Building a K8N Neo2 based system. Need feedback.

Hello everyone!
I am new to the boards and will be building out a new K8N Neo2 based system over the weekend.
I have read this board, and a couple of others, and now I have the bejeebus scared out of me over the MSI K8N Neo2 board!
This isn't the first system I have built, but it is my first AMD box to build.
Please take a look at my signature and provide me any feedback you think worth mentioning. I am somewhat concerned with my RAM.
Maybe my floppy drive.
At any rate, if something noticeably stands out as a "gotcha" please point it out. I would like to make my transition from Intel as painless as possible.
BTW, this is my gaming rig.
Thanks in advance for your input.

Thanks to those who replied.
However, I have decided not to go with the MSI K8N Neo2. Why? Well mostly because there are several instability issues with the MSI board that haven't been resolved and I opted not to deal with them.
Secondly, I put an order in for the K8N and Athlon 64 proc to Monarch Computer. The A64 chip was on back order with an ETA of 10/15. Not only did they change the ETA after I paid for it, but they lowered the price on the chip and wouldn't sell it to me for the difference. Basically they are sucking in buyers on AMD chips they don't have in stock, have no idea when they will get them, and are adjusting prices on the chips in the meantime. I find such business practices unacceptable. So I cancelled my order and will never do business with Monarch Computer again.
I ordered a new Athlon 64 proc in stock at Newegg.com (but a few dollars more than Monarch, but price doesn't go up and down weekly as it seems to do at Monarch!) and I ordered the Asus A8V Deluxe board. Yes, it is a VIA board that is a bit slower than the NEO, but it doesn't have nearly the amount of problems as the NEO from what I have read. So, bottom line is stability and ability to OC off a stable platform while buying the components at a reasonable price and with a reputable vendor.

Similar Messages

Building a K8N Neo2 based system. Want feedback.

Hello everyone!
I am new to the boards and will be building out a new K8N Neo2 based system over the weekend.
I have read this board, and a couple of others, and now I have the bejeebus scared out of me over the MSI K8N Neo2 board!
This isn't the first system I have built, but it is my first AMD box to build.
Please take a look at my signature and provide me any feedback you think worth mentioning. I am somewhat concerned with my RAM.
Maybe my floppy drive.
At any rate, if something noticeably stands out as a "gotcha" please point it out. I would like to make my transition from Intel as painless as possible.
BTW, this is my gaming rig.
Thanks in advance for your input.

Quote
Want feedback.
...post in the nVidia Based Forum...

