K8N Neo2 Platinum - satisfied except cold boot

My new build is doing well except for the near-famous cold-boot problem. When the box has been off for a while, I hit the power button, fans & drives spin up, the optical blinks a couple times, but no video or POST. The LEDs look like 4 green, but 2 seem dimmer, as if they're just reflecting the light from the other 2. A 5-second hiit on the power button shuts it down, hit it again and it fires right up, but stops during post with the message that it's in safe mode and to reset my (nonexistent) OCs. From this point I can F1, boot up, and run for hours. No probs unless it's off for a while. I have seen the problem since early in the build, when I powered up outside the case with just 1 stick of RAM and the LEDs (no vid or drives).
Searching the board shows a lot of people having the problem, but nobody seems to have a solution, so I went to the support site to check the knowledge-base and FAQs. Interesting to find there that A64 boards do not appear to exist. No FAQ, no option to spec socket 939 or 754 to search the KB.
Maybe if we get a number of us with the problem to post specs & observations in one thread we can spot a pattern?
I have noted that I can't just do an on-off-on. It has to spend 20-30 seconds in the lockup mode before cycling the power results in a successful boot.
BTW all, some really nice things are happening with RAM prices lately. I got my 2 gigs for US$190 delivered.
K8N Neo2 Platinum
Athlon64 3500 (130 nm)
2G (4 x 512) SuperTalent PC3200 RAM
2 120G Maxtor SATA (1 & 2) in raid0
1 160G Seagate SATA (3)
1 Sony DRU 720A 16X dual-layer DVD +/- R/RW (primary master)
PNY Verto nVidia 6800 vid
Mad Dog 600W PSU (30A on +12)

Quote from: elliott on 13-April-05, 09:23:05
I'll give the bios a shot, but the idea of using the HT to slow the box down and then speeding it back up again in Winders...
Putting HT to 4 does not slow down the box... Especially if ur FSB is over 200 (if ur overclocking) like in my case: FSB=260mhz, I must put down the HT to 4 in order to run everything perfect. HT standard is 200x5=1000, in my case its 260x4=1040... as long as HT is between 800-1200... I believe there is no real time performance loss as long as u have STABILITY. I have seen a lotta people in this forum fixing stability problems just by reducing the HT when they overclocking... some cases even to HT=3.

Similar Messages

K8N Neo2 Platinum ed. XP Boot freese problem !!!

After the bios post screen, when the xp logo disappered, it's freese 2-3 minutes. XP starts normally and full functionally after the freese. I have no stability problem.
I have install XPSP2 ( SP2 embedded XP cd. Created autostremer) Install all latest drivers and bios update (1.B0)
I've use only one hdd, no raid array. I've try the bios settings optimized. Guided like this documents FAQ
Specially thanks for your interest
K8N Neo2 Platinum ed nforce3 ultra
AMD64 Athlon venice 3000+
sata1 Samsung HD080HJ SATA 80Gb
ide1 LG-DVD writter
MSI Geforce FX5200 AGP
2*256 Kingston DDR
No FDD
A4Tech keyboard and mouse PS2
CPU-Z Report CPUZ

Check eventviewer for drivers/sw thats fails to load .
Other than that most boot delay problems are related to bad IDE (master/slave) configuration or cables .

K8N Neo2 Platinum wont post or boot (64 3000+)

