Tuesday, April 15, 2008ECS A780GM-A Motherboard Issues
The ECS A780GM-A Motherboard has a few problems that still need to be worked out before it can be considered a good value. The best feature of the motherboard is the price, and while it supports the latest hardware, it does so at the cost of stability and performance.
I had two isolated issues with this motherboard tied to the two versions of the BIOS. The first issue concerned the system boot. Using the stock BIOS issued on 2/16/2008 (version: 08/10/21) all functions were working but the system wouldn't start on the first power-up. It required two boots to actually start the sytem.
The second issue involved the newest BIOS issued on 3/11/2008 (version: 08/03/07). This BIOS fixed the issue that required two boots for the system to start. However, it also presents a problem with the RAID controller. This version of the BIOS updates the RAID ROM to 3.0.1540.30 and removes the ability to create a RAID array.
Won't load on the first boot
With the default BIOS from 02/16/08 (version: 08/01/21), the motherboard requires that the system be powered on twice before the computer will load. The BIOS loads a little slower than the subsequent version, but it allows a RAID array to be built and used.
FastBuild RAID freezes
With the updated BIOS from 03/11/08 (version: 08/03/07), the RAID controller does not work. SATA hard disks will not show up in the BIOS setup if the SATA Configuration is set to either RAID or AHCI. If the RAID setting is chosen the FastBuild RAID controller will load, but will freeze and not allow you to build a RAID array or boot a system.
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