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What does "Bad Index" from Motherboard diagnostic mean?

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  • Motherboards
Last response: in Motherboards
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September 23, 2014 3:47:53 PM

Hello.
I recently purchased a used motherboard from ebay and after installing the board in an old case that I had, I installed Linux Ubuntu 14.04 "Trusty Tahr" on the system.

Everything went well and the system booted and I logged into the new OS. However, when I tried to install the correct video drivers for the onboard GPU on this board, (an ECS ELITEGROUP GeForce 7050M-M) I seemed to run into all kinds of difficulties. I.E., there are four (4) drivers for this GPU, (two proprietary and two Open Source) but no matter which one I chose the OS would switch to a different driver. I know that this is probably an OS issue but it made me curious.

So I inserted a LiveCD/DVD of Mepis Linux 11.0.12, and rebooted to the LiveCD/DVD, which has a diagnostic utility on it.

This utility tests and reports everything from the Case to the Motherboard and all components in between --at least what it can see.

Anyhow, it was this diagnostic utility that reported the "Bad Index" in the motherboard category.
Since I have never ran into a bad index issue on a motherboard, I am trying to find an answer to this issue and a solution, if there is one.

Thank you for your response.

Joe

More about : bad index motherboard diagnostic

a c 210 V Motherboard
September 23, 2014 3:50:21 PM

Have you set up the BIOS, starting with optimized defaults then the memory timings & speed?
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a c 1530 V Motherboard
September 23, 2014 3:50:25 PM

Usually means a faulty board.

RMA it.
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September 23, 2014 3:57:38 PM

spooky2th said:
Have you set up the BIOS, starting with optimized defaults then the memory timings & speed?


No, as a matter of fact, now that I think about it, that was one of the recommendations in the user manual too.

Thanks. I will try that.
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September 23, 2014 4:02:10 PM

SR-71 Blackbird said:
Usually means a faulty board.

RMA it.


That's exactly what I was afraid of.
Considering the make of this board, it makes sense that, that would be the problem.

spooky2th offered another solution and I will attempt that first. But, I have to agree that I believe the board is going bad.

Thanks for the rapid response.

Respectfully,

Joe
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a c 1530 V Motherboard
September 23, 2014 4:03:49 PM

Hope it's not , but that usually is the case.
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a c 210 V Motherboard
September 23, 2014 8:14:02 PM

If all else fails try flashing the BIOS to the latest version. Have seen many boards trashed that were faulty but a BIOS flash restored them. Sometimes the BIOS develops problems over time from bad shutdowns and etc. If the latest BIOS is already installed, just flash that one.

EDIT:
If you do flash the board, the first thing you should do afterwards is set up the BIOS starting with optimized defaults then the memory timings & speed MHz.
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September 23, 2014 9:13:30 PM

spooky2th said:
If all else fails try flashing the BIOS to the latest version. Have seen many boards trashed that were faulty but a BIOS flash restored them. Sometimes the BIOS develops problems over time from bad shutdowns and etc. If the latest BIOS is already installed, just flash that one.

EDIT:
If you do flash the board, the first thing you should do afterwards is set up the BIOS starting with optimized defaults then the memory timings & speed MHz.


Thank you for that information. I honestly didn't even consider that as an option, and I think that's a great idea. As I said, not even one that I would have considered.

I have to admit though, that my track record with flashing the BIOS isn't a good one. :( 

I seem to destroy the motherboard's BIOS every time I attempt a flash.

If there is no other alternative, that is an option that I will try.
I hope that I can return here for more instructions about how to flash the BIOS safely. Huh! Safely, that's relative. lol
Thank you again for the suggestion. And as mentioned earlier, thank you for the rapid response.

Respectfully,
Joe

PS - I will post back with the results. I am attempting contact with the seller now, to RMA the board.
Because the board was purchased from e-bay and it was used as well, I'm not exactly sure what to expect.....I guess we'll see. Fortunately, I am still within the time requirements to return the board.
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a c 1530 V Motherboard
September 23, 2014 9:16:20 PM

Hope it all goes well.
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!