All Neo-fizzled out....

Question

I'd Like to state some facts, status etc before I go into my "thread" (aka RAVE)....
1. Everyone's been cool here on this forum since I joined in. Thanks for all peoples help and I hope my responses have been of help aswell.
2. This may be my last post here but I'm not sure. Curiosity always gets me and so I will probably drop back down to see any "thoughts on my post".
3. Currently I am on (you'll see my sig i think even though it is not up todate).. I'm on my old Intel P2-450, still works 99% perfectly even with XP Pro +SP2 installed. Or I am on my old (gave away system to folks) Intel P4. Both are using Intel mobo's, both use Nvidia GeForce cards, P4 has 1GB Ram, P2 has 320MB Ram. SP2 installed flawlessly on both under XP Pro.
4. My main system which "was" great until a reg clitch caused me to reinstall O/S "CLEAN", repeatedly and has not been Right for over 3 months now. I lost track of "Clean" installs now.... havent had fun in ages (like playing CoD etc) in months on it...here is the specs:
System built in Feb-04 - ALL RETAIL NEW except where noted.
- MSI K8T-Neo FIS2R - AMI BIOS 1.93b (started with 1.2 or something. I'd have to look at the MSI CD to see-I forgot) but the Mobo is v1.0.
- AMD Athlon 64 3400+ Clawhammer CPU. Stock H/s & Fan. Thermal pad removed prior to assembly (done correctly) & used Arctic Silver 5 instead.
- 1GB RAM. 2x512 sticks of Mushkin PC3200 Hi-Performance Level 2 Black. True BH5's. 2-2-2-6 no problem. 2-2-2-5 works fine but TRAS @ 6 is more stable & o'c-friendly. 2.70v set & as stated overclocks very well.
- ATI Radeon 9800XT w/Cats 4.12 - again overclocks fine. 1.6 to 1.7 AGPv...
- Windowz XP Pro SP2 integrated. Clean installs...
- Antec True480w PSU (later model w/SATA support etc).
- SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS.
- New FDD (Panasonic if I recall correctly) & Ahanix "Black Knight" case. (Whole system is jet black)
- Lite-On 52x32x52x16 Combo SOHC-5232K
- Lite-On 8x Dual-Layer DVD-RW SOHW-832S (both with latest Firmware's)
- 2x Seagate 120GB SATA RAID 0 Array (240GB) on VIA
- Seagate 160GB UDMA PIDE on VIA
(Love Seagate & Barracuda's - never ever had a problem with Seagate company products - about to build another RAID array on the Promise controller with 2x200GB SATA drives, yes I can use another 400GB's storage :>)
- Western Digital 80GB UDMA PIDE on VIA (WD's are ok, don't like Maxtor at all)
- other random junk like USB Opti-mouse, SW FF2, Epson CX5400
- old NMB PS/2 KB (hey it's my fave ancient KB, built like it was made of steel)
- Logitech 5.1 speakers
- Sony Trinitron monitors: CPD420GS, CPD220VS & VEGA TV
- extra fans like Antec SmartCools 80mm, Cyclone Blower, 2x120mm case fans etc
- 6MB ADSL on a gateway HPNA/USB/Ethernet LAN setup in house, HW Router F/W etc CAT5e
- latest drivers of course for everything, software utilities, AMD64 .inf
- "Manipulated" Mobo drivers as the MSI Hyperion 4 in 1's "Suck". Based upon VIA 4.53 and SP2. The CD/LiveUpdate from MSI is junk. The USB 2.0 gets all out of wack, AGP gets goofed, Enhanced IDE is pooped. And about the ONLY thing from MSI support that works ok is the Realtek LAN drivers although I an using the newest version and not the LiveUpdate "version" (look inside depending on where you get it, it has a newer version that MSI tries to hide/mask as usuall).
*gripes have set in*
- Here is my GRIPE   : MSI lacks support or rather quickly "tossed off" 754 boards, even before the 939s became the "now standard" chip from AMD-64 CPU's. 940's were the talk back then.  
- Without people like Mac & his Irish site with new 6702 AMI-BIOS's (thanks pal!), MSI should pay you for helping us (the CUSTOMERS) we'd be waiting forever. BIOS 1.80 has been their last major update and it is OLD/BUGGY/ETC... We'll get 2.0+ long before MSI puts out a v1.90 flash....LOL (sic)  
- Depending on where you get your updates (Live3, LiveMonitor, American/Canadian web, Taiwan web etc) is all mished mashed up. TIP, start snooping at them and change the .exe to .rar etc and unpack the files for a looksee4yourself!!     Go figure....  
So being a die hard Intel person in the past (this is my FIRST self bought-AMD system)...and ditching Nvidia for ATI (I swore in the past I wouldn't go back to ATI). I am amazed/confuzed/dumbfounded/ticked-off/ad-nausea at this situation. Now don't get my wrong, The 64+Radeon system is above par for gaming. Rock's CoD, MOHPA etc and is wonderful. I was going to go with a new Hyper-Threading P4 but chose 64bit instead. Compared to others I know with P4s+GeForce all tricked out I still out-perform. Big A+ for that!!!
Problem lies in the getting to orphan stage 754 CPU with the kick-butt 939's so fast is annoying....along with & I hate to say it because the idea design mobo's from MSI are well done, MSI is losing to the people who bought their products ESPECIALLY if they keep up this run around & goof with neat ideas, but Fail to keep their Promise of support all Cool'n'Quit like...  The Neo series are getting rags on forums now when at 1st, they were overall #1 pick.  Shoulda bought an ASUS or ABIT instead... least they NOW outshine the MSI's mobo's back then. MSI=nice at 1st then off on another project (yes I -know- this is how the industry works overall) but I am honestly peeved at my system. Been rebuilding it over and over for months now. This is getting OLD when you can see what VIA, Realtek, Nvidia etc chipsets offer that we Can't utilize because we chose an MSI motherboard to base out AMD64 platform on... Sure the quality is there, it's the lack of support & upgradability that's irking me and quite alot of others out there agree..  TIP#2 go look at many forums, chipset web sites & other company's downloadable updates that MSI mobo's don't "offically support" while other Mobo's built back then do!!!!
I really don't want to have to make a $$$ change already but after the last 3 or more months of problems, this Neo-FIS2R and the 754 3400+ CPU is going to the auction or EBay & ditching MSI. Lesson learned....what seemed so good to lemon'ing status never happend this fast to me. The $$$ is probably worth it to avoid this MSI headace I've been in....
I appologize if offending anyone.... but I am ticked off... my mobo has finally FISz2Rd me out.... Lock Vcore, etc etc-"Easy flashable upgrades...." yada-yada .... phooey....            
take care all...
 - Mercury (hit my boiling point)

