Items tagged with BIOS
AMD has run into a bit of trouble with a "specific boot issue" that might be affecting some second gen Ryzen desktop processors, specifically Raven Ridge APUs, when those chips are socketed into an early AMD Socket AM4 mainboard. According to AMD, since the release of the AMD Socket AM4 mainboards in early 2017, alongside the Ryzen desktop processors, there have been several BIOS updates made available through board partners. AMD wrote, "These updates not only provide improved system performance but also expand support for newer processors as they become available." The rub for owners...
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Intel is getting ready to kick legacy BIOS support to the curb, with future platforms taking full advantage of the UEFI Class 3, the most recent version of UEFI. That is already the case for many Intel systems already shipping. By 2020, Intel wants to move on completely, removing BIOS support from UEFI. That means all of its client and datacenter platforms will no longer have a legacy BIOS mode. Image Source: Flickr (Paul Schultz) BIOS, or Basic Input/Output System, is the firmware that initializes hardware when booting up a system. It worked fine for a time, but by around the mid 1990s, its limitations...
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AMD graphics cards are no stranger to BIOS modifications to “unlock” previously unsupported functionality. Back in April, we reported of enthusiasts flashing Radeon RX 480 GPUs with the BIOS from the RX 580 in order to unleash additional performance. Now we’re hearing that the AMD’s new Radeon RX Vega 56 is ripe for BIOS modification. Some rather enterprising folks first attempted to install a Vega 64 BIOS onto a Vega 56 in an effort to unlock additional compute units. However, these efforts were thwarted, as it appears the inactive CUs cannot be restored using BIOS trickery. However, flashing...
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Update: 6/26/2017, 8:59PM EST - Our contacts at Intel have responded to our requests for further detail on this issue with the following statement: "We have already identified this issue and addressed it with a fix that started rolling out in April 2017. As always, we recommend checking to make sure your BIOS is up to date, but the chance of encountering this issue is low, as it requires a complex number of concurrent micro-architectural conditions to reproduce."And so it's clear that Intel feels this issue is limited in scope and very hard to trigger. Further, the fix was documented...
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So you bought a GeForce GTX 1080 or 1070 graphics card from EVGA with a fancy ACX 3.0 cooling solution and now you're worried it's going to burn up, is that it? Well turn that frown upside down. EVGA announced earlier this week that it was working on a VBIOS update that would instruct affected cards to more aggressively cool themselves, and that update is now available. The overheating issue came to light when several users posted some alarming temperature readings on Reddit and EVGA's support forum. In some cases, users posted pictures of purported charring on certain components, while others...
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Lenovo is finding itself embroiled in yet another security scandal, and this time it revolves around the BIOS used in many of its PC systems. According to security researcher Dmytro Oleksiuk (aka Cr4sh), the vulnerability lies in the SystemSmmRuntimeRt UEFI driver component of Lenovo’s firmware. Oleksiuk claims that the exploit is present in every ThinkPad machine dating back as far as the X220 and as recently as the T450s. The vulnerability can allow a malicious party to run System Management Mode code on a machine, granting the ability to not only disable flash write protection, but also...
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In enterprise environments, it's long been accepted that keeping a particular machine "100%" safe requires little more than keeping it off of an external or internal network, making sure to disable its network devices - wired or otherwise - and of course, disabling its optical drives and USB ports. A machine can't get infected when all of its data transmission lines are closed, right? Wrong, according to security consultant Dragos Ruiu and the league of colleagues that side by his research. Three years ago, Ruiu's MacBook Air was acting strange. The oddities began with an auto-updated EFI firmware,...
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Overclocking used to be a dark art reserved for a power users who didn't mind taking potentially catastrophic risks in order to squeeze a few more ounces of free performance out of their components. Things have changed dramatically in recent years, but lest anyone forget, overclocking can still be dangerous, even with all of the modern day safe guards. YouTube user "japan0827" found this out the unfortunate way when his overclocked system went up in smoke...literally (see video here). He was using a Gigabyte X79-UD3 motherboard and narrowed the culprit down to a faulty MOSFET that couldn't handle...
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MSI announced its AMD AM3 motherboards as well as BIOS upgrades for MSI’s AM3 motherboards to enable support for AMD’s new generation AM3+ multi-core processors. Through the BIOS upgrades, MSI says users will be able to take full advantage of the power of AMD AM3+ multi-core processors without extra expenses. In addition to providing the BIOS upgrades to consumers, MSI will upgrade the BIOS on new AM3 motherboards before shipping. A list of the MSI AM3 motherboards that will support the AMD AM3+ multi-core processors is below. Note: As we've pointed out previously, the official word...
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Grand Theft Auto has always served as the poster boy for video games that drive parents and government officials up the wall. Take-Two Interactive Software took a lot of heat for the violent and sexualized content, and made a whole lot of money selling it. But they've had trouble coming up with a follow-up to their signature title. It looks like their gamble on the new first person shooter -sort of- called " BioShock" is just what the doctor ordered for their ailing bottom line. The game is part first-person shooter, horror flick, and morality tale. Players explore a failed underwater...
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2K Games' Bioshock Pre-Orders Available via Steam NEW YORK, NY, August 16, 2007 - Valve today announced that BioShock, the highly-anticipated and award-winning first-person shooter by 2K Games is available for pre-purchase now via Steam®. Starting today, gamers can pre-order BioShock on Steam (www.steamgames.com) for $49.95, and begin playing the moment the game is made available. One of the most anticipated games of 2007, BioShock is the "genetically enhanced" first person shooter that lets players do things never before...
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According to our current poll, Bioshock is one of the more highly anticipated games scheduled to be released, with only Crysis and UT:3 receiving more votes. Well, it turns out that Bioshock fans are a little bit closer to getting their hands on the final game. As of last night, the demo for Bioshock was made available for download on the Xbox 360. And according to the 2kgames website, a PC version of the demo is only a few weeks away... "The BioShock demo, announced after the world premiere of the BioShock launch trailer on Spike TV, has just now gone live on Marketplace. Boot up your 360s...
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Though AMD's AM2 socket might be new technology, getting a motherboard that supports AM2 isn't as expensive as you might think. Biostar has released a very capable motherboard that's based on Nvidia's nForce 550 chipset, the Biostar TForce 5500. Though it might be light on features, you can't argue against a stable and well performing $80 motherboard. "At stock settings the Biostar TForce 550 proved to be an excellent motherboard that delivered great benefits at a small price. If you are looking for a value motherboard that...
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There is a very informative article on-line today over at Lost Circuits. Mike Schuette go into great detail on HT link and bus control, memory timings, and numerous other Athlon 64 BIOS settings. Even the most experienced amongst you will learn something from this article... "The Command Per Clock sets the Command Rate for the memory controller. At 1T, the controller can issue commands on every clock cycle, if set to 2T, the controller can issue commands only on every other bus cycle. A 2T command rate can be somewhat problematic for a number...
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