P5W DH: BIOS versions 901 vs 1101. Any difference?

kitten · 17 Aug 2006 at 11:59

As title states, has anyone noticed any differences in upgrading BIOS from 0901 to 1101 on the Asus P5W DH ?

Thanks

bazza64 · 17 Aug 2006 at 12:56

My 6800 wouldn't post with 901

Xez · 17 Aug 2006 at 13:34

There actually isnt any difference except boot up times apparently

FirebarUK · 17 Aug 2006 at 13:54

My post times are appauling, sits at the BIOS screen for around 3minutes sometimes.

Sir Random · 17 Aug 2006 at 14:24

FirebarUK said:
My post times are appauling, sits at the BIOS screen for around 3minutes sometimes.

With which BIOS?

easyrider · 17 Aug 2006 at 14:34

903 was much quicker and this has been implemented into 1101

FirebarUK · 17 Aug 2006 at 15:05

701 and 901. I haven't tried the 1101 bios yet, I'm hoping it will improve things as 901 didn't at all.

Xez · 17 Aug 2006 at 15:15

If you turn off all your Q-fan settings in hardware monitoring it should speed it up a lot which worked with me

FirebarUK · 17 Aug 2006 at 15:23

I've tried unfortunately

No joy. I've also turned off all thermal control / speedstep type stuff.

djay · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:29

FirebarUK said:
My post times are appauling, sits at the BIOS screen for around 3minutes sometimes.

I have also found this, and in some cases even longer. I have narrowed this down to some usb devices though. If i have my Winfast DTV TV dongle (USB) plugged in, it takes forever to get passed the bios screen. If i turn off the PC and unplug that then it boots past the bios in a matter of 10 seconds or so. I have also found having my ipod nano plugged in slows down the bios screen as well. So for now i unplug these devices and replug them in when im in windows. It is a frustrating problem and one that should be easy for Asus to cure.

So try unplugging USB devices, powering on and see how you go.....

FirebarUK · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:31

Thanks, I'll give it a go. The only thing causing this could be my USB joystick, as thats all I have plugged in :S

Sir Random · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:33

I haven't flashed my BIOS yet, still on 701, and post times seem ok. It booted up first time, and XP installed really quickly.

Firebar,
At what part of the post is the long delay, before or after the ram check?
Are you using SATA and IDE drives together? I read on some other forum that guys were having similar problems using both SATA and IDE with the P5W DH.
I'm using just IDE HD & DVD drives, no SATA devices, so maybe that's why I get a fast post?

kitten · 17 Aug 2006 at 16:48

Cheers guys, there doesn't seem to be a reason to upgrade. My system is fine on 901 BIOS quick to boot and stable. I am very happy with this mobo.

I wonder if the slow boots with USB devices could be that the BIOS is looking if there are bootable devices attached via USB. there does not seem to be options for USB boot device in the BIOS menu though :confused:

I have USB camera, printer and mouse connected. One could always back track a BIOS version, if possible/compatible with processor to correct the slow boot.

I have two SATA devices attached to the Intel controller. SATA headers 1 and 3. I also have two IDE devices a CD writer and a DVD writer. The DVD Writer is on the JMicron SATA controller IDE header. If I follow the cabling guide in the manual I cannot get DMA on the Intel IDE controller with both IDE drives attached

and a DVD takes almost an hour to write in PIO!! When bored I will sort this out, the cabling is neater and air flow less restricted if I can get both my CD/DVD drives working proper on the Intel IDE interface.

Thanks again for your observations

purrrrrrrrrrr

FirebarUK · 18 Aug 2006 at 14:25

Well, only USB devices I have plugged in are my keyboard and mouse. Still long boot ups

SEG · 18 Aug 2006 at 17:15

Upgraded to this Bios a couple of days ago in a futile attempt to combat the issue I've been having with a X-FI Xtreme music (no joy sadly- Stupid soundcard)...

Anyway, bios wise it seems stable enough, not spotted any issues with it as of yet.