D975XBX2 yellow bang conflict PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge

Discussion about Intel CPU Motherboards
wymb
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Post by wymb »

temper999 wrote:And again a few days have passed without any new info from the intel technical support. I always get the same answear. :cry:
I didn't do a good job pointing out in my first message that the original D975XBX works fine. It's the D975XBX2 that has problems with LSI, Dell, Areca, 3Ware, Promise cards.

I find it baffling that Intel doesn't have an explanation or fix for this. I wonder if Intel's decision to switch to Marvel RAID controller compromised the integrity/stability of this motherboard. Unfortunately, disabling the Marvel controller does not solve the problem.

If Intel comes out with a new D975XBX3 or D985 (or whatever they will call it), I'd be hesitant to jump on it immediately. (Unlike the old D865PERL and D975XBX which were easy upgrades.)
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Post by mickrussom »

wymb wrote:
I didn't do a good job pointing out in my first message that the original D975XBX works fine. It's the D975XBX2 that has problems with LSI, Dell, Areca, 3Ware, Promise cards.

I find it baffling that Intel doesn't have an explanation or fix for this. I wonder if Intel's decision to switch to Marvel RAID controller compromised the integrity/stability of this motherboard. Unfortunately, disabling the Marvel controller does not solve the problem.

If Intel comes out with a new D975XBX3 or D985 (or whatever they will call it), I'd be hesitant to jump on it immediately. (Unlike the old D865PERL and D975XBX which were easy upgrades.)
The new board is DX38BT "Bone Trail". It is unknown if it will support ECC (ECC is a requirement for me, and I've been extolling the virtues of using it for years, and just this year Microsoft came out on this one as well - http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/show ... =199601761 ). It should be against the law to use non-ECC memory these day, how many people have killed, hurt, or inconvenienced from single bit memory failures causing a system failure - a preventable situation?

It is also unknown if they will support DDR2 on the DX38BT which will force everyone to refresh memory (off an asininely short certified memory list that no one can actually use).

Anyways, yes, Intel should read this forum and weep. There are severe issues with this board, yet tech support does nothing. There will likely not be an XBX3, and the 975X is way past its intended life, and the next chipsets are the P35 and X38, there will be no more revs in the 9xx.

My last hope is to try the new Adaptec 3405 (http://www.adaptec.com/en-US/products/r ... /SAS-3405/)

I'm not optimistic.

Every single HBA or RAID HBA I've put into that 3rd slot wont boot. I put a dual port Intel PCIe server gigabit Ethernet , works no problem.

This board is rife with issues and support is stonewalling god-honest consumers in a way which can only be described as shameful.

I would say that this would be my last "loyalty buy" for Intel. They have consistently been the least-worst until the XBX2.

The sad joke is the Dell workstations with the 975X boot *fine* with these add-in cards - its like Dell can integrate Intel's chipset better than Intel can? Sad, considering Dell specializes in making crap.

At this point Intel's tech support has failed to address why PCI-express compliant cards simply do not work in a PCI-express slot on an Intel motherboard.

My mood towards intel support: :lame:

Anyways, my fellow XBX2 victims, carry on with the battle against horrible criminal tech support!
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temper999
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Post by temper999 »

Can somebody please also check if 3thrd party controllers work on Vista 64bit.

Actually I am using now Vista Home Premium 64-Bit and everything is working fine, no yellow bangs or errors in the system log files.
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Post by temper999 »

Today I received the final call from intel. The answear:

"There is no more room in bios for a third party controller, buy a server board if you want compatibility!!!"

:finga: :finga: :finga: :finga:

Damn Intel!!!
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Post by mickrussom »

temper999 wrote:Today I received the final call from intel. The answear:

"There is no more room in bios for a third party controller, buy a server board if you want compatibility!!!"

:finga: :finga: :finga: :finga:

Damn Intel!!!
That is a total and complete lie.

Ask Intel if there is a server board with a damn PCI-express x16 slot that takes an x6800 cpu.

This is criminal, Intel FAILS TO SUPPORT ITS OWN STANDARD - PCI EXPRESS!!!!!.

Imagine, buying Intel's finest silicon, the QX6700, and this disgusting arrogant sick criminal support telling users they cant have a real-hardware-raid card because they are too stupid to make their hack-shill fake bios work!

How do you all feel about dropping $1000 on the QX6700 to be told this folks?
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PC Call Centers - everyone hates them

Post by mickrussom »

http://www.computerworld.com/action/art ... src=kc_top

Survey: Users unhappy with PC call centers
Unresolved problems, offshoring are biggest gripes

I hope Intel reads this, I remember once in 2000 calling and a guy who must have been an engineer answered the phone.

