Abit IP35-E Review (500MHz FSB board)...$90 @ NewEgg + $6.61 ship

[hokiealumnus]

The Pro doesn't double boot. It uses the uGuru chip to set everything rather than the standard BIOS/chipset relationship. It hasn't double-booted from the get-go.

 

[GundamF91]

Originally posted by: hokiealumnus
The Pro doesn't double boot. It uses the uGuru chip to set everything rather than the standard BIOS/chipset relationship. It hasn't double-booted from the get-go.

Oh damn, why couldn't Abit do this for all their boards then. I'm surprised it takes a "feature" to fix a chipset weakness that motherboard maker suppose to deal with.

What about other P35 based boards, Asus, Gigabyte, do they have double boot, or also have a dedicated chip or something.

 

[gingerben]

Hi all

I have looked through this thread and can't find the solution to a problem I'm having and I hope someone can help.

When I switch the computer off power is still being supplied to the usb ports as my mouse stays lit.

I have disabled resume by usb under suspend to ram and set usb legacy support to OS and not BIOS, but I cannot get rid of the problem.

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[TungFree]

You can lap the CPU cooler but that would void the warranty. I like the Big Typhoon...modded with a medium speed 120 x 38mm Panaflo. Open box is $18 plus $6 shipping. Watch hot deals forum for this sale.

What is "lap" mean?

I tried calling ZipZoomFly where I bought it to RMA it. But was told the 30 days are up and when I told them that 1/2 of that time was not having a Hard drive working, and then RMA it to the Manufacturer and my Ram had to be RMAed too.

He said in your case we will do you one favor. We will RMA the cooler if you buy anoter one. Meaning:
I paid shipping to Hawaii I will pay shipping back to them to RMA it after I buy and pay shipping a third time for the new cooler.

Then he said I could always RMA it to the Manufacturer and gave me a California phone and address and said that the cooler has a 2 year warantee. So I will call them later today, and see if I can RMA it. The cooler is supposed to be better than a Zalman of comparable ilk. and possibly the manufacturer will pick up the shipping from me to them and not charge the shipping to me. So I am crossing my fingers.

 

[MadScientist]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
These P35 chips need the double post to properly configure some parameters.

After many hours of testing different CPU and ram settings and running Prime95, computer and power were never off, I totally powered it down, and pulled the power cord. This morning I hooked it back up for some final tweaking before I give this to my son for Christmas. It started up but only single posted before Vista loaded. I opened up CPUZ and CPU and ram settings were back to stock. Restarted, booted back into the bios and my last oc settings were still there. Saved and exited, it double booted, checked CPUZ and my oc settings were there. Wierd. Anyone else experience this? I guess it does have to double boot to configure more than some parameters.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: GundamF91

Originally posted by: hokiealumnus
The Pro doesn't double boot. It uses the uGuru chip to set everything rather than the standard BIOS/chipset relationship. It hasn't double-booted from the get-go.

Oh damn, why couldn't Abit do this for all their boards then. I'm surprised it takes a "feature" to fix a chipset weakness that motherboard maker suppose to deal with.

What about other P35 based boards, Asus, Gigabyte, do they have double boot, or also have a dedicated chip or something.

The P35 MSI will double post. Some Asus and Gigabyte P35 boards will also start-stop-start.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: gingerben
Hi all

I have looked through this thread and can't find the solution to a problem I'm having and I hope someone can help.

When I switch the computer off power is still being supplied to the usb ports as my mouse stays lit.

I have disabled resume by usb under suspend to ram and set usb legacy support to OS and not BIOS, but I cannot get rid of the problem.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Switch to P/S 2 to avoid this problem. There is no jumper on the board to turn-off this function. Have you tested with 14 BIOS?

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: TungFree

You can lap the CPU cooler but that would void the warranty. I like the Big Typhoon...modded with a medium speed 120 x 38mm Panaflo. Open box is $18 plus $6 shipping. Watch hot deals forum for this sale.

