*The Official* Abit IP35-E (Ed. 2)

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nerp

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
9,866
105
106
Aside from E0 support, what else does the beta BIOS deliver? Is there any reason at all to install this in an otherwise stable system? I'm at BIOS 18.
 

ghost recon88

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2005
6,209
1
81
Originally posted by: nerp
Aside from E0 support, what else does the beta BIOS deliver? Is there any reason at all to install this in an otherwise stable system? I'm at BIOS 18.

No reason to if you're stable. It was simply released to enable support for E0 chips.
 

Bonesdad

Platinum Member
Nov 18, 2002
2,213
0
76
OK, I think my board (or something) finally met it's maker. This is a problem I've had before, but always been able to overcome:

My IP35-E won't post. I upgraded my CPU a few weeks ago and had this problem immediately, but like some others, PC wouldn't POST when I pushed the power button. After turning it off and on a couple times, it would come up normally. Then I just left it on all the time cuz it's a hassle. Last night, had to restart it, no POST. Turning it off and on hasn't worked (tried dozens of times). I've swapped RAM, tried 1 stick, tried diff RAM. Even tried diff PSU (using Corsair HX520, which has always been a trick with some of these boards). Cleared BIOS, took out battery and unplugged for a couple hours. I guess my next step is to pull it out of case...but it's been OK for weeks.

I have the latest BIOS installed (the beta BIOS).

By no POST, I mean no beeps, no screen etc. This sux cuz my taxes are due and they are on PC. At least I have them printed. HELP!

Using E8400, Corsair PSU, 4 GB Corsair RAM Corsair, 8800GTS, SATA HDD
 

Bonesdad

Platinum Member
Nov 18, 2002
2,213
0
76
The latest: Pulled the motherboard from the case...just HDD, GPU, PSU and memory onboard. Still no post. So I pull the GPU (8800GTS) and put my old 7600GT in it. Get a nice clean post! Let it run for a bit, then shut it down and reassemble.

Now no POST again. Shut it down a few times, restart, got one more post. Had to shut down again unfortunately, now haven't been able to get a POST again. GRRRRR....

Meanwhile my 8800GTS is working great in my wife's PC.


Any help is appreciated...looks like no one owns these anymore...
 

Krakn3Dfx

Platinum Member
Sep 29, 2000
2,969
1
81
Almost sounds like a voltage issue? I don't know honestly, I still have this board, running a q9300 and an EVGA GTX260 on it without any problems (*knock on wood*).

7600GT doesn't have it's own power connector, while the 8800GTS does, right? Could it be a PSU issue?
 

Bonesdad

Platinum Member
Nov 18, 2002
2,213
0
76
Already tried changing the PSU. I actually finally got it to POST today. Just stood there and turned the damn thing on and off, on and off, on and off, until it finally took. Some register isn't being reset on the board at power down or something. I finally got a response back from what's left of Abit...they gave me an RMA number. Too late though, I've already order a Gigabyte replacement. I'll take advantage of the RMA and either sell the board or keep it for a backup. Been trouble since I got it, glad to be moving on.
 

pdawg1717

Member
Apr 30, 2006
110
0
0
Does anyone have a link to the bios 18? Or can you attach it to an email to me? Please PM if you can email it...thanks...

Also, does this board give accurate cpu temps? It might be time to reapply some cpu goop but I'm idling at 51C right now with my E6400 and TT Typhoon cooler...
 

ghost recon88

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2005
6,209
1
81
Originally posted by: pdawg1717
Does anyone have a link to the bios 18? Or can you attach it to an email to me? Please PM if you can email it...thanks...

Also, does this board give accurate cpu temps? It might be time to reapply some cpu goop but I'm idling at 51C right now with my E6400 and TT Typhoon cooler...

You don't really want BIOS 18 final, and actually the beta BIOS listed below came out after BIOS 18 final

BIOS 18 beta (with E0 support, but MCH voltage limited to 1.4v)
 

pdawg1717

Member
Apr 30, 2006
110
0
0
Originally posted by: ghost recon88
Originally posted by: pdawg1717
Does anyone have a link to the bios 18? Or can you attach it to an email to me? Please PM if you can email it...thanks...