I have constant K8N Neo2 problems advice needed. (long) Update

I need some advice on what my problem might be and if I need to RMA the motherboard or power supply.
I have a new Athlon 64 3500+ processor, MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum BIOS v1.3 motherboard, with 2 512MB DIMMs of Corsair Value Select Memory. I have had and am still having a series of crashes and lock-ups I will list below. FULL SYSTEM SPECS BELOW AT BOTTOM.
I initially installed the motherboard with a SINGLE 120GB hard drive from the old machine and the installed the memory in memory slots 1 & 2 to try dual channel memory mode. I then formatted the C partition and did a clean install of Windows XP Professional with SP2, installed the MSI drivers on the installation CD that came with the motherboard (Nvidia nForce3 Version 5.03 System Drivers, Realtek gigabit ethernet driver, Realtek AC97 audio driver) & the GeForce v66.93 video driver. I then got my first blue screen "MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION" crash, I ignored this crash and rebooted. I shortly got a black screen crash which I also ignored.
I then installed a new 200GB hard drive and a old 120GB so I could transfer the data from the old 120GB to the new 200GB drive. The data transfer went fine. As I was preparing to install some applications I then got my second blue screen "MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION" crash. Suspecting the Corsair Value Select Memory could not handle dual channel I ran Memtest-86 for 2 passes and got NO errors with the memory in dual channel mode, so I left it.
With my data backed up on the 200GB new drive I removed the new 200GB and the second 120GB hard did another clean install of Windows XP Professional with SP2, this time with Nvidia’s nForce3 Version 5.10 system drivers, the Realtek gigabit ethernet driver and Realtek AC97 audio driver from the motherboard installation CD & the GeForce v66.93 video driver. I downloaded the latest version of Core Center and installed it and got it working. CPU temperatures were showing a low of around 29C, average of about 44C, and spikes at full loads of about 55-57C. I then ran Ghost to back up the boot partition. I installed all my applications, reinstalled the 200GB and 120 GB hard drives moved some data around with no crashes.
I then installed Rome Total War and played for about 2 hours and had one black screen crash after the reboot played for 4 more hours with no problems so I shut down and went to bed.
In the morning I got up started the computer let it run for awhile the CPU temperatures were in the low 30Cs to low 40Cs I tried to copy some files from the D partition to desktop and the screen freezes I waited about 5 min. with no change and no drive light activity so I hit the reset button. Upon reboot I got a ‘no system disk found” error, I went into the BIOS and checked the drive set-ups and boot priority, everything was correct. I tried for a half hour to get the system to boot with on luck. I used the Ghost to restore the partition image I had made earlier and still no boot. I finally decided to reinstall XP again put in the installation CD and when I got to the screen where you decide where to install Windows I changed my mind quit and bingo the machine boots into the restored Ghost partition???? I started to reinstall my applications got one more blue screen"MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION" crash and another screen freeze that I had to reset.
So I decided to start from real scratch I removed the new 200GB and the second 120GB hard drive ran Killdisk on the boot drive, made a new clean 20GB C partition and did another clean install of Windows XP Professional with SP2, this time with Nvidia’s nForce3 Version 5.10 system drivers, the Realtek gigabit ethernet driver and Realtek AC97 audio driver from the motherboard installation CD & the GeForce v66.93 video driver. I installed the latest version of Core Center and installed it and got it working. CPU temps were as before.
I tested the memory with Memtest-86 again 2 passes no errors. Just in case I then moved one of the memory DIMMs to memory slot 3 out of dual channel mode and to a slower speed and ran Memtest-86 for about 20 hours with 21 passes with no memory errors, so I think memory can be ruled out as the problem.
Next I installed my applications I got one screen freeze that I had to reset. I reinstalled the other 200GB and 120GB hard drives. After I got all my applications install and Ghosted the boot partition. I have had one more one screen freeze that I had to reset.
I have a problem I simply cannot figure out. The memory is obliviously fine. While I have seen CPU temperatures spikes as high as 57C the CPU temps as reported by Core Center averages in the high 30Cs or low 40Cs and most of crashes/lock-ups don’t seem to occur during high CPU load/temp. The power supply might be a little light for the system but many of the crashes have occurred with only one hard drive in the system. The fact after one for the lock-ups the system would not boot for awhile and then magically just booted gives me concern there might be a motherboard problem.
Any solution ideas would be appreciated. Should I RMA the power supply, the motherboard, or both.
Full system specs:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+, Socket 939, 0.13 Micron, with retail heatsink and fan.
Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum BIOS v1.3
Memory: Corsair VS1GBKIT400 1GB (2 x 512MB DIMMs) Kit DDR400 PC3200 CAS2.5 Value Select Memory - one 512MB DIMM in memory slot 1 and one 512MB DIMM in memory slot 3 running at DDR333 speed.
Video Card: Chaintech GeForce4 Ti 4600
Drives:
Maxtor 6Y120L0 120GB hard drive as master on IDE channel 1. 3 partitions C (boot partition), D, & E.
Seagate ST3200822A 200GB hard drive as slave on IDE channel 1. Single partition.
Maxtor 6Y120L0 120GB hard drive as master on IDE channel 2. Single partition.
Sony DRU-500AX DVD-RW as slave on IDE channel 2.
SATA disabled in BIOS.
No PCI cards.
Case: Antec SX 835
4 80mm case fans (2 fans in front blowing in, 2 fans in rear of case blowing out).
Power Supply: Thermaltake W0008RUC Silent PurePower 420W w/Active PFC
Power Supply Specifications:
Maximum Power: 420W
PFC: Acitve
Power Good Signal: 100-500ms
Hold-up Time: > 16ms at Full Load
Efficiency: > 65%
Over Voltage Protection: +5V trip pointInput Voltage: 100 VAC / 240 VAC
Input Frequency Range: 47-63 Hz
Input Current: 8.0A
Output: +3.3V@30A;+5V@40A;[email protected];+12V@18A;[email protected];+5VSB@2A

Quote
I then installed Rome Total War and played for about 2 hours and had one black screen crash
Great isn't it (although not without the occasional crash)
Would you say it's better but not there yet ? or the same ?
I thought the same as Ibn Quote
Your PS unit is a little weak for that much hardware, but I doubt thats your problem as well
re your PSU, given youv'e got a less hungry Graphic Card, thought it was at worse marginal, have seen worse.
To investigate further it may be worth diconnecting one of your HD, maybe the 200gb for a time.
It's a small thing but it may be slightly better to have both your maxtors together on IDE channel 1, given their identical.
good luck - keeo us posted

