Mega 180 sold out?

I waited too long to get around to buying one and now newegg and zipzoomfly are both out of stock...
They are few and far between on ebay... are they being discontinued? Hopefully there are still some out there (pref. under $300)...

Hi Dr Stu. WOW!! I'd only checked the morgancomputers main/first page - so thought the mega180 was the only one available.( or maybe they've changed it since I first looked a couple of days ago) I'm now sorely tempted to stretch my budget and go for the 915. Would be much more "future proof" than the 180? Socket A very much outdated I guess?! And I personally prefer intel to amd............!! Apart from the obvious differences which I see from the specifications - wonder if you or anyone has any particular gotchas/ problems/ serious hardware glitches etc etc re the 915 compared with mega180??? ( I should add that i've had about a year wrestling with problems on a shuttle zen - should have read the shuttle forums more carefully!! ) I know quite a bit (now!) about keeping heat down on a sff box! So wonder just how bad/difficult etc it would be keeping a 3.2 prescott (say) cool in a 915 compared with (say) a sempron 2800+ in a socket A mega180 ????? ( I know it's not that simple............... but thought i'd ask anyway!!) Thanks.

Similar Messages

Mega 180 spdif out w/ Linux ALSA

Has anyone managed to get the spdif output working under Linux ALSA? I've got analog out working no prob, but I'm getting nothing out on optical. A working .asoundrc file would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Roman

Quote from: romanr on 22-January-05, 23:25:42
Just a follow up - ALSA does *NOT* currently work on the Mega 180 as it is not supported by the nvidia drivers.
OSS however does work as of the 0292 release and is pretty much fully implemented. Hopefully the next set of drivers will support ALSA.
Cheers,
Roman
ALSA has worked for me since 2.6.8, but I don't use the nvidia binary Nforce2 drivers (net, sound etc.)
- Stian

MEGA 180 fall out

I was doing nothing stange and when i shut of my mega everything was fine untill the next morning.
It would not boot anymore. HIFI mode does work but when you press the pc button it goes on and goes of directly.
I've looked all over the place on the forum for an answer but couldn't find it
please help me its my only fast computer in the house

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=62668.0
hi, you posted this topic last october, and never responded to it
i think the big question that needs answering is "how did you mod the PSU to 300w?"

Mega 180 beeps, no POST

Ok I guess I need to sit down and tell you the whole story. I have a Mega 180 system that worked fine for two months (heck the best system I ever had) I decided to put the all in wander graphics card in to the system. I was going to the AGP slot of the motherboard of the mega 180. I went to the bios and saw something about high performance and about the AGP 8X knowing that my graphics card is for the 8X I decided to hit that save the Bios and shut down the system to put in the AGP card. After installing the card I started up my system and I got nothing to the screen, then the Mega made beep ever 3 secs. I shutdown the system by pulling the power plug. Waited 10-15 sec and tried it again, still no screen and the beeps. I pulled the plug again and uninstalled the graphics card. I again started the Mega up and switch the monitor hookups back to the built in graphs card. Still no screen and the beeps. My next guess was it had something to do with the Bios. I did the whole jumper thing and still got the no screen and the beeps. I even pulled out the battery and unplugged the power supply to the motherboard and waited 24 hours. Hooked back up everything installed the battery and powered up the system. And got no screen and the beeps. Ok maybe it is something elese so my sister having the same Mega as I do a 180(and thanks again sis for you help and the trust to use you mega as a test base) I pulled every thing out of my mega 180 and installed it in her’s. I put in the Memory, processor, hard drive, DVD-ROM. It worked with out a flaw it was just like before. I even tested the graphics card with out going to the bios (real trust from my sis or did I not say this is what messed up mine oh well) and the graphics card worked fine. So after another time spent I put back together my mega 180 (with out the graphics card in the AGP slot) and still got the no screen and the beeps. I then tested what the on line forms asked. I tried to put in other graphics cards in the other slot to see if it was looking there for a card, no luck. Then I took the hold thing down to BEST BUY (they have helped out before good Guys there) and they spent all day messing around trying to clear the bios and trying different memory and different graphic cards and no luck. They said to call in the warranty and see what MSI will do. (They did not charge me a thing for their time, and many of them I know want one now too even with this mess up I think this is the best thing out there in the world of pcs)
Ok so that bring us here and I thought to give you guys here a try be for I go ask MSI
Again thanks to all that help, I wish I could do more then say thank you.
Heck one more thing I would have done the redo of the flash the bios thing with the new file but the mega 180 does not have a floppy drive so no A drive.

