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BIBM Very Flaky - Settings or Hardware?

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 3:37 pm
by Graviton
Hello;
I cannot get BIBM to operate normally and cannot determine whether there is some problem with a setting or perhaps I have a fault elsewhere in the system, possibly hardware.

All the BIBM menus are extremely sluggish and jerky. Clicking to change from one menu to another takes at least two seconds to respond. The mouse pointer will freeze at any point and the keyboard will no longer respond requiring a re-boot via the PC tower reset button. Very occasionally while in a BIBM menu the PC will re-boot on its own. This is whether running BIBM from the CD or installed. Also, the display settings in BIBM only show the lowest screen resolution and colour option; 640 x 480 x 16 colours. The higher resolutions and colours are simply not available.

Occasionally the F8 boot menu does not respond to the UP / DOWN cursor keys when trying to select a device to boot from. If the reset button on the tower is pressed then the next F8 boot will usually be successful.

I also get the same problems with my old copy of BootitNG. (Run from a Floppy Disc).

However, if I do not use BIBM, the computer runs well with Windows 7 as well as Linux although there is sometimes a slightly hesitant movement to the mouse pointer.

Hardware is Intel i5 Quad-core processor, ASUS P7P55D motherboard, 4GB DDR3 memory and nVidia 8600GT graphics card.

I get none of these problems when using the same BIBM CD on a spare Pentium 4 based computer.

I've tried everything I can think of to isolate a hardware problem without success: three different mice, two keyboards, three hard drives, two graphics cards. I have run a thorough test on the memory. I have flashed the BIOS to the latest version. I have tried removing and re-inserting data cables inside the PC tower case as well as the BIOS chip, but all connections appear to be clean with a good firm fit. Nothing makes any difference. The only thing I haven't done is change the motherboard since I don't have an alternative to try.

If Windows exhibited the same problems then I would have to suspect a motherboard hardware fault, but why should this behaviour affect BIBM so much? If the motherboard is faulty then it could be very expensive and possibly means a new PC, so I'd like to thoroughly explore all possible causes first. Are there any settings I can tweak in BIBM to try to improve its response? Or any other ideas?

Any suggestions will be most gratefully received.

Regards; Richard.

Re: BIBM Very Flaky - Settings or Hardware?

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 9:07 pm
by DrTeeth
I have similar issues here. BIBM locks on my main PC...often enough
for it to be annoying - mainly when changing menus. I live with it as
I will NOT live without BIBM.

On another PC, there is often a 1-2 second delay before the interface
of BIBM responds to the mouse input.

The interface is generally slow if the display is set to 256 colours,
it is MUCH faster in 64K - I have found this and so has another user
here.

Sorry I could not offer much in the way of a solution.

Ping TBU - if only you could reverse engineer the BIOSs and fix
them...I'd pay for that service $25-40 per BIOS. Could be a nice
little earner if legal or practical.
--

Cheers

DrT
______________________________
We may not be able to prevent the stormy times in
our lives; but we can always choose whether or not
to dance in the puddles (Jewish proverb).

Re: BIBM Very Flaky - Settings or Hardware?

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 1:07 am
by TeraByte Support(PP)
What video options were selected when you created the BIBM boot media? I'm wondering if it's being forced to use VGA mode. I usually select "VESA Video" and "1024x768 64K Colors" since that works well on my systems.

I have exactly the same keyboard problem on an ASUS P8P67 Pro board. The mouse also does not work on this board (it clicks every couple seconds and jumps to the right of the screen), so I have it disabled. It works well otherwise.

What BIOS version are you running on the P7P55D board and what model is the board? I have the P7P55D Pro board, but I don't use BIBM on it. I could boot to the BIBM media and see if it exhibits any of the problems you're having.

Re: BIBM Very Flaky - Settings or Hardware?

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 1:50 am
by Bob Coleman
DrTeeth wrote:
> I have similar issues here. BIBM locks on my main PC...often enough
> for it to be annoying - mainly when changing menus.

I don't know that this is the same issue, but I've learned not to move the mouse pointer while changing menus. Let's say I exit IFD. To avoid freezes, it's a good idea to be sure the BIBM menu is displayed before attempting to move the mouse cursor.