K8N Neo2-54G advice needed

This is my first attempt at building a pc so please excuse any incorrect terminology.
AMD FX-55
MSI K8N NEO2-54G
ATI X800 XT PLATINUM EDITION
2 X 512 CRUCIAL BALLISTIX DDR 4000
2 X 160GB SAMSUNG SPINPOINT SATA HDD (plugged into SATA ports 3 & 4)
ENERMAX NOISETAKER 600W
PIONEER DVR-108 DVD-RW (IDE)
SONY FDD
LOGITECH ULTRA-X PS/2 keyboard
On initial boot the keyboard lights flash briefly and the keys won't respond (ie pressing delete to enter setup has no effect). The diagnostic lights are all green except for the top-right which is red ('Initializing Floppy Drive Controller'). All fans are running correctly.
After about 5 minutes the CMOS setup page appears although the diagnostic lights remain the same ('Initializing Floppy Drive Controller'). At this point the keyboard keys function correctly and I can alter the CMOS settings (including enabling SATA ports 3 & 4 and disabling ports 1 & 2). The primary boot device is set to CD-ROM and the secondary to Hard disk. The CMOS recognises the CPU and RAM.
On saving and exiting the setup (with the Windows XP Pro CD in the DVD drive) the system reboots but once again the keys don't respond and the system seems to stop at the 'Detecting array ...' message. At this stage the diagnostic lights are now all green except for the top left which is red ('Boot attempt'). Sometimes it remains frozen and on other occasions the CMOS set up page reappears after several minutes.
If I attempt to boot from 'power off' with the XP Pro CD in, I get a 'Detecting array ...' screen for about 5 minutes and then a 'No disk reserved for RAID use, RAID disabled' message. At this point I am given the option to press Alt-F10 to enter the 'Realtek Gigabit Boot Agent' but again the keyboard won't respond and so the system decides to reboot itself and freezes at the next 'Detecting array' message.
I realise that I'm probably making an incredibly basic error but would greatly appreciate any advice as to where I'm going wrong.
Many thanks

I disconnected the DVD drive, hard drives and FDD as suggested, cleared the CMOS and booted. I had no problem accessing the CMOS setup (using the key) although the 'Initializing Floppy Drive Controller' diagnostic lights remained. The CPU and memory were detected correctly.
I then loaded the optimised defaults and rebooted, again with no problem. I then connected the DVD drive and rebooted. This was detected correctly and so I also added the FDD. I manually selected the 1.44 3.5 FDD option and then saved and exited. Throughout this process the diagnostic lights remained the same.
As soon as I tried to connect a hard drive via the SATA cable the system froze and wouldn't enter the CMOS setup. The keyboard wouldn't work either. I tried both drives together, one at a time, tried all four SATA ports in pairs and individually, swapped the SATA cables and had the drives both in and out of the case. Still no joy.
I disconnected the SATA cables and rebooted and reached the CMOS setup with no problems, reconnected the cables & rebooted and it locked up immediately.
Throughout the entire process the diagnostic lights remained the same.
Any more advice would be most welcome.

Slow RX53, K8N Neo2 Platinum system

I put together my FX53 system last night. It is replacing a 1 year old P4 3.2 (Oc'd to 3.4) system. Basically I just replaced the CPU and MOBO and everything else is the same. Here are My specs.
Athlon FX53 939 pin
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
512 X2 Mushkin Level 2 DDR3500
EVGA GeForce 6800 GT (in the queue to upgrade to an Ultra)
SB Audigy ZS
2X Hitachi Deskstar 200GB RAID 0
PC Power and Cooling 510 watt PSU
CD burner DVD burner etc.
The installation and setup went perfectly. I have my RAM in slots 1&2 and it is reported as Dual Channel 200mhz. I did a fresh install of Windows XP sp2 and installed the latest (5.10) Nvidia chipset drivers and video drivers. My BIOS is basically set to "optimized defaults" (cool-n-quiet and the hardware devices I don't use are disabled). I just wanted to do some testing with untweaked settings to see just how much faster this system is than my old one. Much to my suprise it is slower, not a lot slower, but slower. I'm sure it should be faster. I lost about 6-8 FPS in Doom 3, and 3DMark 2003 lost about 800 points.
My Sandra scores are
Memory 5829
CPU 11067
Multimedia 22975/24465
3D Mark 03 is 11,421
CPU-1059
As far as I can tell my CPU/Memory benches look ok but not outstanding for my system. When you throw my Video card into the mix though my performance is less than expected. I'm stumped and disappointed. I feel like I payed almost $1000 for a downgrade.