Also, does this board give accurate cpu temps? It might be time to reapply some cpu goop but I'm idling at 51C right now with my E6400 and TT Typhoon cooler...

You don't really want BIOS 18 final, and actually the beta BIOS listed below came out after BIOS 18 final

BIOS 18 beta (with E0 support, but MCH voltage limited to 1.4v)

Thanks...just curious though...why wouldn't I want it? I'm using the 16 beta 1 right now but it's acting a little strange...and I use EIST, etc and supposed that has a problem that is fixed with bios 17...
 

mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
8,230
1,508
126
Power went out here a couple days ago, long enough to put my IP35-E with E2180 CPU & BIOS 17 in the same state as Bonesdad's. It had been running fine for about a year even after other power outages. An hour of trying magical combinations of bios resets, AC power cycling, pulling all but one memory module, then turning it off and on a bunch of times, eventually got it to finish posting and boot.

First it would do nothing, sometimes it would then make the siren beep sound, sometimes it would start to POST and stop after it displays about 4 lines of text, displaying "C1E BIOS Supported" then "EM64T CPU", then sits there as if it locked up, but if I leave it sit long enough sometimes it will proceed to displaying Memory Frequency next, then "CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck CPU SOFT MENU". If it goes to this point or beyond it runs totally stable but boots in slow motion until WinXP is nearly finished booting.

BIOS 18 beta and 18 final were tried several months ago and they didn't help, all those two versions did is cause the system to lock up if I tried to enter the BIOS setup menu. Fortunately 18 beta & 18 final would still boot, if/when it would finish posting, so I could flash back to BIOS 17.

It's a shame Abit didn't put in the time to fix this problem for all of us before shutting down operations.


 

E4300

Member
Apr 13, 2009
99
0
0
Remove the board and strip it to the bone. Install another stick of RAM (rated at 1.8V). The old modules may be toast. Use USB or floppy to flash to 18 or 18 BETA. Now go into BIOS and load Optimized Default. Check for hang up. If okay, then add a blank hard drive and clean install windows. The old HDD may contain corrupt data.

Power interruption can only corrupt the BIOS on the board and the data on the hard drive. A good PSU should absorb many line voltage anomalies, short of a massive voltage spike. It is this large voltage spike that cook the electronics.

The IP35-E is connected to the same master switch as my main PC. Occasionally, I would turn off the main PC and the master switch without shutting down IP35-E. Upon reboot, windows would do its normal cleanup/repair before loading the desktop.

Add the "WB" switch when you reflash to remove all traces of the old BIOS.
 

mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
8,230
1,508
126
There's nothing wrong with my memory, OS installation, PSU, etc. All run fine, were tested and when the mobo problem first became apparent over a year ago all these things were tried. System runs for months at a time 100% stable, it just can't handle AC power off because of the bug in the bios that is still present with version 18 and 18 beta. Trust me, I've done everything except swing a chicken around my head while doing the sombrero dance.

As for corrupt HDD data, it is impossible for a corrupt OS installation to cause a failure to finish posting, no data on the HDD is read until later in the boot process. HDD could be empty or not even plugged in and it should finish POST.
 

E4300

Member
Apr 13, 2009
99
0
0
We both think that the BIOS may be at fault with AC cut-off. That's the only thing on the board that could go crazy with power interruption. Therefore, reflashing the BIOS with the "WB" switch should restore functionality. This should apply to all boards, not just Abit stuffs.

I've tested BIOS 12 to 18 BETA. The major differences were CPU support, double POST, and better RAM support. There is something unique with your hardware set-up that would render 18/18 BETA unusable. This may expain why you cannot POST after a power interruption.

I went as far as running Prime, then turn off the power at the surge protector. No scrambed BIOS, here.

You can isolate the software by stripping the board bare except for mouse and keyboard. P/S 2 mouse/keyboard would be best for troubleshooting. Reseat the GPU. If you can access the BIOS, then the board should be okay.

