Mega 180 and onboard graphics problems!

Problem is this:
Primary graphics output of my Mega 180 is only displaying in Green, the secondary output is blurred and too bright, no amount of altering settings and installing drivers changes this situation.
Any suggestions.
Piers
Athlon 3000+
Windows XP Pro
Matched pair 512Mb 2700
Diamond Max 160Gb
Onboard Sound/Graphics/LAN

To isolate the problem you should try a different VGA cable and a different monitor.
If those don't help then the problem is with the computer.
Try unplugging it from the wall wait 10 seconds and plug it back in... This is kind of a cure all for many mega 180 ills.
The onboard graphics uses system memory. How much is allocated to it in BIOS. 128 MB is recommended for most home theater types of applications.
Have you tried resetting the BIOS settings to all defaults ?
If you've done all these things and nothing helps it sounds like the board may be bad.

Similar Messages

Mega 180 and Media Center III----looks perfect----is it??

I DON'T want to shell out $1000 for cheap HP/Compaq or whatever which includes Media Center Edition
But I DO like the look and features of Microsoft's Media Center Edition.
In the Manual for the MEGA 180-----Media Center III looks perfect for what I want.
Am thinking of a Mega 180 using onboard video, the MSI TV/Tuner Card, onboard SoundStorm---and a cheap Barton. I already have 2 x 512 of NVidia recommended PC2700 RAM for use with the onboard and almost all other parts----but by the time I'm done----I'd be shelling out around $400
The manual makes everything look good "on paper"----but I see from this forum their are "issues".
Did/does MSI support the 651 model well?? Bios updates----utility and driver updates??
This thing looks like a tremendous alternative to a Microsoft Media Center Edition overpriced machine. And I'm willing to do driver updates and Bios updates----heck, I love a challenge----I just don't like a product that lies about what it can really do.
Worth it----or should I pass.....
Thanks-----John

Quote
Originally posted by johnrr6
Did you try the settings button in MC III that says "Enable Fullscreen"
That may not be it----it may just be a TV setting----but it's the only thing I can think if.
Good Luck,
John
I believe that function is only for viewing the videos from the preview window to fullscreen. I don't think it enables/disables "stretch mode" but i'll try that tonight.
if it works i'll post it here. if not ... well .... same thing i guess

Mega 180 and PC Alert 4

Hello chaps,
Some time ago I posted a thread regarding my relatively new Mega 180 and it's annoying habit of shutting down then only restarting after a few hours unplugged from the mains. There were some helpful responses but unfortunately the problem was never resolved - it just meant I had to shutdown the PC more often.
However, recently the problem is getting worse. I have installed PC Alert 4, but I have no idea what the readings mean. There are four screens which appear to be showing voltages or something, all are in green except for the second one which is frequently red.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!
Any suggestions gratefully received.
Mega 180, 2.8 Ghz, 512 RAM, XP Pro

to determine if the PSU is the problem, remove the cover from your Mega and disconnect all the power connectors to the mega PSU. get a regular ATX PSU (with enough juice of course), sit it next to the mega, and connect the ATX PSU connectors to the Mega (drives, mobo etc). connect the power plug to the ATX PSU and boot up.
note that the LCD display won't function, and you won't get any sound either, but this is only while the mega PSU is not being used.
use your mega as normal, and see if the problem reoccurs. if you get the same problems, then you know its not the PSU. if it all behaves well, then you have to consider a replacement PSU
as i see it you have two choices: you can either scour ebay for a cheap faulty unit being sold for spares (but make sure the PSU is okay before buying!). or you could contact your nearest MSI office and see if they will sell you one
How to contact MSI.
if you're feeling adventurous, you could always check out some other posts here, where users have done away with the mega PSU altogether, and had a regular ATX type sat outside the case as an "external" PSU...

Mega 180 and 9700 Pro: What kind of cooler can i fit on it?

Hi, i'm almosteady to order my MSI Mega 180. When i get it i want to put my 9700 pro into it, it's now working in a water cooled system, and i'm not really impressed with the Hercules cooler it came with. So what i'm asking is: what cooler can i fit on the 9700 pro and it will still fit in the Mega 180?
Some interesting options include:
Arctic VGA Silencer
Zalman ZM80C-HP VGA Heatpipe Cooler
ZM80A-HP
I'm thinking that the zalman's are to big for the case (but i'm not sure), i don't even know if the arctic is going to fit...
I don't want to overclock my system or videocard, so no excessive cooling is required.

