Where Are The Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Motherboards?

[BrianDickens]

I've never seen an optical output without that red light. As optical is, as you can guess, optical it works by light. I can only assume optical doesn't work with infrared or ultraviolet, so I suppose something's wrong. I suppose the light's off when the optical output isn't enabled. Otherwise it's probably faulty.

 

[Scriabin]

Originally posted by: BrianDickens
I've never seen an optical output without that red light. As optical is, as you can guess, optical it works by light. I can only assume optical doesn't work with infrared or ultraviolet, so I suppose something's wrong. I suppose the light's off when the optical output isn't enabled. Otherwise it's probably faulty.

Do you have the red light in your own mainboard? is it a giga x38 dq6? cause I've asked a pair of other owners of this MB and both have the light off, even if digital output is enabled via drivers. If I enable digital output coaxial out works but not optical link, where light remain alwais off.
It's strange none has noticed this...
Anyone here, if you own this mb, can look behind the case and see if that light is on or not?

 

[BrianDickens]

Yes, I have a GA-X38-DQ6. I haven't checked the optical output before, since I'm using a Creative Labs X-Fi soundcard. The on-board audio has been disabled by me. But frankly speaking, I've never seen an optical output which did not have the red light.

I'll take a look tonight to see if it's on, but I doubt it since on-board audio is disabled. If this is the case, I'm sorry but I won't enable on-board audio just to take look - but I'm sure there's someone else around here who can check the optical output of his GA-X38-DQ6.

 

[Scriabin]

Originally posted by: BrianDickens
Yes, I have a GA-X38-DQ6. I haven't checked the optical output before, since I'm using a Creative Labs X-Fi soundcard. The on-board audio has been disabled by me. But frankly speaking, I've never seen an optical output which did not have the red light.

I'll take a look tonight to see if it's on, but I doubt it since on-board audio is disabled. If this is the case, I'm sorry but I won't enable on-board audio just to take look - but I'm sure there's someone else around here who can check the optical output of his GA-X38-DQ6.

I hope there's another one using the onboard audio that reads this thread...I don't know if it's my mb fault or a more general problem, that's what I need to understand.
Meanwhile I'll send another mail to giga global support.

 

[Blazer7]

I?ve used optical outputs with some of my previous boards and all were using red light. Are you sure that both ports are configured for output ? There is a pass-through function that may be messing up with your optical port.

 

[Scriabin]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
I?ve used optical outputs with some of my previous boards and all were using red light. Are you sure that both ports are configured for output ? There is a pass-through function that may be messing up with your optical port.

In the bios there's nothing to play with, azalea HD is turned on, in the driver I'm sure digital output is working but I can't find anything to change input/output direction of the two ports.
I suppose both work in output direction...in the package of the mb there's an optional staff to add if I need spdif in.

 

[Blazer7]

Mr Scriabin,

You should use Gigabyte's program to check the SPDIF in/out settings. You can access the program from the control panel or from the icon on the bottom right of the screen. The icon for Gigabyte's program is an orange speaker.

On the Audio I/O tab click on the wrench on the digital section. Output source should be set to output digital audio source. You should also check the mixer tab. In the playback section where the volume is set for everything you should make sure that SPDIF is not muted. If SPDIF is muted then no red light no nothing.

I hope that this is of help. Keep us posted on how you're doing.

 

[Scriabin]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
Mr Scriabin,

You should use Gigabyte's program to check the SPDIF in/out settings. You can access the program from the control panel or from the icon on the bottom right of the screen. The icon for Gigabyte's program is an orange speaker.

On the Audio I/O tab click on the wrench on the digital section. Output source should be set to output digital audio source. You should also check the mixer tab. In the playback section where the volume is set for everything you should make sure that SPDIF is not muted. If SPDIF is muted then no red light no nothing.

I hope that this is of help. Keep us posted on how you're doing.

Yes, I know how to enable digital output...and with a digital coaxial cable it works! I have the dts signal on my decoder when I connect it to the coaxial output, but if I switch to the spdif optical connection the decoder doesn't recognize any signal, and there's still the light off.

Spdif digital output works but only on the coaxial cable. The optical one seems disabled or damaged...
If you enable digital output you can choose to use either the coaxial spdif or the optical spdif (both are digital outputs), the result is the same, but in this mb the optical one doesn't work.

 

[JASTECH]

Scriabin, I just looked at teh back of mine and YES there is a RED Light.....Let the Pigeons Loose!...And I am not even using it, lol. I have the Monsoon MM-2000 speakers so I have to use the old fashion jacks.

