GA-K8N Pro BIOS update uncertainty and Unknown Processor error in XP Pro

Bought the MB new and installed it last week. I checked out Gigabyte's
compatible processors list and every one of them with the exception of
mine said any BIOS was OK. For mine it specified F14 BIOS.

My processor:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (socket 754, FSB1600, E6, Venice, 90nm, L2-512KB)

So, I downloaded the BIOS (F14, 9/26/2005) and flashed the main and
backup BIOS as soon as I posted (before installing the board and OS).

When I boot, it said F14 on screen.

But, AMDCPUinfo tool identifies the BIOS as F11. So does Everest Home
Edition.

They also identify the BIOS date as 9/23/2005, probably an unimportant
detail (3 days difference from what it says on Gigabyte's BIOS update
page for this mobo).

In Device Manager under Processor, it says "Unknown Device". It says the
drivers for the device are not installed (Code 28). When I reinstall
the driver (automatically, the recommended option) XP Pro SP2 finds a
driver for the AMD K8 processor, tries to install it and then says it
can't install it saying "Driver is not intended for this platform."

I called AMD technical support a few minutes ago, and the guy figured it
was some technical issue, probably unimportant since the processor is
correctly identified in Device Manager, General and by AMDCPUinfo tool,
along with the correct speed. He didn't comment on the fact that the
BIOS version is identified as F11 by AMDCPUinfo and Everest.

Any comments, etc. appreciated.

Dan

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:09:31 GMT, dmusicant@pacbell.net wrote:

>Bought the MB new and installed it last week. I checked out Gigabyte's
>compatible processors list and every one of them with the exception of
>mine said any BIOS was OK. For mine it specified F14 BIOS.
>
>My processor:
>
>AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (socket 754, FSB1600, E6, Venice, 90nm, L2-512KB)
>
>So, I downloaded the BIOS (F14, 9/26/2005) and flashed the main and
>backup BIOS as soon as I posted (before installing the board and OS).
>
>When I boot, it said F14 on screen.
>
>But, AMDCPUinfo tool identifies the BIOS as F11. So does Everest Home
>Edition.
>
>They also identify the BIOS date as 9/23/2005, probably an unimportant
>detail (3 days difference from what it says on Gigabyte's BIOS update
>page for this mobo).
>
>In Device Manager under Processor, it says "Unknown Device". It says the
>drivers for the device are not installed (Code 28). When I reinstall
>the driver (automatically, the recommended option) XP Pro SP2 finds a
>driver for the AMD K8 processor, tries to install it and then says it
>can't install it saying "Driver is not intended for this platform."
>
>I called AMD technical support a few minutes ago, and the guy figured it
>was some technical issue, probably unimportant since the processor is
>correctly identified in Device Manager, General and by AMDCPUinfo tool,
>along with the correct speed. He didn't comment on the fact that the
>BIOS version is identified as F11 by AMDCPUinfo and Everest.
>
>Any comments, etc. appreciated.

How did you buy a four year old motherboard new? Or maybe the question
should be why?

As far as the bios date and version goes, there's an official spot in
the bios where that information goes, and sometimes, the person
updating the bios forgets to update that field.

>
>Dan

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:38:32 -0700, Andy <1@2.3> wrote:

:On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:09:31 GMT, dmusicant@pacbell.net wrote:
:
:>Bought the MB new and installed it last week. I checked out Gigabyte's
:>compatible processors list and every one of them with the exception of
:>mine said any BIOS was OK. For mine it specified F14 BIOS.
:>
:>My processor:
:>
:>AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (socket 754, FSB1600, E6, Venice, 90nm, L2-512KB)
:>
:>So, I downloaded the BIOS (F14, 9/26/2005) and flashed the main and
:>backup BIOS as soon as I posted (before installing the board and OS).
:>
:>When I boot, it said F14 on screen.
:>
:>But, AMDCPUinfo tool identifies the BIOS as F11. So does Everest Home
:>Edition.
:>
:>They also identify the BIOS date as 9/23/2005, probably an unimportant
:>detail (3 days difference from what it says on Gigabyte's BIOS update
:>page for this mobo).
:>
:>In Device Manager under Processor, it says "Unknown Device". It says the
:>drivers for the device are not installed (Code 28). When I reinstall
:>the driver (automatically, the recommended option) XP Pro SP2 finds a
:>driver for the AMD K8 processor, tries to install it and then says it
:>can't install it saying "Driver is not intended for this platform."
:>
:>I called AMD technical support a few minutes ago, and the guy figured it
:>was some technical issue, probably unimportant since the processor is
:>correctly identified in Device Manager, General and by AMDCPUinfo tool,
:>along with the correct speed. He didn't comment on the fact that the
:>BIOS version is identified as F11 by AMDCPUinfo and Everest.
:>
:>Any comments, etc. appreciated.
:
:How did you buy a four year old motherboard new? Or maybe the question
:should be why?

I found it on ebay, where the guy was selling 10 of them Buy-It-Now for
$40 + $18 shipping. I seem to have bought the 7th one.

Why? Because it accommodates all my current hardware very nicely. My
last mobo did almost as well in that regard but it died a month ago.

Turns out the driver/utility CD is unreadable, but I got the drivers
from Gigabyte's website, probably mostly newer files anyway.

:As far as the bios date and version goes, there's an official spot in
:the bios where that information goes, and sometimes, the person
:updating the bios forgets to update that field.
:
This was my thought exactly. Thanks.

I found a solution to this "problem" being installation of a file that
results in a correct determination of the processor. The file is:

http://www.9down.com/AMD-K8-Processo...53-WHQL-17881/