After plugging in the computer and starting up, the fans run and the drives spin, but I get no boot or post and nothing to the monitor. I have tried just CPU and MOBO. Ive tried CPU, MOBO, RAM, Video (Radeon 9600 Pro), and all give me nothing. My two CD drives LED's blink and they constantly spin up over and over and over. The DLED's on the back WERE all red for a while. Now when I turn it on, LED one and two are red, three is orange ( not the red it used to be) and 4 isnt even on.
I was having problems with the computer after I would turn it off, and reboot, It would hang during post sometimes, and then I would reboot and everything would be merry.
I went on vacation, unplugged EVERYTHING, and then came back, plugged it up, and pressed the power button. Once again I saw the Platinum splash screen but it hung and didnt do anything else. I re-booted and had no video, and no post beeps. The drives spin up and down (optical) and will do it forever. I have no idea whats going on. First i thought it was the processor not running the BIOS, then I thought the DLED's looked weird so Im working if its not my motherboard.
The PS is a Antec SL400 400 Watt. About a year to a year and a half old. Memory is a year old. Processor is a year old. Ive removed everything and tried the test bench setup on a cardboard box outta the case and i get the same situation. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Quote from: ry_ry_us on 28-December-06, 09:48:35
Well I guess thats two problems. I feel like there is no need in investing in an outdated board and processor when i could be buyin a new one. IF there is no other way to see whats bad then I guess I may have to start a whole new build. Any other ideas? Why in the world are the DLED's acting weird?
you can borrow from friends to test it, or to take PC(case only) in some PC store/repair shop to ask for test there.
another idea is try to disconnect D-Bracket and retest.

K8N NEO2 PLATINUM ATA-133 Raid ?

Hello,
My question is, is it possible to setup an Ata-133 raid on the K8N NEO2 PLATINUM (as the main boot drive). Currently I have 2 ata-133 drives and I want to upgrade to this board. I looked at the PDF manual and read the forums, but people usally talk about thier Sata drives.
If it is possible to have only a Ata-133 raid setup. How/what is the best way to set it up since there is only a primary and secondary ATA connection on the motherboard. Setup a master / slave on the primary 1 slot ? or put them on thier own channel ? Note, I read somewhere that optical drives ( cdroms,...) may have a problem if they share the channel with a harddrive that is raided. So thats my dilema.
Thanks in advanced,
Jim

Quote from: crossmax03 on 02-August-05, 20:58:06
jim,
did you ever get the RAID setup to work with the IDE drives?
i was trying to connect 2 ata100 drives on the IDE2 or IDE3 ports and the bios will not seem to detect them at all,
but the RAID controller DOES detect them.
however, it will try to boot from the master drive but restarts at the windows XP splash screen, every time.
-brian
Right. If we connect two IDE HDDs on one IDE1 or IDE 2 (as Master & Slave), and plan to set up RAID.Take IDE1 for example, as long as we set up Integrated Peripherals-->Onboard Device-->RAID Config-->IDE Primary Master&Secondary RAID-->Enabled, Save&exit setup; enter RAID bios to set RAID mode, all things would be ok. But if we want to install OS in this RAID, we must press F6 install RAID driver at the beginning of OS installation. If we only use them as normal storage, OS is in other HDD, we should install RAID driver in OS.
Besides, the two HDDs could not appear in Standard CMOS Features any more, which appear in RAID BIOS.

Problem on boot MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum

I am an italian lover of MSI motherboards.
After I bought a MSI KT3 Ultra Aru, then MSI K7N2 Delta ILSR and now I have a K8N Neo2 Platinum.
My hardware are:
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
Athlon 64 3200 Winchester
Corsair XMS 1024 TWINX 3200 PLL
Maxtor Diamond Plus 9 80 Gb
Asus Radeon 9600XT.
The problem is that at the power on the bios don't start. The LED on D-Bracket are three green and one red. On the manual this error are written:
Inizializing Video Interface
This will start detecting CPU clock, checking type of video onboard. Then, detect and initialize the video adapter.
This problem is frequent for my motherboard. However not always.
I attend your answer for this problem.
Thank you for all and for my english school.

Hi Italiano,
Welcome to the forum.
Have you details of your power supply. please show Maximum 3.3v,5v & 12v.
These are usually on the side of the power unit.
try:-
1) Enter bios Cell Menu - HT change from 5 ---> 4 using +/- keys. Save & exit.
If it still doesn't boot try:-
2) Re-inserting your Asus Radeon 9600XT. Sometimes they don't go in correctly.
3) See if you can boot with just 1 memory module in slot 1.
Luck

K8N-Neo2 Platinum pauses for 25 sec at boot, nvatabus.sys the problem?