Sometimes, an extra brass spacer at the wrong location could result in weird behaviour. I've never mounted this board inside a case. I use it as my test rig because the board overclock so well with Intel 65nm and 45nm chips. 450MHz with quads, and 500MHz with duallies.
 

mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
8,230
1,508
126
You're not reading carefully enough, I really mean I tried everything. I am not new to bios, or WB switch and others, this was all tried several months ago. When it first happened I did that. No change, still a dozen resets, power cycles, clearing cmos, pulling memory. While these are the normal things to do, the board does not behave like most do to these measures, because it still has a bios bug that prevents normal operation.

Please understand, I cannot claim my situation effects everyone, but for the combination of parts I have (which were stipped to barebone), there is no solution among what you or anyone else has suggested. Please understand I do not need this advice to strip the board bare, I have done it, this is crazy it was something I did over and over and over.

I realize you cannot have known all the time I spent, I really wanted it to work as it should but there is no conventional wisdom that fixes this inherent bios flaw.

It is not a spacer or anything like like. I appreciate that you are trying to help, but sometimes it is good to take things at face value. There is an obvious bios flaw and EVERYTHING else has been checked. It does not work properly, they attempted to fix the dual-boot problem but they did not cover all scenarios. It does not properly default nor initialize bios settings in the proper order. I could swap out parts and did, it will not matter, as the parts are not bad but what is bad is their logic in what they have the bios doing. To that extent, if I swapped out parts with a different CPU (model #, not just same model which would do no good) and memory with different timings, that may work, but I refuse to buy these parts for a defective board when I could upgrade or buy another board or just quit spending time on it.

From what I vaguely recall, it is not entirely Abit's fault, there was something peculiar with the Intel P35 chipset that resulted in it doing the double boot, but either way Abit should have made good on providing bios or a replacement board that does what the specs claim for supported CPU and memory. As it is, I have already spent too much time on it, even if it overclocks good a system that needs babysitting for an hour if the power goes out is too much BS to put up with. I'm glad others aren't having these problems with different parts plugged in, but Abit had no excuse not to finish support for the parts it claimed were suppported, ALL of them.
 

E4300

Member
Apr 13, 2009
99
0
0
Since we're both flashing the same 18/18 BETA BIOS

Scenario #1:
You have a defective board. That initial power interruption could be a power spike, which killed the MB.

Scenario #2:
There is some sort of compatibility issue with other hardware. Likely suspects are PSU, RAM, adn/or hard drive. A buddy's Asus would not POST with a Corsair 520, but ran fine with a $20 Earthwatts 380.

Per your previous post, perhaps the Abit does not like the combo of parts that you have. As for the double post, it's still happening with the EP45-UD3P. I had a chance to test this board last month on a Q8200. A "fresh" boot time (no restart) is 34 seconds. Abit's fresh boot time is 35 seconds with double POST, and 24 seconds without double POST (18 BETA BIOS with PC off while maintaining power to the PSU). The Gigabyte board masks the double POST by not turning on the fan/HDD for the first 10 seconds while it check for FSB strap, etc....

Apparently, even the P45 chipset is plagued by the double POST. The newer boards do a better job of masking this delay, but the total boot time is still the same. I'm not aware of this peculiar behaviour with the AMD CPUs.
 

mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
8,230
1,508
126
Re: Scenario #1, my board and many other people's boards did this from day one. If it is a defect it is present on quite a few boards. There was no power spike when I initially received the board, and it is doing the same thing it did then.

Re: #2, yes there is most likely a compatibility issue. Different PSU was tried, different RAM, problem persisted through 2 video card upgrades and was there with a ~3W PCI video card attempt in the first place, and it is not the hard drive because board was pulled and retried with nothing connected but bare essentials.

I suspect the problem is the CPU, not bad but not truly supported but they claim it was supported a few bios releases ago and it is not isolated to people using only the same series of CPU plus anything worth running today would be newer, worth more than the board itself so I don't think it reasonable to make concessions around getting the board to work rather than using all parts known 100% working as they should.

From what I gathered at the time, about a year ago, the specific problem I and others saw was isolated to which CPU they were using. There may be other people with a general failure-to-post problem, certainly such a problem can have a lot of different causes, but only those with certain CPUs continued to have no resolution.