Now we get these rude unknowing mean people who tell us our loyal purchase of an XBX2 isnt worth CRAP to Intel.
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Post by temper999 »

So after testing now vista 64 for about one week everything seems to work fine. No yellow bangs, no problems with sandby. Performance seems to be also ok.

There are only some mad things with WebPAM (Controller GUI), NCQ is always disabled from the hdds.
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Post by temper999 »

Updated Bios:

BIOS Version 2770
New Fixes/Features:
Updated processor support.
Fixed resource allocation issues with PCI cards with multiple P2P
bridges.

Lets give it later a trie :ANAL:
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Post by mickrussom »

temper999 wrote:Updated Bios:

BIOS Version 2770
New Fixes/Features:
Updated processor support.
Fixed resource allocation issues with PCI cards with multiple P2P
bridges.

Lets give it later a trie :ANAL:
Yes. I was about to post the same. Fixed resource allocation issues with PCI cards with multiple P2P bridges.
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Post by temper999 »

No more yellow bangs. After Updating to bios 2770 everthing seems to more superb.

Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, Windows Vista 32 and 64. No yellow bangs.

So what the hell told me this f..... technical support... But now i works :P
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Post by bradders »

Yup, it's fixed the yellow bang (Win 2003 SP2) with a Perc 4e/DC and also the issue I was having with the Intel Audio Studio seems to have sorted itself out. The app now knows what's plugged in where, and I've not had the 'Dolby API' errors pop up like I did before.

If only it would accept my 4gb of G-Skill, I'd be truly happy :)
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Post by mickrussom »

temper999 wrote:There are only some mad things with WebPAM (Controller GUI), NCQ is always disabled from the hdds.
On modern Seagate drives, in order to get 3gb/s and NCQ enabled, there is a jumper you have to remove (its jumpered to 1.5GB/sec mode by default )(7200.10 750GB, Barracuda ES).
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temper999
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Post by temper999 »

mickrussom wrote: On modern Seagate drives, in order to get 3gb/s and NCQ enabled, there is a jumper you have to remove...
I know, the HDDs are working in 3GB/s mode already, but NCQ is shown sometimes "on" and sometimes "off" in the WebGUI from the HBA Controller.
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Finally Resolved

Post by 514229 »

Finally, BIOS update 2770, released 6/13/2007 has fixed the issues with PCI Express cards.
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Re: Finally Resolved

Post by mickrussom »

514229 wrote:Finally, BIOS update 2770, released 6/13/2007 has fixed the issues with PCI Express cards.
Took long enough, but hell, they got it done.

I'm thankful even though they invented PCI-express as a standard and they are simply not breaking their own standard by allowing cards to actually work on an Intel CPU on an Intel motherboard on an Intel chipset on a slot which Intel defined the standard.

Sad times are these where we folks who make high end workstations are told that we should have bought a serverboard for add-in support, even though Intel doesn't make a server board that takes 800MHz+ memory, x16 PCI-express (and a few other slots). So even if I wanted to use a 5160 instead of a X6800, I cant! I have to use this board. Lol.

Got to love horrible support in front of good engineers.
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Re: D975XBX2 yellow bang conflict PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge

Post by madhowler »

Greetings Gentlemen,

Thanks to some of the advice on this forum, and digging around a LOT, I have a solution for the Areca 1220 (8 port SataII) in combination with the Intel D975XBX2. It isn't quite as simple as just updating the bios on the board. You must also update the firmware and bootrom on the RAID card in order for it to be seen properly. (Depends on the age of your areca card too, mine is 2 years old.)

Simple steps really,

First, this assumes you do NOT have the card installed in any slot - yet.

1. Update the bios of the Intel D975XBX2 to 2770 as suggested previously in this thread by whatever means you see fit. (I used the CDROM ISO)
2. Install windows to a fresh drive on the standard SATA/PATA if you can.
3. Download the latest firmware/bootrom/bios for the Areca card from http://www.areca.com.tw (Support area has it all!)
4. Install the NEWEST VERSION of the Areca ArcHTTPSrv GUI so you can manage the Areca card within Windows. (Older versions will require you to attach drives to the raid controller. We don't want to do this quite yet.)
5. Power down the machine - install raid card.
6. Reboot, fire up the Areca ArcHTTPSrv. You should be able to see your card after a rescan or two if it doesn't show instantly.
7. Go to the System Controls menu on the left side. Choose Upgrade Firmware.
8. Install each of the 3 update files. (ARCxxxxBIOS, ARCxxxxBOOT, ARCxxxxFIRM where xxxx is your model number)
9. Reboot your system and remove the drive you installed windows on temporarily. Boot from whatever bootable array you usually use.

