K9A2 Platinum RAM issues

Hey.
I recently purchased this board and have been trying to get it to run stable using 4 sticks of twinmos PC2-5300 2GB DDR2. I managed to get it running to the point where I was able to boot into windows by setting the ram voltage and CL in the bios. But after getting a blue screen while running vistas windows experience test. I am unable to get the machine to boot with anymore then 1 stick of ram in there. Is there any extra settings in the bios that I can use to make it more stable? The only settings I changed was the first three in the advanced ram timing option, which i set to 5 for each one. I skipped the fourth option and set the fifth option to 15, I also adjusted the ram voltage to 1.80 V. I also tried upping the voltage to 1.90 but it did not seem to help. My full system specs are as follows.
MSI K9A2 Platinum
2x HD2900XT
4x Twinmos PC2-5300 2GB DDR2
AMD Sempron 3000+
Western Digital 1TB SATAII 7200 rpm HDD
Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Can't say, maybe CPU-z programmers are not that far yet on reading that info.
It involves a whole lot of AMD techdoc reading and testing to read values out of the CPU, and they changed the memory controller / working another time, so I can imagine it will take a few more version for them to have that working.
BTW dude, see FAQ (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php#faq)
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  • I tried MSI. K9A2 Platinum Support issues.

    Do not buy MSI.... Buyer beware.
    I have the MSI K9A2 Platinum motherboard. Now the board runs fine. However I find it very hard to take this company seriously anymore.
    6 months ago I tried Flashing the Bios for a CPU upgrade I wanted. MSI's website boasts its mother boards that have 64 bit capabilities. However if you use a 64bit OS. Namely Windows XP or Windows Vista. You are in big trouble. The Live updater doesn't work with it. Not at all. Install it and it gives you errors that it will not launch.
    Now any one that has flashed a bios before will say. "Okay I will do it manually." (Or if you don't know what your doing don't touch the Bios) So you download the Image file you need. Launch your boot disk from the A: Drive and well you can't access the Image file you have placed on your C: drive because hey it doesn't recognize Sata. So pray you have an old IDE laying around or you will have to load it to a cd.  Oh but, hey again you have sata still doesn't see it. So usually you load it onto the disk. No big deal right? Well now on their readme it warns against Flashing from a floppy or CD (If you don't understand what I meant I am saying they warn against having the flash file on the boot disk Floppy or CD). So because of this I called MSI and had them walk me through the process because I wanted to be sure I am doing this right. I have done it many times before but for some reason it's a fricking process now. So we made a CD booted and ran it like you would off the A: drive everything went smoothly and then it froze. at 60% into the flash it froze so the guy tells me just reboot. I warn him that if I reboot the Motherboard is junk. He insists it should be fine. I reboot and as expected nothing happens because it was a bad flash.
    So they say just send it back they give me an RMA number I remove the board package it and take pictures of its condition. I say again I took pictures. (The reason I did this is if you look at the reviews of this board on Tiger Direct there is complaints of them getting the board and claiming it is damaged. They email you a picture and claim it something you did. they then send it back to you.)
    So I send it out. Wouldn't you guess they say it's Damaged they send me some nice pics in an email. So I send my pics of the board in the condition I sent it. There is no damage on the board they can see. They now claim it's the shippers fault. Shipper insists package arrived in great condition. MSI still refuses to help even though they know I sent them the board in great condition.So MSI is very poor in taking care of it's customers through RMA
    So I send it back to Cyberpower. I explain to them what happened and they replaced the board free of charge and flashed it to current specs at the time. Bios Version 1.4. Now I work with computers. Part of my work is seeing the ease of how user friendly things are like Bios updates. How new processors perform. So now I was stuck in a dilemma 6 months after the first Now I need Bios version 1.6 installed. Well this time I took it to geek squad. They said it shouldn't take long and I waited in the store 3 hours and watched this person pull their hair out. All the normal ways of flashing the Bios don't work yet again. He goes to use the Live Updater and again 64 bit systems not supported. So he is baffled because why would a company that supports a 64 bit Processor not support the OS. Good question. Now I see more of the geek squad coming over all them ask it's not MSI is it. They get their answer and sigh. Now what they thought was a 15 minute procedure turns into me having to leave the system for a night.
    The next day It is completed. What did they have to do? They installed a IDE drive booted from a floppy and loaded off the drive with the Flash file. Having to take the PC apart taking out Cd roms and running the ide via my CD rom IDE. Now I know a lot of you are going to say they didn't know what they where doing and I am telling you They did everything I did which is what MSI walked me through and hit the same road blocks. during the Reboot one of the guys wanted to try MSI live updater 3 and some how it worked..
    So I called MSI today and asked them if they now support 64 bit OS with their instant updater. The answer was no. They stated they still do not support that. I checked my  Bios version and some how it did worked. Who knows maybe they did it when they had all the other stuff out and apart and I just didn't notice. But MSI is Claiming the contrary. So I am happy that I have the update. However knowing that I am going to need to update again I now have come to the conclusion that MSI is not a user friendly board in fact it took 4 people at geek squad some of whom I know and see do flashes all the time and they had trouble. I do flashes all the time and I have trouble.
    The bottom line here is MSI needs to hop on board with what they offer. Everyone is going to the 64 bit OS mainly because of RAM. They want to run Crysis, Farcry 2, Mass effect, and have the fastest processors available. They want the best video cards Available. But if your manufacturer Builds 64 bit based motherboards that are suppose to support the AM2 Platform then you would think that they would at least have an updater capapable of working with those systems. Now it's not impossible to make something like this work, Nor is it hard. There are other manufacturers who do have easier ways to flash than MSI.
    Playstation 3 does firmware update all the time over the net. What is a firmware update? to put it simply it is a Bios flash to update how the machine works with newer software or to take advantage of existing technoligy in the PS3. Which is put simply just a computer. If a company that makes these systems can't even get a live updater to work or does not have the ability to walk you over how to do the flash the flash over the phone correctly why waste your time and money with a lazy company. I have an Asus machine that flashes.
    Take this however you want. It could be taken as venting or a warning. Hopefully the MSI forum admin will forward these concerns to MSI before he bans me. 

