Gigabyte P55M UD2 Boot Stuttering

[suitaroh1]

Hello,

I just put together my first computer and after using shortstuff_mt’s boot thread guide to get it working (a godsend for a noob! thank you sooo much I can boot my new comp. However, when I press the power button the fans turn on, the indicator LEDs turn on for about a second or two. Then the fans turn off and so do the LEDs. About 2 seconds later the system boots perfectly fine. Im wondering if this is a problem with the F3 BIOS that the mobo ships with as most of the reviews on newegg for the board say that it is buggy. Im going to update it anyway, but before I do, does anyone have any ideas about the boot stuttering?

My system:
intel core i5 750
HSF: Zerotherm Core 92
mobo GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2
case: NZXT M59
PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V
RAM: OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
HDD: two Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA
OD: Lite-on 24X DVD+R 24X DVD-R SATA Black 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support
GFX: MSI N250GTS TwinFrozr 1G OC
Monitor is a 21.5'' 1920x1080, case came with two 120mm fans and I bought another for the spot that blows onto HDDs

 

[banthracis]

That stuttering problem has been around for a long time on on gigabyte mobo's, at least since my first build using a gigabyte board 3.5 years ago. It's weird but it doesn't dmg the system.

You may still wanna flash the bios if you ever switch to an ATI GPU. The F3 bios has been linked to crashes and freezing, as well as giant mouse pointers w/ ATI hardware. Flashing to F5 fixes it though.

 

[suitaroh1]

Is flashing the BIOS safe? Using Q-Flash? Ive read about people with bricked boards because of it. Will flashing the BIOS fix the stuttering problem?

 

[banthracis]

Flashing Bios with windows running is not recommended. It shouldn't be an issue if you turn off antivirus software and any automatic programs, but meh, y risk it?

Best bet is to throw it onto a disk and flashing it through the bios.


As to whether it'll fix the stuttering, um, that error isn't very consistent, it happens on and off, mostly after I make hardware or BIOS changes I've noticed.

I haven't had stuttering on my new system since I flashed it 2 weeks ago, but then again I haven't made any hardware or bios changes since then either.

 

[suitaroh1]

I dont haven any OS installed yet...so Id be downloading the BIOS to a flashdrive on my laptop then using Q-flash in the BIOS screen to do the update. Should I be fine? Sorry for the noob questions.

 

[ekoostik]

Yes, you should be fine. That's the correct way to do it. As banthracis stated, you do not want to flash through OS even if you could. Gigabyte provides a piece of software called @BIOS that allows flashing from the OS. But this has been known to brick more than a few boards and you would be well advised to never try it.

You've got the right approach:
1. Download latest BIOS
2. Unpack the downloaded file (double-click it, execute it, whatever your metaphor) placing the extracted files onto your USB stick
3. Insert the USB stick into your new PC, restart it
4. Enter BIOS
5. Enter QFlash (it is possible to enter Qflash without entering BIOS, either way is fine)
6. Find your USB drive (may be labeled HDD)
7. Install the new BIOS
8. Once that is done, back within the BIOS, choose "Load Optimized Defaults"
9. Save and exit, let the machine reboot
10. Re-enter BIOS to make additional changes as you see fit

 

[banthracis]

I dont haven any OS installed yet...so Id be downloading the BIOS to a flashdrive on my laptop then using Q-flash in the BIOS screen to do the update. Should I be fine? Sorry for the noob questions.

You'll be fine flashing it that way. Um, make sure USB is FAT32 formatted, i don't think it'll flash off a NTFS USB drive.

 

[Niklas_13]

Read me for Qflash http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide-27576/

To make a USB Flash drive http://www.mediafire.com/?qy1mikzjyyq

 

[suitaroh1]

Yes, you should be fine. That's the correct way to do it. As banthracis stated, you do not want to flash through OS even if you could. Gigabyte provides a piece of software called @BIOS that allows flashing from the OS. But this has been known to brick more than a few boards and you would be well advised to never try it.

You've got the right approach:
1. Download latest BIOS
2. Unpack the downloaded file (double-click it, execute it, whatever your metaphor) placing the extracted files onto your USB stick
3. Insert the USB stick into your new PC, restart it
4. Enter BIOS
5. Enter QFlash (it is possible to enter Qflash without entering BIOS, either way is fine)
6. Find your USB drive (may be labeled HDD)
7. Install the new BIOS
8. Once that is done, back within the BIOS, choose "Load Optimized Settings"
9. Save and exit, let the machine reboot
10. Re-enter BIOS to make additional changes as you see fit

Where is the Load Optimized Settings in BIOS? Sorry for noob qustion, again.

 

[ekoostik]

The option says Load Optimized Defaults. Its on the main screen when you enter BIOS. I'll update my previous comment.

For anyone interested, here's screenshots of the BIOS where you can click through some of the options: http://www.jzelectronic.de/jz2/html/bios-help-p55m-ud2.php

 

[suitaroh1]

I got it! Thank you very, very much everyone

Update:
The comp still stutters on boot, but as long as it doesnt damage the comp and I have the updated BIOS Im happy. Thank you all very much

 

[VoRogue]

Well I just got screwed by Gigabyte also once again. A few years ago I had a Gigabyte MB that wouldn't do what it was told and recently I got another one -G55-UD3R. When I sent an email to Gigabyte I got once again a nonsensical answer. The problem is that Gigabyte are dorks whereas the MB in between was an Asus one and it never missed a beat. One wonders whether Tom's [and other review sites] have ever considered actually testing that the features in the Bios's from different manufacturers actually work. Probably not as they have limited time however the problem remains the same. Gigabytes MB's are quite nicely built but god forbid that you actually want each Bios setting to work because they dont, and Gigabyte support is totally useless. Fancy a customer wanting the MB setting for Intel Speed Stepping on an I7 to work at other than stock speed.

Never ever again will I go Gigabyte as they are simply jerks in fact worse than that clueless morons.

 

[ekoostik]

VoRogue,
Sorry to hear about your experience with Gigabyte. Their customer service does seem to be hit or miss. They helped me out with one problem (that turned out to be GPU related) and then were fairly useless on a second question.

There are others of us on here running Gigabyte boards without issue. If you'd like help describe the problem and list your build components and we'll see what we can do.

 

[banthracis]

I agree with you that GB has horrendous customer support (they're in Taiwan and I swear they don't hire native English speakers). However, their boards are top notch. They're high quality and OC very well. However, their documentation is crap, but then again same with Asus...so really it's a matter of find a guide online and learn how to actually adjust settings before you do so.

Indeed, for the longest time they didn't tell ppl you needed to press ctrl+f1 to access advanced options in the bios. I've done builds with EVGA, Asus and GB boards and I can't say any of the boards these companies make are bad. You just gotta know your stuff before you start messing around with settings.