Answer 1

so what is the problem, i dont really see a direct problem in the thread?
the first thing i would do is throw that antec psu out the window, they just dont cut it. you have lots of addon's and an ati 9800, all power hungrey.
if you want the cheap route look at an aspire 520 ish, a safe route is enermax but double the price what you do want is about 33a on 12v.
you will want that even if you defect to an intel board.
I had a 600 watter on my system with @28 a 12v and it just wouldn't do.
try this clear
 out all the drives cards etc, except for cpu/fan, mem, 1 stick, video card ,1 hd(2 if raid), 1 cd, and the floppy. remove and re-plug in all the cables, 20 pin power, and square 4 pin (atleast double check mobo pins for powerswitches leds and usb). check your sata / ide cables for crease/ folds etc..replace if needed.
i assume the mobo was mounted with standoffs..you used the right amount of artic 5 (not too much).
 reload os once agin ..f6 sata drivers etc. then update all your drivers,4-1, satas, ethernet, raid, directx9, 4.9 cats. get all your os updates reboot a few dozen times you know the drill . now add sound card pci slot in 2 (leave slot 1 open)do a live update at creative .com get the new drivers. reboot add more drives. finally add your memory. you should be stable.
now make a backup. then load all your antivirus, spyware remover, firewall software. now the rest of the software. make another backup.
i think if you dont oc over say 215 with satas, 220 max you should be fine, but that is a sata problem,  if you reload updated, 4-1 drivers, not modified versions..(at least not yet.)  ati cat 4.9's , you should have a stable,fast system.