512 X2 Mushkin Level 2 DDR3500
I had the same ram and both my co and cg HATED it. I ended up replacing it with 2x512 pc4k crucial ballistix. My A64's love my ballistix. 245 1T 2.5/2/2/6 2.8v or 265 2T 3,3,3,8 2.8v.
I personaly do not use memtest for testing A64's. It been my experience that memtest will miss errors which are detected by Goldmemory.
Try setting 2,3,2,7 and bump vdram to 2.8-2.85-2.9v. The level two has winbond BH-5 chips and they crave voltage.
Below is Mushkin's take on the a64's mem controller.
http://www.mushkin.com/epages/Mushkin.storefront/4156cad701e46ffc2741c0a801020673/UserTemplate/27
Quote
Athlon64 3000+ and Higher
The Athlon64 itself uses a single memory channel and only one controller on the CPU. Because of this, the Athlon 64 (non-FX) can actually use plain vanilla, unbuffered, non-ECC modules. There are, however, still some peculiarities of the Athlon64 systems in how they are handling memory which effects memory compatibility.
One of the most critical issues in this resepect relates to the first step in the memory access sequence, that is, the opening of a memory page and subsequent steps until a read command can be issued. All of these steps fall into the time frame referred to as RAS-to-CAS delay or tRCD. In a typical system, the memory controller on the chipset is running at bus speed. On the Athlon64, it is running at CPU speed, which means that it is A LOT faster. That means that the internal sequence of commands also goes faster, and that's where all systems are getting hiccups if the memory chips used can only run at a high tRCD.
A very trivial explanation is that the controller expects that the memory is as fast as it itself but we don't have memory yet running at a 2 GHz and beyond clock rate. What it comes down to is that, depending on the BIOS tuning (by the manufacturer), the read command is issued a bit too early and violates the tRCD. The workaround is to add one additional cycle to the actual memory latency, that is, a 2:2:2-rated DIMM will run stable at 2:3:2; a 2:3:2 rated module will, most likely, need to be set to 2:4:2 in order to run stable (where the latencies are CAS:tRCD:tRP). Bottom line is that when shopping for memory for the Athlon64, it is highly advisable and in most cases mandatory to only consider memory with a tRCD of 2 or, to make it simple, memory that is rated at 2:2:2 a the designated speed. Alternatively, registered DIMMs can be used as well without problems, even though they are slightly more expensive and will give lower performance.

K8N Neo2 Platinum System Freeze

Here's my issue: A complete system freeze that happens after ten minutes or 2 hours (or anywhere in between). There is no pattern (except that it seems more likely to happen under more intensive apps).
My motherboard and processor have both been RMAd once. The AMD rep confirmed that my processor appeared to be unstable under high stress (uhh, never heard of this before). He said that it was a very unusual problem, and they promptly sent me a new one. I tried the new processor with the same mobo and had the same problem. I then RMAd the mobo. The MSI reps sent me a new motherboard but never said exactly what was wrong with my old one. Now, I'm still having problems (I just put the computer together this evening).
I've heard the same stuff in other threads about memory timings and 12V rail issues. I guess I could try to RMA my four sticks of RAM and power supply, but I somehow doubt that will fix things.
Note also that I have built a system almost identical to mine for my brother, and he has no system freezes. The differences are that he has only two sticks of the Crucial RAM, is using AUTO voltage, has 1T/2T set to AUTO (always loads as 2T), and has a PC Power and Cooling power supply. Aside from that, the systems are identical. I have tried his RAM settings and still experience freezing.
I've been running now for almost 20 minutes with a record of almost 1 continuous hour tonight.
I've never had a freeze like this before - no errors, nothing in the event logs, video stays on screen, fans are running, but everything else stops cold. Very strange.
I am really beginning to regret using this platform. I heard all the hype and decided to go for the AMD/MSI combo eventhough I've always used INTEL/ASUS or INTEL/SUPERMICRO before. I guarantee you that I wouldn't be having these issues with either of those combos. I really need to have a stable system for my primary workstation. I guess my mood can be best described as upset with a little confused and angry thrown in.
Any help is appreciated.

I completely removed my PSU from my system (disconnected everything) and benched it as per Antec's explicit directions. Here's what I found:
3.3 Volt Rail (32A): I have 3.36V
5 Volt Rail (40A): I have 5.11V
12 Volt Rail (30A): I have 12.01V
These findings, of course, have not ruled out the power supply being at fault, and I still intend to send off my additional RAM to my brother for testing tomorrow.
The reason why I haven't sent it off yet is that I was kind enough to play along with MSI tech support and try BIOS 1.36 (1.3B6) which is date-stamped earlier than my 1.3 final release. The 1.36 version did nothing for my stability problems, and I am going to attempt 1.37 tonight (I understand that that is supposed to be a more recent version).
Quote
Originally posted by Paul Foster
We are merely trying to help you yet you won't even try what we suggest to resolve your problem.
Quote
Originally posted by Paul Foster
Furthermore, I really don't care if it's the mobo that is at fault or not.
Quotations are sometimes more revealing when they placed are back-to-back
Quote
Originally posted by GrumpySmurf
assume that EVERY COMPONENT is bad and that it was assembled incorrectly
...such as memtest...
Grumpy, I've RMA'd both my motherboard and processor. I've tried memtest (it ran perfectly), and I've rebuilt this system at least three times in the course of all of this mess. Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this nasty little bug soon!
Quote
Originally posted by Paul Foster
In case you haven't figured it out by now we have absolutely no say one way or the other whether or not you can convince your vendor to RMA the board.
Been there, done that. I RMA'd it a couple weeks ago. The trouble is, the board has the same problems.
I would really like to thank Novablade for his support in this. It's good to have a little sympathy from somebody who has the same board and the same problem.