(Realistically, you'll probably have to do a "refresh" of windows if you're changing chipsets anyway. I would always personally do a fresh WinXP install post chipset change.)

Reboot your machine after each file has been successfully installed. You will now be able to fully manage and use your Areca raid card in ANY PCI-E slot on the D975XBX2 board. I've been jacking with this all night and tested it in every slot, performed every update and used 3 different video cards. This exact procedure brought me back online after swapping mobos today thanks to a critical failure of an old Asus board.

Hope this helps for those who may be searching for the answer like I was.
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Re: D975XBX2 yellow bang conflict PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge

Post by mickrussom »

madhowler wrote:Greetings Gentlemen
Thank you so much for your efforts. You should work with Areca to have your system "certified" so that your system config can go on the Areca HCL.

I hope stupid Intel support is reading this. See what can be done, Intel suck-support? If you work hard with people we can help you solve problems. Tsk tsk tsk Intel, hobbyists and unpaid consumers solving your problems instead of support.
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Re: D975XBX2 yellow bang conflict PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge

Post by Alandronate »

sorry to bump an old thread, but since everyone here is familiar with this board, I thought it would be a good place to ask

is there any issue with using an Areca 1220 in the bottom 4x PCI-E slot on the D975XBX2?

thanks
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Re: D975XBX2 yellow bang conflict PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge

Post by mickrussom »

Alandronate wrote:sorry to bump an old thread, but since everyone here is familiar with this board, I thought it would be a good place to ask

is there any issue with using an Areca 1220 in the bottom 4x PCI-E slot on the D975XBX2?

thanks
Three posts up:
Greetings Gentlemen,

Thanks to some of the advice on this forum, and digging around a LOT, I have a solution for the Areca 1220 (8 port SataII) in combination with the Intel D975XBX2. It isn't quite as simple as just updating the bios on the board. You must also update the firmware and bootrom on the RAID card in order for it to be seen properly. (Depends on the age of your areca card too, mine is 2 years old.)

Simple steps really,

First, this assumes you do NOT have the card installed in any slot - yet.

1. Update the bios of the Intel D975XBX2 to 2770 as suggested previously in this thread by whatever means you see fit. (I used the CDROM ISO)
2. Install windows to a fresh drive on the standard SATA/PATA if you can.
3. Download the latest firmware/bootrom/bios for the Areca card from http://www.areca.com.tw (Support area has it all!)
4. Install the NEWEST VERSION of the Areca ArcHTTPSrv GUI so you can manage the Areca card within Windows. (Older versions will require you to attach drives to the raid controller. We don't want to do this quite yet.)
5. Power down the machine - install raid card.
6. Reboot, fire up the Areca ArcHTTPSrv. You should be able to see your card after a rescan or two if it doesn't show instantly.
7. Go to the System Controls menu on the left side. Choose Upgrade Firmware.
8. Install each of the 3 update files. (ARCxxxxBIOS, ARCxxxxBOOT, ARCxxxxFIRM where xxxx is your model number)
9. Reboot your system and remove the drive you installed windows on temporarily. Boot from whatever bootable array you usually use.

(Realistically, you'll probably have to do a "refresh" of windows if you're changing chipsets anyway. I would always personally do a fresh WinXP install post chipset change.)

Reboot your machine after each file has been successfully installed. You will now be able to fully manage and use your Areca raid card in ANY PCI-E slot on the D975XBX2 board. I've been jacking with this all night and tested it in every slot, performed every update and used 3 different video cards. This exact procedure brought me back online after swapping mobos today thanks to a critical failure of an old Asus board.

Hope this helps for those who may be searching for the answer like I was.
Think for yourself, question authority!
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Re: D975XBX2 yellow bang conflict PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge

Post by sewiv »

Here's another D975XBX2/LSI issue: I'm running a PERC 5/i, which is actually an LSI card, with 6 Seagate 250 GB SATAs on it. 2 are mirrored, and the other 4 are set up as a raid 5. I'm unable to successfully copy large files between the logical disks (XP PRO SP2). When I copy a 15 GB file from one disk to another, it is corrupted, every time. MD5s never match. Copying from my external USB to either logical disk is no problem.

Thoughts? Anyone else seen this?

I'm about to start trying smaller files, until I find the cutoff.
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