Mobo woes (who said MSI is good?)

[Nuclear Krusader]

Well, today I received the mobo I sent for warranty (MSI K7T266-Pro2), repaired. They didn't want to give me a new one.

I installed it and no post. So I took it outta the case and still no post. Then I realized the clear CMOS jumper was in clear so I put it back to keep config. Shorted the power pins and the system started, ran for a couple of seconds and turned itself off. It kept doing that for ten times or so.

I installed the mobo back into the case, put the VC and pushed the power button. It started just fine. I went into the BIOS to put the settings the way they should be. I set the clock, the boot order, and the like; but when I entered screen where the FSB is configured the machine froze. It keeps doing that everytime I try to access that page.

So, am I doing something wrong or it's just that the mobo is bad? I don't trust repaired things, so I'm thinking this mobo is bad. But the guys from the capital told me they had been running this mobo with no probs.

I'm very pi**ed by now. I smell a lawsuit on its way, but I wanna be sure I did everything right. What do you think?

[Charger]

Humpf, I just threw a new MSI Pro-266 in the garbage for the same type of reasons (random power-up issues) Blame it on MSI or blame it on VIA.

[mrjohnsonjr]

might be a bad bactch of MSI boards....

[Alfie]

I'd blame neither, yet,first stop in bios are temps,double check them,make sure they're stable.
Make sure any jumpers on board are set correctly.
Double check power supply and make sure the voltages are steady(monitor them in bios.)
Double check that everything is seated firmly,make sure nothing is grounding out.
Double check connection for floppy drive,hard drive,etc.
If you missed the jumper for the bios,are there any other jumpers on board?

[BigWaveDave]

Krusader,

I have been battling the EXACT same thing for a month now with a KT3 Ultra-ARU mobo. Sent it back to the vendor and they returned it saying it was OK. If you find out anything, please post it here. I will do the same.

What makes sense here? Since these are two different models of motherboard, logic says it is something we are doing wrong. I have tried dozens of combination and nothing works.

When you connected the motherboard for the first time, did you have to clear the CMOS using the motherboard jumper to get anything to display on the monitor? I have seen this now on two of these MSI boards.

[Blakhart]

Try a new battery?

[Alfie]

Clearing cmos can do no harm.
It appears the motherboard is a little crowded and the space between the memory slots and agp are minimal,it's essential the memory be installed first and then the agp card,make sure memory is well seated and memory modules are from the same manufacturer and share the same specs,no mixing and matching!
Play it safe and install largest module of memory in bank 0/1.
As stated the first stop in bios is system monitor,check temps and voltages,monitor them and make sure all is well before proceeding.

[iNFERiON]

Well, since you turned on the power while the jumper was on Clear CMOS, chance is big that the BIOS is now damaged. If MSI forgot to put it back (which I can conclude from your story) in normal mode, you should get a new BIOS for free. It's their fault that they give the mainboard back when the jumper is still on Clear CMOS.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Temps are OK. So the cables. So the jumpers, there are only two on this board and they are in the proper position now. PSU is ok too. Everything is well seated. The mobo still hangs in the BIOS screen where I set the FSB so I cannot set it right.

iNFERiON, I tried to turn on the power but it never turned on. At least nothing happened when I shorted the power pins. Do you really think BIOS chip is damaged? I have only forgotten to check if the clear CMOS jumper is in the right position twice, first time was a couple of years ago but that mobo I was assembling never had probs once I set the jumper properly.


posted by BigWaveDave
When you connected the motherboard for the first time, did you have to clear the CMOS using the motherboard jumper to get anything to display on the monitor? I have seen this now on two of these MSI boards.
Yes, I had to.



Back in january, I talked a fried into buying the same mobo, he never has had problems with it.

This mobo has quite a history. Check these threads, plz.
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?threadid=37899
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?postid=221034#post221034

[HAL9000]

I have been against MSI for some time.... I always found them to be unreliable in the long run.

[Charliey]

Uh oh, i just bought an MSI KT3 Ultra, hope everything goes alright with it. ive had it for about 2 weeks, and no problems yet.

[Nuclear Krusader]

I bought mine in december and it started to fail in late february...

[Charliey]

Well, i guess all i can do now is wait. Oh well, maybe by then ill be able to get a KT400 board.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Well, they assured me I would get a new mobo next friday. Too bad it will be same model. I'm suspecting I'll get an RMA. :mad:

[oddjob]

Hmmm...my last mobo was MSI K7T Pro2-A which promptly died after about 11 mths. and 14 days. Sent it for warranty and got a got a K7T Pro2 as replacement (notice: no "-A") instead of repair. I felt kinda ripped off as that was not what I bought in the first place. Granted, no problems with it now...but, talk to me in 6 months after the 2nd year is up...