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disturbedbrain
Journeyman III

Warning for Gigabyte X370 and B350 motherboards, and a request of AMD

Hi everyone, I'll try to make sure theres no fluff in this post and get straight to the point. As some of you might be aware Gigabyte are doing a god awful job at supporting and fixing the firmware of their B350 and X370 based boards (http://forum.gigabyte.us/thread/1542/am4-beta-bios-thread?page=111&scrollTo=18789) it's gotten so bad that there is talk by Gigabyte customers of a class action lawsuit because they are repeatedly being ignored by Gigabyte and the situation has gone on for a year or more now. I feel that the disregard being shown by Gigabyte to their customers and failure to address the simplest of firmware bugs to the less technically adept people at least out there who don't know where to turn reflects badly on AMD as a result of Gigabytes (in)actions to those less technically knowledgeable people so AMDs public image takes an undeserved beating. I ask that anyone reading this spreads the word and that if anyone knows how to reach AMD in any way to tell them about this situation and ask if there is anything they can do to get Gigabyte to acknowledge these problems and actually fix them. Thats all we want, some firmware that fixes the problems we are having. Below is a list of current known issues with the latest F22 firmware that apply to all of Gigabytes B350 and X370 boards either in part or completely.

1. XMP is entirely or partly broken even on memory kits Gigabyte themselves list as fully compatible on their QVL list.

2. Disabling Gear Down mode with XMP enabled causes a no POST.

3. Half or more of the advanced memory timings do not display default SPD \ UEFI values next to them

A screenshot will best illustrate and explain this one;

4. When HPET is disabled a 0d POST code system hang occurs when trying to restart the system from Windows

5. P-State overclocking is broken... again.

6. When overclocking the CPU vcore with constant voltage (likely applies when overclocking the CPU with offset voltage as well) VCORE SOC Voltage is set extremely high when left at the "Auto" setting (1.236v-1.248v).

7. Setting the Orange LED profile in RGB Fusion turns the LEDs yellow. Incorrect preset values. Should be Red: 255, Green: 19, Blue: 0.

Even the security hole with Gigabyte gaming motherboard firmware failing to recognise the GOP on the Nvidia GTX10xx video card range so making CSM necessary and Secure Boot unattainable has only recently been fixed and newly introduced bugs with the latest firmware such as broken HPET must surely be particularly eyebrow raising as AMD recommend disabling it as par for the course. I as have countless others tried getting Gigabytes attention, or anyone from Gigabyte in general, in their forums to make them aware of these problems as have I tried contacting their support which when I did eventually get responses after replying to anything they asked me (in my experience it was not uncommon to wait a week or more for a single reply) I mostly got excuses from Gigabyte, and poor ones at that. At one stage I was asked to get back to them after trying a beta firmware they sent me to verify if the problem was fixed. Trying to be helpful and aid them in squashing bugs I took an entire weekend to fully test the beta firmware they sent me and gave them a full report explaining clearly each bug I found and how to reproduce it only to never get any reply back. I still have not got a reply back to this day either, its been at least 2 months now since then.

Thanks for reading guys and I hope we can get some momentum going to get Gigabyte to take their thumbs out of their arses.

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31 Replies

AMD can't really do anything, in my own opinion, since this is strictly a Gigabyte issue with the actual Motherboard BIOS. But if nothing else, by posting here, you get all AMD users with Gigabyte Motherboards information about the faulty BIOSes from Gigabyte.

Even if the BIOS bug affects AMD/Nvidia Graphics, Not much can be done as far as Graphic drivers.

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I've never supported Gigabyte because of their practice of releasing the same exact motherboard as a new "revision" then dropping support for the previous one, something which may work with short term models Intel uses, but not long term sockets AMD uses. After my flirtation with Shuttle and DFI way way way back in the Athlon XP days, I've always gone with ASUS.

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I am a big Fan of Asus. I normally try to purchase an Asus Motherboard or component when upgrading. I did have a problem once with Asus BIOS update. The previous BIOS update caused my Computer to not boot up to Windows 10 (installed 3 different times with same results). Needed to install the earlier BIOS to get it to work. But the last and so far final BIOS Update has worked like a charm.

I have the Asus Sabertooth 990FX gen.2.0 Motherboard.

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As an update to my initial post I'll add these details as well that come from someone who has looked at the Gigabyte firmware in a good level of detail.