Hi,
I'm not familiar with the dimensions of the 9700 Pro, but I think it is going to be a VERY tight fit. Be aware that you have limited space and you're probably going to (partly) block the exhaust from the CPU cooler. Last but not least, the power cables originate from the PSU on the same side as the AGP slot is located.
Perhaps you can read some of the reviews of the Mega 180 on the Net (search Google for "mega 180" and "review") and have a closer look at the pictures that are made from the internals.
Greetz,
JaDi.

Mega 180 and MS MCE 2005

Does anyone know if the mega 180 is compatible with Microsoft Media Centre Edition 2005 as I have loaded the operating system on to the computer but when I open media centre I get an error message stating the video card and/ or drivers are not compatible with MCE 2005, but when you ok this message media centre continues to work ok. This is very annoying if I have to ok this error each time I open the application or is there some drivers out there that could fix this?

Quote from: Tav on 02-March-05, 18:52:34
Thanks very much guys, I have now got MCE working ok. Unfortunately I have recently purchased the MSI TV tuner and found out a couple of ago that it wouldn't work with MCE, can you recommend a TV tuner that would work with the Mega 180 and MCE?
Yep, I use the Hauppauge PVR-500. It's a dual tuner card that runs about 160-190 on the net. It's got a built in splitter on the card that allows you to have one coax cable running into the card and still record two separate shows.
The only caveat I have is that if you are outputting from a Cable Box to the tuner card, the PVR-500 will not be able to use both tuners. I have my TV set up so that the coax is split coming out of the wall. One cable goes to the PVR-500, which allows me to record up to two shows. The other cable goes to my cable box, which then runs to a separate input on the TV. Complicated, and I'm not sure I've even got it optimized correctly.
Matt

Mega 180 and Graphics Cards

Hi i just ordered an mega 180 im just wondering on the best graphics card i can put into this and also if i do will i lose my pci slot to put in the tv tunning card?

Quote from: Nulll on 06-June-05, 21:21:30
Well i have.
I have the 9800 pro and the msi has NOT ENOUGH POWER. Sometimes the screen stays black but everything else loads great (you can hear windows tune). Turning the msi off and on untill you see the bootscreen works. Sometimes i have to boot 5 time in order to get a picture. I think the power core must be replaced for a more powerfull one. Don't know which one is best for this (suggestions welcome)
Sec; The card blocks the airflow, boosting the temp in the msi.
I really regret buying this msi 180, it just can't take the heat and high end video cards :(
It's wrong, sorry but the famous black screen at the windows load has nothing to see with the power. Check the forum and let's have a look at the anakin(?) thread. I got a 6800@GT, no power problem, and I used to have the black screen when I didn't have any additional graphic card. For the temp you'll have some modding but eveything's OK (my temp are max with dm3 or hl2 Proc: 60° Sys: 42° GC°: 65°).
Keep trying, mega is cool.

MEGA 180 and Radeon 9800 Pro/XT

Haven't posted in a while, just wanted to spread a little good. Having a MEGA 180 is a little limiting with power supply and space issues etc but i've got a cracking setup working here :-)
I bought the MSI RX9800PRO TD128, despite a 300watt power supply warning for the card it works perfectly in the MEGA, but the good news doesn't stop there, the graphics chip is not a standard 9800PRO R350 core, for some reason it has the R360 core from the 9800XT, overclocking is a breeze with the ATI Tool. It comes default with a 378 core - 338 mem setting, I have saved a profile in ATI Tool with the XT settings of 412 core - 365 mem and they work a treat in UT, Q3, Tomb AOD and i've even stressed the card in 3DMark05 for quite some time and it just works, I dare say I could push it even higher but I'm happy getting XT performance for PRO money :-)
Overclocker New Zealand have even managed to get it up to an insane 479 core - 391.5 mem see http://www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/review.php?id=04vga00r9800promsi00000r9800pro0105
There is also another great thread all about this card at http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showindex.php?t=118366&highlight=rx9800
The ATI Tool is quite good, i've even created a profile for 2D that is underclocked for when I'm in windows so it keeps my system a little cooler with the XT settings set to kick in when I start up 3D, coupled with a Barton 2800+, 1Gb of PC2700 and the 120Gb Maxtor with 8Mb of cache and it is all just working well together, Win XP Pro with SP2 is rock solid, well it is for me anyway, :-)
Couple of things to know.
Win XP finds the RX as an XT, so no need to try and flash the bios, it isn't an XT PCB anyway, just an XT core.
As there is no heat sensor for the core ATIs Overdrive isn't available but you can get the ATI Tool from loads of places on the net, here is a link anyway http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/
happy at last :-)
J.

