go:

Advanced tab / Peripheral Configuration / Secondary SATA Controller - change to "Disabled"

For me, changing this removed the message about the drive not being found.
What some users have noticed (myself included) is that disabling the secondary controller causes the HD light to constantly run.

[mickrussom]

Expect Something January 8th 2007

New bios posted at Intel. Nothing in the change log about fixing the Marvell red light issue or the really stupid error message during boot if nothing is hooked up to those perverted blue ports. Death to Marvell. The new version is build 2431 dates Jan 11 2007

also:

I have a few problems.

I was running Windows 2003 sp1 and i have a XFX XXX and i got 800 in 3dmark 2006? WTF!!?!?!

I have dual 750GB Seagate on AHCI, and after running a sector test in HD TUNE, I came back and the CPU util. was 50% "SYSTEM" on my Core 2/X6800 CPU.

The sound card seems to suck, and possibly the drivers are causing issues in Win2k3.

Why is all this top of the line gear being such CRAP?

Ill try XP SP2 (XP is so old and crusty and Vista is a fat pig that does little / nothing to improve frame rates).

Anyone else having general issues with the Core2 + 8800GTX + BA2/D975XBX2 ? I'm also running at stock frequency with DDR2 800 5-5-5 ECC memory. I get ECC memory to guarantee that I'll see issues with the memory.

I wish there was a place where people who splurged on this top end gear and have underperforming systems could go and get solace and comfort.

[Sporg]

I wish there was a place where people who splurged on this top end gear and have underperforming systems could go and get solace and comfort.

Maybe a bottle of Jack and hit the old batting cages?

[Apoptosis]

I just sent this to Intel....

My forums are getting a lot of negative Bad Axe 2 feedback from the community. At first I thought it was a few bad eggs, but I'm having the same problems and over the past month the number of posts is quickly increasing. The views on the threads are now greater than 10,000 visitors. This tells me that they are too high to be nothing.

The main issues are as follows:

1) There is a message at boot about no hard disk found
2) Letters appear at the lower right corner during post (EB, 94, 0)
3) The LED Light Doesn’t Work (When the Marvel Controller is turned off the HDD light just stays on)

Here are a number of the posts that are going on in my forums this month… I just wanted to let you know what is happening… A new BIOS was supposed to come out to fix the controller problem this week, but they forgot to put the controller fix in it. I’m not sure how it was forgotten as people are really getting upset and returning their board and buying other brands. Maybe you can light a fire under some people or see when a fix is really coming!

D975XBX2 Marvell Controller Problem
Intel D975XBX2 problems
Intel Bad Axe 2 (D975XBX2) mb & Video Card
Shut Down on New Built D975XBX2 w E6600- HELP!!!
D975XBX2 Audio Driver unable to install
D975XBX2 Overclocking - Looking for other's experiences
D975XBX2 my experience so far
No video signal on D975xbx2
Insanely Slow 975XBX2 Boot Times (Bios Booting)
D975XBX2 Video Problem (Resolved)
D975XBX2 problems with install/set-up
D975XBX2 Noob Raid Controller Questions:
d975xbx2 audio header blocked
Intel D975Xbx2 No Display
D975XBX2 question

[Dandruff]

Got any answer?

Can you please tell them to "enable" their email-support for this board under http://supportmail.intel.com/scripts-em ... ,2386,2578 !?

At the moment i always get this: "Intel does not support this product via email."

[DJL]

Still have in lowe right corner at boot the three letters appearing EB 94 and 0

I don't know what the fuss is all about with these 'letters'. I assume they are POST codes for troubleshooting POST problems. Pretty common really, found on many workstations, servers..etc. Details can be found on page 90 of the manual - although it says you need a POST card I suspect they are the same codes being displayed by the BIOS.

EB = Calling Legacy Option ROMS's
94 = Clearing keyboard input buffer
0 = Ready to boot

HDD LED problem is a bugger though. Just hope there's a way to fix it with software.

[Apoptosis]

Got any answer?

Can you please tell them to "enable" their email-support for this board under http://supportmail.intel.com/scripts-em ... ,2386,2578 !?

At the moment i always get this: "Intel does not support this product via email."

An answer is coming... They said today and while it's 7pm here they say today is still the day.

[dfwlinuxguy]

I have the same problem here. I just bought the 975XBX2KR from tiger direct and installed it on a previously working configuration.

I get the Marvel message and if I disable the secondary sata controller, then the HD IDE stays on constantly. VERY ANNOYING. I never had an issue like this. I will keep watching and hoping Intel posts a fix.

PS. I installed the 2431 bios update and it doesn't solve this problem.

[progolf]

Hey guys, just an update on my side. I did return my D975XBX2 mobo and got my money back. Bought the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe and it kicks butt, built in WiFi remote control and no boot problems. IMHO I think the developers over at Intel are in big trouble for releasing the bad axe without proper testing. Anyway, I love my Core duo FAST!!! So Intel is not so bad keep the faith guys, I am sure Intel will release a fix soon!

[mickrussom]

I just sent this to Intel....

Hey, can you also tell them that there should be a way to disable that crap image that pops up on boot (I DONT WANT A SPLASH SSCREEN and I'm not using that BIOS editor they give out to get rid of it, plus that editor, the System Integrator Toolkit, wont let you put no image in a way that I could find out, it has to have something, lame) and also tell them

PLEASE ANSWER THE PHONE AND ACCEPT EMAIL FOR SUPPORT.

What the HELL is Intel's problem? I've used several generations of their boards and it has always been top notch. This new crop and this horrid horrid Marvell controller is bad news man.

ALSO, when you hit reset on this motherboard during post, the next time it boots it whines about failed posting and gives a totally worthless error message, and sometimes, if you click the power button twice in quick succession, the power supply bleats out this horrible whine and you have to hold the power button down for 4 seconds to get rid of it.


HINT TO INTEL:
- Drop Marvell for storage, and try doing a deal for a real raid controller, maybe something from Areca or 3Ware so we can have real raid and not crap FRAID.

- Stop gluing on ass audio controllers. Sigma-Stain driverless 9720D. I'd rather have an Ensoniq 1370 glued on there, at least there are drivers all over. Seriously, grab a SoundBlaster Audigy or Xi Fi and glue that on. I bought Intel to avoid "mystery hardware"… and Now I'm debating getting a PCIe 3ware for raid and a XiFi for sound. Thanks Intel, for making me want to replace this stuff on a $230 board.

Intel's product manager for motherboards is a non-technical jerk idiot that needs to be fired. I can go to intel, do the product management for the boards and make every gamer, and serious desktop users happy.

Why would they do something cool like support ECC memory and then put assy mcgee sound card and assy marvell controllers on there.

[PJ]

Intel just released a new BIOS Update: 2507 (1/23/07) that is supposed to have a fix for the Marvell controller - HDD LED problem. Has nayone tried the new BIOS and how stable is it?

[Apoptosis]

Intel just released a new BIOS Update: 2507 (1/23/07) that is supposed to have a fix for the Marvell controller - HDD LED problem. Has nayone tried the new BIOS and how stable is it?

PJ welcome to the forums and we are gladded you joined.. The Legit Reviews community and staff have been working with Intel to fix a number of the problems that our readers are having with the board... BIOS 2505 and 2507 are direct results from the feed back of this forums: http://forums.legitreviews.com/viewtopic.php?t=7801

The 2507 BIOS fixes the HDD LED problem and also an ECC memory problem!