Missing options / features in F22 (AX370 Gaming 5)

Overclocking & memory related

CLDO_VDDP control

CLDO_VDDP voltage

Last present: Firmware F9f

BankGroupSwap

Last present: Firmware F9f

BankGroupSwapAlt

Last Present: Never

Channel Interleaving

Rank Interleaving

Both present but need exposing through the use of AMIBCP

General useful options missing

AMD PSP

Last present: Never

Spread Spectrum and related options

USB MSI (Message Signal Interrupt)

MsiDis in HPET

Chipset Power Saving Features

USB PHY Power Down

C1E Support

All present, but needs exposing with AMIBCP. Disabling USB MSI works around the bug some (all?) USB keyboards have of not waking from sleep if allowed to enter sleep mode while in the UEFI.

Timer Tick Tracking

Clock Interrupt Tag

EHCI Traffic Handling

Fusion Message C Multi-Core

Fusion Message C State

All present but need exposing with AMIBCP. Timer Tick and Clock Interrupt are particularly useful for pre-emptive multitasking and could potentially resolve SMT anomalies in certain applications.

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It is an absolute insult that options other manufacturers are and have been including with their firmware for a very long time Gigabyte are apparently removing for no good reason or have never given the user access to despite them being in the firmware.

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us the biosmod from KET (Forum - [OFFER] Gigabyte GA-AX370-Aorus Gaming 5 BIOS mod )

have fun

PC: R7 2700X @PBO + RX 580 4G (1500MHz/2000MHz CL16) + 32G DDR4-3200CL14 + 144hz 1ms FS P + 75hz 1ms FS
Laptop: R5 2500U @30W + RX 560X (1400MHz/1500MHz) + 16G DDR4-2400CL16 + 120Hz 3ms FS
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Lenovo actually blocks UEFI modification using certificates. At least desktops do not have that many headaches

I am wondering why GB is not fixing the known issues

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Nice, but I figure I have at least 2-3 more years left on my board unless the FX CPU goes south. Then I will upgrade everything.

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Well, when you do upgrade just avoid GB. They are by far the worst manufacturer you can buy from. Even Biostar are better and I'd call their firmware on the sloppy side but its nowhere near as bad as GB firmware, not even close. GB simply leave their customers high and dry.

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Another small update for people, I tried contacting Gigabyte UK on their Aorus Facebook page as they are very active there about all these bugs a couple days ago and still no reply... I'll update if there is a reply but it's safe to say as of now that if GB can be very active then not reply to anyone the instant the bug reports start coming it, not even an acknowledgement, that hards puts them in a good light does it?

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disturbedbrain wrote:

Another small update for people, I tried contacting Gigabyte UK on their Aorus Facebook page as they are very active there about all these bugs a couple days ago and still no reply... I'll update if there is a reply but it's safe to say as of now that if GB can be very active then not reply to anyone the instant the bug reports start coming it, not even an acknowledgement, that hards puts them in a good light does it?

I was looking on their twitter feeds and I see lots of gripes there too

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I'll have to look at their twitter feed didn't think to look there with so many complaints in their forums. If anyone wants to submit a support ticket complaining about the bugs the firmware has I wish you luck. I've tried to submit a support ticket with a detailed test log of all of the bugs I've found and how to reproduce them about 8 times over the last 2 days and all I keep getting is "System is busy, try again later" messages. GB have either hit the big universal "ignore" button, or their system is legit completely slammed with support requests because they are doing such a shitty job with the firmware.

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disturbedbrain wrote:

I'll have to look at their twitter feed didn't think to look there with so many complaints in their forums. If anyone wants to submit a support ticket complaining about the bugs the firmware has I wish you luck. I've tried to submit a support ticket with a detailed test log of all of the bugs I've found and how to reproduce them about 8 times over the last 2 days and all I keep getting is "System is busy, try again later" messages. GB have either hit the big universal "ignore" button, or their system is legit completely slammed with support requests because they are doing such a shitty job with the firmware.

Disgruntled users can abandon a vendor quick. Its not a wise way to run a business.

Safer is to come clean, and this tells users that a fix is pending.

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I agree. Gigabyte will sink like a stone unless they get their house in order. I can't remember the last knowledgeable Gigabyte owner I spoke to that was actually happy with so many complaining on GB forums, twitter, other social media to varying degrees such as facebook, other forums around the web such as here, undoubtedly endless support tickets being submitted (when and if anyone can send a ticket off, that is) it is absolutely in the best interest of GB to get a handle on this the amount of angry GB owners are not a small minority at all and this situation will bite GB in the arse badly in the not too distant future if they continue to ignore the situation.

