Hello!
I have a Gigabyte x79-UD5 motherboard with i7-3820 and 32GB or ram. I needed more CPU power and saw that Xeon E5-1650v2 would be a cheaper option than to swap the whole system.
Ive updated the motherboard BIOS before I did the swap. I used the latest official BIOS I could find (F13w) where I only added nvme support. Then I found an even newer one F14e for the same motherboard and did the same for nvme support.<br /><br />Both BIOSes work for my i7-3820 but with the 1650v2 it just ticks and bootloops. Ive tried with one stick of RAM, no RAM, no GFX and it just wont work, where as the i7 does.<br /><br />Is it possible that the Xeon is not supported? The gigabyte has it on the CPU support list, but it says N/A in the BIOS revision category.<br /><br />If so can I add support for it using UBU Tool or some other means?<br /><br /><br />I thought x79 mobos were mostly the same. I hope I did not get one of the processors that is not supported 
Thanks for all the ideas you have.
Greetings!
Edit by Fernando: Thread itle customized
The retail Xeon E5-1650v2 is CPUID 306E4 for which there is a supporting microcode in the F14e BIOS.
Is your Xeon a retail CPU?
If it is an Engineering sample it would need a different microcode added to the BIOS e.g CPUID 306E0, 306E1, 306E2 or 306E3.
[Edit] 306E2 is also supported in F14e
Hey!
I think they took it out of an old Mac pro.
I cant post a link yet, but it says:<br /><br />i m ©11<br />INTEL ® XEON ® E5-1650V2<br />SR1AQ 3.60GHZ<br />COSTA RICA<br />3410B212 E4<br /><br />Can I make it work with the correct microcode or would this mean it wont work.
Greetings.
SR1AQ is the retail S-spec so it should work.
It’s a pity that board doesn’t have an debug LED so you could tell at which point the boot process is failing.
Have you tried taking the battery out and clearing CMOS?
You might also want to check the CPU socket and check for any bent pins that may not be making contact.
Ok. Ive flashed the BIOS again just in case, loaded optimized defaults and rebooted. Took the battery out for 10 mins and put the processor in the socket. <br /><br />Tried 1 and 2 sticks of RAM, it still does not work. It just keeps rebooting, the i7 works fine - starts even without any RAM in the socket.<br /><br />Ive checked the motherboard socket and I don`t see any bent pins.
Is it possible that the processor is dead or am I just missing something obvious?
The reason is Gigabyte. It’s hardware incompatibility, not microcode’s issue.
E.g. GA-X79-UD3 has two revisions with the same BIOS. But only rev. 1.1 has support for Xeon E5 v2 series.
Oh… that sucks!
Well I guess I can try and return this one and maybe get E5-1650 (v1).
Thanks for the help.
Can ya share F14e clear and modded BIOS please?
And I have some issue with Xeon E5-2650L on it. I can not enter into current BIOS F13w. It’s just stuck on loading UEFI screen. And It’s can handle my Samsung PC3-12800 RAM.
Hey. Its been a while since I`ve had this motherboard. If I have this correctly... this link should have the unmoded F14e BIOS
I have my own somewhere with added nvme support. There should be guides on how to add it yourself around here somewhere. And if you want to play with bifurcation you can find moded AMIBCP v4.55 and change the setting under “System Information” hidden menu.
Oh thanks im already grab it. Unfortunately on my mb it’s glitched and make it half brick so im gladly roll it back to f13. Well its ok to add nvme etc but i have no skills. Its works fine still.
I bought xeon 1650l n i can not enter in bios with it (but windows is boot with it n common ram). And its won’t see server ram. Thans strangre coz its all fit with each other in specs. So i set back i7 n common ram. Have no time to play with it n brick.
Server ram does not work with this motherboard, even if it fits the slots. You can get 8x8gb sticks of normal ram, but that`s about it.
Motherboard has a BIOS switch in the back. Are both of them corrupted?
Here is the link if you ever need it. It`s simple to add nvme support.
Good luck 
Oh i didn’t know about server ram. Ok thanks for explain n heck with it ill sell it. But it’s not explain xeon issue. With it board is boots but didn’t load bios n just freeze on first screen.
I recover both bios with efiflash /db. I don’t wanna to try once again f14. To be honestly on my one even older mb gygabite one another beta bios from those resource where glitched too and it were even harder to bring it back.
So ok i wanna mod for nvme n bursification but well it’s ok as it is.
It’s a kind strange. On Gygabite site sayd that bios version F13w disable 3d bios. I’ve google it and gemini says that I can etner in blind in bios and disable 3D bios by pressing ctrl+f1 or f2. I’m just wanna to have working my motherboard with xeon 2650L (its a type i done previuosly). Is there any working ways exist? In addition gemini say that it needs to patch bios for xeon support… But this xeon marked as supported.
3D BIOS was just this slow GUI that Gigabyte had in their BIOS. It worked really slow and was annoying so they removed it So if you enter the BIOS ans don’t have this laggy mouse over GUI it’s not 3D.
I see now that you have the “L” versions of the Xeons. That one letter might be the reason for the 1650L not working. I’d try to add microcodes for all the processors. Should be a guide here somewhere
Alternatively there might be an issue with your motherboard 
I’m note sure I get correctly 3D BIOS meaning. But I’ve notice that when there is enabled secure boot so bios GUI works reaaaaly slooow and if secure boot is disabled UI speed is just normal.
What about Xenon L CPU… It’s marked as supported since bios version F12. I can’t get why there is marked some other Xenon as N/A does it mean it’s unsupported?..
So board boot into preinstalled Windows fine with it. There is just BIOS entering issue.
How can I in hex find is my Xenon microcode included in bios or not?
3D is just the user interface. Have you tried using @BIOS app from gigabyte to update the BIOS or how do you do it? Which version does CPUZ show in the windows? Have you tried both BIOS options - there is a button on the back of the motherboard.
N/A means unsupported. All the v2 Xeons are only supported on motherboard revisions highter than 1.0 . And I don`t think Gigabyte ever released rev. 2.0 for our market.
As i wrote previously ive rollback to bios v.f13 coz v.f14 is glitched. Done it with dos flash tool for both bios chip. So i wont try f14 again. I dont have access to gpt agents to ask help it with checkup does xeon marked as supposted is included in those bios version or dont. And i have no perfect skills to check it by myself. But i suppose its easy to find in hex view xeon microcodes in bios present or not. But i do undastood that even if it present its not enuff to find whats issue with bios entry on xeon.
Well… Ive update microsodes in bios and remove unused entry. Update AHCI/RAID modules. It’s ins’t fixed BIOS enter issue - it’s freeze as prevously. So I’ve give up.
Could be the bios chip is bad, or something else is interfering with it. It’s unfortunate.
You could try another motherboard. If you don’t want to pay extra for x79, you can try the chinese ones if they fit your use-case.
I don’t use this mobo anymore, I’ve since upgraded to x570/5900x and ecc ddr4
Greetings
Chinise mb is total crap. I don’t believe it chip issue. It’s just some incompatibility. PC works fine. But I’ll back to core i7.