Mega 180 , Mp3, Tv.
Sorry if this is stated in the manual or anywhere. Did not seem to find it.
1. I want to ask whether I am allowed to use the remote to navigate/play..etc, my mp3 songs stored in my harddisk.
2. Can I still use the 'TV controls' button on the remote to navigate, if i use other brands of TV Tuner card?
Thank You.
Your MSI remote will only work if you have the MediaCenter III software running. It is the support for the remote commands. If you shut down/do not install MCIII, then your remote control in PC mode will not work.
If you use the ATI Video Cards with remote, it is a seperate issue, and will probably only work while you have the software[drivers] installed for the ATI remote.
Or you may look at some third party remotes that will intereface to most windows applications.
Similar Messages
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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.... -
MSI MEGA 180 Media Centre Full Screen Button
I have a MEGA 180 with Media Centre III and was wondering if there was a button on the remote that does full screen instead of having to start the item you wish then trying to navigate to the button and pressing ok?
This is for the sections such as MP3 mode for the visulisations or Video Clip mode for full screen home movies.
I have tried all of the buttons but none of them seem to work.
Any help would be apprecitated
Cheers.That makes the MCDIII run in full screen, but the video (etc) still runs in a window inside the MCDIII App. The only ways I found were to set the settings to auto maximise the display, or to press the button to the bottom right of the picture. Also I found there was no way of getting back to menu mode without using the keyboard (unless you were prepared to navigate the buttons without seeing them!!!).
This made MCDIII totaly unsuitable as a remote controlled application, and hence I binned it. I now use MediaPortal which works well. Just need to find a better way of getting the DVD filters to work. -
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. -
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?
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Dear all,
I know the problem with optical drives has been discussed many times, the NEC ND-2500A is supposed to work (somewhat).
With me it has been working almost ok for some time but now it shows the typical behaviour that many had to complain about with their drives:
- system hangs when change disc, need reboot
- eject button stops working
Sometimes, when I am lucky, I reboot and I manage to acess a CD or DVD, but I can never eject, if I do by opening the lid and pressing the drive button and try any other disc, it will hang.
I thought perhaps this was due to something I had installed, but no, I have two OS loaded, I checked with both and I get the same behaviour. I don't think it has to do with the drive itself, did not flash it and did not record anything recently. Autoplay is disabled. I reinstalled the original drivers that came with the PC, nothing.
WHY?
Can someone please help?
Thanks in advance.> What do you mean by "somewhat", did you have the eject problems from the beginning?
Jadi,
The eject button of the Mega sometimes stopped working but I could simply eject by pushing the button on the drive. Reading the discs was not a problem.
> Have you tried to unplug the powercord? This will cause the Bluebird controller to reset itself. I can imagine that the BB controller software is not fully compatible with the NEC 2500 although it worked from the beginning.
Actually yes, I had to unplug a few times to open the box and check if every connection was OK, I booted without the drive and than agin with it to see if anything would change, no result, still hanging.
ANYONE HAS AN IDEA???
WHY DOESN'T IT WORK ANYMORE?
> Something else, how does your MEGA 180 perform with the 30" (!!) LCD screen?
Excellent so far, especially with DVDs (now nix) but it depends how you want to use it, knowing that picture artefacts become more visible with larger sizes.
I am using the MegaPC as a Multimedia center in the living room for everything (including DVD and Divx playback, Sat receiver and Hard Disk recorder, MP3 jukebox, streaming radio) but the instability of the Mega forced me to keep the standard CE equipment around for back-up.
Dark scenes are a bit the weakspot for LCD vs plasma because of backlight, but brightness is better, and for the rest is great.
Another problem in my setting is deinterlacing with TV content from satellite. I use the Moonlight's Elecard SW decoder. With high motion sequences especially (eg sport) the performance is poor. I am not sure if a good AGP video card would bring about any improvement, I guess is a SW issue still (performance limit?). I tried the ATI AIW 9800 in the past, graphics looked nice, but the TV was not satisfactory, so I use the RF tuner of of the 30"LCD at the moment.
If you consider buying a widescreen display to use with a HTPC, the 300WN5QS is great, it is a monitor with TV fiunction, so has all the setting features you'd expect from a high-end monitor, not the crappy CE settings you find on TV sets.
(I don't mean to do any advertisement here, but if you are interested in specs you can check: http://www.lcddiscount.nl/LCDDiscount.html?url=/Philips-300WN5QS-Zilver-details-thuisbioscoop.html )
Cheers,
Marc -
Mega 180 @#%%#!!!! Driver Problem
I'm writing more to vent than anything. I also want to see if anyone has the same problem I just had.