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last motherboard I ought was MSI and they have looked good with BIOS updates and software updates for drivers

MSI has earned respect with me as their board has not died on my like Asus has

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I personally favor Asus Motherboards. I have been using them for 15+ years without any problems. I now am using a Asus Sabertooth 990FX Motherboard that every slot and port is filled and in use plus I have added some extra Ports which are also filled beside having a 7 port USB hub connected, also filled. This motherboard has been running 24/7 since I purchased it in 2014. It has been, imo, outstanding considering the stress it is under. But I did have one bad BIOS that was not compatible with my computer system. Luckily, the latest and last BIOS update works like charm. I updated all my BIOS thru Windows environment which made it extremely easy and safe using Asus AI Suite II.

But everyone has their favorite depending whether they had a positive or negative experience.

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I tend to use what last longer as my guide, I own an old but reliable Corsair TX850V2 which is overkill but it has never let me down, so I rule out PSU issues

Video cards I tend to buy have 2 or more fans to reduce noise and they also run cooler

So the MB is really the only part that has to work with a CPU, 4 sticks of memory and a dual slot video card

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Hey, I purchased, at the time, a Corsair (Gold 80+) 850ax PSU in 2010. It is still working like new on my computer. I also purchased a set of four Corsair DDR3 RAM modules in the same year, 2010. Only one RAM module went bad in eight years. I replaced it with a identical RAM module and had no more memory problems. So, I know that, at least, Corsair makes quality PSU and Memory modules.

So I have two companies that I have a good history with their products. Doesn't mean I will purchase their products exclusively. I tend to research through the Internet reviews of all Manufacturer's products before deciding what to buy. Including Customer reviews that purchased the product.

That is how I ended up buying the Corsair PSU and Memory Modules. With Asus it was experience using their products in the past and felt comfortable and was knowledgeable of Asus features.

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elstaci wrote:

Hey, I purchased, at the time, a Corsair (Gold 80+) 850ax PSU in 2010. It is still working like new on my computer. I also purchased a set of four Corsair DDR3 RAM modules in the same year, 2010. Only one RAM module went bad in eight years. I replaced it with a identical RAM module and had no more memory problems. So, I know that, at least, Corsair makes quality PSU and Memory modules.

So I have two companies that I have a good history with their products. Doesn't mean I will purchase their products exclusively. I tend to research through the Internet reviews of all Manufacturer's products before deciding what to buy. Including Customer reviews that purchased the product.

That is how I ended up buying the Corsair PSU and Memory Modules. With Asus it was experience using their products in the past and felt comfortable and was knowledgeable of Asus features.

I have used Corsair chassis and PSUs and I have been happy with the hardware. I own a old TX850V2 which still works fine with any power pig video card I have used, such as the 265W HD 6970 etc

The HD 7870 I have is much less power hungry and it is more powerful in games compared to the HD 6970 too.

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Agree, I couldn't be happier with Corsair's products as far as Memory and PSU goes. I definitely will purchase those same products from Corsair unless I get some bad reviews in the future.

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elstaci wrote:

Agree, I couldn't be happier with Corsair's products as far as Memory and PSU goes. I definitely will purchase those same products from Corsair unless I get some bad reviews in the future.

I have had issues with Asus motherboards so I bought a MSI board which has cured MB woes. The MSI board is a universe better for AMD users.

My old MSI 970-G43 has managed to outlast 3 Asis boards and it still POSTs. I have 12GB of memory on it but eventually I am looking at modernizing.

I have 4 Lenovo laptops as well, 2 with AMD graphics

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Like I mentioned earlier, Depending on the User's good or bad experience with a manufacturer product determines whether they have a positive or negative view of the company's products.

I, for one, have had positive experiences with Asus products. I have bought mainly Asus Motherboards and never needed to RMA one due to being defective. The Asus MB I am using now (Sabertooth 990FX Gen 2) has lasted for over four years with all slots and ports filled with hardware and is still working like a charm. I also purchased a Asus Blu-ray burner and two Asus DVD Burners that hasn't failed me yet and my last purchase was a Asus GPU card.

One thing I noticed is that Asus tends to have more features than other manufacturer similar products which makes them slightly more expensive.