Dont know if this will help but I had the same problem awhile back with an Asus A7N8X deluxe that I built for a friend. Sometimes it would initiate the monitor and others it would not. This drove me nuts for about a week, I tried everything that I could think of. This is what I did to remedy the situation somewhat.
Go to the ATI website and download the catalyst removal software and also download the Catalyst 3.7 driver from there "older" drivers page.
Now boot into windows and remove the ATI drivers and control panel from add remove programs, DO NOT REBOOT!
Run the ATI driver removal tool.
Shut down the machine, REMOVE THE POWER CORD,clear cmos, set the jumper for CPU fsb to 100mhz (safemode) and REMOVE your ram. Boot the machine, you will get a series of beeps indicating that the memory is not installed. Shut the machine down, REMOVE THE POWER CORD, Put the memory back in, reset the CPU fsb jumper to its normal position, and clear Cmos again. (this series of actions also solved my no display issue on my Mega 180 using the onboard graphics).
Now boot into bios and set it up the way you want then boot into windows and when windows tells you that it has found new hardware do not let it automatically install anything (cancel it). Now run the 3.7 catalyst setup and follow the instructions.
I am not sure why this worked to solve the issue but it did for me on both my Mega and the above mentioned system. I think there may be some odd conflict with the Nforce chipset and the ATI drivers and or Card bios.
Why it worked on my Mega is a mystery, I am using the onboard graphics and would have the system turn on with fans working and all but would have no display out.

Mega 180 and MSI FX5200-TD128

Hi all and thanks in advance for any help.
I just bought MEGA 180 a some more things, here is my current config:
Box - Mega 180
CPU - Barton 2500+
Memory - 2x256 - 400Mhz from Phoenix Technologies
Disk - 120 Gigs HD - Seagate Ultraquiet
DVD Rom - Leadtek Silent
PVR PCI Card - PVR 350 from Hauppage
Everything works fine.
Now I have an MSI FX5200-TD128 Graphics Card and decided to try it out.
With some difficulty I managed to put it in but now .... the computer simply does not start .. well sort off.
Once I hit the power on button three things can happen:
* Computer starts but the display is not on, and eventually it locks.
* Computer starts with some gittery on the screen and it locks
* Computer starts, I hit the del key but I can't even get into the BIOS.
In either case the OS never boots.
My question is,
* Do I need to set something on the BIOS before I install the card such as, increase the AGP voltage or something like that?
* Can it be that my memory is just BAD for it?
* Can it be that my AGP slot is just BAD?
* Do I need to setup the BIOS prior to the operation?
* Is this just that my MSI card is too power hungry, which I think it strange as it is from MSI, its the latest model of its type?
Please help me, and again thanks in advance.
Nuno
PS: By the way, my BIOS is V3.30 downloaded two days ago from Live Update

Hi,
Managed to get it working. Here is what I did in case anyone has the same problem as mine.
1) Take a memory DIMM out, a let one just stay there. This will get you a memory total of 256 Mgs and your system will now boot.
2) Get to the BIOS settings.
3) Choose the option concerning DIMM's and performance (third option I think).
4) In the third option select Manual. This will allow you to set specific options for the memory.
5) Select Auto in the option concerning CPU / DIMM transfer rating.
6) Select High Performance in the 7th or 8th option concerning your DIMM settings.
7) Save the BIOS
8) Put the DIMM back in
9) Start your system and voila it works.
Best regards,
Nuno

Mega 180 and ATI AIW

Hi!
Found some posts on the subject of getting an ATI All-In-Wonder card to work with a Mega 180 system, but didn't find anyone with a solution.
Would it be possible to use my old ATI Radeon 9200 AIW card with the Mega 180?
Currently i use the onboard VGA and the 8606-40 TV card and everything has been working pretty much perfectly all the way from first installing Windows XP.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
- Niclas

I'm using an AIW 9000 with no problems, except it was a git to actually get in the slot; took over an hour of careful manipulation and general frustration.

