Mega 180 in mce?

hi pps
just wondering if ne one use's there mega 180 in windows media center and wondering if ppl can recommend it?
many thanks
steve

No, MCE requires a TV tuner card, with a hardware-based MPEG encoder, to translate an inputted TV signal direct into MPEG2 format. These cards include the likes of the Hauppage PVR MCE series, which can be used for analogue signals, and also for connecting Sky / cable decoders to.
The MSI TV tuners, based on Conexant chipsets, are software based, that is, they require the PC hardware to convert the TV signal into MPEG2 format (or which ever format is specified by card's software)
the exception to this are the DVB-T (digital terrestrial cards) such as the Black Gold and Nova-T cards. although they are "software" cards, using the same conexant chipset, they already receive an MPEG2 stream over-the-air direct.
i've not used any of the hauppage cards myself, so i can't speak for the quality of them, but the Black Gold DVB-T card offers a way superior picture quality (going beyond the obvious analogue vs digital) to the MSI TV card, and the drivers aren't such a bitch to install too!!

Similar Messages

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 - AIW & XP MCE

OK... so MSI doesn't support MCE.... the built in video card sucks (but I knew that buying it), it doesn't have a large PSU.... and I want to use this as a HTPC... so I came up with an idea, and before I plop down the $$$ I wanted to see what you guys think, and any experience.
I'm thinking about upgrading the video to a ATi All-In-Wonder 9600 (Or maybe 9700), ditching XP/MCIII and going with XP Media Center Edition 2005.
What benefits would I lose by losing the remote that came with the 180? (Besides the FM/CD PC off features)
Would I lose any thing else? Gain anything??

Big Cheese - I have no experience with that card. I am using MCE 2005 with nothing but the onboard graphics for the Mega 180. I have an external USB HDTV tuner and am attaching to a plasma display using full resolution 1080i. It works just fine using the onboard graphics. I believe that TV even HDTV is not nearly as demanding as current games like Far Cry on graphics engines.
I think the Mega 180 makes a reasonable HTPC running MCE 2005. It is much more compleat than the MCIII application. It is tied tightly to the Media Player V10 for indexing avi's, mp3's, etc. It is quite stable... Hasn't hung up or rebooted on me yet. It is tied to the internet everytime you turn around for things like movie information, cd covers, etc. In general it is ALOT better than MCIII.
There are problems however. I think the biggest one is the remote control. I have the Mega remote working to control MCE. You have to install a tool called girder and spend alot of time customizing it. But I can now control MOST of the interefaces with the Mega remote. I'm still having trouble with operating the controls on DVD title pages. The normal left right up down mappings from the rest of MCE do not work. Also you can't get the Mega to power up or come out of standby with the remote. A true MCE remote can do this if the Mobo supports the right options... I don't seem to see these options in the Mega 180 BIOS interface.
Another problem is how &^%%& secretive MS is. Since this is meant to be bought as a prebuilt system there is very little documentation or help on how to do anything. The MCE forums are quite snooty about general users building their own MCE's. However this is changing since MCE2005 is now available on ebay. Trying to figure out how to customize things is hard. For example adding an internet radio station to their radio station list is EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING. It would be cool for instance to add the MSI standalone radio application to the MCE other programs list.... GOOD LUCK!
If you're into HDTV another problem is the do not copy bit. US OTA transmissions will start using this next year. MS is extremely into digital rights managment. They will honor this bit. So things like copying HDTV material to disk will **PROBABLY** not work with MCE. Also even though I have no protected material on my machine I have seen numerous error messages that say something like "You must be trying to copy protected material. BLAH BLAH BLAH.... or maybe there is a hardware error." This constant threat about DRM is very annoying.

Mega 180, meedio and MCE compliant remote

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to this forum.
I own a Mega 180, Windows XP Pro, Home Theater III installed. I'd like to use Meedio as a front end instead of Home Threater III. I also own a MCE RC6 remote.
The problem is that none of the remotes (MSI remote and MCE remote) cannot be used with the Meedio front end, simply do not work. Is there any way to put it all together to work? I've tried WinLirc with the Mega 180 configuration profile - no success, neither with the MSI remote not MCE remote. The goal is to use MCE remote only with Meedio front end on Mega 180. What software should I use and how to configure it? Any ideas?
Kiero

OK, I got my Mega 180 remote working with Girder. Now, how to make it work with Meedio? There is a Meedio program definition "Meedio Essentials.xml" file. I load it into Girder, but nothing happens. The Meedio plugin is not loaded into Girder memory in the settings tab (it is not present). Meedio Essentials.xml is only a configuration file, not a plugin... Any help?
Kiero

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.