K8N Neo2 Platinum: system in safe mode?!

This has happened twice, both when I rebooted the computer by pushing the reset button.
A message saying "The system is in safe mode, turn off the overclocking feature in BIOS" came up - except that I didn't put the system in overclocking mode in the first place.
A related problem is my memory are DDR400, but the BIOS reports it as DDR333...
Is my mobo defective?

Have you manually set your memory timings it's quit important that you do especially as some corsair maodules need to be run @2.5 on AMD64s.
I'd advise you check the recommended timings on corsair's site
update bios with your manual settings including memory voltage.
if unsure check here Bios Guides - bottom 2 items - Nforce3 Cell menu & dram settings. as Glenn said thats probably what's caused your safe mode message.
run memtest to check stability Memtest86+
luck

MOVED: Installing Windows 7 on a MSI K8N SLI based system

This topic has been moved to AMD64 nVidia boards.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=132527.0

What BSOD are you getting?
Read: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=103936.0
Quote
I asked on #windows and people said that Widnows 7 won't install on my system properly because it is so outdated.
I wouldn't listen to their advice again!
Quote
Hauppauge Nova T-500 dual tuner digital TV card
Remove that, and I'm willing to bet that Windows 7 will install with no problems!

FYI: To those getting no video at all during POST on K8N Neo2 Plat

I've been racking my brain all day/night fighting my new K8N Neo2 Platinum system. I first put together a minimal system with just memory, CPU/cooler, and AGP card and powered it up to make sure it would work. Sure enough I saw the Platinum POST screen and I went into the BIOS.
I figure all is good so I turn off the system and install the rest of the components.Like so many others I powered back up to the disheartening screen of nothingness. The D-Bracket showed all 4 LEDs green so I was baffled as to the problem. I tried various forms of restart with the same result. With a sigh I began reverting my system back to the original bare bones set up. Same result...black screen. I tried various CMOS resets after reading everything I could find. New result: black screen but POST would always get stuck with D-Bracket indicating "Initializing Floppy Drive Controller".
After trying various memory configurations, various CMOS resets, various AGP graphics cards, and many other things for several hours to no avail I finally got out an ancient PCI graphics card and was finally able to get video and enter the BIOS. I selected Load Fail-Safe Defaults and made sure to select AGP for the Primary Graphic's Adapter setting. I swapped the PCI card out and the AGP card back in. Still no video on the AGP card. I put the PCI card and AGP card in together and rebooted again. PCI card has video, AGP card does not.
I still don't have my problems solved but I at least wanted to let people who are getting no video on their AGP graphics card know that they may be able to get video on a PCI graphics card. As a side effect, for whatever reason, it appears that I get fully through the POST again and the D-Bracket lights up all the LEDs.
Hope this helps someone out there who is frustrated like I am and maybe someone can figure out what's wrong with the AGP graphics.
The BIOS version is currently W7025NMS V1.3 092404 15:57:09...I'm going to work on updating that next and see if that fixed anything.
Here's my system if it would work:
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm
Gigabyte 3D Cooler-ULTRA GT
OCZ 520W PowerStream
OCZ 512MB DDR400 PC3200 EL Platinum Rev. 2 (4 sticks)
BFG nVideo GeForce 6800 Ultra
I made the following substitutions to test:
OCZ DDR400 PC3200 EL Platinum Rev. 2 (1 stick in various slots, 2 sticks in various slots in single and dual channel mode)
Corsair 512MB Value Select DDR400 PC3200 (1 stick in DIMM 1 slot)
Radeon 9700 Pro (old AGP card -- didn't work any better than BFG card)
Some old PCI card -- not even sure what it is (allowed me to see what was going on!)

Nope. Cable is definately not on upside down! =)
I get the same behavior on both floppy drives I've tried. The light only comes on when it tries to access it and it reacts as though I've put in a bad floppy. Thing is the floppy works on several computers and works on one of the floppy drives I used with this system, only while it was connected to another machine.
I was able to update the bios to v1.4 without using a floppy by making a bootable CD and flashing from there. Still no go. I think at this point I'm ready to concede that I do in fact have a motherboard that has gone south. I've tried every combination of option I can think of in the BIOS but the AGP and Floppy Controller both appear to be fubar.
Still, the one good thing that came out of all this is that I found out how to make bootable CDs. I'm sure to use that little trick over and over and that may make it so I don't really need these pesky floppy drives anymore at all! I'll make a post on this so we'll soon all be floppy free! =)