What is "lap" mean?

I tried calling ZipZoomFly where I bought it to RMA it. But was told the 30 days are up and when I told them that 1/2 of that time was not having a Hard drive working, and then RMA it to the Manufacturer and my Ram had to be RMAed too.

He said in your case we will do you one favor. We will RMA the cooler if you buy anoter one. Meaning:
I paid shipping to Hawaii I will pay shipping back to them to RMA it after I buy and pay shipping a third time for the new cooler.

Then he said I could always RMA it to the Manufacturer and gave me a California phone and address and said that the cooler has a 2 year warantee. So I will call them later today, and see if I can RMA it. The cooler is supposed to be better than a Zalman of comparable ilk. and possibly the manufacturer will pick up the shipping from me to them and not charge the shipping to me. So I am crossing my fingers.

lap...polish the base. Also check the flatness of the CPU heat spreader.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: MadScientist

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
These P35 chips need the double post to properly configure some parameters.

After many hours of testing different CPU and ram settings and running Prime95, computer and power were never off, I totally powered it down, and pulled the power cord. This morning I hooked it back up for some final tweaking before I give this to my son for Christmas. It started up but only single posted before Vista loaded. I opened up CPUZ and CPU and ram settings were back to stock. Restarted, booted back into the bios and my last oc settings were still there. Saved and exited, it double booted, checked CPUZ and my oc settings were there. Wierd. Anyone else experience this? I guess it does have to double boot to configure more than some parameters.

That's normal for 14 BIOS after shutdown. Under certain conditions, then MB will reset FSB to 200MHz. Shutdown/restart will restore BIOS setting.

If you turn-off power @ PSU and don't see the double post at the next restart, then the MB is probably running at 200MHz FSB.

 

[gingerben]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal

Switch to P/S 2 to avoid this problem. There is no jumper on the board to turn-off this function. Have you tested with 14 BIOS?

Thanks for the reply. I have tried my mouse through a P/S 2 adapter and it still stays lit up after shutdown. I have tried using BIOS 11, 12, 13 and 14.

The only solution is to power off completely but this wipes my overclock setting on the first cold boot. Guess I will go back to an older BIOS so that it double boots and loads with the correct settings.

 

[Punjab234]

BIOS 12 is best, it double post but no FSB reset. I m happy with double post thingy. Its also faster.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: gingerben

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal

Switch to P/S 2 to avoid this problem. There is no jumper on the board to turn-off this function. Have you tested with 14 BIOS?

Thanks for the reply. I have tried my mouse through a P/S 2 adapter and it still stays lit up after shutdown. I have tried using BIOS 11, 12, 13 and 14.

The only solution is to power off completely but this wipes my overclock setting on the first cold boot. Guess I will go back to an older BIOS so that it double boots and loads with the correct settings.

You need a real P/S 2 mouse. I always turn-off the PSU when PC is off.

14 BIOS is effective only if you never turn-off the PSU. The mouse will draw less than 1 watt when the PC is off.

12 is still the quickest and most reliable BIOS for me. It works well with my E2140, E4300, and E6320. I don't have a 45nm chip to test for compatibility.

Some users have expressed general instability with IP35-E. I would attribute this to in-experience with P35 chipset. Asus P5K, Gigabyte DS3L, and Neo2-FR...all will double post, reset BIOS, and hang during POST if there is BIOS corruption or incompatible hardware.