Well, I got the Mega 180 running perfectly. I mean this thing was running sweet. I just finished building it, loading all the software, etc. and have been running it for a few days w/o any problems. Then when running it I tried to boot an MP3 and I got an error that no sound card is detected - weird. I looked under properties and it showed that no driver was installed for the onboard sound (where did it go??).
So I tried a reboot and got the BLACK SCREEN OF DEATH (see other post for explanation on this). So I rebooted, entered via vga mode, uninstalled all nVidia drivers, rebooted, and reinstalled all the drivers. Guess what??? Still no sound and only VGA. I tried unloading and reloading several times to no avail. !!!!!!
Is it hardware??? Is it software???? Am I not doing a complete chipset driver uninstall???? Seems to me that after I reinstall the drivers and reboot, everthing should get recognized and installed? That's how it usually works but with the Beta 180, nooooo, not gonna happen. Instead, another mystery problem that I'm going to spend days solving.
I do this for a living (build PCs) and I've had nothing but problems with this thing. I've RMA'd it, it has burt out two 512mb sticks of RAM, I've wiped the disk clean and reinstalled everything. I figure I've lost around $700 on this thing (new RAM, my time, etc). I always use Shuttles but my customer wanted the Mega 180 ---- should've stuck to my guns and told her no!I just wanted to let everyone know that I solved this nagging video driver problem. As you know, I've uninstalled and reinstalled both the chipset and video drivers many times and I've tried both the MSI drivers and those from nVidia's websits all to no avail. Well, I finally got the thing working - here's how:
1) Complete driver uninstall, chipset and video. Reboot.
2) Don't let Windows install any drivers upon detection. Instead, run DriverCleaner off of http://www.driverheaven.net It's a free driver cleaning utility.
3) I reinstalled the chipset drivers off of MSI's site, reboot, then installed the video driver off of nVidia's site. Reboot.
After that, everything worked just fine. My guess is that a pesky little chunk of a driver was not getting uninstalled during the normal driver uninstall and this little thing was screwing up all future installs. -
Hi,
I've just built a new MEGA 180 system, and while I like the hardware, I'm less than enthusiastic about the software. Frankly, Media Centre III stinks!
For one thing, I'd like to be able to use the MEGA 180 for MP3 playback without having to turn on the monitor (which is a projector in my case, that takes more than a minute to start up).
The first step would be to program the remote and the LCD display so that you can use whatever MP3 player you want, in my case I would write a WinAmp / MediaMonkey plugin.
For that I need some way to access these devices. I found some dlls and a WinIRX.ocr on the CD but I have no idea how to use them. Is there any API description I can use? Even a simple .h and .lib file for the dlls would suffice for me.
If you've heard anything about such a description, please let me know. Or maybe the adress of somebody at MSI I could contact to get it?
Thanks!
Martin.I've been looking into the dll's as well; there are a few that looks promising. They can't be referenced from Visual Basic though , so someone with more insight into C++ should have a go at them. PC Alert 4 also installs it's own dll's for writing sys- and cpu temp to the LCM, so there is plenty to choose from. Can't help out with any API descriptions though...
We should keep in mind however that the 180 and 865 are new products for MSI, and not only are they occupied with fixing the numerous problems users have reported, but they will probably try to develop other applications that take advantage of the remote and LCM. From what we've seen so far that is obviosly something they should leave to other, more suited, developers!
I too think that MSI would benefit from releasing a SDK, thus increasing the overall useability of the Mega, thus attracting more users. Leave it to the endusers to decide which mediaplayer/s we want to use.
For the moment I'm putting my hope to a Girder-plugin for the remote, since that seems the most plausible solution right now.
-M -
MEGA 180, pvr without booting?
pcw reviewed a systemax encore system based on the mega 180. 1 paragraph peaked my interest, but I have not found any additional information on either MSI's or systemax's website.
The review said that the systemax encore could play CD's/MP3 and radio without booting the PC, but also that you could record video and timeshift without booting. I knew about the cd/mp3/radio functions but had never come across the pvr functions before and no amount of searching on either systemax or msi's websites could find more info.
My only guess is that this is a added function given by the mega tv tuner.
Does anyone know if this is true? It strikes me as an excellent feature if it is. For someone who wants a living room PC for pvr/hi-fi but one that's not always on, it will give recording ability without the wait for the PC to boot (which kind of defeats the object of timeshifting!).
