ABIT AV8 Motherboard Review

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kylspawn
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Post by kylspawn »

Bio,
Fed ex brought mine yesterday with my 64 3200 90nm and it would not boot. As stated above needs to have the bios chip updated. This has cost me an additional 40 bucks and i am pissed. Regardless of problems for other boards as well. Abit, new egg etc. are on my s.... list for shipping unusable product.

just be ready to be disappointed.
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Post by Apoptosis »

thats not a good sign...
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Post by Bio-Hazard »

I just got mine a few minutes ago................ :shock: If it won't post due to the bios problem, I'll just have too chase Nate down and flash the bios over at his place.................. :) It's not really Abits fault about the bios due to the fact that alot of the boards were made before the CPU's came out. The people to put the blame on would be your retailer, if you ordered the board and CPU at the same time, they should update the bios before shippment.
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Post by Liquid3D »

Very good review, straight forward and to the point. =D>
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Post by FZ1 »

Any updates on the 1.6 Bios guys?
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Post by LVCapo »

Looks like a recent release with several fixes, grab it if you need it.

AV8 BIOS Revision 17
http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/bios/ ... &model=175
  • 1. Updated µGuru Utility to uav8_019.bin.
    2. Updated SATA ROM.
    3. Added "Delay Transactions" item.
    4. Added "PCI Latency Timer function" item.
    5. Removed an error message that appears if the year is modified and a SAVE&EXIT is executed.
    6. Fixed an issue where pressing TAB key to skip the OSB logo caused the Memory Information & Memory Clock to be missing.
    7. Changed "USB 2.0 Controller" defaulted to "Enabled", and synchronized it with the "OnChip USB Controller" setting.
    8. Synchronized "DDR Voltage" & "SB Voltage" in the PC Health item if modified.
    9. Changed "Resume by OnChip USB" default to "Enabled".
    10. Changed "ACPI Suspend Type" default to "S3".
    11. Added DMI information.
    12. Calibrated CPU temperature.
    13. Added "Dual Channel Enabled 128bit" when in Dual Channel mode.
    14. BIOS compile date: 11/12/2004
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Post by FZ1 »

I should be getting mine in a few days. Can't wait to see what BIOS it is shipping with. 8-[
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Post by Bio-Hazard »

Hopefully it'll be at least release 15, if not you'll need a older 130nm chip to flash the board.
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Post by FZ1 »

Bio-Hazard wrote:Hopefully it'll be at least release 15, if not you'll need a older 130nm chip to flash the board.
Great, I have tons of those laying around. :roll: I don't even think I personally know anyone with an AMD much less a 130nm socket 939 CPU :cry: Let the praying commence! [-o<
Last edited by FZ1 on Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Apoptosis »

:partyman:

Here's to wishing you luck on an updated BIOS, so you don't have to run around looking for a 130nm CPU to flash your board!
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Post by FZ1 »

I'll drink to that! :drinkers: I found out the mobo and CPU are set to deliver tomorrow. Being this is my first time building from scratch, will it tell me the BIOS rev in the documentation or is the only way to find out by booting it up? My memory & case won't be here until Monday so I won't be able to assemble things until next week. ](*,)
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Post by Bio-Hazard »

Pretty much have to put it together to see if it will post. You could try putting it together outside a case using just a single stick of ram, PSU, HD and video card. If it posts, you're good to go and can shut it down till the rest of your parts show up.
You could also call the shop you ordered it from to check and see if they have any clue as to what they shipped. There are some shops that do care what they ship out. The place I ordered from didn't seem to give a rats a$$ what they shipped. Needless to say, I'll never order from them again or recomend them to anybody.
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Post by FZ1 »

I ordered it from Monarch Computers. I've never ordered from them before so I'm not sure if they would know or not. Sometimes smaller shops do the little things and other times they are understaffed so there's no time for it.
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Post by Bio-Hazard »

That's who I got mine from........... :shock: Sorry, but if you ordered the combo they will update the bios, if you only ordered the MoBo and CPU as parts, I don't think they will. But you may still get a updated bios depending on how new the boards are.
I did write several very detailed emails to Monarch sales department explaining the problem (that they should have already known about) and that they being the reseller should fix the problem before the boards are shipped out to end users. They never did respond to my emails, so that's another big big strike against them in my book. But like I said, it doesn't matter to me anymore because I send all the people I do business elsewhere and let them know why.
I wish you all the luck.
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Post by infinitevalence »

I have used Monarch several times in the past and never had any problems, infact they are one of my three major choices when i shop for parts. i almost always buy from Newegg, Zipzoomfly, and Monarch.
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Post by Liquid3D »

I've also purchased from Monarch, who went out of their way to help me once, however; that doesn't mean this isn't a valid problem. To be honest however; I've never heard of a Store taking all their motherboard out of new boxes and flash all the BIOS's, that's simply insane? Who would or could do that? I guess it's a orderline issue when your talking "combo" because it should perhaps be tested, but Im willing to bet most simply install the CPU/HSF and ship it. Now if they advertyise "Burn IN" that's slightly different but d they advertise Burn-in and BIOS flash?

Even if they did, that would make every motherboard sold, "Used". Imagine taking out 300 motherboards, hooking them up one by one and flashing the BIOS, by the time you were done another version would be out the way Abit releases them?

If I'm not understanding the topic, admonish me. But it's impossible, even for the manufactuer to keep up with BIOS versions. I mean where should they begin? Should they take all boards and flash them one month before shipping? One week? One day? This would only delay getting boards to end-user's. I can see the issue, and if for example it were Dell, I'd say YES they should flash the BIOS before the "system" goes out the door, because it's tested anyway. But when your buying mobo's seperately it's already presummed if you have the tech expertise to basically re-build a system (installing a motherboard is about as involved as it gets), then you have the ability to take 30-seconds to flash a BIOS.
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Post by FZ1 »

As an update, the board I received had the 1.5 version so I had no issues with the Winchester/BIOS conflict. I had some issues getting it to recognize the hard drives but that's another story. Also, no issues with the Antec (NeoPower) PSU either (there have been some Antec/AV8 issues).
I decided to buy a stick of Corsair value RAM and ripped the vid card out of my old rig to get the new one going - I wanted to take advantage of the weekend to put it together. Now it's a matter of updating drivers, BIOS, etc, etc and waiting for the rest of my hardware to come in! \:D/
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Post by infinitevalence »

Liquid3D wrote:Imagine taking out 300 motherboards, hooking them up one by one and flashing the BIOS
excaliberPC uesd to do that, when ever you bought a mobo from them it was garentieed to have the most recent bios installed before shipping, i just checked and it looks like they dont do it any more. But when i bought my NF7-S from them the flashed it to the most recent bios.
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Post by Bio-Hazard »

Just a small up-date as to what Abit did to fix the problem:
Abit did exactly that, opened up all the boards they had and flashed them. The only ones left are in the hands of some small resellers.

http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.ph ... enumber=10

Dear all,

First of all, I want to apologize for all the inconvenience we have caused you with the 90nm processor issue. We have manualy flashed all the AV8 BIOS to 16 for all the AV8 shipments, therefore; there shouldn't be any more AV8 motherboards out there with the old BIOS.

However, if you are still having post issues with your newly bought Av8 motherboard. Please send an e-mail with your contact information and mailing address to [email protected] with subject 90nm issue with AV8, I will be mroe than happy to send you a BIOS chip with the 16 BIOS on there.

AM
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Post by infinitevalence »

Hell i would ask for an extra bios anyway, see if they will sell it to you talk about a handy back up. That is an overclockers safty net. Its also a very strong statement from abit reguarding the importance of their customers.
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