AM1H-ITX motherboard thinks there is a discrete video card present, but there is none

[raltere]

Re: AM1H-ITX motherboard thinks there is a discrete video card present, but there is none

One interesting observation to report. I changed the Boot priority so that "Windows Boot Manager" was #1. The other settings, I left the same (CSM Enabled, Fast Boot Disabled, and Secure Boot Disabled). I saved and rebooted. This time Windows 8.1 booted up fine without the "Reboot and select proper Boot Device..." error message.

When Windows 8.1 loaded, I opened HWiNFO64, and this time the UEFI indicator was no longer green, it was black. So this would indicate Windows booted in legacy mode?

Now to test Fast Boot. When I went back to the UEFI, I changed Fast Boot to "Fast Boot". The CSM option disappeared right after (as we expect). I saved and it rebooted into Windows 8.1 just fine without any error messages. In HWiNFO64, the UEFI indicator again shows up in green. Apparently Windows has now booted in UEFI mode.

how do you know that the integrated video VBIOS supports GOP? I've never seen that info yet.

When I was searching for the right processor to go with this motherboard, there were only 4 types of processors available for the AM1 socket (and at this time still only 4 available). All of them are the AMD Kabini APUs with integrated Radeon R3 series graphics.

On the AMD site ( AMD Athlon ) it states about this processor: "support for Windows 8.1 for an immersive experience on the most advanced OS". I took that as supporting the fast boot features of Windows 8 which would involve taking advantage of the hardware's UEFI ability to fast boot as well. I know Windows 8 has a Fast Startup option that can work without UEFI, but the newest and latest hardware such as these Kabini processors being released when the UEFI era has already been with us for a while now should support common UEFI standards such as UEFI GOP.

I admit I have not seen any conclusive documentation which unequivocally states that the Radeon R3 series implements support for UEFI GOP, and I could be wrong about this, maybe in fact it does not after all. But I would find that incredibly hard to believe.

I will see if I can find more information about this.

[parsec]

Re: AM1H-ITX motherboard thinks there is a discrete video card present, but there is none

One interesting observation to report. I changed the Boot priority so that "Windows Boot Manager" was #1. The other settings, I left the same (CSM Enabled, Fast Boot Disabled, and Secure Boot Disabled). I saved and rebooted. This time Windows 8.1 booted up fine without the "Reboot and select proper Boot Device..." error message.

When Windows 8.1 loaded, I opened HWiNFO64, and this time the UEFI indicator was no longer green, it was black. So this would indicate Windows booted in legacy mode?

Yes it does. You may have also noticed that any of the POST, etc, displays before Windows boots are in a larger font. I forgot you DO need to still choose Windows Boot Manager as the boot device, not the AHCI entry for your OS drive. I rarely change to Legacy booting, sorry about that...

You now can see why UEFI booting is not very popular, given the many details you must remember that are different than strictly using a Legacy booting installation.

Now to test Fast Boot. When I went back to the UEFI, I changed Fast Boot to "Fast Boot". The CSM option disappeared right after (as we expect). I saved and it rebooted into Windows 8.1 just fine without any error messages. In HWiNFO64, the UEFI indicator again shows up in green. Apparently Windows has now booted in UEFI mode.

That is at it should be, you have done your first UEFI to Legacy, back to UEFI booting! I know, big deal, but it does verify that your Win 8.1 installation was done correctly for UEFI booting, since Windows still puts a "protective MBR" partition on this type of installation, which IMO is a good thing.

When I was searching for the right processor to go with this motherboard, there were only 4 types of processors available for the AM1 socket (and at this time still only 4 available). All of them are the AMD Kabini APUs with integrated Radeon R3 series graphics.

On the AMD site ( AMD Athlon ) it states about this processor: "support for Windows 8.1 for an immersive experience on the most advanced OS". I took that as supporting the fast boot features of Windows 8 which would involve taking advantage of the hardware's UEFI ability to fast boot as well. I know Windows 8 has a Fast Startup option that can work without UEFI, but the newest and latest hardware such as these Kabini processors being released when the UEFI era has already been with us for a while now should support common UEFI standards such as UEFI GOP.

I admit I have not seen any conclusive documentation which unequivocally states that the Radeon R3 series implements support for UEFI GOP, and I could be wrong about this, maybe in fact it does not after all. But I would find that incredibly hard to believe.

I will see if I can find more information about this.

That is reasonable, no problem. Virtually no one states their video source is GOP compliant, or I should say the VBIOS of the video source. For example, Intel has never stated (that I can find) that their on-CPU graphics is GOP compliant. It is, or I should say, can be. This is from the description of a UEFI/BIOS update for one of my ASRock, Intel-based boards:

Version 2.00: 1. Update VBIOS...