Thanks for splitting this from the other topic to avoid any confusion.
I did use a can of air when I rebuilt my mega 180 after I tested all the parts in my sister Mega 180. And best buy looked over every thing and did not see any thing wrong. (four eyes always are better then mine) At this point I’m out of ideas thanks again for all you help guys. I guess I’ll send an email to MSI today and see what they say. (in a year or two I’ll hear something) I thought it would be fair to start here before going to MSI. In all, I hope this is truly a rear thing that happens to mega 180's for I still say this the best case to get. I love this case and I got two of my friends to buy one and my sister has one. We all love our Mega's a lot. (Heating can be fixed with a little work ok) And the radio rocks and the looks cant be beat. I will keep you all updated and again if you all have any ideas please post them here you never know one day this might happen to you.

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/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.

Tv-out stoped working (mega 180)

I have searched the forum for tv-out problem but did not find the same problem I have.
9600 pro fb
Mega 180
2600 barton
winxp xp2
The tv-out was working fine, but sudenly it was dead.
This happend at the same time the msi radio started after I turned on my pc, I managed to make it stop, but then the radio came on when I turned the tv mode on. But i fixed that problem to.
But the tv out wont work. But the tv does flimmer a bit when i try to connect, so there is contact. Acording to windows, a cable is not conected, but I have tried with to different cables and it worked before.
Also, the startup screen wont work on tv, not even with the monitor cable unpluged.
I use composite, no s-video on my tv.
I tried to change the gfx card in bios from agp to pci, as it was original.
This happend after I tried to make my other computer work, so I have changed the cpu and memory a bit, to see what is wrong.
But I gues there is no cable needed for tv-out that I could have taken out?
When I get home I wil try new drivers.
I gues I also could try to "turn back time" Dont know the english word for it.
In norwegian, "systemgjennomretting"
Does anyone have other sugestions?

The TV out has to be connected on startup. What to do in case you have disconnected is explained in the MEGA pdf manual you have on your CD-ROM. It comes down to setting NVidia Dualview settings again for your TV out, because it is set back to single monitor again after disconnecting it.

Mega 180 VGA Video Out Of Range

Hello all.
I recently received a Mega 180 (used, but not too used). It had an ATI AGP card in it that I pulled out. I then installed Win XP Pro (SP2 and other up to date MS stuff).
It was working fine for a few days ... I have a KVM switch and plugs attached to it, with the VGA cable into the primary VGA slot. Now I can't get any video output. My LCDs (attached to the KVM, and directly to the Mega180) say that "video out of range". I've connected a CRT to it but it's not getting a video signal after the MS XP Pro initial screen.
I've gone into the BIOS and reset it to the "optimal defaults" but no luck there either.
Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.
ESlater

Bass: Are you sure it's the F6 key that allows one to reset to VGA mode? I've gone into CMOS and turned off Quick Boot, but still, everytime I press F6 I just get the Windows options for Safe Mode boot.
I did go into Safe Mode and set my resolution to 800x600 but that still didn't help.
I guess I can always go ahead and re-install the ATI AGP but I was thinking this unit should work with the standard VGA plug. What is weird is that Windows was running fine, and I wasn't really using the machine at all when the video mode got "reset" (or something).
I guess I'll boot into Safe Mode and remove all video drivers and see how that goes?
Otro: I thought that by hooking up the CRT I'd be able to capture all video modes (certainly more than w/the LCD). What's happening is that the CRT is turning "off" once Windows moves beyond the initial screen (presumably to the User Account Login Screen), as if the Mega 180 isn't even sending a signal down the VGA connection.

Mega 180 9800 pro

My initial PC setup was:
XP2200+
1gb Geil DDR400 CAS2.5 6-3-3-? value mem
60gb UDMA100 Segate 2mb cache 7200
Nec DVD+-rw drive
Saphire Radeon9800 pro (R350)
I wanted to upgrade the CPU to a XP3000+. After installing, windows would boot up, then autoshutdown. I thought it was a heat issue. Pissed me off some as i thought it (or the heatsink) was certified to 3000+ (and yes, it was a 333fsb cpu). So was a little peeved, but sold cpu to dad, so atleast got money back. Anyway, thought i would try a 2700+ instead. Had to take out all the drives to install cpu, that wasnt too much bother. Plugged in comp after putting on therm paste on cpu, used onboard graphs for time being to test it was ok. Everything fine. Thought i would plug in hdd, windows booted fine. plugged everything in (incl 9800 pro), and monitor wouldnt turn on. Took out 9800, and used onboard, windows booted fine, thought i dammaged 9800 pro. Searched this forum and founds resetting cmos might help. plugged in 9800, reset cmos, all worked ok. Mucked around with ram cas settings, stopped working again. reset cmos again, 9800 in, all worked again. Apparently, adjusting cas timmings etc stops 9800 pro from working. I guess thats how its going to have to be. Want to thank all those who helped me fix it (even tho it aint running at full potential), this forum and everyone on it have been a real help. Just want to know if there is a 300watt psu available in UK (london) for the Mega 180 as i want to put a 6800 in here? Current psu is 250W.
thx all
Jasonian

Both Nforce2 and MSI are extremely sensitve to memory. Have you tried different memory sticks ?
I have the Mega 180 with XP 2800+ and kingston memory. Works fine... Although I have not needed an additional graphics card.
The onboard works just fine for a hometheater PC. The most graphics intensive thing in an HTPC environment is HDTV. I can do TIVO type function with HDTV using just onboard.
What are you doing that needs better graphics ?