    I am not here to argue but, the fact that you as an administrator can sit here and say there is no money in 64 bit obviously are speaking from a point of view of Bias.
    Walk into any Bestbuy, call any Dell call center,  Call CyberpowerPC.com, or call Microsoft. These are the systems that are in demand.
    Best buy states that there 64 Bit OS based computers are flying off the shelves. and that 90 percent of the computers they now carry are 64 bit installed with Vista.  In approxomatly 11 months windows will only be making Vista and the New windows 7 in 64 bit. It doesn't matter what you think it does. It matters what the market is demanding. There is tons of money in this and if MSI doesn't get on board soon they are gonna lose to competitors that do.
    Where would we be if we stuck with 8 bit? What would have happended to the gaming industry if Sega never came out with their 16 bit platform?
    Mention MSI to any geek squad guy and they just laugh and say go Asus. Sure you may not value their opinion. But the public who take it to them cause they don't understand computers does.They even say They(Geek squad) are easier to maintain with processor updates with some one who has experience that means something too. Sure I know to use the Utilities now because of these forums which I am thankful for. However: I represent those who are not capable and computer literate and the idea here that we should let them fend for themselves is preposterous.
    Plus the fact that you don't use 32 bit software does not speak for those of us that do. There is 64 bit software out there. If your going to sit here and represent MSI. First you need some suggestions and you don't have to take em.
    First off answer questions with out the criticism to the 64 bit OS. Just try and help the people regardless of your opinion.
    Secondly you need to lose this idea that there is no market for 64bit software. There is. Trust me I report to people who want to see what is in demand. 64 bit is in great demand (Mainly because of ram and yes people don't realize that there really never going to use it. However; The market is pushing this so when it does come out and they do start using it there won't be a mad rush to update everything again.)
    Last... Maybe you should get on this company as well. This may be a user forum but, to be honest I am here criticizing them as on many other sites so they can hopefully get word that there are many people aside from me who are complaining about there support and they can improve it. MSI has some great innovations but they need to make sure they support all the new hardware and software that goes along with being in this type of business. Criticism helps drive us as Human, as companies to do better.
    However I do value you and your opinion and will even be submitting a report of this forum and how helpful it is to those who are not so good with the computer or just starting out doing it on their own. You can lock this if ya like. Please don't take offense either as I think you have some knowledge that is really worth sharing to many others. I have seen some of your other posts after your replies and you definitely have some great input. Thanks for letting me debate with you.

