At Wits End

[testdude281]

Hi,

I just bought this MB

http://www.ebay.in/itm/New-Intel-G31-Chi...4d1f2d7af0

After installing my new MB i noticed that my core 2 duo was using only 1 core and my 4gb ddr2 ram went to 2.7 gb. The mb is from a company named SMART and has no bios update utility (i checked through tons of google pages for the company site).

After using various utilites, i found out that its phoenix bios with id

3/20/2014-945GM-6A79KLZ1C-00

Phoenix itself does not give out updates and the third party demands $. I have every kind of info on the mb that you might need. Could somebody help me? I am desperate for an update.

[Sml6397]

Hello testdude281,

There could be several things causing your problem. I will need more information to deduce your problem.

1.) What is the exact version of Windows that you are using? I will also need to know if it is 32-bit or 64-bit.
2.) What CPU are you using?
3.) Did your old motherboard use the full 4GB of RAM?
4.) Did your old motherboard use both CPU cores?
5.) Could you check if there is a "Core Multi-Processing" setting in your BIOS or any other setting that sounds like this? I doubt that this setting is in the BIOS, but if it is, this immediately solves the CPU core issue.

6.) Could you give me a dump of your BIOS image please? This will help me to further deduce the CPU core issue. Please follow the following to obtain your BIOS dump:

• Download this utility. This is a clean copy of this utility (not malware). You may need to adjust your Antivirus settings to use this application.
• Run the application as administrator (If you are using Windows Vista or above). If you are using Windows XP or before, all you need to do is open the application.
• Click on the "Read" button and wait for the progress bar to finish.
• Click "OK" when the reading process is finished.
• Click on the "Backup" button.
• A small windows will popup asking you where you want to save the BIOS image. Save it to a directory that you will be able to find it in 5 minutes from now (such as the Desktop). PLEASE save it as the default name. This makes it MUCH easier for me to identify the exact BIOS version.
• Upload the BIOS backup file to this thread.


NOTE: I will not be able to perform a BIOS mod, because Universal BIOS Backup Toolkit does not include the platform data needed for flashing the BIOS in the BIOS dump. The purpose of the BIOS backup is to provide me with more information to help resolve your issue.

NOTE: This utility may be flagged as some type of malware by your AntiVirus software, because the application is capable of accessing (reading) data directly from the BIOS chip. I can assure you that this is a clean copy of the program and it will not flash/write to/brick your BIOS. This is the program I used to backup my BIOS.


~Steven

[testdude281]

Hi Sml6397,

sorry for the late reply. i talked to the seller and he has agreed to give me a refund. So sorry for the trouble.

Anyway, coming to the answers

1. I am using a 32 bit Vista. The OS doesnt matter coz it shows the same when i use Linux Mint.

2. An Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 @ 2.66 Ghz.

3. I bought 2 gb extra ram with the mb. but i checked it out on a friend's comp. worked fine. without it it just shows 2 gb of ram. Also the frequency of the ram drops to 400 Mhz (in both cases) as seen during bootup, which is strange coz both are at 800 Mhz and the MB supports them. I didnt check out if reversing the slots made any difference.

4. Yes. I could see both cores working.

5. I checked the bios but unless its in the jargon i dont understand and therefore skipped, i didnt find any such setting. No setting called "core" or "cores" atleast. I used the fail safe settings in the bios. could it have made any difference?

6. your program doesnt produce any output. tried it in compatibility mode (xp sp2), from the command line and as an administrator, but nothing, not even an error msg. If the output is somewhere apart from the resident folder or the desktop, let me know.

Thanks for the offer.

[Sml6397]

Hello testdude281,

The reason why you only saw 2.7GB of RAM is due to the 32-bit OS. The reason for the 800MHz "dropping" to 400MHz is that your RAM is Dual Data Rate (DDR). Since it is Dual Data Rate, the 400MHz is actually 800MHz. It is multiplied by 2.


6.) You may have to run it in GUI mode.

I do not know what is causing the core issue... The next paragraph will help to deduce the cause though by process of elimination.

The Insyde BIOS image will not help to diagnose the problem unfortunately, because I can only mod Phoenix BIOS's at the moment. It could be useful for people like BDMaster though. He could mod the BIOS and enable the setting for you to change. This may or may not fix the issue. If you choose this route, then follow BDMaster's instructions for creating a flashable backup image for him to mod. You will need to make a request in the Insyde BIOS Unlocking Requests forum. Since this thread already contains information helpful to solving this issue, I can just move the thread to the Insyde Unlocking forum if you would like.


~Steven

[testdude281]

Thanks for the info but could you tell me why 4 gb ram shows up as 2.7 gb on 32 bit hardware? i am guessing its somewhat similar to my 120 gb hdd which shows up as 111.? gb in system info. If too busy, could you point me to a link coz i feel really stupid buying 2 gb ram where 1 gb would have been sufficient.

As for the app, i guess i should have explained. I tried double clicking it first. Then i tried it in compatibility mode (shows up in a right click on vista). i tried to use "Run" on start menu. when all else failed i tried it from a command prompt. i know it runs coz i see the terminal window pop up and disappear instantly. in the command line mode there is simply no error msg, just a return to the prompt. If you have any other apps to take a bios snapshot, i will gladly give them a try. i plan to ship it off to the dealer tomorrow, so pls hurry.

Pls feel free to move this thread to wherever you see fit. i love this enthusiasm even after knowing it wont make any difference to me. it would be a pleasure to help solve this.

Edit: i tried to run the app under wine in linux, just to see if it was working. It gave a dialog saying "Bad Format", so i know it works.

[Sml6397]

Hello testdude281,

The reason why your hard drive shows as only having 111.78GB is due to the manufacturer using a base-10 number system instead of a base-8 numbering system.

The manufacturer is rounding the number of megabytes in a gigabyte down to 1000 megabytes. There are actually 1024 megabytes in a gigabyte. When the manufacturer takes the total number of megabytes and divides it by 1000, they get approximately 120GB. If they were to divide by the real number (1024), they would get ~111.78GB. The manufacturer does this, because they can advertise a capacity larger than what the device really has AND they can get away with it, because they are "rounding" the number (and most people don't know this). All of these manufacturers do this, it is universal. I hope this explanation is at least somewhat helpful. If you need more help understanding, I can provide links to some resources.


Universal BIOS Backup Toolkit is not working, because you have an Insyde BIOS.

I will leave an explanation later as to why the RAM is only showing up as 2.7GB in terms of what you are able to use. In your BIOS menu, it should show the full 4GB though, but Insyde BIOS's might be different. For now, I can tell you this: The RAM issue has nothing to do with the hard drive issue.


~Steven

[testdude281]

Sorry for the late reply, Sml6397, but i have returned the MB and got myself a new one. Everything works as should. Both cores working and 3.9 GB of RAM showing up in system monitor. Since i cannot help you with any new info, i think you should close this thread.

Again, thanks for the help.