 

[Blazer7]

Mr Scriabin,

I?ve given a lot of thought on your issue during the weekend and even discussed it briefly with a couple of friends. The only answers I got are within the realm of fantasy so I?m not gonna post any of them here. If Gigabyte can?t give you a straight forward answer on this my opinion is that you should ask for an RMA

 

[Scriabin]

Originally posted by: JASTECH
Scriabin, I just looked at teh back of mine and YES there is a RED Light.....Let the Pigeons Loose!...And I am not even using it, lol. I have the Monsoon MM-2000 speakers so I have to use the old fashion jacks.

JASTECH is the first I ear that has the red light on.
RMA for another fault mb? everyone I know have that light off (I mean 10-20 owners)...mainboard now is under testing on the most important italian hardware reviewer site, I asked them to verify the optical thing and they will do it.

 

[Scriabin]

sorry, double post

 

[PafetikBezerka]

My RED light is on to.

Computor wasn't behaving yesterday (some analogy about poor workers and poorer tools springs to mind). So I didn't have any success getting my SLI to work.

However my 4G of Crucial 8500 arrived today, but still I'm provided only a glimmer of joy.

With all 4 sticks @800mhz, the comp flashed on, the fan did a little whirl. Then it shutdown

All sticks seemed to work as did all slots and 3 sticks was the max

With 3 sticks @1066mhz, the comp flashed on, the fan did a little whirl. Then it shutdown

2 sticks @1066mhz seemed to be the max

So I returned my 3 sticks @800 and decided to return to the SLI problem.

While uninstalling/reinstalling nvidia foreware drivers my comp shut down and wouldn't return till I removed 1 stick of RAM.

So now I'm back to just 2G of RAM. However I DID get the SLI working.

I suppose some mem tests are in order but I'm unsure of what I should be using, or looking for. Will the windows mem tester give me the info I need?

Specs
Thermaltake 850w PSU
Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 (naturally)
E6700
2 x seagate 350GB in mirror RAID
2 x seagate 250GB in stripped RAID
4G Crucial 8500 (only 2G working)
Vista Ulimate 64
2 x XFX 8800 GTS in SLI

 

[Scriabin]

Originally posted by: PafetikBezerka
My RED light is on to.

Specs
Thermaltake 850w PSU
Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 (naturally)
E6700
2 x seagate 350GB in mirror RAID
2 x seagate 250GB in stripped RAID
4G Crucial 8500 (only 2G working)
Vista Ulimate 64
2 x XFX 8800 GTS in SLI

I know that on other gigabyte models red light is normally on and perfectly working, on the P35 series too.
If I found my x38 dq6 and other 15-20 owners with same trouble getting optical out to work I suppose there's something wrong with this particular model, even though the audio chipset is the same realtek alc889a.
JASTECH, you're the first saying your optical out is ok, can I ask which bios version are you using? Is your red light on outside windows or it needs drivers to be loaded to turn on?

 

[Blazer7]

Mr Scriabin,

We GA-N680SLI-DQ6 owners have the ALC888DD chip not the ALC889A. Functions and software are identical but since it is a different chip it is impossible to use it for simulating problems with the ALC889A and claim that the results are 100% valid.

 

[Scriabin]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
Mr Scriabin,

We GA-N680SLI-DQ6 owners have the ALC888DD chip not the ALC889A. Functions and software are identical but since it is a different chip it is impossible to use it for simulating problems with the ALC889A and claim that the results are 100% valid.

I didn't know which audio chipset mounted the gigabyte N680SLI mainboards, but I'm sure lot of P35 models (for example the P35-dq6 or the P35-DS4) have the same chip alc889a and they work without problems. I'm not claiming it's a problem of the particular audio chipset, I'm saying that a large number of x38-dq6 mainboards could have their optical out defective.
I'm still interested in the bios version JASTECH is using, and if the red light is on when outside windows to exlude any driver problem.

 

[TheBeagle]

Hello Everyone.

Has anyone had any success with actually activating the "Teaming" feature on the X38 board using Vista 64 as the OS? I have Cat6 cables plugged into BOTH NIC ports on the board, and correspondingly into 1GB ports on my router (Linksys WRT350N) and no matter what I do, I can't seem to get the Teaming (2GB joint channel) to activate, when I run the Gigabyte Teaming Utility on the Install CD that comes with the board. However, I have never seen that Utility even listed on the Gigabyte website, so I don't know if there's a newer version of same. If anyone has tried Teaming with Vista 64 and gotten it to work, please let me know how you accomplished it. Best regards to all. TheBeagle :beer:

 

[Salamandar]

OK the new Creative X-FI drivers seem to run fine!
Not a single BSOD at all !