Mega 180 and ATI trouble

Cheers,
Im having some trouble with my new Mega 180:
Im trying to get it working with an ATI All-In-Wonder Pro 128, however after inserting the card im unable to get any output from any vga plug (both the ATI and the onboard) its just completely black, no bios memory count, nothing. Still WinXP boots properly, there is no lockup of the machine, just no vga output.
First i thought it was a faulty ATI card, but it works fine in other machines, then i thought it might be a faulty agp slot on the 180, but other agp cards work fine.
My setup is as follows:
Mega 180
Athlon 2600+ Barton
512 Meg (2x256) Corsair XMS2700
ATI AIW Pro 128
Has anyone else been down this road and know why it doesnt work / how to fix it / why it will never work etc?
cheers,
Eivind Nag

Hmm...
I Guess i had the same problem, only i didn't take the AGP-card out to setup the BIOS: I Used the BIOS reset jumper, and with this i could boot with the Radeon 9600PRO with picture until i resetted or restarted the system. (could also install the catalyst drivers with no problem). But if you don't set the bios after you booted, the system CAN reset or turned on and off.
This trick worked every time when i resetted the BIOS. So it's clearly a problem in the BIOS. There would be a New BIOS version some weeks ago, but it seems like it's gonna take a while. We'll just have to wait......
Greetingz,
ShadowGuy

Mega 180/Media Player/Graphic Card/TV-Out

Hi,
after very long research I decided to use Mega 180 as a dedicated PC for media center purpose and to connect it directly to my TV (Siemens 100 Hz real flat 16:9) and to upgrade my second PC and to connect the two PCs wirelesly and to use Media Portal software.
And then I have started to read related posts and forums. But this time I learned that there are new issues I have to deal with.
1. TV-out: The TV-Out of Mega 180 is not good enough on a TV. My question is do I have to buy another powerful graphic card? I need recommendation. My TV has composite and scart inputs.
2. Media Portal: This software has lack of some features. If I use MCE 2005, will it be better?
3. If I use a video converter, will it help me to find better picture on my TV?
Yes bodies, unfortunately there is no way to find the best solution. And I am at the final stage. If this solution does not run, I will give up. I need your recommendations.

This is copied from another reply I made today. The Mega 180 can drive a TV just fine. But you need to spend alot of time making it work.
How you hook up to your TV depends on your available TV connections and your quality standard. The Mega 180 does have an SVideo output. I don't use this however. I have a VGA input port on my 42 inch plasma monitor. It accepts VGA 640 X 480, 800 x 600, or 1024 X 768 standard computer resolutions. It also accepts 480P or 1080i TV inputs using the VGA port. Many quality TV monitors have a DVI port or component video. These would require some sort of physical adapter to attach to a Mega PC.
So I actually run in 1080i mode most of the time. This makes DVD's and HDTV look really nice. When using the XP computer screen I keep it in 1080i mode but map this to 960 X 540 resolution using PowerStrip. This way I can read the text on the display without it being distorted. However this is pretty low resolution for most web browsers and email programs. So it is kind of cramped... When playing computer games I switch to 1024 X 768 computer mode. The good thing is the on board Nvidia MX440 graphics work just fine to generate all these modes. So I do not have a card in the AGP slot.

MSI Mega 180 USB 2.0 Problems?!?

I have the MSI Mega 180, I have enabled USB 1.1+2.0 in the bios and also have installed Windows XP SP1. In device manager, I see 'enhanced PCI to USB host'.
With all that being said my External HD refuses to be recognized as a Hi Speed Device. On another machine, the same external HD works with no problems at 2.0 speeds.
Does anyone have any clues as to what I need to do to get USB 2.0 speeds? I get Hi-speed device plugged into non-hi speed hub?!?!
any help would be schweet.

I believe the "Enhanced" indicates the USB 2.0 because that's what I have on other boards with USB 2.0 as well. Prior to XP SP1 and on Windows 2k SP3? my boards didn't have the "Enhanced" addition. Also, as I don't think I mentioned, prior to playing with the bios I had problems with the USB->Serial adapter. If I removed the USB-to-serial adapter, the system booted fine and I would replug it. After playing with the bios, this is no longer a problem and I leave it connected. The stall happened when I had the adapter in front or rear USB ports, so not a speed issue (hey, it's serial) but more a recognition issue I believe (my mouse is fine, and as mentioned above an external HDD was found fine...). Try the bios settings I mentioned as well as checking each line of each subcategory and check that all is well. Let us know if that solves it.