  • K9A2 Platinum - RAM at 800 instead of 1066

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    I need some help here if anyone is able to help me I would appreciate it. I just upgraded to the Phenom II x2 (940) AM+2.  Everything is fine, but at this time I would like to move to PC8500 Ram from PC6400.  I am waiting for my new gskil 4G 1066 RAm.  It is supposed to run at 2.1v with timings of 5-5-5-15.  I am guessing my bios should auto sense the ram, but in the event that it does not I am not clear on what settings I need to change.  I noted that if i change the timings from 1:1 (settings for the 800, and it shows ram to be 800) to something like 1:3 66, it changes the ram to 1066.  Would this be the only setting I need to change, or do I need to change the other auto settings for the CAS etc to 5-5-5-5-15 and I guess which ones, there is a a large list of settings with many letters such as Trs etc.  It also appears that the voltage settings are on auto, but i dont seem to be able to change those even by hitting enter etc.  Sorry to sound so dumb, but I am just not sure here.  Thanks.

  • K9N PLATINUM RAM Issue

    Hello there,
    I have the following:
        * AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
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    You are using a 32bit version of Windows.  A 32bit operating system provides an address decode space of 4GB.  Not all of the address space can be used for the system memory.  Part of it needs to be reserved for addressing other devices (so that they can function).  That is why it is actually impossible to full address 4GB of RAM with a 32bit OS.  The amount of usable memory may very between 2.5 and 3.5 GB, depending on the system configuration.
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  • P6n platinum ram issues

    Having trouble getting the system to stay stable with all 4 ram chips in, it runs fine with any combination of the 2 chips in, but when i stick all 4 in there i get blue screened.  I have the voltage at 2.1v and timings at 4-5-4-18     running bios version1.4. Any suggestions?  Also I'm not trying to overclock at all just trying to get it to run under normal settings.

    Quote from: Val76 on 04-January-08, 02:31:27
    You sir are welcome to stop by for a beer anytime! It works     I am guessing that vista never downloaded that patch because I was never able to get it running with more than 3gigs of ram, this seems like it would be a common problem and I am surprised that I did not see that solution earlier in my searching. I appreciate all the help you have offered.
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  • K9A2 platinum Keyboard issues

    Hi Everyone been along time since my last post.
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    Yes, good point. Windows may have a poor install of a keyboard hanging around in it's vast memory. Said by a wise man:
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    Mod. in purple.

  • K9A2 Platinum memory issues

    Hi,
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    What happens when using both sticks of Ram is that Vista gets to the green loading bar, then resets. BIOS goes straight through without problems. But occasionally it will boot with two sticks after a couple of resets, but this is so infrequent as to make the system unusable with two sticks of RAM.
    However with one stick it will boot vista fine, and I haven't encountered any errors/BSOD or anything like that ..... yet.
    Based on previous suggestions I have been running a few different diagnostics using Memtest with one stick and both sticks, so far no errors have occurred when running tests 1 (3 passes) & 5 (30 passes) with no errors in either set up. I have yet to run test 7 as suggested, but will be able to this evening. If the system does check out as stable I would be ok updating the bios myself
    Bosskiller suggested the longer 5 & 7 tests here
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    Do longer test with >>Memtest86<<, details can be found here:
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    2) Would it be best to flash the bios with just one stick installed since that (so far) is running a stable system?