By the way, I got a thermalTake Cyclo to cool my RAM but the space between the VGA card and the RAM is just too close for the Cyclo to fit

I found out I have an 80mm fan from my old computer and I think I want to use it to cool the RAM but I can't find a sensible way to attach it to any thing inisde the case !!!

Any ideas ???

And I've Placed an order on a big Typhoon VX which I'll receive in 3 days, too bad my choices were too limited as Zalmans were out of stock and I couldn't find any thermalRight products in my Area!

 

[JASTECH]

"JASTECH, you're the first saying your optical out is ok, can I ask which bios version are you using? Is your red light on outside windows or it needs drivers to be loaded to turn on? "

I am using BIOS F6B. I am using the lateset drivers from Gigabyte web site that Mr. Beagle directed me to.

 

[JASTECH]

Originally posted by: TheBeagle
Hello Everyone.

Has anyone had any success with actually activating the "Teaming" feature on the X38 board using Vista 64 as the OS? I have Cat6 cables plugged into BOTH NIC ports on the board, and correspondingly into 1GB ports on my router (Linksys WRT350N) and no matter what I do, I can't seem to get the Teaming (2GB joint channel) to activate, when I run the Gigabyte Teaming Utility on the Install CD that comes with the board. However, I have never seen that Utility even listed on the Gigabyte website, so I don't know if there's a newer version of same. If anyone has tried Teaming with Vista 64 and gotten it to work, please let me know how you accomplished it. Best regards to all. TheBeagle :beer:

Mr. Beagle, I had it working on mine but had to give my wife back her cable, lol
I had to go into properties for each LAN and choose Bridge, then it will create a "mini bridge" and show up under your 2 LAN's Thanks, JAS

 

[Scriabin]

Originally posted by: JASTECH
"JASTECH, you're the first saying your optical out is ok, can I ask which bios version are you using? Is your red light on outside windows or it needs drivers to be loaded to turn on? "

I am using BIOS F6B. I am using the lateset drivers from Gigabyte web site that Mr. Beagle directed me to.

Thx, tried again with new bios and drivers but no success
I've found another pair of giga x38 owners with red light on, but still the number of the ones with no light is greater...so not all the boards are defective, but I'm pretty sure the number of the non working ones is big.
It can't be a coincidence that I've found lot of people having this trouble, maybe there's a defective lot somewhere...

 

[Darksaber]

Hi all

New to the forum, and have a 1 day old machine

I ve the GA-x38-DQ6 with the Intel Q6600 G0

When I fired the machine up for the first time, every thing seemed fine except 1 thing - the BIOS (F4) said the processor was a 1.6ghz. Vista correctly reports the processor as a 2.4.

I flashed the BIOS, but I'm seeing that same 1.6 on the BIOS page. Is this a known issue?

Once I get that figured out, I'd like to boost the clock speed to a conservative 3.0, and leave it there. Would someone be so kind as to post seetings for that?

THanks

 

[Salamandar]

Originally posted by: Darksaber
Hi all

New to the forum, and have a 1 day old machine

I ve the GA-x38-DQ6 with the Intel Q6600 G0

When I fired the machine up for the first time, every thing seemed fine except 1 thing - the BIOS (F4) said the processor was a 1.6ghz. Vista correctly reports the processor as a 2.4.

I flashed the BIOS, but I'm seeing that same 1.6 on the BIOS page. Is this a known issue?

Once I get that figured out, I'd like to boost the clock speed to a conservative 3.0, and leave it there. Would someone be so kind as to post seetings for that?

THanks

I had a same problem too, I used manual settings for CPU then saves and quit then again back to BIOS and used Auto and then saved, it worked fine !

 

[Darksaber]

Thanks Salamander - I boosted the bus from 266 (6) to 333 (9) and that took care of it.

I also o/c the machine to 3ghz, following directions I found elsewhere on the forum. Sweeeeet.... 25% perf boost with very little effort

 

[Salamandar]

Enjoy it, it is a nice Mobo.................

Mr. TheBeagle, I have an 80mm Fan and I would like to use it to cool the RAM but I can't figure out a way to attach it to any thing !!!!!!!

Any ideas?