Yes, I'm fortunate to have a mouse (trackball) that otherwise works.

Re: BIBM Very Flaky - Settings or Hardware?

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:04 am
by George
I agree with both of you, Bob and DrT. If I move the mouse before the
next BIBM window comes up, the cursor is locked until I go back to the
previous window (using keyboard shortcuts), regain cursor control, and
then perform the desired task move, clicking without moving the mouse.
Then I can move the cursor using the mouse at will. Personally, I think
it's a BIOS issue with receiving mouse inputs and no place to send them.

The keyboard shortcut is (usually) alt+(cap letter of command)

BTW, if you move the mouse before the BIBM initial window comes up, the
cursor is frozen there too. Then, I reboot.

George

On 12/11/2012 6:50 PM, Bob Coleman wrote:
> DrTeeth wrote:
>> I have similar issues here. BIBM locks on my main PC...often enough
>> for it to be annoying - mainly when changing menus.
>
> I don't know that this is the same issue, but I've learned not to move the mouse pointer while changing menus. Let's say I exit IFD. To avoid freezes, it's a good idea to be sure the BIBM menu is displayed before attempting to move the mouse cursor.
>
> Yes, I'm fortunate to have a mouse (trackball) that otherwise works.
>
>

Re: BIBM Very Flaky - Settings or Hardware?

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:57 am
by TeraByte Support
You could try chipset instead of VESA video if so, also ensure you didn't
force VGA mode. Some graphic controllers VESA support are sluggish in
certain modes. As far as mouse issue, that's coming from the BIOS out of
sync with the mouse (loosing packets/etc) which occurs when other BIOS Int's
are active when mouse moved or during mode switches to/from real/protected
(some BIOSes can also lockup or reboot) - disable mouse support to start
there. As far as the keyboard on the boot menu, hit tab to ensure it's not
a focus issue.

Summary:

Slow Video = change video mode or update graphic card firmware. Speed
related to VESA support for adapter - could be combination video bios/system
bios.

Mouse Issues = bios related = disable mouse support.

up/down not working on boot menu, use tab to see if focus issue, if not, it
may be a shift key status issues on the kb controller, press all
ctrl-alt-shift keys on both sides at the same time several times.




Re: BIBM Very Flaky - Settings or Hardware?

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:16 am
by DrTeeth
Hi guys,

It is not just my mouse that locks up, it is BIBM and I have to restart the PC. I cannot link the issue to any particular use - sometimes no lockups and sometimes there are. Something else to work on over the Xmas break :D .

DrT

Re: BIBM Very Flaky - Settings or Hardware?

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:02 pm
by rustleg
Hi TeraByte Support(PP). I am helping Richard with his problems (I've used Bing and BIBM for some years but not seen these problems on my PCs). He is offline at the moment and should be able to get back online on Friday.

The model is the basic P7P55D and the newly flashed BIOS is version 2003 (BIOS file is P7P55D-ASUS-2003.ROM). Flashing his BIOS didn't make it any better or worse, not sure what the original version was. It would be great if you could run BIBM on your P7P55D Pro board and let us know what sort of response it gives.

Re: BIBM Very Flaky - Settings or Hardware?

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:22 pm
by DrTeeth
rustleg wrote:
> The model is the basic P7P55D and the newly flashed BIOS is version 2003
> (BIOS file is P7P55D-ASUS-2003.ROM). Flashing his BIOS didn't make it any
> better or worse, not sure what the original version was. It would be great
> if you could run BIBM on your P7P55D Pro board and let us know what sort of
> response it gives.

I have the same MB and BIOS version here.

DrT

Re: BIBM Very Flaky - Settings or Hardware?

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:05 pm
by TeraByte Support(PP)
I booted my system a dozen times or so and BIBM seemed to be normal every time it booted into it. 64K colors is much faster than 256, but both seemed to work (also using an NVidia card, VESA setting). I did have one boot where the keyboard didn't work (completely dead) and I had to reset. The mouse works fine in BIBM. I'm using BIOS version 0915.

I would definately recommend taking a look at the setup you have and make sure BIBM isn't being forced into VGA mode (via options or config file). The video not working correctly may be affecting other things too.