Strange bios problem with foxconn motherboard

[MagR]

Hi everyone

I wonder if anyone could help me with a strange problem I’m having with my motherboard, a Foxconn Bloodrage Gti. I’ve been running two Radeon 5870’s for a while in crossfire with excellent performance. I selected this motherboard as it is both Crossfire and SLI certified and leaves a wide gap between the bottom of the top card and the top of the second to aid cooling.

I decided to upgrade my graphics cards and tried a pair of AND Radeon 6970’s. Whilst performance was great they were a bit hot and in particular noisy for my liking so I returned them. Instead I ordered a pair of Nvidia GeForce GTX 570’s whose performance was supposed to be on a par with the 6970’s. However when I installed them my computer would not boot – it froze part way through posting. The strange thing was when I tested each card individually everything booted fine so there was nothing wrong with the cards. I experimented and found that I could even boot with both cards installed as long as I did not connect the power leads of the second card.

I decided to set the bios back to default – there is a handy switch on the motherboard’s rear I/O panel for this – and see if that helped. Success - the system booted fine. I installed the drivers, enabled Sli in the forceware control panel and ran a few games to test performance. If anything this set up was slightly faster than the pair of 6970’s and more importantly for me is nice and quiet.

However I still have a problem as I cannot change any of the bios settings from their default values or the system refuses to post again. I personally do not overclock my cpu so the default settings are fine for me. However I would like to disable the floppy A drive and the Foxconn splash screen that appears while posting. Even such minor cosmetic changes to the bios stops the system posting. If I disconnect the power to one of the cards I can change the bios at will and it will post until I try to reconnect the power leads. I’ve tried googling the problem to no avail and checked I have the latest bios from the Foxconn website (P07).

Has anyone got any idea how I can overcome this problem. It is not stopping me running my sli system but is annoying as I cannot see any logical reason for it. Why should changing a bios setting stop a system booting with two Nvidia cards when a single card from either manufacturer or two AMD cards post without bother? As sli works fine at default bios settings the board is definitely sli certified.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

My full specs are:

Motherboard – Foxconn Bloodrage Gti
Cpu – Intel Core i7 920 DO stepping
Cooler – Akasa Nero
RAM – 6GB Ocz Gold (3 x 2GB)
SSD – Crucial C300 256GB
HDD – WD Velociraptor 300GB
Graphics cards – 2 x Palit GeForce GTX 570 Sonic (1 x 8 pin, 1 x 6 pin)
Sound card – Asus Xonar DX
Case – Antec Twelve Hundred (7 x 120mm, 1 x 200mm fans)
Power supply – Enermax Revolution 85+ 1.25kw
Monitor – Hewlett Packard LP2475w (1920 x 1200 native resolution ips)
Operating system – Windows 7 Service Pack 1

[Jay]

Odd I would normally say this sounds like the PSU but you seem to have well enough grunt for them.

[vinnyT]

With many bios problems changing the battery is the first thing to try, but I really can't see that being the answer to your problem.

If you find an answer to this, please let us know.

[MagR]

Odd I would normally say this sounds like the PSU but you seem to have well enough grunt for them.

Thanks for your reply

This psu is rated at 1250W and is supposed to be able to run four graphics card not just two. The system posted with bespoke bios settings with the two 6970's I tried which have an even higher power rating than the gtx 570's. I've posted a query on Foxconn's technical support forum and see if they can help - it looks as if the bios is set up incorrectly for sli or perhaps the 500 series?

Regards

Mag

[MagR]

With many bios problems changing the battery is the first thing to try, but I really can't see that being the answer to your problem.

If you find an answer to this, please let us know.

Thanks for your reply

I've actually ordered a couple of CMOS batteries which should arrive today and I'll try changing the battery to see if it helps - sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. I've also posted a query on Foxconn's technical forum - I wonder if the bios is the problem and needs updating.

Regards

Mag

P.s. I've never changed a motherboard battery before - is there a trick as it seems quite well seated at present? Is there a clip you have to lever up or something? I don't want to break the board by using brute force.

[vinnyT]

P.s. I've never changed a motherboard battery before - is there a trick as it seems quite well seated at present? Is there a clip you have to lever up or something? I don't want to break the board by using brute force.

No, it iwll usually come out pretty easilly, check your mobo manual.

Though judging by the date, you have prob already sus'd out how to do it by now. Hope it worked.

Regards, vinny

[MagR]

No, it iwll usually come out pretty easilly, check your mobo manual.

Though judging by the date, you have prob already sus'd out how to do it by now. Hope it worked.

Regards, vinny

Thanks for the reply

It was easier than I thought but unfortunately did not solve the problem. In the meantime I've given up waiting for Foxconn's technical people to get back to me on this and reopened my own investigation. I found I'd made a mistake when I thought I had the most recent bios - I must have been following an out of date link or something. Anyway when I found the most recent I thought I'd take the risk and flash my bios. I've never tried this before but I learned how to make my memory stick (flash drive) bootable and it went off without incident. I was a little worried as I read that if it goes wrong the motherboard is useless.

Hey presto it worked - I can enter the bios and change all the settings and it posts with both cards connected in sli. This has taken me three weeks to solve but I now know how to change cmos batteries and flash a bios so it is not all time wasted.

Thanks very much fo your help and that of Jay also.

Regards

Mag

[vinnyT]

Glad you got a good result (in the end).