Mega 400 and MCE

Hi guys,
I built a (very) budget media center PC and have several problems. First of all I think my TV tuner card is overheating, because when I watch tv, after a few minutes/hours, the framerate drops and the video and sound aren't synchronized anymore. Also, I can't watch TV in Windows Media Center, it gives me an error that my video decoder is malfunctioning, while I tried several of them (PowerDVD, WinDVD, NVidia DVD Decoder), so I'm starting to suspect that the hardware doesn't support MCE or the video decoder(onboard video perhaps?)
Here are my specs:
MSI Mega PC 400
Amd Sempron 2200+
256 MB Ram, of which 64 MB are Video Memory <-- :( It was supposed to be 512 MB but some of the memory I got doesn't work properly)
Video/Sound onboard
Hauppage PVR150 MCE
Any Suggestions?

I have no experience with the Mega 400. However I'll make a few observations...
To determine if it's a heat problem leave the covers off and blow a fan at it. Also what temps are being reported in the LCD app ? However I don't think that's the problem.
256 MB memory is not enough. The Mega 180 on board video needs 128 MB to work properly with MCE. If you do that you won't have enough for a properly working XP system. Get up to 512 MB and your problems may go away.
The Sempron 2200+ is proabably a little too slow. When I got my Mega 180 I first tried an Athlon 2500+. At times the video playback was jerky. When I put my current 2800+ in everything worked fine. In addition the Sempron has less cache than the Athlon...
So the bottom line as I see it is you have a slowish CPU with not enough cache and not enough memory.

MSI Media Live -- Mega 180 all over again???

Well, since there isn't a forum dedicated to the MSI Media Live barebones, I figured I post it here. Let me just start off by saying that I was very hesitant to buy another MSI barebones after the last overheating fiasco with the Mega 180 that I previously purchased. So, I bought the Media Live, along with 2GB of RAM and an AMD 5200+ X2 CPU and a 320GB SATA drive.
I tried installing Windows Media Center 2005. It installed but getting it to boot reliably each and every time without a blue screen proved to be an impossible task. I switched the CPU, the memory and the HD with no change. One thing that did strike me is the VGA BIOS on the system that states that it's not for production use. So, I went and purchased Vista Ultimate. That installed fine and it boots up with no blue screens which is a good thing. Of course, vista is very buggy and annoying and I would love to put MCE 2005 back on this thing. There are absolutely no driver/bios updates on the MSI Media Live barebones. I understang that it's new, but a pre-production VGA bios is unacceptable. Oh yeah, I forgot the most annoying thing about it. The front slot to feed a CD/DVD does not align properly with the actual optical drive, so when you eject cd/DVD it gets stuck. That of course is a workmanship issue. I would love to get a new front that actually works for this.

Well, the link doesn't work. It takes me to the MSI global site. Why should I contact the reseller? It's not their fault MSI has a QA problem! It's not like the flip door on the Mega 180 ever worked right anyways, did it? It's not like the Mega 180 didn't get hot as hell, but MSI continued to sell it, didn't they? Any other manufacturer would have recalled all the units instead of having posts on their forums on how to cool down your mega 180 and by the way, by following these instructions you invalidate your warranty, blah blah blah!. I mean seriously, who does that?
There is nothing to adjust on the drive cage as far as I can tell. I think it's a poorly designed front. I'm sure I'm going to end up being yet another beta tester for MSI with this unit just like I was with the Mega 180. I just wish the media live doesn't end up being the same crap that the mega 180 was.
I'm sure this topic will be censored by MSI. I hope not, because it will be re-posted on anandtech as well as hardocp and any other forums that I see fit. All I want is a properly working unit without me having to do any freaking adjustments to it. I don't think it's too much to ask from a manufacturer. I'm simply not going to take it in the rear from MSI on this one!!! Once was enough. This time I will make a big stink about 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 Newbie