  • K9A2 Platinum, freezing (total lockup) + running 4x1GB 1066MHz ram

    Hi,
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    Quote from: newton77 on 30-April-08, 22:13:55
    ok, i will ask them about the LEDs.   
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    got my reply from support about the LED's, not as good as bas's
    Question
    LED's on my motherboard
    Hi i have 3 LED's on my motherboard (K9A2 platinum) and they are not in the manual can you tell me what they are for,.
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    Posted: Apr 30, 2008 by adam 
    All Posts 
    Dear,
    Thank you for your support. There isn't any LED lights on this motherboard. Do you mean that the lights on the USB port?
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    Posted: May 09, 2008 by MSI
    now thats funny!!
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  • LED's on K9A2 Platinum board?! + RAM

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    Quote from: xmark21 on 01-May-08, 16:30:34
    Well, I have tried to measure how many watts my computer uses.
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  • 1066 ram settings on K9A2 Platinum

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    Yes, definitely read the sticky. It will help you out.
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  • K9A2 Platinum - Install to RAID - Memory issue

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    It won't run 1066 with all four sticks. Simple as this you already found the solution either you have 8 gigs and ddr2-800 or 4gigs at 1066.

  • K9A2 Platinum latest drivers issue.

    I have here a K9A2 Platinum, a Phenom II 940 with default clocks, a pair of Kingston 2Gb modules running DDR2-1066 5-5-5-15 @ 2.2v, a GeForce 8800GTS 640Mb and two Seagate 7200.11 drives in AMD RAID.
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  • K9A2 Platinum v2

    This K9A2 Platinum v2 of mine has a lot of wierd issues.
    -The board never been 100% stable during a week under XP SP2 or under SP 3 (like my KT3Ultra2).I always had to try different drivers for the video,mobo,sound and different timings for my ram modules.
    -My Geil Ultra(golden plated) DDR 800Mhz with 4-4-4-12 at 2.1V  ,timings specified on the sticker ,never worked properly though Memtest and Prime 95 tests passed without problems.They werent stable with BIOS 1.2 not even at a lower frequency.The modules are reported by Everest with the name DDR 800 4-4-4(without the 12 like on the sticker).Acording to the web reviews this modules should of worked at 3-3-3-9 2.2V\2.3V without problems not to say about 4-4-4-12.
    -To be able to boot under 60 seconds i had to put the hard drive to SATA I.
    -My USB Logitech G5 laser mouse(last revision) had some kind of lag while entering games,more preciselly there was a delay of 20 seconds before the sensitivity tweaked in the mouse utility was available like it had to grow from 0 to the disired value during those 20 seconds or so.This lag was eliminated when the hard drive was lowered to SATA I transfer speed.
    -The sound loop lock ups while gaming cooled down when i was using Forceware 175.16 but not totally.This happened with the onboard audio and with the X-fi too.
    -2 days ago i updated the BIOS 1.2 to 1.5 with the hope of having a more stable system under XP SP 3(once i updated to SP 3 i got some blue screens so i considered that maybe is really needed an update).The update went smooth but after the update i wanted to install a "new" SONY floppy drive,i installed it using the cable supplied by MSI.At boot i observed that the Floppy unit led was ON ,light that normally is on when a floppydisk is inserted and used.The floppy drive was recognized by Windows but every time a floopy disk was inserted a message with no disk inserted appeared.I thought then that there is something wrong with Windows so i tested a workable bootable disk and the system refused it though using the F11 boot menu.Then installed the Floopy disk into the old computer thinking that the drive is defective.KT3Ultra 2 worked properly with the drive no problems what so ever and the light was working only when diskette inserted.The standby voltage doesnt apply here the led is of when computer is off.
    -Then, with BIOS 1.5 observed that in the BIOS when trying to set tRAS manually to 12(with the 1.2 BIOS it worked) , Memset ,CPU Z and Everst were reporting always a value of X+2(if i set 14 in BIOS the value read by the info programs was 16).A similar behaviour for tRAS was not observed with BIOS 1.2 but it was observed with another timing more insignifiant that i dont remember that one at this moment.
    -When clearing the CMOS i observed another undocumented thing(along with leds under the ram modules), near the Clear Cmos jumper(between the Cmos jumper and the Fintek chip) there are 2 terminals of another jumper,what is that for?The manual is silent.
    -At this moment ,with BIOS 1.5(without the unnecesarelly floppy) with Windows XP SP3 and with timings 4-4-4-18 the board seems stable but my questions is if this board is defective ,or if this model is prone to engeenering flaws or I just hit into some BIOS incompatibilities with the components i bought?