All,
After POSTing normally and starting to load Windows XP, my system halts at the Windows XP splash screen for about 25 seconds. Nothing happens, no disk activity or anything, the system just sits there.
I used Microsoft's Bootvis utility to see what was happening. It turns out that the nvatabus.sys driver consumes 100% CPU at boot for 25 seconds then the system continues to boot normally. Does anyone else see anything like this?
I am running the latest nForce drivers from MSI. The driver in question:
NVIDIA nForce3 Serial ATA Controller 2.6
Driver Date 6/3/2004
c:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\nvatabus.sys 5.10.2600.0446
Windows XP SP1
I have a RAID1 of two 160 GB SATA drives. The mirror is healthy and working fine.
After booting the system is rock-solid stable, no problems there. It's just this unexplained pause at boot. Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this?

ok check it out guy's this thing drove me insane all night last night and most of today. I was ready to return everything and give up. But alas all is not lost. Here is the rundown on what i just did.
My Equipment:
Athlon 64 3800+(w/ stock fan)
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum Socket 939
2X512 Corsair TWINX1024-3200XLPRO ( with the cool led's )
2 SATA HD (1 Maxtor Diamond10 300 GB w/ 16mb cache, 1 Segate 160GB w/8mb cache)
PP&C 425 ATX Deluxe
Radeon 9700 Pro ( cat 4.8 )
Audigy2 ZS
Sony Floppy
Sony 8x52x52x32 DVD Rewrite
I have been reading and reading just like all you guy's. On a few websites i would pick up bits and pieces on what to try. Heres what i did. Upon Boot up i entered the bios. I then went to Cell Soft and adjusted my timings for my memory. I was at 2.5 not 2.75. I then set my speed down to 166. Exited and restarted. Big mistake everything ri=uns terrible slow and my expensive DDR 400 memory was showing up correctly at 333. Rebooted again entered the bios. reset my speed to 400. Then set the Overclock feature to manual. Set my timings at 2,2,5,2 200 and 2.75 volts. After saving settings and exiting I then turned off the computer. As per some other suggestions I moved my Audigy2 to the bottom most pci slot the one above the orange slot. I moved my memory to slots 2 and 4. I moved my SATA to slots 3 and 4. I rebooted went into the bios again and setup all my voltages. CPU was Auto, AGP was max yellow setting. Memory still at 2.75. I disabled the onboard serial and parrallel ports. Rebooted
Fearing the worst,
5 seconds, 10 seconds, windows screen loging prompt. There was nothing wrong at all. It rebooted effortlessly. It re found my Audigy card and wanted driver but that was it. I am going to reboot a few more times and then run sisandra to test. I hope some of this will help you. I post in a few after some of those reboots.

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum cant upgrade to BIOS 1.4, Windows wont boot.

Hello
I have a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum and I cant upgrade to BIOS 1.4. I have tried everything and cannot get Windows XP to boot with BIOS 1.4.
I have reset the BIOS, set defaults, cleared the battery etc but when I load BIOS 1.4 (from a 98SE an ME boot dish and even from the Live Update?
The only solution is to rebuild Windows after loading BIOS 1.4???
Help

Hi !
Well, I have that problem, too. I think the reason is a new RAID-BIOS-Version built in the BIOS-Update. I´ve tried the beta-versions V1.51 and V1.5X, too - but they won´t run anyway.
My WinXp hangs while booting (before the WINDOWS-XP-Logo appears, or while fading in...). I cannot reinstall Windows completely because, when I install the 2 raid-drivers, the installation routine hangs before the licensetext - when I don´t install the drivers i cannont install on the raid-drive (beacuase the installation routine shows 2 hdds).
I think, a new driver will solve this problem, but I don´t know where to find it....
A.

New CPU, Msi K8n neo2 platinum - no boot!