I remember back in the 1990's, Gigabyte used to be the premiere manufacturer of Motherboards when PC still was fairly in it infancy stage as far as building your own PC.

If you had bad experiences with Asus products then I can understand you having a negative view of their products.

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I used to use Gigabyte motherboard back with socket 7 when I was using an AMD K6 CPU and back the memory was slower EDO sticks. I had a pair pf 32MB sticks which used for Windows 95 and Windows 98 when it came out.

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You aren't kidding! I have seen it many times where they release the same board and call it revision B then C and won't release updates to the initial board. I remember when Gigabyte came on the scene. Everyone called them Gigajunk. I don't know that any of these companies really offers good support anymore. Anymore I think your just best to make sure you buy from someone who will take returns, and return a product that doesn't work on arrival instead of holding out hopes of it someday working. This is why I'd rather be a year behind on the tech them jumping right in. You usually get more stable stuff that way.

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LoL, Gigabyte probably changed one small resistor or added another resistor to the motherboard and changed the revision from A to B.    

I am exaggerating a tad bit

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Hah typically if GB release a new revision its not where they have made it better its where they have worked out how to make the same thing with even cheaper parts than they are already using. Their business practices and model really are disgusting.

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A link some people stuck with these awful Aorus boards might be interested in. Theres modified UEFIs here based on what are largely considered the least bugged. Forum - [OFFER] Gigabyte GA-AX370-Aorus Gaming 5 BIOS mod

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I've just seen this. I think we have a solid reason to never touch Gigabyte products again here. In case thats too tiny to read the text someone got a new board from GB after the VRMs on the board blew. I don't want to think about the fire hazard and most likely untold damage to the hardware that board had connected to it with the VRMs blowing.

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chencho9000
Journeyman III

Asus mobos work flawesly and gb are junk. I think gb is trolling AMD :- \. I regret buying the gaming 3 scrap.

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I've had pretty good luck with ASRock as well.  I have an FM2+ (A10-7850k) system that has been working great from them.  I also have a media computer I built for my parents that runs an FM1 ASRock board with an A8-3870k. 

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leyvin
Miniboss

Typically speaking I'd always suggest either ASUS or MSI for AMD Platforms.

I've had some good and bad experiences with ASUS, as their Motherboards have led to the 'Death' of a few PSU / Memory Modules over the years on their "Budget" Hardware … but typically we're talking near their "End-of-Life" and I do have a habit of demanding A LOT more from my Hardware than the Avg. Consumer., as I tend to run systems 24/7 for up to 28 Days at a time.

So, eh, arguably reliability issues in said regards are likely a little more unique.

Now with this said, I've never overtly had any issues with Gigabyte in regards to "Out-of-the-Box" Experience., and their hardware does have some decent Durability to it... but they do ALWAYS Lack Features, have a new Non-Existent Update Program, and aren't really useful for those (such-as Enthusiast / Gamers) looking to really tweak bleeding-edge performance.

Mind with this said, I'd argue that the NONE of the Modern "UEFI" BIOS are actually that good for such., as ALL of them have a habit of disabling / shadowing features from the Phoenix / Award BIOS that they're using underneath or the chipset... so unless you use a 3rd Party BIOS to basically return it to a "Classic" State., have fun dealing with all of the "Protective" / "Automated" elements of Modern BIOS.

I'm sorry but this is an element I've detested in regards to Intel BIOS / Chipsets for sometime., and that AMD / AIB Partners have begun to do this with Late Fusion Media as well as 300 / 400 (and likely 500) Series Chipsets; well this is frankly a sorry state of affairs for AMD Enthusiasts.

I know that they're "trying to appeal to the Casual / Intel" Crowd., but just ACTUALLY run some Advertisements on YouTube, Television or Movies; as that's the REAL problem AMD has always had., because they've never Advertised their Brand, for most Consumers they just don't know they exist... or when they do see them, they just assume their some sort of Chinese Knock-off Intel Hardware.

AMD *has* to change this image that the Brand / Public has of them., instead of effectively punishing their core consumer base with all their "Streamlined" BS that we neither want nor care about; as your Avg. Consumer doesn't even know what a BIOS is... they're not going to Overclock their Hardware... they just expect it to simply "Work" out-of-the-box.

Where-as those of us who are Enthusiasts want our damn Command & Control back, like the Xpress Chipset used to provide.