Hi first post and some questions
Am looking at buying a Mega 180 Deluxe as a replacement for my Panasonic DVD home theatre and my VCR
Can you use it for general PC work (was going to install MCE)
What is the problems with Temps ?
Can I connect my Sky+ to it and record on the DVD recorder
Is it easy to connect to my existing wi-fi network, so i can surf on the TV
Cheers
am sure I'll think of a few more

Quote
Originally posted by Stu Online
Sky+ is basically the same idea as MCE, so there is not much point having both, although i understand some people do and use their MCE system as an "archiver"
Thats basicaly what I want it for, to archive programs recorded on Sky+ and burn them to dvd. Does the 180 come with a video in or do I need a capture card ?
I know I could buy a dvd recorder and just plug it into the sky, but £130 for something that would only get used a few times a month, doesnt seem worth it.
I like the idea of replacing my Panasonic home theatre dvd and vcr with a Mega 180 or a 400 if you can get them
I've sold the missus on the idea she can use MSN via the wi-fi :hypecrite:
What does Lapping the heatsink mean ????

Which TV-tuner card for MEGA 180

Hello,
Just wondering which is the best tv-tuner card for the MEGA 180 which still enables the use of the original remote control.
I know the MS-8606-040 provides this but seems rather basic, the other model (MS-8606-010, TV@anywhere card) comes with its own remote control but can you use the one provided with the 180?
Any other makes which do the job?
Thanks
J_Jordan4302
AMD Athlon XP2800+
80GB Harddisk
512MB RAM
MSI Combi DVD/CD-RW drive
WIndows XP Home + Media Centre Delux III
On-board nForce graphics and audio drivers

The reason for this is the Microsoft requirement that any recording does not use more than 50% of the CPU processing time, hence I think you will find that all have a hardware MPEG2 encoder built in (that's why they are mostly the PVR versions).
I believe that the following are the officially supported MCE 2005 cards:
Adaptec    AVC-3610
ATI   ATI HDTV Wonder PCI
AVerMedia    M150
AVerMedia    A169
AVerMedia    AVerMedia E502 (CardBus, NTSC, PAL)
AVerMedia    AVerMedia M113 (PCI, NTSC, PAL, SECAM)
AVerMedia    AVerMedia M17S (Low Profile, 3D Comb, GR, NTSC)
AVerMedia    AVerMedia M183
AVerMedia    AVerMedia UltraTV 1500 MCE
Hauppauge   WinTV-PVR-150 MCE
Hauppauge   Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 MCE
Hauppauge   Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE l.p.
Hauppauge   Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250MCE
Hauppauge   Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500MCE
Hauppauge   Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-USB2 MPEG TV Encoder
nVidia   NVTV P179 PAL and NTSC
nVidia   NVIDIA NVTV 200
Pixela   PIX-CTV200PW
Prolink   PV-M2TV307PL+
YUAN    MPC622 Mini PCI Video Capture Card (Falcon II)
YUAN    PCI Video Capture Card (Falcon II)
YUAN    YUAN PG600 PCI Video Capture Card (Falcon II)

Mega 180 slow remote / bluebird Bios update

Hello,
I know this has been on the forums a number of times, but I could not really find a decisive answer...
I've read most of the people consider the Mega 180 remote control (like me) to be very slow.
but I've read some comments that flashing the LCD with the bios available for the trashed LCD's
seems to help with this. (making the remote work better / faster)
I this true ? I don't want to flash my perfectly good working LCD bios if it
doesn't help with the remote control.
any information would be appreciated
Thanks !

I have not flashed the bios so can't answer your question definitively... However here's some suggesitions..
To me the range and aiming of the remote was the biggest problem. Someone on the forums (don't remember who) found that the actual problem with the Mega 180 remote was that the sensor in the Mega was not mounted well. It was obstructed. FIxing that seemed to have quite an impact on the ability to receive the signal.
I have not done that either...
What I did was to use a Sony RM3100 learning remote. This remote has 4 transmitters. It sends a very powerful signal. Using this I can point the remote 180 degrees away from the Mega at a distance of 12 feet and it still works.
So once I had a solid signal I didn't seem to have any major problems with the remote. There were several of the functions (like navigation) that a single push of the right button caused the cursor to move twice. I guess that could be a speed problem... The Sony remote has the ability to control the period of transmission and the pause before retransmission. Using this I was able to remove the double skip to the right. Also Girder has a control ability to help tame this problem.
The ultimate work around is to not use the Mega receiver at all but add an MCE remote and receiver.
Bottom line is I and others have found work arounds with the crummy out of box remote situation without flashing...
Good luck