Greetings!
I got the following components:
*MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum -54g MB
*4 x 512mb Geil Value Ram
*Gainward 7800GS+ Bliss 512mb AGP
*Samsung Spinpoint 500gb SATA HD
*Corsair 620HX (620W) PSU
*CPU AMD Opteron 180 Dual Core (upgrade from AMD 3000+ Winchester)
I recently upgraded my PC with a new HD, more ram, new CU Fan/heatsink - on an AMD 3000+ (Winchester). PC wouldn't boot - I did however manage to fix it. I think it was because of the ram, one of the bricks had some dust on it. Since then, my pc has worked 100%...
Today, however, I got a new PSU and CPU in the mail! A Corsair 620W PSU and an AMD OPTERON 180 Dual. I carefully cleaned the surface on the heatsink etc, and applied an appropriate amount of "Arctic Alumina" on the CPU/heatsink (as followed per instructions from Arctic). When I have connected everything, and fire my pc up - it just won't boot.. (The monitor won't light up).
Since then, I have carefully checked all wires, unplugged/replugged etc.
But it just won't boot!
I do have the latest bios (1.0D), so it should support my CPU.
I should mention some "weird" things, though. When I try to boot up, everything seems normal (All fans are running), but there are no lights on my case! And I can't turn off the PC while holding down the "power" button on my case. I can't reset either.. as soon as I turn the PC on (by turning on the PSU power switch), the PC starts running. Normally I would have to push the button on my case. ALSO: I have cleared CMOS, still a black screen. And I have tried 2 different monitors, so I know it aint that either.
My old PSU was a Chieftec 360W one (and my case is a Chieftec also). The old PSU was connected to "SFAN2" on my MB,.. my new PSU isn't connected to any "SFAN" at all.. I doubt that has anything to do with the problem though?
Any suggestions on what I might do ?
Edit: D-bracket shows this (Yellow, red, red, yellow):
BIOS Sign On
- This will start showing information about logo, processor brand name, etc... - It stops here. No boot screen

Quote from: BOSSKILLER on 14-November-07, 21:14:42
remove power cord from the PSU(else will not work) and Clear CMOS Guide.
leave one memory stick only in a 1st DIMM slot near to CPU socket and try to boot.
Done & done.
Still no boot screen :(

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum Fan

For some reason the small chipset fan on my MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo has become a lot louder, I think it is running at higher RPMs that before. It starts up loud even if the computer is doing a cold boot from room temperature. Is there anyway to control this fan speed and quiet it down? and if I slow it down, will it hurt my motherboard? This fan is now louder than my graphics card fan, which makes it the loudest fan in my case even though it is the smallest.

Quote
Originally posted by Brogan
You could always replace it with a Zalman hedgehog.
I did.
Thanks for you reply, the only problem with the Zalman is that it's really big and I think my MSI NX6800GT's cooler would get in the way.

K8N Neo2 Platinum Checksum Error

Hi, I apologize if I break any rules here, but I tried to use the search option to locate an answer but couldn't find anything that helped me fully.
My problem is that when I try to turn on my computer, I get a message saying:
"Award Bootblock BIOS v1.0
Copyright 2000 Award Software Inc.
BIOS ROM checksum error
Keyboard error or no keyboard present.
Detecting floppy drive A media
INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER".
Except this, my computer is completely "dead", I cannot go anywhere. From what I have understood, my BIOS is corrupted, and I need to flash it. This should be done by inserting a boot floppy with added AWDFLASH.exe and a bios.bin. The thing is, I don't know how to find these files, or at least the correct ones. I have also tried to google for a solution, but haven't found anything satisfactionary. So this is kind of my last resort. I am very sorry if this is a newbie question, but I have almost no experience in this advanced (from my perspective) knowledge.
If someone could help me locate the correct verisons of the Award Flash utility and BIOS file, and write a short step by step-walkthrough of how to proceed, you would have my eternal gratitude.
My system is a 4 years old:
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum 54G S939 with nForce 3 Ultra
Windows XP Home
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2 Ghz
Gainward GeForce 7800 GS 512 Mb
2x TwinMos 512 Mb RAM PC3200
Maxtor Diamondmax 200 Gb SATA
MS-7025 Ver: 1 is printed on the motherboard.