K8N Neo2 problem - PSU switch turns system on, then no POST

Hi,
I am building a new system with the following:-
MSI k8N Neo2 platinum
Athlon 64 3200+
Asus Star Ice CPU cooler
ATI Radeon 9500 pro
Crucial DDR 3200 512MB x 2
Tagan 480W PSU TG480-U01
Silverstone Temjin TJ05 case
The problem I am getting is as follows: once I have connected everything to the motheroard and switch the PSU on using it's own button, the whole system starts up - the HDDs spin, the CPU cooler fan, system fan and motherboard fans all start, but I get no POST just a blank screen with no output to my monitor. This happens without me pushing the case power button; I have checked the case leads and they are all ok - indeed, this happens even when there are NO leads fron the case front panel conected to the motherboard at all - the system just starts as described above when I push the Tagan PSU switch.
When I had the K8Ns back-plate connected, I was getting the same error signal that suggests there is something wrong with the memory (3 red LEDs and 1 Green, I think); but I check the memory installation which was ok, and my memory is working fine with my old system.
To try and figure out what was going on, I gradually disconnected EVERYTHING from the motherboard, even the CPU, and took it out of the case and stood it on a large piece of cardboard. After connecting the power supply to it I pushed the PSU button and the same thing happened - the motherboard started up (I know that it started because the motherboard northbridge fan started and also I have the cpu cooler fan attached still, which also started up).
I then tried my old 300W PSU to see if the problem was with the Tagan and guess what - exactly the same problem occured; I know for sure my old PSU works as I am using it in my old system right now!
So, my question is does anyone know what's going on / have any suggestions? I personally think my motherboard is faulty - can anyone confirm the likelyhood of this?
Any help would be MUCH appreciated.
Thanks.

Hey Guys,
Try starting with only one stick of ram. If your boards Bios is 1.2 or lower, it may not boot and mimic the symptoms that have been expressed. This especially true of the new 90ns chips. They can't handle the dual channel until 1.3 Bios. Also
a good guess is that there seems to be a run of poorly flashed units or that some other influence is causing the problem.
These boards are extremly suceptible to electro-static shock. One little shock will alter the board so that it will have problems. This surge of static electricity will alter componets, it is sometime undetectable so that the builder has no idea that this has occured. It will cause the Unit not to boot, or corrupt the bios.
The AMD chip is extremly rugged, I've had lost two boards to mishaps and the chip (to my surprize survived, water accident and a definite static shock incident). Also so, some interesting findings that I've found when building with the 90ns chip (10 Units).
1. If the board has the 1.1 or 1.2 Bios version, you can install only one stick of mem in the first slot or two sticks, but with two sticks they must be in the green slots. You should be able to boot and reflash to the latest Bios version. It does not like to be in dual channel mode.
2. If you configure a Raid setup, initialize and decide you don't want to have a Raid setup (O.C. issues) and you simply disable the Raid in the Bios setup, your system will hang during the boot process. You must go into the Raid controller and remove the Raid array.
3. If you are having to RMA a board, request if available that the Seller test the returning board and Pre-Test the new board to verify that it is functioning. This way you will feel confident that you received a properly functiong board to build your system with. I hope this helps.
Some of this info is reprinted material from another one of my posts, but it might help in a diagnostic investigation of the listed problems.
Here is some other info on the self starting PSU's. Some Psu's start up with the following on: PSU switch on the PSU is on, the PSU connectors are on. The case power on switch may or not be connected.
The cause of this is due to the protective circuitry in the PSU and the connections to the mother board. As the in-rush of current meets with PSU's "board connection circuitry" sends a pluse and gets a 'connection ok' signal the PSU turns on. Depending on the electrical conntruction this condition seems to activate a part of the ATX specs for 'outside wake up condition" that sends a 'circut complete to active 'full on' status.
Now as the power is supplied to the board the BIOs and the Voltage componets recieve power the board program reconizes that this is a fault condition and refuses to boot. However it is still recieving power to the Voltage controller section. That's why the componets that do not need Bios information to run work. If the case switch for powering the board is installed properly and pressed, the board reconizes the input and turns the power off.

Feedback thread for "How To Design a SAP NetWeaver - Based System Landscape

I have just published a RIG How To Guide called [How To Design a SAP NetWeaver - Based System Landscape|https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/50a9952d-15cc-2a10-84a9-fd9184f35366]. You can read my [blog |http://www.sdn.sap.com/?blog=/cs/weblog/view/wlg/8877]on it. This thread is collect feedback and discussion on the Guide.