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...

Remote PSU for MEGA 180

I'm proposing this as just an idea and if anyone out there is skilled with electronics it is something to consider. In fact, I may do it myself.
OK, down to business. What's the single biggest component in any Mico PC? The power supply unit (PSU). In addition, the PSU throws off alot of heat (most is vented out the back but infra-red is radiated throught the case) and is generally noisy (fans). Lastly, PSUs in micro pc's are usually underpowered. Myself, I usually put in a minimum of a 350 watt PSU when I build a PC (preferably 450W). PSUs are often ignored but believe me, a high quality PSU is critical to making a dependable PC. In fact, may PC's I've repaired that were suffering from mysterious reboots were because of low quality PSUs giving off 'dirty' power.
So here's what I'm thinking. Take the PSU out of the MEGA 180 (or any micro PC), buy a high quality, high powered PSU, and mount it remotely. All you will need to do is splice in wire b/w the PSU and the plug ends (solder and use heat shrink tubing). Then, use a wire loom to make all the power leads into one nice cable. You could place the PSU in an out of the way area. I'm thinking a lenght of about 3 feet would be great.
So what will you do with all the extra space you've created in your MEGA 180??? How about a nice big heatsink on the CPU??? Or, what about a second hard drive mounted where the PSU was? The options are endless.
I've used a PC power supply to make a regulated 12 volt power source. To see how, check out my website at http://www.e-maxximumrc.com/html/power_supply.html

As far as I can make out, the MSI PSU does have some 'special' outputs as the Radio and CD can be powered when the Power Supply is 'Off'.
You would just need to make a 1 to 1 cable to get the power to the Chassis and the original connectors if you were just remote mounting the MSI supply. If you did want to buy a new PSU then you would need to measure what voltages you get where with the MSI PSU 'Off' and also check that the ATX connector (and the others) are standard as I would imagine this is a Custom PSU for MSI and there is a danger that things may not be as they appear. For instance, I know that Dell have standard looking ATX PSU's but when you actually check the pinout, they are different and connect a normal PSU to a Dell system and it becomes very 'interesting' - mostly a lot of electrons escape in the form of smoke!!

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 :(
James

Hi
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

HD 3450 in Mega 180 - connection problem

Hi,
I'm planning to buy an ATI HD3450 based card, Asus brand. It has an additional molex power connector on board. I do not have any spare molex connectors left in my Mega 180. I'm not using the one marked by MSI as for ODD, because it is always powered on, so I use the other one for both HDD and ODD.
Would I burn the PSU if I use the same 12V line for molex (and connect it to HD3450) as I use for HDD and ODD? I might be a little to much for the PSU 12V line to hold and power all 3 devices at once.
Does anyone know what is HD3450 card demand for power? I've been looking over the internet for 2 days and I found various answers: from 36 Watts up to 75 Watts.
36 Watts is OK for Mega PSU but 75 is out of it's range (+CPU, HDD, M/B, ODD, RAM).
Why do I want HD3450? It comes from Asus as low profile and it is AGPx8. Low profile VGA means more hot CPU air getting out easily (both CPU fans reversed).
To those who have ATI 9700/9800 series and nVidia 66xx series: you have an power supply connector on VGA board, 6 pin or molex, how did you connect it to the PSU? Did you use the same power 12V line as for HDD or adopted an another one?
Is it possible to connect the unused SATA power connector to VGA? Yes, I know I have to adopt the connector, cut the SATA connector out and solder in molex or 6 pin, but that's the easy mechanical part. My question is about the electrical part. How many Amperes can it sustain at 12V?
Thanks for all answers (I hope) in advance :-)

Thanks, but take a look: http://www.diamondmm.com/3450PE512.php , Specifications tab. It says "Power Consumption : 75 Watts".
This spec if for 512MB PCI-E version, but I do not think that 256MB AGP version is so much different.
Where did you find 25 Watts info? If that was true the card would not need any additional power, I suppose that AGP slot can provide 25 Watts itself.
I'll try to connect my ODD to the other molex (the one MSI designed for it). I'm not worried about any power drain when it's not oparating, I just hope it is safe for the electronic equipment such as ODD to be constantly powered.
Does anybody have HD 3450 in their Mega 180? I have read that this card has some problems with nVidia chipset based mobos. At least had a half year ago. I cannot find any info if this issue has been fixed by Asus (no specific information in thier latest driver changelog).

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

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....

Mega 180 sold out?

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