Intel DH67BL and Ubuntu Oneiric: Random, erratic behavior
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 8:09 pm
[PROBLEM]
On a brand new computer, I've installed Xubuntu Oneiric (11.10), and I've experienced the following problems:
Returns:
1) Booting:
Turning on the PC usually required 3 tries:
Try 1: Nothing. Just black screen. Can't say if BIOS screen was shown, because the CRT monitor took too long to "turn on". Numlock LED on the keyboard didn't toggle.
Try 2: GRUB2's menu was shown. By config, this is actually turned off, but when hitting the reset button after Try 1, I always got the menu. The countdown set to 5 seconds by default, didn't count down.
Numlock LED on the keyboard didn't toggle. Hitting "enter" didn't continue boot.
Try 3: GRUB2's menu appeared again, but now the countdown worked - and hitting the "enter" key continued booting properly.
Sometimes I've also seen the GRUB2 menu, but moving the cursor keys down/up to see if it's "alive", sometimes worked for like a second, then it froze. Numlock LED couldn't be toggled anymore. Hitting the "reset" button was necessary. Afterwards, it usually continued like in Try 3.
However, this behavior only appeared 3 out of 4 tries to startup the computer.
[SOLUTION]
I've been running the Intel DH67BL mainboard with its production BIOS version (BLH6710H.86A.0119.2011.0523.1030).
The newest version was "BLH6710H.86A.0151.2012.0312.1138"
According to the "release notes" on Intel's BIOS download page, there were about 16 fixes made between v0119 and v0151. One of them being:
The BIOS update went fine, it said that everything was successul, and when finished, the computer shut down.
When I tried to boot with the new BIOS, the monitor(s) didn't get any signal at all. Great. I thought I bricked it
I've followed Intel's instructions about what to do if the BIOS upgrade failed:
1) Remove the CMOS battery and wait ~15 minutes.
2) Remove the CMOS-jumper to force the rescue BIOS.
I only had to try the first option (phew!
), and I was able to boot again. However, I did use a different monitor (LCD) for that recovery-test, and when plugging back the previous monitor (CRT): No signal. Haven't been able to figure out why that happens, because I've now switched to LCD for good.
Long story short:
Since the BIOS upgrade from 0119 to 0151, the system boots fine - every time.
On a brand new computer, I've installed Xubuntu Oneiric (11.10), and I've experienced the following problems:
- Booting: Black screen before GRUB2, Freeze of GRUB2, Freeze during boot-splash.
- Audio: sound only worked about 3 minutes per hour.
- Shutdown splash: Sometimes I saw the regular shutdown splash-screen, sometimes just text (in graphics mode), saying "Xubuntu 11.10"
Code: Select all
lspci |grep IntelProblem descriptions:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579V Gigabit Network Connection (rev 05)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation H67 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
1) Booting:
Turning on the PC usually required 3 tries:
Try 1: Nothing. Just black screen. Can't say if BIOS screen was shown, because the CRT monitor took too long to "turn on". Numlock LED on the keyboard didn't toggle.
Try 2: GRUB2's menu was shown. By config, this is actually turned off, but when hitting the reset button after Try 1, I always got the menu. The countdown set to 5 seconds by default, didn't count down.
Numlock LED on the keyboard didn't toggle. Hitting "enter" didn't continue boot.
Try 3: GRUB2's menu appeared again, but now the countdown worked - and hitting the "enter" key continued booting properly.
Sometimes I've also seen the GRUB2 menu, but moving the cursor keys down/up to see if it's "alive", sometimes worked for like a second, then it froze. Numlock LED couldn't be toggled anymore. Hitting the "reset" button was necessary. Afterwards, it usually continued like in Try 3.
However, this behavior only appeared 3 out of 4 tries to startup the computer.
[SOLUTION]
I've been running the Intel DH67BL mainboard with its production BIOS version (BLH6710H.86A.0119.2011.0523.1030).
The newest version was "BLH6710H.86A.0151.2012.0312.1138"
According to the "release notes" on Intel's BIOS download page, there were about 16 fixes made between v0119 and v0151. One of them being:
So I've downloaded the "OS Independent" BIOS image (.BIO), copied it on a thumbdrive, and used the BIOS' F7 feature to apply the update.Fixed issue where system hangs at POST code ‘0d’ when applying
PCIe GEN3 VGA card.
The BIOS update went fine, it said that everything was successul, and when finished, the computer shut down.
When I tried to boot with the new BIOS, the monitor(s) didn't get any signal at all. Great. I thought I bricked it
I've followed Intel's instructions about what to do if the BIOS upgrade failed:
1) Remove the CMOS battery and wait ~15 minutes.
2) Remove the CMOS-jumper to force the rescue BIOS.
I only had to try the first option (phew!
), and I was able to boot again. However, I did use a different monitor (LCD) for that recovery-test, and when plugging back the previous monitor (CRT): No signal. Haven't been able to figure out why that happens, because I've now switched to LCD for good.Long story short:
Since the BIOS upgrade from 0119 to 0151, the system boots fine - every time.