Quote from: go_for on 11-March-09, 03:04:25
This one is stuck in Award bootblock mode, will most likely need a re-flash from a bootable floppy disk.
Make a bootable floppy disk, in e.g WinXP.
Make a file with notepad, containing this line:
AWFL833D.EXE W7025NMS.1D0 /CC /CD /CP /QI /R /PY /SN
Save this file on this floppy by the name Autoexec.bat
Also add the two files AWFL833D.EXE and W7025NMS.1D0 on this floppy.
Power up the K8N Neo2 Plat. with this disk in the floppy drive. The flashing will begin, let it finish.
Remove floppy and reboot. If it succeeded, set all relevant values in BIOS and save&exit.
Quote
This one is stuck in Award bootblock mode, will most likely need a re-flash from a bootable floppy disk.
Not always, the same fake error message can came from bad memory stick too.
Also he didn't flash his BIOS before the message to appear.

K8n neo2 platinum problems

ok guys I've been looking all over the internet and cannot find any answers to my problem.
I have an MSI K8N neo2 platinum running easybios
AMD Opteron 146
2gb Ballistixs pc4000
30gb maxtor
120gb maxtor
2x dvd rw drives
nvidia 6800 agp
sound blaster live 24bit
I run windows x64 and after flashing my bios form 1.6 (I think) to 1b I kept getting errors e.g. "ROM cannot invoke" (or something), and primarily "disk read error", now the disks show up in the bios, they show up in a windows install but it just won't boot from them. I have flashed to easybios and the rom error went away but the disk read one was still there. I am now reinstaling windows x64 but would like to know how to fix such a problem if it were to happen again. Both my drives are IDE and are on the IDE0 cable with master and slave correctly set.
Also the temperature readings for my processor are 42 degrees celcius when everything is at stock and I have a zalman 9500 heatsink fan on it running at full speed. This is obviously wrong - is there any way to fix this?
Thanks
Daven

I has the exact issue with my board, except it was with the SATA drives. I flashed with e few BIOS', and the newest one that worked correctly was 1.8
If it was me, I would reflash to BIOS 1.8
Post back with your results.
Also, even though you are installing Windows again, it will most likely corrupt your installation, as it did mine, twice, before I figured out the problem.

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum; ethernet probs!?

Hey guys,
I'm having problems getting my DSL hooked up to my new PC. I'm using a MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, and according to my ISP phone-tech, the problem is with my "NIC".??
When examining the back of the PC, the slot where my ethernet cord is connected is green accompanied by yellow blinking. All lights on the Speedstream 5100 modem itself are green... No probs in the device manager... Switched ethernet cable from top to bottom port... Flahsed/Updated my BIOS from ver1.5 to ver1.8... Still have blinking yellow light... unable to connect to the internet on my new PC.
(Blinking light appears on both (top & bottom) ethernet ports when i have it plugged in)
Can someone point me in the direction of what to do / which drivers i need to install/uninstall...!?
Need help... Any is welcome.
The PC: Athlon 3500+ / 1 GB RAM / 80GB SATA WD / 250 GB 16M Cache IDE Maxtor / Geforce 6800GT / MSI K8N Nforce 2 Platinum