More info on the system can be found on here: http://www.simply.co.uk/productinformation/74527/WW/SYSTEMAX_ENCORE_3102_WXH_17_TFT_TV_DESKTOP_PC/index.htm
BriI emailed pcw about their review as no-one else seems to have heard of the pvr feature. I just had this response
"We made an error in the review I'm afraid. The Encore will only play CDs, Radio and MP3 without having to boot the PC. The TV and PVR functions all need Windows to be booted. Apologies for any inconveniance caused."
A shame as it sounded good.
Bri -
Unfortunatly the Mega 180 has to go :(
Unfortunatly I have had to get rid of my Mega 180 after only 1 day of ownership.
The PSU blew and dabs who I bought it off wont send out a new one and no one at MSI uk seems to care :(
Normally a psu going would not put me off a system I would just get a new one. But with the events that have happend it has show me how awfull the MSI UK support is.
I also have a lot of worries about this system once it is out of warranty as no one seems to sell any parts and it is nigh on impossible to get a response from MSI.
I dont want this to appear as one of those "I am leaving" threads as I am truly sad that I have had to get rid of it, it was a great machine when it worked. If MSI actually sold the parts to repair the system and their support was better I would DEFINATLY be keeping it.
I have opted for the AOpen XC EZ18 cube which is of a similar spec but without the nice screen/radio etc.
This board provided me with a lot of help while I had my system and I am truley greatful. Thanks all!!!
I am truely sad to see this system go :(
JamesHi
Firstly the system was running fine, then I noticed that the 3.3v line was going up to 3.9+ then as it was getting hotter it just cut out and blew the fuse in the plug!!
A new power lead later it did the same thing after a couple of hours.
I personaly think it was a dodgy PSU and it seemed that as the case got hotter it just died.
The second time round it killed the PSU well almost, it was strange, the radio function worked but as soon as you tried to boot the pc the fan went round once then stoped and it didnt boot.
I tried a different PSU and it booted fine its also worth noting the the other psu (just a standard ATX one) did let the radio function normally I thought I would mention this as people have been asking and some have been saying that it needs special connectors etc.
I am sad that the box has gone back but now I have an Aopen XC Cube EZ18 and it works a treet. The PSU in it is only 220W but it is half the size so there is loads more space inside. and it runs idle at about 45'c even when I push it, it only seems to go up to about 50'c I miss the radio and nice LCD tho :( apparently this new box has some kind of juke box mode where you can boot while pressing a key on the keyboard and enter a mode much like the one on the mega for playing CD's + MP3 Cd's allthough as with the mega the documentation is awfull and I cant seem to work out how to do it.
James -
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 graphicscardQuote
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? -
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.
JohnMy 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!! -
Cd rom boot problems with MEGA 180
I recently recieved my MEGA 180 and have been unable to successfully install an OS because when I boot from CD, the computer freezes at various stages of installation. The point at which it freezes varies between the point at which the CD is initialized to anywhere in the windows xp setup process up untill the drive format. Occassionally the lockup coincides with an error copying a file, but this is not consistent. I have tried two different cd-rom drives as well as three different xp installation cds. Further I have run with 5 different sticks of ram (kingston and corsair). None of these changes have had any obvious effect.
Having read the warning labes regarding non MSI optical devices, I am tempted to think that may be the problem as I am not running on an MSI drive. However, the warning souned like it was about mechanical parts and thus I assume the ability of a drive to fit in the MEGA 180 case while opening and closing correctly.
I would appreciate any input you might have on this matter as I am finding this experience rather frustrating.I had the exact same problem when upgrading from a 2100+ Palamino processor to a 2800+ Thoroghbred one. The screen had already dissappeared due to powering up with no monitor plugged in, so I tried a reinstall of Windows XP. It kept falling over randomly during the install process. I then swapper the CPU back and had no problems at all. I have since lapped the heatsink and reduced the FSB to 157MHz in the BIOS, and have not had a problem with the 2800+ CPU. I have not tried installing windows again, but feel this will be OK too.
My test is to run FujiFilm Snapshot Slideshow, which sends the CPU temp rocketting. I have found that when it goes above 70 C it starts getting unstable. I throttled the FSB back to 157MHz and it does not get to 70 C any more. In normal operation it never gets above 60 C, so I don't know why the slideshow takes so much CPU power -
Hi,
Is there a "code" know'n for the Mega 180 IR-remote
I'd love to use my Marmitek remote for HIFI and CD playing
As i use the Marmitek remote for showshifter on my Mega 180 and for my TV, DVD and Sat set.
Don't like my table full with remote'sLOL
There is not any stockist in France for Mega 180 beacause this Mega is too old and nobody ditribute it now
And MSI France is not able to help me.
I'm very about MSI custumer service.
I must to make everything myself.
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