Here's all the questions I've asked and all the answers I've been given by the Gigabyte Technical Support concerning a problem with my 400$ motherboard's BIOS. How lame is that?
WYSIWYG to Gigabyte Technical Support - 2010-06-02 / 04:38
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Model Name : GA-EX58-EXTREME(rev. 1.0)
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M/B Rev : 1.0
BIOS Ver : F9
Serial No. :
Purchase Dealer : MOST
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VGA Brand : Model :
CPU Brand : Model : Speed :
Operation System : SP :
Memory Brand : Type :
Memory Size : Speed :
Power Supply : W
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Hello. I found a bug in the BIOS releases F11 and F12 for this MB (the same bug was presented in version F8 and apparently was fixed in F9, I haven't tried F10) - Windows 7 is impossible to install (and doesn't start if installed on earlier BIOS version) if the controller mode is in AHCI. You should fix it.
Gigabyte Technical Support to WYSIWYG - 2010-06-04
Dear WYSIWYG,
Thank you for your kindly mail and inquiry. Would you try to reinstall Win7 after update to F12 and enable AHCI in BIOS setup? Usually, you need to enable AHCI mode before installation. Please refer to
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;922976&x=16&y=15
If you still have any further question or suggestion about our products/service, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will try our best to help you resolve the problem ASAP.
Regards,
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY
WYSIWYG to Gigabyte Technical Support - 2010-06-04 / 05:55
When AHCI is selected with BIOS versions F8, F11 and F12, the installation of Windows 7 ultimate shows some error on a blue screen and shuts down. That's what I was talking about in the first message. Did you actually read it before answering it?! What do you think "Windows 7 is impossible to install if the controller mode is in AHCI" means?! I always keep it set on AHCI and with the upper-mentioned versions of the BIOS, the motherboard does not work. Someone will have to fix it.
Gigabyte Technical Support to WYSIWYG - 2010-06-07
Dear WYSIWYG,
Please first make hard drive all formatted , then try to install opersting system again. Which system you install? Please make sure use GIGABYTE SATA2 Preinstall driver Mode while installation:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2957#dl
What kind of error mesaage? Is it after load preinstall driver?
Regards,
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY
WYSIWYG to Gigabyte Technical Support - 2010-06-08 / 00:47
I'm starting to think that I'm talking to an i*iot!
"Which system you install?"
Windows 7 Ultimate - it's mentioned in both of my previous questions. It's the x64 version, but I doubt that's the problem.
"...make hard drive all formatted..."
There's no such sentence! It should be something like "make sure to format your hard drive..."
I'm not using the Gigabyte SATA2 ports, so I don't think that using Gigabyte's SATA2 preinstall driver mode will help. With F9 everything during the install is fine and works fine after that, the problem is that F11 & F12 doesn't when I'm using the SAME SETTINGS in the BIOS as with the F9.
I'm not sure about the kind of the error message, it's a blue screen. It is shown for about a second and then the system restarts.
When F8 was removed from the download section and F9 became available I thought that someone has found exactly the bug I'm talking about in F8 and that's why it was removed, but now the same bug is presented in F11 and F12, and it's hard for me to understand how is it that nobody else experiences problems with it. Maybe nobody else updated to F11/F12 yet.
It will be better to read and understand what I'm saying, and then ask me more questions if you have any. It's very frustrating to me when you make me repeat things that I've already said.
Gigabyte Technical Support to WYSIWYG - 2010-06-09
Dear WYSIWYG,
Would you try to install Windows 7 with IDE mode on Intel port, then after installation, remove hard drive and connect to Marvell ports(remove all device except hard drive on Marvell ports). Reboot and into WINDOWS 7, at this moment the system should detect new hard drive. Reboot again and go to BIOS setup, enable Intel port to AHCI mode. Go to WINDOWS again and install Intel Matrix Storage Manager:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=17882
Reboot after driver installation and go to device manager to check if there's "Intel PCH SATA AHCI Controller" in Intel controller.
If you still have any further question or suggestion about our products/service, please do not hesitate to contact with us. We will try our best to help you resolve the problem ASAP.
Regards,
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY
WYSIWYG to Gigabyte Technical Support - 2010-06-09 / 23:59
No. I'm not going to use a workaround. I'll stick to BIOS version F9, but I'd suggest you work out what's causing the problems with F11 and F12. The thing that's strange is that I always set everything to be identical in the different BIOS revisions, F2-F7 and F9 works fine, but F8, F11 and F12 does not work. Maybe I'll try F10 one of these days...
Gigabyte Technical Support to WYSIWYG - 2010-06-10
Dear WYSIWYG,
In fact, new version BIOS can fix some known system problem or improve H/W compatibility; however, sometimes, new version BIOS is possible to cause new system problem with some specific system configuration.
Therefore, if the system works well with earlier version BIOS, we do not recommand you to take your own risk to update BIOS .
Regards,
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY
I GOT TIRED OF STUPIDITY AND STOPPED COMMUNICATION WITH THE SUPPORT