    Check the SPD with CPU-z, AMD's use the JEDEC timings.
    EPP timings are only suiteable for Intel's with nVidia chipsets, you can not use them with AMD as the path is too short.
    All your problems can be explained by this.
    I'm very sorry, but I care less about the numbers on the stick, I only care about the number IN the stick.
    Else post the SPD programmed timings, I bet that the timings written on the stick are EPP and NOT JEDEC.
    This is NOT a motherboard problem as the memory controller is INSIDE the CPU and not like Intel in the chipset.
    Many people make this mistake and try to set too tight timings, with unstable/slow results.
    The ATI board is better and faster board then the nVidia, even that, it still uses the JEDEC timings as the CPU can't use EPP.
    As for the floppy, complain to Microsoft please, they don't allow non-floppy install (if you don't slipstream), has nothing to do with MSI or any board at all.

  • Question about Raid set up with (SB600) K9A2 Platinum V 1.0

    I am having trouble setting up my raid.  I am using Windows XP Pro and go through the usual set up procedures using F6 command then installing the drivers etc.  Once I get everything up and running installed on Raid 0 the computer works very well for a few days.  Then later BSOD.  The first was a 0000007b stop error, then I got the system back up again only to have it a few days then another BSOD 00000024 stop error.  This time I was not able to bring it back.  I thought my problem was linked to a RAM issue as I was using OCZ PC2 6400 DDR2 OCZ2G8008GQ (2X2GB).  The reason I thought this was when I went to the motherboard site for approved ram, this ram was not there, then on OCZ site it was also not tested, then I went to newegg and used thier motherboard ram compatability screener and it did not show up either.  So I bought the Giel ram and am now trying to set it back up again though I could not get it back still.  So I finally just reformatted the drives (using another computer and a hard drive enclosure)and am getting ready to reinstall everything.  I want to make sure I am using the right SB600 drivers for my application.  I should be selecting AHCI X86 or x64.  This does pertain to the operating system (I am using Win XP 32 Bit) or the processor (I am using the Kuma Athlon X2 7750 2.7Ghz)
    I believe I should be selecting the x86 drivers when installing windows.  Am I right?  I just want to make sure I do not screw anything up so as to bring on the horrible BSODs again.  I realize this could be some driver issue as well that could have caused this.  I did everything I could to make sure it was not the hard drives.
    The last question I have is:  In order to ensure proper operation of the dual channel ram, (I have read the book, still confused a bit), I must install the ram with one stick in the first slot nearest the CPU and the other in the first slot of the opposite color?  In this case Green/Orange slots.
    Mainboard: MSI K9A2 Platinum 790FX
    CPU: Athlon X2 Kuma 7750 AM2+ 2.7Ghz Processor
    CPU-Cooler: Factory Supplied
    RAM: 4GB (2X2GB) G Skill F2-8500CL5D-4GBPI DDR2-1066 Dual Channel
    GPU: AMD790FX
    VIDEO: PowerColor HD4830 512MB GDDR3
    HDD: 2 Velociraptor 150 10000 rpm drives WD1500HLFS
    DVD: ASUS DRW-22B1LT SATA Drive
    Floppy: YES
    Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready
    OS: Windows XP Pro SP1 (Updated to SP3)

    I was just trying to obtain the fastest load times/install times.  When the machine was first running it was very quick with no cpu temps running beyond 34C, no abnormal performance.  This is my wifes computer though.  Things began to go astray after she updated through windows update to SP3.  I am now using a slipstreamed CD with SP3 already on it.  She said she was clicking on the internet explorer "E" icon and it just shut off.  THen when it rebooted (it was still set that way in windows recovery) it started loading windows then BSOD 0000007b error.  I fixed it by finally getting into windows recovery and running fixboot, then fixmbr, then chkdsk /r /f.  It started working fine again.  Then later maybe two days later it happend again this time wihtout the restarting.  She was working on something else this time and it shutdown again.  This time when it tried ot reload windows I was getting the ntfs.sys issue with a 00000024 stop error.  I could not do the same magic with windows recovery any longer.  When I tried it indicated it repaired the boot, the mbr, but when I tried to run the chkdsk, it gave me disk read errors, such as "this disk has unrecoverable errors".  I used Western Digital test programs on the drives by removing them and installing them into an enclosure and taking them to a good computer.  One drive I could see in windows and it reflected 140G/B, the other would pick up but not in my computer.  It also showed the drive as having the entire quantity as the RAID together had of 298G/B versus the real size of the drive 150G/B.  I just figured that was the drive that was set up as LD 1 in the RAID setup (prior to windows) and possible was the drive with he boot sector on it???  I could get another drive and include it into the array, but then just figure I will have to worry about 3 drives versus 2.  She keeps improtant backup stuff on an external drive.  I will tone down the ram to 800.  Should I set the latency in Bios though to the 5-5-5-15?  or just leave everything at auto like I hade done before?  Though this ram is new and was not in the computer when this happened.  I had replaced the other OCZ Gold stuff and put in the G Skill stuff I have now.  I had previously stated Giel, but it is G Skill, sorry about that.  I may just do what you say, guess sleep on it and decide whether to just install the drives with OS/Programs on one and data on the other. 