Hi Matt!
This is definitely interesting reading and a lot of projects I've been in could have benefitted from it had it been carefully read beforehand by some of the involved parties.
What I like especially is the fact that this is not only for technical consultants (who should know about most of these things anyway) but for the people closer to the business who need to find agreements with the technical guys.
Good job...
Jörg
Some comments to what I read:
I noticed that you use the term 'server virtualization' (section 3.3.1) quite generally. Maybe it would be worth introducing the term 'server consolidation' (which you use later in the document) already in this early chapter. My experience shows that (especially recently) a lot of customers are interested in 'virtual servers' (meaning a virtual server with an OS installed separately), not really knowing what they're talking about and often better advised to use 'server consolidation' (one OS, many SIDs). These two concepts are similar in terms of sharing hardware resources, but quite different in terms of the implications toward administration.
In section 4.2.1.3 you mention (in brackets) the Usage type to which the client belongs for the Business Explorer and the J2SE Adapter Engine if I understood that correctly. There is no UT mentioned for the other clients and there is no explanation on what the bits in brackets are supposed to mean. (I first expected the 'BeX' abbreviation when I saw something in brackets...)

New K8N NEO2 PLAT. and SC-939 3200+ help needed...

Hello,
I have just upgraded my system with K8N Neo2 Plat. and sc-939 3200+ A64 Cpu.
There are several issues I need to resolve which are:
1- Although I change from BIOS the settings for AGP to 4x8x and enable fast writes, I still cant see them turned on from the Catalyst Control Center. Everything is greyed out what can I do? They all used to be on and agp was 8x with my K7N2 Delta board....
2- Although I installed the original drivers from the MSI CD, I couldn't get one of the network prts to install. Realtek installed OK. But other one is defined by the device manager as standart network adapter. What can I do?
3- I am brand new to A64 system so I do not know what setting to use from BIOS can you help me out, for instance there are values for HT such as x3 x4 x5 mine is set to x5? what is this? should I enable cool and quiet, I am not intended to do overclocking. Can you give me some tips for best performance?
My best regards.

Make sure your bios is up to date: version 1.5. Look at the sticky threads and use the information to enable hidden bios features. Disable ATI/NV speedup in the bios. Uninstall your drivers and reinstall. If the information is still greyed out, download the free version of Sandra here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/ and check the module under video system information. This will tell you if fast writes are enabled and your AGP setting. Leave the HT(hyper-transport) set to 5X unless you plan on oc'ing, if you do oc then may find you'll need to reduce it to 4X or 3X. Try downloading the latest driver for your network from the MSI website. Right click the device in device manager and select update, select specific location then "don't look...I'll choose", direct it to the file where you've unpacked the correct driver and then update.

Feedback on USB mouse w/K8N Neo2 "locking up"

I am interested in finding out if "some" of the issues with the USB mice freezing on the K8N Neo2 boards are resolved, or was my case an isolated incidence.
I will Cut and Paste my "fix" to my issue, so please report if this works for you as well:
I haven't had one single USB mouse lockup in 3 days so I declare what I've done as a fix for me. This is more than likely not going to be the case for the whole USB FREEZING fiasco with the mobo, but again, I reiterate, IT WORKED FOR ME.
I noticed that when powering my system up that the red optical light was illuminating, so I knew my hardware was recognizing the mouse, it was when Windows began to go to the desktop that the optical light would disappear and the mouse would cease to function. I would have to unplug the mouse from the USB port in the back of tower and re-plug it back in.........but even then, after being in Windows for any length of time, the mouse would cease to function noted by the absence of the red optical light and of course the lack of movement by the cursor. This was happening VERY frequently.........it seemed moreso on "cold boots" which was misleading in my process of elimination, as this would signify a potential hardware issue, but the problem persisted after boot on a warm system.
Therefore I began my quest.
I use WinXP Pro and this happens with both service packs(SP1 and SP2).
I went to My Computer---->Properties----->Hardware----->Device Manager----->Universal Serial Bus Controllers----->(open this up by clicking on the +)
I have 3 USB Root Hub listings so I double clicked each one of them and Disabled(unchecked) under the PowerManagement Tab the box that defaults with a check in it that states "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"
So far ~72hrs without another USB mouse issue.
Please report if this also works for you.........thanx.

Quote
Originally posted by revrondo
Well after approx 14 restarts of which I would normally have probably 2 or 3 mouse lock ups I can report that so far Lidocaine's suggested fix seems to working. No lock ups. I'll give it another day or so and post again with my findings.
I'm glad to hear that it works for you. Hopefully others will find some "relief" in this nagging issue as well. Again, for me, when reformatting and installing either service pack, once the USB 2.0 drivers are loaded.....if I do not uncheck the box as mentioned in the initial post.....it will lock up again......it is only after the box is unchecked that the problem is resolved.
Quote
I think its very important to remember what we are here for---to solve problems. If you have problems with a manufacturer, take the problem to them or their site. This is a forum of users, not owners or manufacturers or MSI workers. I think alot of people here are under the assumption that this site is by MSI. It is not.
My deepest apologies to this community. Although I do not look for excuses, but 3 builds, more down time than up, is frustrating........I apologize.

