DRAM timing speed and GPU shared memory being reported incorrectly after the 08/30 BIOS update

[Tidus79001]

I have been meaning to post this about some oddities with the last BIOS update and what is being reported to Windows about settings in the BIOS related to DRAM timing speed and allocation of memory to the GPU. This was first reported by user on Facebook and it sounded crazy at the time but I can in fact verify what he said is true after having checked my console and finding the exact issue to be present on mine that he reported seeing on his console. Finding on my console: - DRAM was still set at 1600 MHz (I have 2 sticks of 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM for a total of 32 GB) in the BIOS but was only reading as 1200 MHz in Windows (as reported by CPU-Z) - GPU was set to 4 GB of memory in the BIOS but Windows reported only 2 GB (Task Manager > Performance tab > GPU details) Resolution: I found that resetting the BIOS to defaults, than saving & exiting the BIOS and setting the new values corrected the DRAM timing and the amount of shared memory that Windows was reporting. I really not sure what to make of this as all the setting the BIOS after update on 08/30 looked to be unchanged but what Windows was picking up didn't match them In all the years I have been building systems and doing support I have never seen such a thing happen before, but yet another person and I have both see this on our consoles. I am sure others must have this issue as well, but like me wouldn't have thought to look for such a thing unless someone else pointed it out first.

 

Just trying proactive and get Atari's eyes on this issue if it does seem to be consistently encounters by those to changed the BIOS default or memory related setting. Having issue like this will negative affect performance for those how upgraded their memory and want to use their Atari VCS for gaming in PC mode. It isn't clear if Windows was just in error on what it was reading (which I don't' see how it would be possible since they are read directly form the BIOS) or if the or if the setting in the BIOS was displaying incorrect values until after loading the defaults and then changing the values again to desired ones, but I am going to bet the BIOS was a some strange state of not using user defined value and got set to default values but didn't reflect them. Also note that I did not change my BIOS password so this isn't a case of the BIOS update not being able to make changes because it wasn't able to get Admin permissions during the update due to a changed password on my part.

Edited September 13, 2021 by Tidus79001

[Tidus79001]

Has no one else seen this issue, or taken time to look if they have adjusted their BIOS setting prior to the 08/30 BIOS update?  It isn't something you would like notice unless you was told to look for it (same with me I wouldn't have looked for it if wasn't for the person on Facebook how noticed this first) since the BIOS on any PC is where Windows pickup up the hardware detail.  Being that he was seen on both Atari VCS consoles this would seem to indicate we have bug on hand.  We need to Atari to look at this if there is an issue, so anyone else who had changed BIOS settings and noticed this please reply on this topic.

 

The memory settings that I adjust is as show in this video at the 08:09 - 09:32 mark.  After the BIOS update on 08/30 the BIOS setting showed they had retained the change values, but when viewed in Windows 10 I found the same issue as reported by the find of this issue who posted about it on Facebook.

 

 

Findings on my console:

• Memory was only reading as 1333 MHz in Windows (1333 x 2 is what 2666 MHz dual RAM speed would show)  as reported by CPU-Z.  DRAM was still set at 1600 MHz so this should have been reading 1600 MHz as was set in the BIOS.
• Windows reported only 2 GB (Task Manager > Performance tab > GPU details).  This should be 4 GB as was set and being displayed in the BIOS

 

Resolution:

Loading the BIOS defaults, than saving & exiting the BIOS and setting & saving the new values again corrected the DRAM timing and the amount of shared memory that Windows was reporting (this also resolved the issue for the person on Facebook who first found the issue on his Atari VCS)

 

A few safe & useful things I did following the steps in this video I have linked on this reply is as follows (the default setting in the BIOS are based on the stock 8 GB of DD4 2666 MHz memory so these should be adjusted to reflect the specs of the upgraded memory and allocate the additional memory to the GPU to optimize performance).

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• Set the memory speed in the BIOS to ensure that clock on that is matches the rated speed for the memory (when I upgraded the memory in my Atari VCS put in 3200 MHz memory to replace the 2666 MHz stock RAM)
• Allocate more system RAM as video memory (I increased the allocation to 4 GB since I have 32 GB installed in my Atari VCS and that will be a nice boost in games that use a lot of video memory and this is double the default 2 GB that was based on an Atari VCS with the stock 8 GB of memory).

 

*One other thing shown in the video was how to change the TDP from 35W to 54W but I did not set this on my Atari VCS since put any undue stress on the system and risk damaging or overheating it (for those who want to do this it is advised to replace the stock thermal pad with Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste to enhance the cooling as this has been show to reduce temperatures on Atari VCS consoles when the owner did just that).
 

Edited September 15, 2021 by Tidus79001

[Middleman]

Not sure about this, but I'm having problems updating the latest BIOS. The system seems to go into a loop from

updating online (which was working fine before until I switched it on recently).

So I've tried flashing it with the 210524 BIOS on a USB stick and it doesn't seem to work. It recognises the Atari joypad,

asks to set the language then runs the 4 updates but never gets to the AtariOS main login screen. Anyone here come

across a similar issue?

[Middleman]

So I finally resolved my VCS' non-booting issue. Turns out I needed to reflash the system but flash the BIOS firmware with the USB first.
Once that was completed I let it reboot into Atari OS, and then from there it was smooth sailing, and updated it to the latest version

via the OS system menu. I found that if at any point the system reboots itself and doesn't complete the update, you should proceed

to reflash the OS with the USB and then try to reboot it from there.

[Rob Merritt]

On 9/14/2021 at 8:47 PM, Tidus79001 said:

 

Resolution:

Loading the BIOS defaults, than saving & exiting the BIOS and setting & saving the new values again corrected the DRAM timing and the amount of shared memory that Windows was reporting (this also resolved the issue for the person on Facebook who first found the issue on his Atari VCS)

Thank you for posting this. I was experiencing this the other night.