Problem with DP55WB serial ports are reversed also issue updating processor from i5-750 to i7-860

[idata]

Hey,

First and foremost:

I am particuallarly interested when and if the next BIOS update will address this issue as I have wasted enough time loading and reloading

I just built a system w/ the DP55WB motherboard and a 860 i7 as a DAW system.

Well, the first processor was the 750 i5 but I paid a restocking fee and figured that I would kick it up a notch.

My audio card is a Presonus Firebox running the latest Win 7 drivers. (and yes, I disabled the onboard audio)

I have 4GB of RAM and a perfectly adequate nVidia 240 video card w/ 512MB DDR5

I checked the compatability specs on all of these devices (this TI chipset is even the recommended on for my audio card)

Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate is the OS

Using the latest BIOS revision (WBIBX10J.86A) - which I updated to after my initial problems

500W Antec Power Supply

Issue # 1

The serial ports are reversed in the BIOS (port 0 is 1, 2 is 3, etc.). This shouldn't be a problem with any SATA devices but I am concerned about the overall quality of this product as this is just one of the problems. I am particuallarly interested when and if the next BIOS update will address this issue as I have wasted enough time loading and reloading. I have seen several articles where other users experience the same issue.

Issue # 2

The system was running ok after my 3rd clean install of everything (kind of ok) until I swapped up to the i7 860 from the i5 750.

I didn't change the bios and/or chipset drivers and the system totally freaked out when I tried to run my audio production software (Sonar 8.5).

This should not be an issue, but apparantly it is.

Issue # 3

The system hangs and I have to hold in the power button to restart - This is probably a Windows issue, but at this point who knows anymore...

I have taken it to my local boutique computer shop and they attribute the issues to the BIOS and cannot find anything else wrong.

I have checked all my settings w/ Sonar for my audio production software and everything checks out.

There is even a big write-up on their site about how awsome the i7 and Sonar play nice together

I don't even want to go into how disappointed I am with the OS and their L1 support (13 hours on the phone w/ them last week simply trying to redirect my profile to a second local drive). I thought that it would be a good idea to get a Solid State Drive (Intel X-25V) to use as a boot drive, but with only 40GB total capacity and Ultimate using up almost 20GB - I understandibly wanted to put my profile elsewhere. Yeah, well Micosoft L1s screwed things up royally and it took 13 hours after they crashed my system just for an L2 to finally tell me that this was not an option (unless of course I were on a domain based network w/ a roaming profile setup - which I am not at this point)

Is it me, has compatiblility become more and more a royal pain in the # @!!@# ?

I am pretty much sick and tired of wasting my time and money on stuff that you spend more time configuring and updating than you actually do using.

I guess that I can try rolling back my BIOS version to an older revision, but should I really have to divert?

Ridiculous!!!