 

[GundamF91]

Yeah, I've also settled down with BIOS 12 with the IP35E. It's a fast board, and I'll live with double booting until something changes. I think the BIOS 14 "work around" on double booting introduced some possible issue as identified by SerpentRoyal, such as setting loss. Also I've experienced non-starts on BIOS 14. Now I"m back to 12, and everything's good, except for double booting. If you run your computer pretty much the whole day, and then powerdown at night, and unplug, the BIOS14 doesn't help with doublebooting because once you pull AC power, the system has to double boot on the next cold start.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: GundamF91
Yeah, I've also settled down with BIOS 12 with the IP35E. It's a fast board, and I'll live with double booting until something changes. I think the BIOS 14 "work around" on double booting introduced some possible issue as identified by SerpentRoyal, such as setting loss. Also I've experienced non-starts on BIOS 14. Now I"m back to 12, and everything's good, except for double booting. If you run your computer pretty much the whole day, and then powerdown at night, and unplug, the BIOS14 doesn't help with doublebooting because once you pull AC power, the system has to double boot on the next cold start.

And if you have 14 BIOS and it doesn't double boot on the next cold start AFTER you turn-off the PSU, then you know that the FSB is reset to default value.

Keep in mind that the root cause of these issues is the P35 chipset. Work around these limitations and you will be rewarded with a very stable platform. Other option is to stick with Nvidia.

 

[gingerben]

Thanks for the input everyone, I will go back to BIOS 12.

 

[milan03]

Im using BIOS 14 and my fsb never resets. Loving it.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: milan03
Im using BIOS 14 and my fsb never resets. Loving it.

14 BIOS works if you never turn-off the power at the PSU (maintain standby power to the MB).

 

[MadScientist]

I flashed back to bios 12. I can live with the double boot but not with the board resetting itself back to default settings when you power it off, which I do when not in use. I'll wait until the next bios revision. Abit must be aware of this glitch in bios 14. It's been mentioned a number of times in the Abit forum.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

They don't read the forum. You need to send Abit a problem report. More complains will grease the wheel.

IP35-E OOS @ NewEgg. Guess I was wrong about the $20 rebate showing up in December.

 

[Ballatician]

Does anyone else have to push down significantly on the top-right of the board to screw it down?

 

[GundamF91]

By the way, as a symptom, I remember that upon flashing to BIOS 14, I always get a "BIOS Check Sum Error" code right after the restart after the flash, but then it'll let me go into BIOS. after that, there's no more error. Just that's odd.

 

[MadScientist]

Originally posted by: Ballatician
Does anyone else have to push down significantly on the top-right of the board to screw it down?

No, did you check if your case is bent.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Originally posted by: GundamF91
By the way, as a symptom, I remember that upon flashing to BIOS 14, I always get a "BIOS Check Sum Error" code right after the restart after the flash, but then it'll let me go into BIOS. after that, there's no more error. Just that's odd.

Check Sum message is normal whenever you reset BIOS and reboot for the 1st time. Once you enter the BIOS and load Optimized Default, this message will go away.

Always remember to disconnect the PSU from the wall before you reset the BIOS. Wait about 30 seconds. If you don't kill power to the PSU, then clearing CMOS may introduce a lot of problems...like no POST or fan spin but board will not load windows.

 

[bigblockchevy]

bios 12 does seem to be the best . i do get a double-post from a cold-power down start . but only the first boot up of the day . as long as i don't turn off the PSU it won't do the double start thing un till the next day--and then only on the first start . the truth is it isn't a bother . i don't see what all the hu-bub is about the double start .

it seems like my old gigabyte ds-3 965p would do that double start thing every cold boot after the psu was turned off as well . it ran very well--as does this ip35e--i think that may be a normal thing with this type of chip set--after all isn't the p35 just a 965p that is made on a smaller die ???

the only benchmark where the over-clocked e2140 is showing slower times is PCwizard 08 . which also has some trouble reading voltages right so it may be a result of a glitch in the program . but when on bios 14 the e2140@ 3.2g was making a much better showing on this benchmark . all other benchmarks show about the same results .

i do remember reading in the notes about 14 is that it was said to improve the e2160 and e6300 .

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Hmmm, could you post the download link for this software? I have an E2140. Super Pi and video encoding is a hair faster with 12 BIOS. Perhaps you're right about some glitch with this sofware and 12 BIOS.