Good Morning Mr. Blazer and Mr. CD.
Mr. Blazer: I have a new E6850 which has a G0 stepping code. It has been VERY accommodating to OC, and, in fact, will accept a 384 x 9 setting for a 3.45 GHz result on standard voltage, with the memory forced to 5-5-5-15-2T, also at standard settings. My previous E6600 would have NEVER accepted that settings level without significant boosts to the voltage settings. I haven't pushed the E6850 too far as of yet, since I already know it will do 400 x 9 without much boost in the settings, and that's a fair bit of OC, even on a 3.0 GHz rated chip. I'll keep you posted on the OC results with this new G0 stepping code.
As for the newer versions of the Q6600 with a G0 stepping code, I am hopeful that those newer versions, coupled with the very recently released microcode from nVidia, will be the 'magic bullet" to allow the Quad-Core procs to OC on our boards. Given the outstanding OC capabilities of the E6850 with a stepping code of G0, the same code level for the Q6600 may do the trick. I will likely get my hands on one of those new Q6600s with a G0 code in a week or so, and then if Gigabyte comes through with the new BIOS which utilizes the new microcode, we'll be set to give it a run for the money. Stay tuned.
Mr. CD: I shutdown and restarted my rig last evening about a dozen times, and each time it booted up without any of those nagging reboots. I haven't changed any OC settings, etc since it was stabilized, so I'm not positive about it being a complete cure. However, I NEVER previously had that number of starts, stops, and restarts without encountering that DMI message and reboot situation. I'm almost afraid to tinker with it (but I eventually will, of course) since I'm just enjoying the flawless bootup sequence at the present time.
After I wrote the posting last evening on this whole problem, it seems that wiping out the retained DMI code (whatever it may have been), by the method I employed, was what the board needed for a fresh start. Incidentally, after I accomplished the rebirth of the flawless bootup sequence, I encountered an interesting collateral situation. About an hour after I "fixed" the problem, an alert message appeared on my screen indicating that my copy (100% legit) of Vista 64 Ultimate required activation within 3 days. Since I had already activated my OS months ago, I was quite surprised by that message. The alert message indicated that Windows Vista 64 had sensed that there was a major change in the hardware base for the previous activation, and that the OS needed to be re-activated.
Since the ONLY change in anything related to the hardware base of my PC was the CMOS procedure and BIOS settings outlined above, I suspect that that procedure did, in fact, wipe out the CMOS setting, including some stored DMI settings, that were residing within the bowels of the motherboard. It was a reasonably easy task to re-activate the OS, but it required a toll-free telephone conversation with someone, who by her accent, was located on the other side of the world from the USA. The M$ activation representative was very nice, and gave me the 48 digit code to get things back in shape. It would seem that the re-activation requirement may be proof of the wiping out process that I described. I'll keep you posted on whether or not this "fix" sticks. But for right now, it sure has been a blessing!
Best regards to everyone. TheBeagle
:beer:
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