Need help with k8n neo2 platinum

I've just installed a new k8n neo2 platinum s939 board with a venice core 3200+ cpu the htt is 2000 and multiplier 10x.
I've gone to the core cell menu and set the htt to 4x (seemed to be this at default) and the max mem clock at 166 (more about this in a moment), the fsb will go quite easily up to 250mhz even 255mhz, but when I try 260 Mhz the machine when it reboots shows the initial slash screen but then goes to a blank screen with the cursor flashing in the top left hand corner, I can't even get back into the bios setup without clearing the cmos.
The odd thing is that the adjust cpu vid is showing a voltage of 1.50 and not 1.40 or startup.
Anyway with the fsb at 250mhz the bios screen is showing the Current ddr clock at 208 mhz ( not the max memclock setting of 166) the memory in the motherboard ( a crucial 512meg ddr333 single stick) seems to perform OK according to memtest which shows no errors after 2 cycles.
Any attempt to get to 260mhz fsb appears to fail even by upping the cpu vid to 1.525v unless i adjust the cpu voltage setting which by default is set to (by cpu vid) to +3.3%. Doing this enables me to get to fsb 260mhz but the memtest fails ( even when I set the max memclock to 133, which shows my current ddr speed at 174mhz, well below the 208mhz which appeared stable with the fsb at 250mhz?)
So firstly why are there two cpu voltage settings in the bios when my manual only shows 1 (there is no mention of this cpu vid setting?
How is it that my memory is stable at 208mhz with a fsb of 255mhz but unstable at 174mhz with the fsb set at 260mhz?
Why does the memory clock lock not appear to be working, the memory should be fixed at 166mhz but infact increases with fsb?
I have bios revision 1.5.
Please help as I am not familiar with the bios settings for this nforce 3 chipset, they seem rather odd to me. I'm sure my venice core 3200+ cpu can get beyond 250mhz fsb, I have another pc with a venice core 3000+ cpu which runs quite happily at 270mhz fsb.
PS I've tried reducing the htt to 3x but the same thing happens.

OK further feed back, I can get to over 260mhz fsb but the system is not stable the memory runs OK with mem test but I have problems with prime95.
I had to up the cpu core voltage to 1.53v to get to 260mhz using the cpu voltage setting in the bios and setting a 5% increase. increasing the cpu vid setting to 1.55v did not seem to do anything at all the core voltage was still at 1.43v.
I upped the mem voltage to 2.6v from 2.5 but still could not get the system to be stable, it may be that the memory is holding the system back but I don't want to pay for better memory at the moment. Unless anyone has got any other ideas it looks like I may be forced to settle with 250mhz, well still a 500mhz increase maybe not that bad. I've now to try 3d benchmarking using my radeon 9600xt and 3dmark 03.

Random system freezes with K8N Neo2...

Hi!
I've got the following problem:
My Pc freezes randomly, i.e. I'm booting my system, WinXP starts and I'm on my desktop and then it freezes and nothing happens( and I did nothing!). I have to reboot my machine. Then, the pc boots up and everything works fine (mostly). So, I can work with it maybe for a few hours or a few days and everything works nearly perfect. But then, it freezes again and I have to reboot it. Sometimes, mostly when I'm playing ut2k4 or other games, it freezes after a few minutes or a few hours of playing and I have to reboot, but not only one time; the pc boots up, I start the game again, play a few minutes and it freezes again. (this situation repeats itself several times). Or, I start the game and everything works fine for some days!
I'm frustrated because I can't play what I want or even work because of those freezes. I tried some things, like reinstalling new drivers for my mb but nothing helped. I cleared cmos and made new settings in my bios but this also didn't brought the wanted results. And now, I'm at a point where I don't know what I also can do.
Maybe a bios update would help, but I read some posts here where people have made 'bad' experiences with the new bios version, so I'm careful.
My PC isn't overclocked and my temps are ~50 idle ~59 working
My system:
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ S939 NewCastle Rev. CG
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum-54G Bios. 1.0
2*512MB Kingston HyperX KHX3200AK2/1G
Gigabyte Radeon 9800 PRO Catalyst 4.8
1* S-ATA WD 120GB
1* U-IDE WD 120GB
Soundblaster Audigy Player
WinXP SP2 on S-ATA
Any suggestions?
Crazy
*edit*
oh, I tested my RAM with Memtest and there where no problems...
*edit 2*
I also thought it could be my power supply, so I bought a new one "Antec True Power 480", but it wasn't my power supply....

:rolleyes:My computer just froze the missus out and I got an ear full “I thought you said that this one’s better than the old one?” she wasn’t too happy when I told her to reset it, as she lost all of her email she was typing.
Also I found some links to similar problems, still cant figure if it’s a hardware fault or a software one
Come on MSI sort it out!!
Repeated Freezeups -- just since yesterday
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