Mega 180 and surround sound

I've spent the last week goofing around with surround sound, SPDIF in & out, and lots of other audio type stuff. I haven't seen much discussion in the forum about high quality audio. So I thought I'd describe my experiences.
I've been using my mega for about a month with 2 channel stereo. I have pretty much all the video stuff and MCE 2005 working reasonably well so I decided it was time to tackle 5.1. The onboard sound support works just great for producing 5.1 stereo. Hooking this up to a set of 5.1 computer speakers is straight forward and works just fine. If that is all you want it's very easy.
However I wanted more control of the audio sources in my living room and decided to go the external digital receiver route. So enter SPDIF which I have had no experience with. SPDIF is the same as TOSLINK. When you go to the store looking for connectors I could find no mention of SPDIF. But lots of TOSLINK's - they work just fine. The mega 180 has both input and output SPDIF connectors. The input worked just fine with a DVD player I have. Howver I never could get it to produce anything but ticking noises with my HDTV tuners SPDIF connector. This same HDTV tuner SPDIF connector worked just fine when I went out and bought a reasonably priced ($250) JVC digital receiver. So I guess I didn't have the proper decoders configured in the Mega??
SPDIF is used to support digital dolby and several variants...like dts. It is not just a digital connector. The Mega 180 is very capable in this department however. It supports DVD passthru to SPDIF. It also supports realtime digital dolby encoding of all audio.
You can specify that you want 5.1 digitial dolby out the digital connector. All sound is converted to digital dolby real time and sent over this connector. I was not expecting this. You can also use the 6 analog channel option (speaker out, line in, mic) to attach to a receiver. This is analog output however so you just want the receiver to pass the signals straight thru to the 5.1 speaker configuration. There is a 3rd way to attach the Mega to the digital receiver. You can send 2 channel analog output via speaker out. The digital receiver will then convert this to surround sound using various environmental settings.
At this point I have my surround sound system set up. I tend to like the digital dolby passthru for listening to DVDs. For MP3's I like the 5.1 stereo using the 6 analog outputs. For other videos....like avi files I like the digital dolby realtime conversion out the SPDIF connection.
It is kind of rare to give kudos to MSI on the Mega series. They have done lots of things wrong. However they have done a surprisingly good job of supporting quality audio options.
At least after a week of goofing around I'm happy!

thank nvidia, not MSI! their on-board audio solutions have always been rated quite highly, especially the hardware SoundStorm APU. i used to swear by creative many moons ago, but when onboard audio is as highly spec'd as nvidia's why bother?

Mega 180 and ATI All in Wonder Cards

My Asus A7N8X Deluxe mobo fried on me last night and now I'm looking to use the parts I have in another PC. I have an All in Wonder Ati Radeon 9600 Pro video card that I would use as a TV tuner. Paring this with a AMD Athlon XP 2100 CPU, 512 Kingson PC2700 RAM, 30 gig/250 gig WD HDDs, Sony DVD Burner, would I be asking for problems?

Quote
how can you tell?
look on the sticker, it will say either "Kingston ValueRAM", or the part number begins 'KVR...'
as far as i know, the only way to disable dual channel is to use one stick of RAM, as Mega 180 only has two slots

Mega 180 and DR8A: No Go

Just bought and installed my new Mega 180 (dispite warnings in this forum).
Everything went smooth except...
The MSI DVD RW DR8A does nothing.
I upgraded the firmware to version 140 on another computer, on which it is working correctly.
The mega 180 gives no error. Device manager says 'working properly'.
Whatever CD (audio/data) I insert, is not showing up.
Nor in Hifi, nor in PC mode.
I tried another (simple) cd-drive in the Mega without problems.
Any suggestions ?

I followed your suggestion,
and returned the DVD drive.
I immediately got another one.
We tried it and this one worked out of the box!
On top of that I got a DR8-A2 instead of a DR8-A.
Don't really know the diference though.
Specs seemed to be the same.
Tx for the suggestion

Mega 180 and onboard graphics problems!

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