Doh, i seem to have taken a few step backwards...!
I returned the modem for another (brand = 2-wire gateway)... Still unable to connect; problems are similar, but let me tell you....
I have uninstalled all nvidia drivers --- went back to the drivers on CD. In Device Manager all devices are OK. I have both the nvidia LAN & MAC LAN ports enabled. Everything seems to be default settings (exception: i disabled windows firewall). Also I did not install nvidia FIREWALL option during install.
I plug in new modem... it boots, but middle light (broadband link light) is solid orange. According to the 2-wire site/faq
--- Broadband Link light ---
Solid orange - The HomePortal has established a physical broadband connection but was not able to successfully connect to your Internet Service Provider, or has not yet been configured. (can't PPPoE login. Username/Password failure or the other end is fubared.)
With this set-up; i am unable to run REPAIR on nvidia LAN connection (unable to restore IP); under the nvidia connection details: packets are being sent, but none recieved...
Ok, now get this.... I plug ethernet cord into the MAC LAN port; go to Network Connections; packets are being sent/recieved //// I am able to repair the connection.... yet the broadband link light = solid orange still!!
Next, I use the USB connection for the new modem, it asks for software/drivers... place install CD in... all lights = green... I AM able to connect!!!!!!!
probably, problem was i didn't load software from CD with the ethernet connection goin... !? (me = idiot !)
I'm gonna reinstall WinXP now... and hope to duplicate results, but on the ethernet wire (running SBC software)... if all else fails, i'll just prob set up the USB set-up..!
Thanks for your patience fellas...

IS my MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum FRIED!??

Ok I am assembling my first computer right now. I have the Motherboard (msi K8N Neo2 Platinum nForce 3 Ultra Socket 939) a gig of corsair pc3200 RAM, a Samsung 7200RPM hardrive, a Samsung DOuble layer CD/DVD burner, 5 fans, and AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (NCC). But when I plug everything into the motherboard, all the fans start spinning everything looks like its ine except the IDE ports. My CD-ROM wont go on and I just got it! everything is new out of the box. I have a single drive, the IDE ribbon conecting from the motherboard, then the master connecting to the CD-ROM. The jumper is still in there. The "system part" of the IDE ribbon is plugged into the IDE-1 on the motherboard. And my harddrive is SATA, when I plug that in, it doesnt look like its working either! All my power cables are fine because when I plug them into the fans they work...any suggestions?

Yapyap,
would have been nice to post solution.
Drop Ht from 5 to 4 in bios - cell menu as soon as you can get into bios.
How to clear the CMOS
1) disconnect the power cable.
2) push the power button to drain the capacitors
3) Move the CMOS jumper to the clear position, from it's original 1-2 position to 2-3
4) Wait a minute to be sure the CMOS has been cleared. Take your Time
5) Return the CMOS jumper to it's original position 1-2
6) Plug in power cable.
7)restart computer
8) enter bios and select load optimized Bios defaults - save & exit
9) let pc reboot, if you have any settings you want changing do them now.
like HT Settings hard disk boot order etc.,
10) hopefully youll boot

K8N Neo2 Platinum is dead?!?

Hi all!
I've got a problem with my computer. After sending it to Standby, it wouldn't start again. AT ALL! There is nothing happening when I press the power button, even after disconnecting the power. Just the Power-LED is on, everything else stays quiet. No fans, no harddrives, no beeps...
I already tried another power supply, didn't help. I also unmounted everything from my mobo except the CPU, but still no result. It just won't do anything. ??? If it would at least tell my something with some error codes from the speaker or the D-Bracket...
Has somebody got any clue what is happening?
System:
K8N Neo2 Platinum
A64 3200+ Venice E6
4x512 MB Corsair VS
ATI R9800 Pro
I would really appreciate help!
Greetings,
Kristofer

Quote from: Schwede on 20-May-06, 17:38:49
Well, I'm gonna. Doesn't leave me much choice, but first I will test my CPU on someone elses board.
Nice illustration
Since I have to swap my mobo, I will upgrade to an nForce4 anyway and get a new graphics card (actually I ordered already ).
Then I have to get a new PSU anyway.
However since I cannot do this within the next 3 weeks, I am still trying to get my system running.
Well, if you have a mobo to try the CPU in, great, that's a good way to rule that out. If I had that option available, I would lean towards just swapping out the board since I am already going to have both machines basically torn apart. I usually don't swap CPU's without taking the whole board out of the case and POST testing it before mounting. I think that would tell me more than just taking my CPU out and putting it in another machine...but that's me.
The 939 & 754 sockets are much easier to deal with as opposed to the Socket A when the board is still mounted. I've seen bad things happen by not having the right angles and room to work in...
It all really depends on your scenario and what's available to you. Sometimes we are limited in our options since we don't have an inventory as enthusiasts opposed to a system builder. Not to mention the hassle of bringing your gear somewhere or having a friend bringing theirs to you.
Just remember if you are using a different chipset, not to let it try and boot to the OS. Really, all you need to do is see if will POST.
That metaphor is my favorite and gets the point across rather well