Mega 180 Temps

Let me start off by saying that the Mega 180 is a great idea for a product but unfortunately it is not finished. MSI is using us as beta testers - at our expense. I build computers for people as a side business and against my better judgement, I built a customer a Mega 180 based system and I've had nothing but problems with it and it's damaging my reputation. But, OK enough of that.
One major problem with the Mega 180 is it's CPU and hard drive temp and here's what you can do to fix it. First off, the CPU heat sink is nice and big and made of copper - very nice. However, the underside of the sink (the part that touches the CPU) is absolutely aweful! The bottom should be mirror smooth. Mine looks like the surface of a record. Therefore, you need to lap it. Look this process up on the net to see exactly how to do it. Once lapped and the bottom is mirror smooth and you can see your reflection, use ARTIC SILVER thermal grease (just a tiny bit) and put the sink back on. Your CPU temp under load will be about 8 degrees cooler. Next, replace the small fan on the cooler with a bigger one (make sure you use one that's sensored, like the one you're replacing). Lastly, get some flexible ducting from the hardware store (plastic, not aluminum), attach one end over the sink's big fan and carefuly route the other end to the side of the case (may not be possible if you are using an AGP card) and position it so it sucks in outside air. Now that your CPU is cooled with fresh air, you will see another 2 - 3 degree reduction of CPU temp.
Finally, the hard drive is way too hot. I measured it with a IR temp meter after a full defrag and my jaw hit the ground when I saw how hot it was - 152 degrees F. That type of temp will kill your hard drive. Fix this by placing a fan inside the case (RAM side) blowing fresh air right onto the hard drive. This brought the temp down significantly. It also cooled other items too (CD drive, chipset).
The only downside to this is your system will be louder due to fan noise. However you will have fewer system lock-ups and mystery reboots (caused by overheated components).
One last idea, if the case is just too cramped for you, remove the power supply, buy a new one and mount it outside the case on the back. It doesn't look good but it sure frees up space and improves air flow (plus you'll have more power if you buy a higher watt supply).
Peace!

Hey cb31,
Even though this thread is about temps, I too think noise is the biggest problem with the Mega, and my current efforts are targeted at killing the constant background noise. My goal is the same as your's - I want to leave the computer on most of the time and not be bothered with it.
I'm proceeding slowly however, and so far I've only done the following:
-Replaced the 60mm Delta fan with a Papst of the exact same size. I found the Delta to be noisy, while others report that it's doing ok. Don't know about you... The Papst is really quiet and actually cools a little bit more effective, though that's a bonus feature! But on the overall it didn't have the effect I hoped for
-The smaller Delta fan (outtake side of heatsink) already is quiet enough, so doesn't need to be replaced on behalf of noise anyway...
-Took out the PSU and put White Lithium Grease in the fan for smoother operation since I figured it made a lot of noise. That didn't help much either... I'm thinking about replacing the PSU fan with something better, even though a lable on the back of the PSU states "W/ Noisekiller". It's still a no-name fan and can be improved upon.
Right now the loudest noise in my Mega doesn't seem to come from any fan at all, but rather from the hd. And it's not so much the actual noise from the unit as vibrations reverberating through the chassis. A common problem obviously, but there isn't any room for hd suspension systems in the Mega, so other actions are required here! I tried to slide in thin sheets of plastic between the drive and the cage, to act as silencers, but that didn't have any real effect as the cage touches the drive in several places, thus transfering the vibrations anyway. A new drive cage could do the trick, but I haven't gotten that far yet, and might not ever...
The Seagate Barracuda is considered to be a silent drive, so replacing it probably wouldn't help.
To conclude: If your fans are noisy, replace them or grease them for better operation, but you might not even hear the difference...
The major flaw seems to be the internal design of the Mega, and there's isn't much to be done about that, unless you're handy with a Dremel and sheets of metal. I might be, but I will have to get back to you on that!
Cheers!
-M

TV-Out on Mega 180 (Composite)

