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Poorly PC [solved -- unreliable motherboard]

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JimH:

--- Quote from: glynor on December 19, 2008, 02:22:04 pm ---So if you aren't running the latest BIOS, it is certainly worth updating.
--- End quote ---
Or you could put a little duct tape over the bad ports.

glynor:
The worry is that if his problem really is these reported issues, that it will not be limited to just those two ports.  These issues are systemwide, but sporadic and unpredictable.

rjm:
hmm....

Might explain a problem I had a while ago. My e-Sata port is 1 of 2 ports hooked up to a Silicon Image controller. The other 4 ports are run by the Southbridge chip.

I noticed my e-Sata drives where running slow so I dropped using it altogether and switched back to USB 2.0.

marko:
[lowest form of humour]
Cheers glynor... and a merry christmas to you too!
[/lowest form of humour]
:D

Seriously though, thanks for doing the leg-work for me and thanks for the advice.

You know, before buying this board, I researched, and then I researched some more. I don't recall finding a single bad review for it.
I had had such a god-awful time of it with VIA chipsets up to that time, and was hearing nothing but wonderful things about nforce, that I had decided that nforce would be my next choice.
I believed I had researched and chosen well... perhaps I could have done better.

I wonder if ports 1 and 2 were at the heart of my Seagate RMA debacle... Seems quite probable...

I've read through all 8 pages of the eVGA forum thread, and I'm not convinced that a BIOS upgrade is going to help me.
I've got the iso image but think I'll take the "if it ain't broke" approach for now as things are peachy atm.
I understand the 'sporadic and unpredictable' nature of these issues, but, my experiences are nowhere near as catastrophic as those reported. No BSOD's, no drive corruption, just SMART errors, no USB issues and as far as I'm aware, no PCi issues either. I know that SMART errors are obviously not good, especially if the board is causing them, but, I don't count the second one as it appeared after only 19 hours of 'power on' time and the drive went straight back. This is what turned me on to the SATA port problem. Granted, it's only been 10 days or so, but, since ditching ports 1 and 2, things have been fine. I will keep monitoring the situation over the coming weeks...

I cannot see me needing SATA ports 1 and 2 anytime in the forseeable future, so, I think I'll run as I am for now, with those two covered with duct tape and the P28 BIOS that the board shipped with. Even with the P33 update, I still wouldn't have any greater confidence in the board, and I've read enough feedback that the update either didn't fix anything, or made things worse to put me off.

I'll give you a shout when I come to buy my next board and let you spend my hard earned for me as I'm obviously rubbish when it comes to research!!

-marko.

glynor:
I read all the reviews too.  It was the most highly recommended one there was of that type.  Unfortunately, they always test those things for speed but not for reliability.  I've gotten burned with similar things too.

I find now, it is always best to wait after a brand new chipset comes out for at least 4 months or so to let the chipset BIOS and drivers mature, and to see what issues might have cropped up in real world use.

It is a lesson that is hard to follow, though.

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