Beta BIOS

[Metropolis]

It seems from gigabytes website that the current GA-X38-DS4 is still in a beta even though after over a year GA-X38-DS4 - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - BIOS

So my main question is why hasnt a final bios been issued? this isnt what i would expect from a company like gigabyte even if the board is older than a fair few it should still recieve a final edition

i asked gigabytes tech support about it and got this back

Hi,

Unfortunately we dont have the next release BIOS date. The latest is on Gigabyte website.

GA-X38-DS4 - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - BIOS

if this is pretty much gigabyte's policy to release unfinished bios releases then i guess i will have to look elsewhere in future

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Beta BIOS

When a board is EOL, which this one is, they rarely update the BIOS unless something drastically is needed.

This one was left on that beta likely because no problems were found with the last beta made so nothing needed improved. If they were to update it all they do always is rename the final beta that was problem free to a final name, that's all really.

Nothing wrong with beta BIOSes, they are all I ever use myself. I do see what you are saying though, just trying to let you know it is fine and suggested that you use that BIOS.

It is not unfinished at all, there were just no problem reports with it so no need to update it (Or rename it as that is what happens with final beta's)

Are you using it and having a specific problem, or were you just unsure if it is safe to use? If you are using it and have a problem let me know and I will see if anything can be done

If you do flash DO NOT USE @BIOS, please use Qflash or DOS to update with.

[Metropolis]

Re: Beta BIOS

Sometimes the BIOS options dont actually save correctly or sometimes change the settings in the M.I.T section results in boot failure in which when the machine does power back on (after powering down) you enter the same settings again and it boots up fine

also while im here im confused with the RAID thing too since when it boots it gives the names of the hard disks two are which in RAID 0 but then another screen shows up saying PCI-E to SATAII none, no drives found, so does that mean the board has two controllers?

also shows this

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Beta BIOS

Yes, this board has two RAID Controllers, but do not enable the other one if you are not using it (Purple ports)

Your BIOS settings should be like this for RAID on the Intel (Yellow Ports), then you shouldn't see the other RAID Device in device manager

[B]Integrated Peripherals


Intel Controller (Yellow Ports)
SATA RAID/AHCI Mode (Intel ICH10R Southbridge) ............. RAID
SATA Port0-3 Native Mode ................................... Enabled (or Disabled, both will work)

Gigabyte/J.Micron Controller (Purple Ports)
Onboard SATA/IDE Device (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip) ............. Enabled or disabled if you do not use IDE ribbon devices or anything on the Purple ports
Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip) ........... IDE

[Metropolis]

Re: Beta BIOS

Thanks for the reply are the controllers the same or is one better than the other?

also back to the BIOS issue yet again i reboot and got a BIOS checksum error out of nowhere and it reverted back to the old bios image, this isnt the first time either but random too since all i did is reboot my system, the system itself is fine but im not sure why it just did that

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Beta BIOS

No, they are not the same at all.

One is Intel and one is J.Micron, the Intel one is faster/better

Sounds like your BIOS settings are just not as stable as you though, this would cause the issues you mention.

Please flash back again to the latest BIOS, then give me the settings you have been trying to use. Full specs too, template is linked in my signature for you to give us this.