Hi there,
I just received my Mega 180 some days ago. So far I'm really satisfied. I just have one problem an perhaps you could help me.
I at first used the S-Video out from Mega to my S-Video-Scart-In of my TV. That worked without problems.
Now I wanted to use the Composite out instead of S-Video out from the Mega 180. So I connected a composite-adapter to the S-Video port and connected a composite cable to it. Now my TV only shows the picture black/white.
I know that this is an issue connected with S-Video. So I changed in nvidia-driver the automatic detection to manual (composite). But whenever I change this, I just get a complete black screen. I tried this with many nvidia driver versions. All the same.
And now the really misteryous thing: when I de-install the nvidia driver (graphic) and start windows with standard vga-mode, I have a colored picture with the mentioned composite out without having changed anything.
Anyone has an idea? Thanks in advance.
My Hardware:
- MSI Mega 180
- Athlon Sempron 2800
- WinTV 350 PVR
- 512 MB
- onBoard graphicscard

Quote
I at first used the S-Video out from Mega to my S-Video-Scart-In of my TV. That worked without problems.
Quote
I want to use composite instead of s-video because my tv doesn't support s-video. It only supports composite.
just re-reading this post has got me a little confused. are you now connecting to a different TV now?

MEGA 180: A story of stupidity mixed up with bad product design

This is more for a word of caution to Mega180 users and future owners.
A bit angry as I managed to burn ( physically ) 2 harddrives because of carefulness about 10 mins.
Spend quite some time looking for a SATA to ATI power converter while looking for a solution to CPU temp problem. Could not find one ( and I don't know if any one does it )
As my old HD did not start the OS on Mega180 for some data transfer I was not able to use my USB external HD. So I decided to connect old HD as slave and do a HD to HD transfer. Here comes the bad design, the HD connection cable specifies a slot for a slave HD however there is only one power connector (ATI) for supported IDE HD. and there is a useless SATA power connector,it is useless as MEGA 180 does not support SATA.
Here comes the stupidity, for a min I came up with the bright idea of using the CD drives power connector ( I now remember that I ruled this option earlier, I wish I remembered it all along) As there is always a current on this cable (when there is a power connection - for the HIFI mode to work ) I guess some static electricity effected my HD. Not having realised the HD is already affected, I swapped the cables as the HD connection cable is not long enough to keep 2 HDs in a steady state.
As a result both my HDs are now not working, when I tried the original master HD I was horrified to see a spark and some fume
I wish I never tried to use my old graphics card - which I wanted only for the DVI support. This led to CPU temperatures of average 70 degree celcius and when I ever I tried to use the PC properly I was had to turn it off due to extreme temperatures over 75 degree celcius.
All I was after is a troublefree smooth working nice looking PC, yet I am stuck now... I am both upset for the data I lost as well as hours I spend in trying to put this thing together. I will decide in the morning to return or keep the product. If I keep it the next challenge will be getting my external HD to run an OS as I need to save up again to buy a new HD, I was hoping my next HD would be a SATA one :(
This is definately a bitter lesson. Such a pity that with just a little more effort MSI could have really improved the profuct most are listed here but I want to summarise:
1. before getting the new product out try fitting a new graphics card and a TV card and operate both for 2 hours... That is if you could fit them both in the first reason why you could not is the cables from power supply is unnecessarily long for supplying power to the board and unsuitably located. the best you could do is place them all infront of the cpu fan.
2. It is really great to have detachable ODD and HD yet Floppy drive ( card reader ) bay is static
3. a better location for CPU or card slots would have contributed to airflow far more.
Better close here... I am still not sure if positives of the product companates all the negatives.

Simply, be aware that the power cable for the CDRom is live most all the time that your backpanel power cord is plugged in. Its for the support of CD/MP3 in HI-Fi mode. If you shut down your system, and not unplug the power, and you try to connect or disconnect anything to the IDE cable, and you are using the power cable for the CD, you can cause static/surging on the component you are hooking up....
If you must hookup an alternate drive [slave] for data dumping/imaging etc. use a Y cable from the HDD power cable. It only activates when the PC power switch is utilized....

