MSI mobo hell - Question

[BigWaveDave]

New build - entire system.

MSI KT3 Ultra2
Athlon XP +1900
Geforce4 Ti4200
512MB PC2700 RAM

Is it normal to have to clear the CMOS on the mobo to get the system to make it through POST??? The system hangs during the Memory Detection Test during POST. Never makes it to the BIOS setup.

I have replaced every component including the mobo (with another MSI mobo) and still see the same thing.

[Zinedene]

Hi,,

When I got my abit board, It was set on CMOS dischage, so I couldnt get past post, I kept on getting checksum errors. Make sure the CMOS jumper is set correctly.
Do you get a constant beep (bad Ram) noise.? Maybe try some other ram.
When installing the ram, did you use a Anti-Static band?
Also, make sure the memory is place in BANK 0, or if two sticks, then BNK0 and 1.

I know these are basic answers but we can work from there.


Zinedene

[Charger]

I just had an MSI Pro-266 that was D.O.A.

There was a post yesterday about another MSI board having trouble POSTing. Hmmm:confused:

[BigWaveDave]

Thanks for the input.

CMOS jumper is in the correct position. I have tried other sticks of RAM and also had the RAM I wanted to use tested on another machine. I do not get any beeps at all. I do not think it makes it far enough through the POST. The memory check is only the third item (out of 16) in the POST.

Do you know if it is normal to need to clear the CMOS on a new board?

[Alfie]

The problem with the MSI boards have more to do with design,than a faulty product.
It seems when they put the usb 2.0 controller on the board,they ran out of real estate,as a result everythings crammed up a bit,especially between the memory and agp card.
It's essential that the memory be installed first and make sure it's well seated.
Memory should be high quality and from the same manufacturer and have the same specs.
The first stop in bios is temp and voltage,make sure both are stable before continuing.

[Zinedene]

Hi,

On a new board I dont think you should have to clear the cmos..
make sure memory is compatible with your mobo aswell. Dont use different memory sticks by diff companies, as alfie said.
Make sure its clipped in well.

I dont know anything about those boards, as Ive avioded them.
truthfully, If I were u, id return the board, and get another board or an Abit mobo. There really kewl, and built well.

Ive read and heard of so many people having problems with MSI boards, it made me decide against getting one. I know this isnt really solving your problem, but thought Id tell you that.

Good luck, and keep us posted.
Zinedene

[glc]

When we were still building AMD's - the MSI KT133A boards all treated us well - as did their Intel i815e micro boards. I think any MSI grief is model-specific.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Well, I'm running outta options regarding mobos then. The only ones I have now are: MSI (which is proving to be a real pain), Gigabyte (lots of jumpers, few USB ports, poor features), DFI, Intel (pricey), AOpen and that's it. The rest are from the PC Sh*ts family. :(

[glc]

Nothing wrong with AOpen - we have used them on and off for several years with no real headaches. DFI has been a mixed bag and Gigabyte has not treated us well at all.

[HAL9000]

So far my only experience with AOpen has been the board that is currently in my machine that I did a review on and it has been treating me quite well.

[mike breck]

Well Nuke, I've just put another system together for an aquaintance using the Asus A7V333 and XP 1800. That's three systems I've built over the last three months using this mobo and there were no issues.

Since moving to AMD processors, I have stuck with Epox and Asus and they have served me well.