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Hello All;

I am hoping someone can help me with a problem that I have?
First of my hardware configuration:
Intel Core2 Duo E5200
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R Motherboard
2- 1 Meg Corsair XMS2 (CM2X1024-6400) DDR2-800
1- LG LCD 19" W1952TQ 19" LCD Wide Screen Monitor
EVGA NiVidia GeForce 7600GT (CO) 256mb Video Card (Dec. 2006)
Hard Drives:
- Seagate #ST3250318AS SATA 2 drive
- Western Digital #WD5000AADS SATA 2 drive, 500 GB with 5 year warranty Purchased January 11, 2009
LG SATA DVD Drive
Lite-On DVD Drive
Operating system: Windows XP service pack 3


Special Noted: I overclock the E5200 to 3Ghz. Using air and have Prime tested it and everything is well and with in tolerances.

I developed a problem or should I say I have had a problem since day one with my mother board and that being two of my SATA ports being loose, as in wobbly. I moved my hard drives to other ports and all seemed well for about 6 or 8 months then I developed all sorts of Hard drive problems. I though that the problems where related to Seagate hard drive issues but that proved no to be the case when the problematic drives where put into another system and they where fine!
I RMA’ed the motherboard and received a replacement and reinstalled the logic board and configured everything. All seemed well until I tried to over clock this board and nothing would stick. What I am saying is that on reboot my BIOS reverted back to stock 2.5GHZ. I checked out the BIOS that came with the board and it was a F11C BIOS from Gigabyte. In my previous board I was using the F9 BIOS. I tried to install the F9 Bios in place of the F11C BIOS and all I could get was an error (”invalid Bios Image”). This was done using Gigabytes Q-Flash utility. I then down line loaded a new copy of the F9 BIOS and tried again and the same message.

My question is how do I get rid of the F11C BIOS and replace it with the F9 BIOS?
I tried shorting the BIOS jumpers and this did not work, then removed the battery and this did not work. The Bios was reset yes but the F11C version was still there.

Please can anyone help me?

Thanks in advance

Al

Did you run the downloaded EXE file to unpack it before trying to use Q-Flash? The downloaded file is a self-extracting archive. The actual BIOS image (the file you need to load using Q-Flash) for the F9 BIOS is ep45ds3r.f9, which is one of the files that are unpacked when you run the file you downloaded.

just brew it! wrote:

Did you run the downloaded EXE file to unpack it before trying to use Q-Flash? The downloaded file is a self-extracting archive. The actual BIOS image (the file you need to load using Q-Flash) for the F9 BIOS is ep45ds3r.f9, which is one of the files that are unpacked when you run the file you downloaded.

Yes I did, as mentioned I tried to do it twice using the ep45ds3r.f9 and each time received the error message!

Al Slitter wrote:

Yes I did, as mentioned I tried to do it twice using the ep45ds3r.f9 and each time received the error message!

Actually, you didn't mention the full name of the BIOS file before, just that you had downloaded and tried to use the F9 version. That's why I asked whether you'd unzipped it first.

I guess my next suggestion would be to get the files onto a bootable floppy or USB thumbdrive, and use the command line flash utility that came with the BIOS download.

Are you sure all the settings are identical? I couldn't overclock my Q6600 at all on my UD3P until I decoupled and locked the RAM timings. It might be something as simple as that. You may not need to downgrade the BIOS. As for the BIOS, are you sure it's not a newer revision of the motherboard? Maybe one that doesn't support the old BIOS?

Buub wrote:

Are you sure all the settings are identical? I couldn't overclock my Q6600 at all on my UD3P until I decoupled and locked the RAM timings. It might be something as simple as that. You may not need to downgrade the BIOS. As for the BIOS, are you sure it's not a newer revision of the motherboard? Maybe one that doesn't support the old BIOS?

Thanks for the feedback!
First off you where right I did not mention the name of the BIOS upgrade (ep45ds3r.f9), as this is the file that is needed to do a Q-Bios upgrade in my mind I thought it was a given. Sorry about that!
To do the upgrade or rather down grade using Q-Bios I have been using a memory stick formatted to Fat 16, as I do not have a floppy drive in my computer.

Now please let me give you a update:

First off, I now have the Gigabyte EP45-DS3R Board and the CPU running happily at 3.0GHz. again, the problem was I believe in the selection of the CPU Host Clocking Option.
I believe that I had used 3.33D not the desired 3.33C option. Anyway the big issue is now solved (running my CPU in an overclock situation).

The other issue regarding the BIOS downgrade is still an open item. The board I sent in for RMA replacement was a EP45-DS3R (Rev. 1) board, however while I did check the model number on the board and serial number I did not check if it was the Revision 1 series or a newer series and that could indeed be the issue! I will check this out and for clarity provide feedback.

Thank you all for your time and efforts regarding my problem it is very much appreciated.

Hello;
I received little information form the people who sent me the replacement logic board so I checked it out on my own and it is in fact a EP45-DS3R (Rev. 1 ) board.
As to why the F-9 BIOS will not be accepted is a unknown however since all is working now I think I will stay with what I have ( F11C BIOS) and just move on.

Thank you everyone for your time and in site.

Best Regards

Al