GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3 motherboard not working with 64 bit kernel

[6tonspacefly]

I recently upgraded my computer and purchased a GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3 motherboard. If I boot off of a live CD with any 32bit distro - it has to be a live CD since it doesn't boot of a USB - then everything works. If I boot off of a 64bit distro live CD, it'll load, but the USB ports don't work, neither does the on-board Ethernet as well as a PCI wifi card I installed as an attempted work around.

I also attempted to install a 64bit distro, Ubuntu 12.10, and then manually install a newer kernel. This did not fix the problem, no matter the kernel version.

I've looked around online for a solution, but I can't seem to find any posts where people are having the same troubles as I am.

Thank you.

Current specs:
GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition AM3

[Grinage]

GIGABYTE 3x USB Power with On/Off Charge USB ports
USB 3.0 with superspeed transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps


It could be a BIOS setting regarding USB Legacy support, the ethernet is a different story though, can you clarify for me what the system thinks the nic is when it's working and when it's not working, use

lspci | grep net

or

lshw | grep net

[Mark Phelps]

Did you check the Gigabyte forums to see if they could help?

Asking because I have a Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H and could not get the wired onboard nic to work reliably until, in Windows, Gigabyte came out with new RealTek drivers and a diagnostic utility.

The NIC would turn on in Windows but when I rebooted into Ubuntu, it would indicate no network.

When I went back into Windows, I would have to run the diag routine to MANUALLY turn the NIC back on. Then it would work.

But, when I booted back into Ubuntu, same problem again.

It took three driver updates to get it working right.

Maybe on the Gigabyte forums, someone has figured out how to fix this in Linux for your board.

[Luke3026]

I just got the same board as the original poster (Rev. 3.0) and can confirm the same problems -- onboard ethernet not working and only the 2 USB3 ports working (all other USB ports dead).

I was trying to install Xubuntu 12.04, then 12.10 (all 64-bit) with nothing but frustration until I saw this post. Tried a 32-bit version of Mint, and all is working.

I know someone with an older Rev. of this board and it does work with 64-bit distros, but evidently Rev. 3.0 is a no-go. I imagine Gigabyte will fix this in some update. Until then, I'll just stick with the 32-bit install. After 3 days of frustration with this thing, I'm just happy to get something working.

[Grinage]

I noticed that there are bios updates for this product, have you tried updating the bios and if yes was the result the same?

Sorry if I ask a question that may seem unrelated, in my dayjob I'm a hardware tech and odd interactions between software and hardware are things I'm keenly interested in finding solutions for before I have to face an angry customer.

[Luke3026]

I updated the BIOS to the latest firmware, and both problems still exist with the 64-bit kernel.

[prodriguezii]

Update: I updated my BIOS to the latest version (FC) for my board (GA-990FXA-UD3 Rev 3). I enabled IOMMU and reinstalled Ubuntu Server 12.04 64 bit. The USB and onboard NIC (Realtek 8111E) are now working. Thank you Thank you Thank you!

[ironic-destruction]

:edit:
Turning on IMMOU let me use network/usb
disabling uefi allowed me to install Ubuntu
Removing a corrupt gpt on the HDD let me dual boot.

I actually have it sorted now more or less.
__

After getting this computer set-up I was having some issues with booting into Ubuntu as well, Windows 8 installed from a USB no problems.

I have the Gigabyte 970A-DS3 Rev.3 board, I got it yesterday and it already had the latest BIOS firmware (FD if I remember right).

USB/Network didn't work until I enabled IMMOU in the BIOS.

So, because I've spent all day trying to get this working, I just hit install, and everything went as I expected up until boot time.

It booted straight into Windows, I've gone into the livecd to make sure grub is installed but it just seems to ignore it no matter what I do.

Just wondering if anybody has a solution and apologies in advance if I made any errors, it's late and I'm brain-tired.

[greg-richards]

:edit:
Turning on IMMOU let me use network/usb
disabling uefi allowed me to install Ubuntu
Removing a corrupt gpt on the HDD let me dual boot.

I actually have it sorted now more or less.
__

After getting this computer set-up I was having some issues with booting into Ubuntu as well, Windows 8 installed from a USB no problems.

I have the Gigabyte 970A-DS3 Rev.3 board, I got it yesterday and it already had the latest BIOS firmware (FD if I remember right).

USB/Network didn't work until I enabled IMMOU in the BIOS.

So, because I've spent all day trying to get this working, I just hit install, and everything went as I expected up until boot time.

It booted straight into Windows, I've gone into the livecd to make sure grub is installed but it just seems to ignore it no matter what I do.

Just wondering if anybody has a solution and apologies in advance if I made any errors, it's late and I'm brain-tired.

Search for fix grub in google and download and install boot-repair. It fixed both my windows, after an Ubuntu install AND Ubuntu after playing with System Repair in Windows 7 and managing to bypass the boot files

[ozcyto]

Here is my updated fix


First enable iommu in the uefi by restarting your computer and pressing delete to enter the uefi


plug your usb mouse, keyboard and thumbdrive in usb 2 ports.


save and exit the uefi


Then In Ubuntu:


press Ctrl+Alt+T to open up a terminal


run the following command: sudo gedit /etc/default/grub


Edit the empty quotes in this line to read: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="iommu=soft"


save changes to grub and exit gedit and the terminal


Open up a new terminal with ctrl+alt+t


run the following command: sudo update-grub


then exit the terminal using this command: exit


Restart your computer press delete to get back into the uefi


Disable iommu in bios, load optimized defaults and restart.


usb, 2.0 usb 3.0 and networking all work now in Ubuntu, and disabling iommu in bios helps prevent windows freezes that was occurring if you are running a dual boot environment.


If the above post helps anyone I am happy.