Version 2.10: 1. Support Windows 8...

Note: "Ultra Fast" is only supported by below conditions.
1. OS is Windows 8.
2. Graphics supports UEFI GOP.

Notice that it seems the UEFI/BIOS was being prepared for Windows 8 support, and UEFI booting, with the update to the VBIOS of the on-CPU graphics. This was for a board that came out a bit before Win 8 existed, so the VBIOS, etc, updates were required to support its capabilities.

Everything I have read about UEFI booting seemed to say GOP support was needed for UEFI booting. That also seemed to be the case for video card manufactures, since all video cards (that are capable of becoming GOP compliant, older ones cannot) at the time (early 2013) needed a VBIOS update to support GOP/UEFI booting. IF it is true that GOP support ONLY is needed for using the Ultra Fast setting, then I don't completely understand all this.

Given that Ultra Fast does not work for you, and you have a UEFI booting installation, the only thing that can be wrong is your board's UEFI does not have the appropriate VBIOS. Would you agree?

[raltere]

Re: AM1H-ITX motherboard thinks there is a discrete video card present, but there is none

Everything I have read about UEFI booting seemed to say GOP support was needed for UEFI booting. That also seemed to be the case for video card manufactures, since all video cards (that are capable of becoming GOP compliant, older ones cannot) at the time (early 2013) needed a VBIOS update to support GOP/UEFI booting. IF it is true that GOP support ONLY is needed for using the Ultra Fast setting, then I don't completely understand all this.

Neither do I. Maybe when UEFI becomes more prevalent, more of the details of its intricacies will be revealed to us.

Given that Ultra Fast does not work for you, and you have a UEFI booting installation, the only thing that can be wrong is your board's UEFI does not have the appropriate VBIOS. Would you agree?

Do you mean the Athlon 5350 APU does not have the appropriate VBIOS? I thought the motherboard does not have a VBIOS. Can you clarify?

[parsec]

Re: AM1H-ITX motherboard thinks there is a discrete video card present, but there is none

Do you mean the Athlon 5350 APU does not have the appropriate VBIOS?

Yes, that is what I am assuming is the main explanation of the issue. There might be another explanation.

The 5350 and your board are both very new products, about a month old, so is it possible all the details have not been sorted out yet? IMO, sure.

I thought the motherboard does not have a VBIOS. Can you clarify?

The example I gave in my last post about my ASRock Z77 board, which uses Intel processors with on-CPU graphics, is meant to show that this type of graphics have at least some form of a VBIOS. It exists as part of the board's UEFI/BIOS file.

My ASRock Z77 board had to have an UEFI update with a new VBIOS for the on-CPU graphics to support GOP. There are multiple examples of ASRock boards that have similar UEFI/BIOS updates. Of course I can't find an example among any ASRock AMD boards, but why should AMD on-CPU graphics be any different?

Otherwise what is the explanation? A bug in the UEFI code when Ultra Fast is used? I'm just going with the simplest explanation given the information and experiences that we have seen to be true in the past. Beyond this, I don't have an explanation for your issue.

[raltere]

Re: AM1H-ITX motherboard thinks there is a discrete video card present, but there is none

There has been a most interesting and unusual twist to this "Ultra Fast Boot" "UEFI GOP" saga. It may cause us to question previous assumptions we may have come up with so far.

With no other ideas to test, I decided to replace the HDMI cable connecting the PC to the HDTV (just to eliminate all possible causes, such as a defective HDMI cable). I knew this was unlikely to affect the outcome, but I did it anyway. In the UEFI, I changed Secure Boot to Enabled, and Fast Boot to "Ultra Fast Boot". I saved and rebooted.

As I expected, I still got the "The VBIOS of your discrete VGA card does not support UEFI GOP... " error message with different HDMI cables that I tried.

Now here is where it gets interesting. I decided to test the AM1H-ITX motherboard's DVI port. So I got a DVI to HDMI adapter and connected the DVI end to the motherboard's DVI port, and the HDMI end to the HDTV.

In bootup, it booted straight to the Windows 8.1 desktop WITHOUT any error messages!!

I rebooted the PC several times just to make sure sure this was not a fluke, and I re-checked the UEFI to see indeed the setting was still on "Ultra Fast Boot" which it was. It boots everytime in Ultra Fast Boot mode to the desktop with no error messages. So it does appear to be Ultra Fast booting. I checked HWiNFO, and yes, the UEFI indicator there appears in green.

Indeed it is a very fast bootup. I timed it at 10 seconds, from the point of pushing the power button on the PC to when the Windows 8.1 desktop appears. Unfortunately, the downside is I get no sound, as DVI does not carry audio.

With this development, we may have to draw some new theories. I'd certainly like to hear your thoughts on this.