K8M800-MLVF: 2 problems!

[Waters10]

I have an Aria-based HTPC. It has a DFI K8M800-MLVF, A64 3000+, 1gb PC3200 Corsair Value Select, Radeon 9800SE and Chaintech AV710. I actually have 2 problems with this mobo right now.

 

Problem 1:

 

I'm having a hard time with S3 stand-by state. I can't remember which bios my mobo came with, but it didn't have S1/S3 selection there. So I downloaded several bios from DFI web site. It's pretty confusing there! They have several bioses there that state S3 resume improvement, one bios that state Fix S3 resuming feature and one bios stating To remove S3 resume feature.

 

I tried all the bios that state improvements and the one stating fixing S3 (I tried 8M80D812, 8M80DA13, 8M80K707, 8M80D812, 8M80DB29 and 8M80D407). None of them have S3 selectable, except 8M80D407, which is the first released bios! Some has S1 showing, but not selectable, while others don't have the option at all! I'm using 8M80D407 right now. With this bios, S3 resuming works around 50%, which sucks for my HTPC usage. Does anyone what's going on here? Is there any way to select S3 on the bioses that supposedly improve this feature? Since there's a bios stating Fix S3 resume feature, I'm assuming it's "broken" on the first release bios and that's why it's causing me problems.

 

 

Problem 2:

 

I can't get Motherboard monitor or Speedfan to show voltages and temperatures. It shows temps and voltage all over the place, changing by the second to random numbers. Since it's an HTPC, temp monitoring is pretty important! Is there any way to set up mbm or speedfan to work with this mobo?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I just got a DFI Lanparty UT 250GB (for my main PC), which seems the best OC board. Hope I get better luck with this other mobo. I'm really trying to enjoy DFI products, but this K8M800-MLVF is testing my patience ...

[Angry_Games]

please check the rules and the Important Info threads stuck to the top of this section, paying close attention to the second post in teh 'critical' thread (about system specs in your sig).

 

this helps us tremendously to help you solve your issue if we can see what is in your system every time you post.

 

Be as thorough as possible please. Voltages, timings, settings, bios version. The more information you give us about the problem, and the more details about your hardware in your sig = more help we can give you.

[Angry_Games]

Problem 1 - as far as I know, S3 never did work correctly with this board/chipset and we have removed it from later bioses.

 

Problem 2 - this is an mATX board and has almost no sensors on it. No monitoring program that I know of work on it (and I have mine in an Antec Aria case also and never have found a way to monitor anything beyond what is monitored in the bios)

 

http://www.angrygames.com/pics/k8m800/k8m800-1.jpg

 

http://www.angrygames.com/pics/k8m800/k8m800-2.jpg

 

http://www.angrygames.com/pics/k8m800/k8m800-3.jpg

 

http://www.angrygames.com/pics/k8m800/k8m800-4.jpg

 

http://www.angrygames.com/pics/k8m800/k8m800-5.jpg

[Waters10]

Thanks for the quick reply! I changed my sig, so it should reflect my system now! Thanks for the help.

 

Problem 1 - as far as I know, S3 never did work correctly with this board/chipset and we have removed it from later bioses.

Is it a chipset issue or a mobo issue? If S3 was removed from later bioses, why on the bios description, it's written "1. To Improve the S3 resuming feature" on seveal of the releases?

 

It seems there's two revisions for the PCB, A and B. How can I know which one I have? Finally, any plans/schedule to release a new bios that will resolve this S3 resuming feature?

 

I'm somewhat disappointed with this S3 resuming feature. I've read all the manuals and bios releases from different motherboards before purchasing this one and I for sure I would've bought a different model if I knew S3 was never working with this mobo. I'm considering RMA'ing this board now.

 

 

 

Problem 2 - this is an mATX board and has almost no sensors on it. No monitoring program that I know of work on it (and I have mine in an Antec Aria case also and never have found a way to monitor anything beyond what is monitored in the bios)

After some research, I found a post on usenet saying this about this mobo:

 

"Every A64 board the MBM wizard offered was an SiS monitor (none

worked on this board). Finally one offered an LM80 sensor - local, remote,

and it works now. "

 

It seems LM80 sensor should work with this mobo. I just couldn't find a way to set up MBM to track this LM80 sensor. Any ideas?

 

Thanks again!

 

I'm off to build my main computer with the lanparty 250GB!

[Angry_Games]

It seems there's two revisions for the PCB, A and B. How can I know which one I have? Finally, any plans/schedule to release a new bios that will resolve this S3 resuming feature?

 

I'm somewhat disappointed with this S3 resuming feature. I've read all the manuals and bios releases from different motherboards before purchasing this one and I for sure I would've bought a different model if I knew S3 was never working with this mobo. I'm considering RMA'ing this board now.

 

look on the printer port inside and there will be a sticker with a revision on it.

 

S3 has never worked properly on the board. That is all that I can tell you as we have had complaints about it and have tried to fix it and never could get it to work properly. I assume just shutting it down or letting the hdd + monitor go into power-down mode is not good enough? I never use the S1/S3 states but that doesn't mean you dont want to. Sort of a useless feature but you bought the board thinking it worked so if it doesnt then RMA it....but a replacement won't have working S3 either.

 

no plans to update the bios for S3.

 

It seems LM80 sensor should work with this mobo. I just couldn't find a way to set up MBM to track this LM80 sensor. Any ideas?

 

if you can find a working sensor on the board then you are better than we are...we didn't include any sensors on this board other than minimal ones that the bios needs...nothing to report to any software though. I've looked through my bios a hundred times and there just isn't any monitoring at all.

[Waters10]

I assume just shutting it down or letting the hdd + monitor go into power-down mode is not good enough?

I really like S3 on my HTPC. Not necessary on my main PC, but since htpc is on the living room, it's nice to get rid of the fan noise when it's not being used. I'm undecided if I'll rma it or not. I really like all the features on the board, like the firewire ports for the Aria and it seems a stable board! S3 is pretty important, but that doesn't mean I can't readjust. I tried hibernate a couple of times and it seems to work fine. I'll do some more testing with hibernate and it might be a good enough solution.

 

Thanks for the help!