SATA HDD installation on K8N Neo2 Platinum, Non-RAID, Non-Bootable

Hi-
I’m a rank newbie on this forum (first post). I have a K8N Neo2 Platinum Mobo, which I’ve recently gotten up and running, with Windows XP-Pro SP2 installed on a single IDE drive. I would now like to add 2 SATA drives. I don’t need or want the SATA drives to operate in a RAID array, nor do I want them to be bootable. I want to use them independently for data storage. I read the following thread (I am posting here on a separate thread per the author’s wishes not to get his original thread too junked-up) :
Single SATA or Multiple Drive Array Setup FAQ
I have not yet plugged-in either of my SATA drives, because I don’t want to risk corrupting my existing boot (IDE) drive. I just had a few questions about the procedure given in the referenced thread, in the Single Drive Setup:
- Step 14 States: “Make sure the “RAID Mode” is Stripping and Striping Block at 64k or Optimal. Hit F7 (Finish)”. Is this correct for a single non-boot drive?
- Step 22 States: “As most of you know when you enter the Setup for Win2k/WinXP you will need to hit F6 to load additional drivers for other SCSI devices.” I assume this means I need to boot from the Windows CD. Is this true even if I already have Windows installed on an IDE HDD on this system? At what point will I need to hit <F6> ? Will I be prompted to do so?
- I have downloaded (from the MSI website) the NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER & NVIDIA Nforce Storage Controller (20 files, 1.3 MB total). Should I put these on a floppy? Or can I access them from a directory on my OS HDD?
- Should I go ahead and plug-in both of the 2 SATA drives I want to add to the system before beginning the driver installation? The only reason I would consider installing them one at a time is if it eliminated any confusion between RAID vs. independent (I want independent operation). If I do install them one at a time, do I have to install the driver twice?
Any help would be appreciated.
- the bbdude

OK Thanks JeanGuy and ssjkakaroto,
I have connected both of my SATA drives. They are enabled in BIOS but not set to RAID. I booted up to Windows on my IDE drive. In Disk Manager, the display shows Disk 0 (C: System), Disk 1 and Disk 2 as uninitialized, and my DVD (D:) drive. At this point, I could probably go ahead and run the Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard to get these disks formatted and be dome with ot now. Before I do that though, I just have a couple of more questions.
- I had already loaded the nVidia nForce3 system driver prior to installing the SATA drives, but I went ahead and did that again after installing the SATA drives and restarting Windows. I used Live Update, which went out to the MSI site and found version 5.03 of the nVidia nForce3 system driver. I'm not sure how to find the "Nvidia 5.10 driver package which include the latest SATA driver", ssjkakaroto referred-to. The Live Update install procedure did ask if I wanted to install IDE driver and I said yes. It then asked to over-write what I already had there (I said yes to that too). As the file names streamed-by, I though I saw some filenames with nv... listed. So, bottom line, is I'm not sure if I have the lates and greatest nVidia SATA drivers installed. How can I find out what drivers are installed?
- As I mentioned in my previous post, I have also downloaded and unzipped the NVIDIA RAID CLASS DRIVER & NVIDIA Nforce Storage Controller (20 files, 1.3 MB total) from the MSI site; however, I don't know how to "install" this now that I have the files. There are a couple of .exe and a .bat file (bit no setup.exe).
I may already have everything I need to partition and format these drives. I just want to bve sure I'm not skipping a step that is essential to optimal performance.
Thanks -
- bbdude

K8N Neo2 Platinum - satisfied except cold boot

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