More than anything I was simply reporting that mine was also acting up again, and providing a point of info that switching to bios 18 may not only not be a solution but may leave someone unable to enter the bios menu at all so they should be prepared to reflash to a prior bios version if necessary. Mine is still running fine after having had to resuscitate it 3 days ago and not attempting to power cycle it ( I mean power cycle the PSU, system was able to shut off and turn on/POST by OS or case button fine, the problem was only if mains AC power cut out longer than the UPS could keep it supplied), so I'll leave it running while I contemplate what kind of upgrade that system gets (no rush, it's a secondary system I don't have to rely upon for anything crucial, and as mentioned it has ran flawlessly for roughly a year since the last time I had to fiddle with it).
 

Bonesdad

Platinum Member
Nov 18, 2002
2,213
0
76
Hey Mindless...know where you are at, man, I feel for you. I dumped my IP35-E about a month ago...now got a P45 Gigabyte board with all the same components and it's flawless. I had the problem you are having from day 1 with my IP35-E. Many others had the same problems (esp those with Corsair PSU, like me). It just magically started working and ran stable for about a year with my 2160 CPU. Then I upgraded CPU to an E8400 and flashed my bios to 18 beta. Booted flawlessly. Ran for about a month with no problems. Then shut the computer off for a reason I don't remember...when I tried to turn it on again...no POST. I too, tried EVERYTHING. RAM, changed PSU, stripped it down to nothing, out of case the whole bit. I got it to post again once just by continually turning the damn thing off and on, off and on, off an on...when it came back up, I ordered my new motherboard. So i have an IP35-E that *MIGHT* work for someone else (or not). I got an RMA # from what's left of ABIT, but I'm not sure they would honor the warranty cuz I have their stupid beta 18 in the BIOS. What do you think? Should I sell it as is (with the disclaimer), try the RMA or just toss the damn thing?
 

mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
8,230
1,508
126
Bonesdad, they offered the beta 18 bios so I don't think they should hold that against you, they should see it as you trying everything you could to make their product work before giving up. On the other hand, I don't think getting another of the same board from RMA replacement is a solution as I still believe it is a bios flaw that causes incompatibility, it seems pointless unless they will exchange for a board with a different chipset so the bios modules are different, or you wanted to try a few CPU, then other parts, till you find a combo that others have success with.

I think older models of CPU are the best attempt at getting it working, it seems E21xx and later CPUs are the problem, though I can't remember if it is isolated to these CPUs. The topic is quite old now, maybe we should have started a poll a year ago to collect info on which CPU people had and whether they had the same problem.

If you wanted to spend the time, you might make a list of which CPUs or memory aren't compatible and put that disclaimer on a sale, or point them to this thread so they can make their own call. If you hold onto the board long enough then you can find CPUs for it dirt cheap on a surplus 'site somewhere and put it to use then. I wouldn't throw it away, would at least offer it for free plus shipping cost in the FS/FT forum in case someone else wants to take a shot at it.

One other thought I had was that since the problem surfaces when 5VSB goes down from AC power outtage, if I put more of a load on the UPS then maybe it would stay turned on (5VSB PSU circuit load alone apparently isn't enough for my UPS to keep running) till the battery was exhausted, which would be longer than all but the longest power outages we've seen in recent years. That's a bit too fiddly for my tastes as I may want to unplug the UPS someday, but until then plugging a clock radio into it may be the easiest solution and it's nice to have a radio when power goes out. If the system were near my cable modem I could just plug it and the router into this UPS instead.
 

E4300

Member
Apr 13, 2009
99
0
0
There's something in the BIOS that causes boot problem for selected users since 18/18 BETA is very solid with my setup. This IP35-E board has seen service with E4300, E4500, E5200, E5400, E7400, E8400, and Q8200.

Without access to an incompatible rig, it would be very difficult to duplicate the no POST problem, unless the board is defective.

Were you able to consistently replicate the no POST poblem by pulling the power at the AC outlet?

I also noticed that another IP35-E user had POST problem with a Corsair 520. That's exactly what happened to my buddy's Asus board. We switched to my Seasonic-built Antec Earthwatts 380 and it came to life! Both PSUs were outsourced to Seasonic.

The latter BIOSes fix the double post issue as long as 5VSB power is maintained. If you turn off the PSU at the AC outlet, then the board will double POST at the next start. My E8400 @ 4.4GHz is so quick that I only see a slow down in the CPU fan when the board double POST. The blades never come to a complete stop.