Things to Know Before Building Your Mega 180

Some people have asked me for a list of tips so here is my attempt---I'll ask Wonk to sticky it if it turns out OK....
Feel free to PM me with more tips---I'll add as necessary....
TIP SHEET FOR THE MEGA 180:
So you bought that new Mega 180 and the docs leave a lot to be desired......Don't panic!! Take a look at this tip sheet. Should save you a lot of hours!
RAM AND PROCESSOR:
Several things here.....If you are going to use onboard video----you should NOT use higher RAM than PC 2700----waste of money to buy higher as the Nforce2 18G "Crush" was only designed to run no higher than with DDR333 RAM (PC2700). Nvidia warns against it on their site. I have personally experienced a LOT of problems when you try to run the onboard at DDR 400 (PC3200)----trashed Bios in most cases. Also---the 18G and to some extent---"Dual Channel" is picky about memory----try to get a matched pair of DIMMS----and if you REALLY want to be on the safe side----go to Nvidias site and look up the page that lists known, compatable memory with the NForce2 chipsetNforce2 compatable memory. I use A-Data 512 sticks---but they are hard to find.
If you are going to use a Vidcard---then higher memory is just fine----but if you are NOT planning on overclocking-----there is really NO need for higher than PC2700 as the default bus for Barton 2800+ and below is FSB 166 (DDR333---PC 2700).
Alyways run your RAM (Synch) 100%---do not play with dividers if you are using the onboard video. If you have no clue what I just said----you are fine as the defaults will take care of this----this last was for overclockers.
Processor----I like the cost of the Barton 2800+ right now----fast, cheap and even using the onboard and no overclocking----you have a fast machine that can do anything. The 2800+ also leaves the door open for a slight overclock (I have not tried this yet) without too much stress on anything.
LCD PANEL:
Do Not----I say again----Do Not use the "welcome.exe" program----or ANY other program on ANY disk or the MSI website to do ANYTHING to your front panel. That program is for the Mega 651 model and WILL TRASH YOUR LCD. The LCD panel works just fine----it doesn't need any updating.
If this advice is to late, the firmware fix is in here:
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threadid=46355&sid=
Do download and install the latest version of PC Alert MSI Mega 180 Downloads----works great with the front LCD panel and displays PC info nicely.
Use the EQ mode buttons while playing in the HiFi mode----changes the sound a lot and also the display changes------COOL!
OPTICAL DRIVE:
Use an MSI optical drive----basically anything from MSI will work fine---some other drives are reported to work fine like a NEC 2500A----but if you use an MSI drive----you can't go wrong. You might want to put the drive in another machine with a floppy first----and download and update that drive to the latest firmware (most will require a floppy to do that and the Mega 180 has none.)
CABLE MANAGEMENT:
Buy a dollar pack of cable ties and go to work-----make sure ALL cables are away from the front of the intake fan for the CPU----you want a very clear path to the cooler. Less clutter---better airflow. Better airflow----lower temps.
CPU INSTALL:
Get rid of the MSI thermal grease with some Goof Off or acetone-----and get some good Arctic Silver 3, AS5 or AS Ceramique. Clean both the chip top and the bottom of the HS with denatured alcohol before applying the thermal grease. You might also want to lapp the bottom of the HS which is not very well done----but I found it not necessary. The HS/Fan unit is very easy to install----just rotate your screw down points as perscribed by the sticker on the cooler----don't tighten one screw all the way down----then go to the next.
DRIVERS:
I found the drivers on the install disk to be non-functional---- get the latest drivers from the MSI website (you can use Live Update for this) or go to http://www.nforcershq.com and get the latest Nforce2 Driver Remix from Morpheus1 or Mwarhead.
DO NOT use the Nvidia SW IDE driver (say "No" when it asks you in the driver install) Only use the ITB (In The Box) IDE driver----it's the default driver. Your Optical device will probably not function correctly (eject, etc) with the Nvidia SW IDE driver.
Nforce2 SoundStorm Drivers are a tricky topic----there are TONS of versions out there.... I've had the best luck so far with Drivers 4.31 (Off Microsoft Windows Updates---it was a Driver Update) and Audio Control Panel 4.31. Nvidia has a driver update package now JUST for audio-----posted Here
If you are having problems with Media Center III crashing----it seems to be a conflict between the SoundStorm Drivers and Media Center III, Uninstall your Nvidia audio devices in the device manager (Three of them----there is one hidden---so go to view and "show hidden devices") then reboot and let Windows rerecognize your devices and reload drivers. This will solve most problems until Media Center II has another bad crash----in which case---you may have to do this procedure over again. You can tell if it's really hosed up because the radio sound will come on automatically at boot----or you will have lost the SoundStorm Control Panel Icon in the SysTray. I'm working on different versions of SoundStorm to see which works best---will update if I find anything new. (Update)----4.31 seems to be the best but I still can'ttotally eliminate the crashing in Media Center III.
Once you get your Lan device up and running (or your modem) Go to Windows Update and make sure you are completly updated with all latest window updates---If using WinXP-----you need to be at WinXP ServPack 1a when you are done.
Use Windows Cleanup and Defrag when you are done----ESPECIALLY cleanup---to get rid of any left over temp files in the Mega----To get the BEST and most optimised defrag----run windows defrag at least three times in a row----maybe more----it will REALLY optimise the drive.
TV CARD:
The main TV Card designed for the Mega 180 is the MSI 8606-40 Mega TV Card----be careful to get it vice the other version of the MSI 8606 which is the MSI 8606-10 TV@anywhere Master.
The Mega TV Card does not include a Radio while the 8606-10 DOES include a radio. Since your Mega 180 already has a radio----you absolutely don't need or want the 8606-10 TV@anywhere Master.
Do NOT use any drivers or software you receive with the Mega TV Card MSI 8606-40----just set the disks aside. You will ONLY uses the drivers off the Mega 180 Install Disk.
The Mega TV Card MUST be installed before the menu item for "Install TV Tuner Drivers" becomes visible on the Mega 180 install disk.
Make sure your TV Card is hooked into the line called "Remote Control" within the Mega 180 itself----there is a small 3 inch connecting wire in the TV card box.
The TV and Radio function well with the remote----but you must have MSI Media Center III installed. I could not get the TV or the Radio to work without Media Center III.
Upon initial setup of the TV within Media Center III---you may have to switch the source between cable and antenna to get the initial channels to auto scan. Once done auto scanning---switch back to cable as source (assuming you have cable).
Using the remote to force the TV screen to full screen: When you use the up/down arrows on the remote----watch the menu items on the screen----the various menu item buttons will highlight as you hit the arrows.
Once you have highlighted the little arrow button on the lower right of the screen----just below the TV display (it will turn green)----hit the ENTER key
It goes to widescreen----hit the ENTER key again------it goes to fullscreen
BTW, the remote works fine-----the trick is you HAVE to have Media Center III installed and available to be called for it to control the TV Card----Radio Etc. It will start up normally when you push the TV button on the remote.
BIOS SETTINGS:
The defaults will mostly work. One thing----to get BEST performance out of the NForce 2 Onboard video----set AGP to 128 and Set Frame Buffer to 128----I had crashes with almost any other video setting. I'm still playing with PCI clock, voltages, and some other settings to get better stability-----will let you know.....
6 CHANNEL SOUND
Use all three ports in the back of the Mega 180 and then configure it using the SoundStorm Control Panel----Use the "Speaker Setup Wizard". Check and adjust using the "Test Tone" button. I'm using an inexpensive set of Analog Altec Lansing 5.1s----the sound is excellent.
That's all for now----tell me what else you've found and I'll post.
John