  • Is new MSI K9A2 Platinum DOA?

    Bought a new MSI K9A2 Platinum Version 1 MOBO off eBay, installed with spacers between board and case and installed my current hardware. Power came on but, pc would not post. Monitor kept showing no signal, power and HD LED came on for 1 to 2 seconds and Green and White LEDs on MB came on and stayed on. So I cleared CMOS, took out one video card and NIC so was pretty much down to bare minimum, one video card, one stick ram, CPU, HD (SATA) and MOBO but, still suffered same issue. Is MOBO DOA?
    Existing Hardware from my PC:
    Antec Neopower 500 (500 watts) power supply
    AMD Athlon X2 6000+ (3.02 GHz) (Windsor, 90nm, AM2 (940))
    Cooler Master Aquagate Viva CPU Liquid Cooling System
    2 x 1 GB RAM Mushkin: (XP2-8500, Part Number: 996535)
    1066MHz Latency: 5-5-4-12 Parity: Unbuffered
    Voltage: 2.2-2.35V Pins: 240
    Module: 128Mx64 Chip: 64x8
    2 X ATI Radeon 1950 GT running in Crossfire mode (installed both cards in dark blue ports)
    Fujitsu 300 GB HD SATA
    Sony DVD RW
    Bigfoot NIC model: Killer M1
    ATX Case with 4 X 90 MM Case fans
    Initially thought could be the video cards but, owner's guide and MSI Tech Support state that K9A2 can support up to 16X, so I assume that also means it support PCIe 1.0 as well as PCIe 2.0.
    Have read on MSI forum that power could be the issue but, tend to believe if I take it down to bare minimum (CPU, CPU Cooler, 1 Stick of Ram, 1 Video Card, HD (SATA), 2 X 90mm case fans and MOBO)  that it should have booted up at the point.
    Link to new board, MSI K9A2 Platinum, specs: http://us.msi.com/product/p_spec.asp...tinum&class=mb
    Link to MOBO owner's guide on MSI, http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=do...1&prod_no=1332
    Any help or ideas?
    Thanks in advance

    Boombox,
    Good morning and thanks for putting my concerns to rest, like I said before, I have to upgrade a part at time.  Next piece is AMD Phenom II X4 955 (hopefully gets here NLT Tuesday) with RAM I purchased last month and did not want to fry them first time I boot up the system.   Plus I am on Day 2 since switch out of my K9A and still no issues
    Also I must weigh in on MSI's RMA process, overall the process is pretty smooth, my issue is with the replacement MOBO.  Guess after they tested my old MOBO (NEW OUT OF THE BOX), they had to replace it.  Replacement board was USED (assuming until failure by previous owner) and had some "Cosmetic issues", 1. Copper Cooling tube is slightly crushed not sure what that does to air flow and 2.  Half of the IDE pins were bent, I can't see thing in front of me, so I had to take a digital picture of IDE plug and blow up so I could see which way to bend them back.  Figure there would be some sort of QC before return but, guess not......
    Assuming since it all relates to this post, once I install CPU and RAM will let those that have taken time out of their day to help me, know what my latest status is.  Again Thanks to all of you, hopefully I can pay back your help in the future.

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