BTW, I don't use a UPS. PC is connected to a basic AC surge protector with an ON/OFF switch.
 

mindless1

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
8,230
1,508
126
I have tested with and without an UPS, and with different PSU known working properly that can power equivalent systems without issue, measuring voltage with a multimeter. Unplugging from the AC outlet or flipping the rear PSU off switch will consistently replicate the problem, but there is no consistent way to get the system running again... it takes a number of power cycles via the front case switch regardless of whether it had just had the clear CMOS jumper used, the battery pulled for several minutes, memory removed/moved to different slot/added back as it was last time/swapped with diff. memory modules (either of these with AC power cut off), different video card incl. PCI instead of and in addition to another two PCIe (incl. clearing CMOS between these attempts sometimes, other times not).

These things were tried with the board in the case and then again after pulled from the case and placed on a non-conductive desktop stripped down to bare CPU, 1 mem module, video, again swapping mem and video. The funny thing is it runs flawlessly o'c by 50% if only the AC power isn't cut, but cut the AC power and it can't consistently POST even at stock speed, through manual rest of bios values or loading setup defaults. One thing I did not notice when the problem was initially uncovered was the ultra-slow boot process sometimes when it does complete post, but that is probably due to not leaving it sit for several minutes in a seemingly locked up state waiting to see if it would proceed further and it will not always proceed to finish POSTing if left sitting, often what seems a lockup does stop it from completing even if left sitting for hours while seemingly locked up.

I spent a lot more time fiddling with it the first time the problem surfaced, but this time I've already spend more time describing it than I did periodically power cycling it to get it working again so I have become fairly apathetic about it, will leave it running as is till I decide to upgrade the whole system again which basically means when a significant enough upgrade is possible at a low price befitting the role the system serves. Plus, I have another computer due for an upgrade and parts arrived today and tomorrow for it so that will take priority for the time being.

 

Bonesdad

Platinum Member
Nov 18, 2002
2,213
0
76
I don't believe there is anything sacred about the problem with BIOS 18 either, since the first run through the problem I had was with BIOS 14 and a 2160 CPU. I used a PCP&C PSU with the board too...no difference. 3 different flavors of memory (1.8, 1.9 and 2.1v), 2 video cards etc, etc. The board is defective. I'm sure if I screwed with it for a few more hours I could get it to POST again, but why bother? Perhaps I got a bad board, but I'd take my old ECS K7S5A over this Abit board any day.
 

E4300

Member
Apr 13, 2009
99
0
0
I didn't scan thru the 17 pages of text, but it is clear that this was a very popular board a few years back. Some had defective boards, while others were plagued with hardware compatibility. I bought mine at the Egg for $60 AR. It's a solid board from day one.

If the board didn't work right out of the box, then it should be exchanged for a replacement. Abit probably sold several hundred thousand units. We may have ten members with issue. Multiply by 100x and you're still looking at 1-2% defective rate.

To this day, I can still run many Core2 duallies and quads up to about 450MHz FSB without touching VTT and VNB. The only limitation is BIOS support for some newer chips. My E8400 is rock stable at 525MHz FSB with 1.27VTT (490MHz with default VTT for daily use). I don't know of a single $60 board today that could accomplish this. Abit's fan EQ is still the best in the industry.

People make the mistake of pumping too much juice into a 45nm chip. This can fry the IP35-E's output devices without sufficient active cooling. Run LinX with a 45nm quad @ +1.4Vcore for 24 hr is asking for trouble.
 

TungFree

Golden Member
Jan 7, 2001
1,619
0
0
Just backed up from an image an old installation that was a clean instal with basic tools and drivers.
I get a warning Multimedia control driver not found
I cannot seem to find what to install
Where do I get that driver I have a Radiaon 2400 video card and downloaded and installed those, I try to install the on-board sound card software and it gripes that it does not contain the driver, but I got it from Abit site. So what am I missing?

 

Heidfirst

Platinum Member
May 18, 2005
2,015
0
0
it's just a Realtek HD Audio Codec so you can get the latest from Realtek.
It's possible that the ATi gfx card (or ppossibly something else that you have installed?) has some multimedia device on it as well.
 
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