My MSI MEGA 180 has a strange display on the monitor.
I opened the boxed removed all items.
Installed the CPU (supported on the CPU compatability list for the MSI MEGA 180), installed the heatsink & fan.
Installed the HD drive.
Installed the MSI DVD+/-RW
Installed 1 DIMM module of DDR RAM PC2700 333MHZ 1GB
Pushed the Power button for the PC and the desplay is corrupted.
I tried the 4 possible configurations for Jumpers 7 and 8 to alter the FSB speed with no luck.
I also tried the 4 different J7 and J8 configurations without having the HDD and DVD-RW drives connected - same result.
I also tried the 4 different J7 and J8 configurations with the Secondary VGA output connected to my monitor.
I also tried the 4 different J7 and J8 configurations with the S-Video output connected to my TV and no signal at all.
Both my monitor and HDD work fine with my other PC.
I noticed the jumper pins are not numbered - made the configuration job a bit more tedious.
Please note the LCD screen works correctly, however the redio tuner in HiFi mode doesn't pick up any local stations.
As I am a Software Test Engineer, I am 100% confident I have checked all possible configurations including clearing the CMOS, but the system simply will not display to the VDU. The POST should at least be visible when Power is turned on for the PC mode.
NOTE: I will update the RAM Brand as soon as I find out the title from the supplier, but I believe it is OEM.
NOTE II: this is the URL to the CPU used: http://www.excaliberpc.com/product_info.php?products_id=1798
PLeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssss ssssssssssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eee help ease my pain!!

Mega 180 in mce?

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