Mega 865 Issues

I'm having a couple of issues with the Mega 865-based PC that I just built and I'm hoping some people here can answer a couple of my questions. If interested, system specs are at the bottom.
1. I can not get MSI's Media Center III to run in any stable form. Typically after I install it and reboot I will try to start the program and it will crash before anything is even displayed on the screen. Furthermore, this freezes the display on the front of the computer itself and the only way I've found to reset this is to shut the computer down and unplug it for a little while. This will happen regardless of how many times I re-install the program.
2. When I start the computer after having not used it for a while it will make it as far as loading the user login screen in Windows XP and then restart. After trying to start it normally or in safe mode enough times it will finally load Windows propperly and continue to work well. I can even shut it off, unplug it, and turn it back on without any problems. This only happens if it's been sitting off for an extended period of time. (several hours)
Other than these two issues the system has worked flawlessly for me. Hi-Fi mode works well and once it starts the system is stable under load dispite fairly hight CPU temperatures. If anyone has any ideas on how I might be able to get around these problems please let me know and thanks in advance.
- Ed Andocs, [email protected]
MSI Mega 865
Pentium 4 Northwood, 3ghz
1gb Corsair ValueRam
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Samsung 7.2k RPM 160gb HDD
MSI CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive 52x24x52x16

Had the same issue with mine when I started. The crash of the MMCIII is due to some writing issue of the program to the LCD screen and once the screen is upset then you need to unplug the PC to clear it. I started getting these issues after I used live update from the web, I think I downloaded a bad version of PCalert. Anyway in the long run I formated and only used the versions on the CD and it all worked fine. Oh and if your wondering about the performance of MMCIII, it doesn't get better.

Similar Messages

More Mega 865 Issues

Focusing on one problem at a time, the big thing I was to clear up is my inability to start the computer up most of the time. Before my clean install I ran the full suite of tests included with Memtest86 and everything turned up fine so I'm confident its not a matter of memory corruption. At the moment I have the following installed:
WindowsXP w/ SP1
Broadcom LAN drivers that came on the included CD
Newest Intel chipset drivers
DirectX 9.0c final release
Newest ATI Catalyst drivers (For a Radeon 9800 Pro)
Newest AC-97 Audio Drivers (Downloaded from MSI)
Nero
PowerDVD
The best description I can give of my issue is that after the computer has been sitting off for a couple of hours and I try to turn it on, it reboots just as the mouse arrow is displayed and just before you would expect the WindowsXP boot screen to display with a list of all the users and their icons. This rebooting will then continue in an endless cycle. The only solution I've found was to boot first into safe mode where I get a blue screen before loading the GUI, the do a hard reboot from there and then the system *might* come up normally. Once I coax it into comming up normally everything works flawlessly, just the way I would expect it to. Has anyone here experienced anything like this before? Thanks.
- Ed Andocs
[email protected]

Raymond,
Thanks for your response. Here's the info you asked about
Heat/BIOS:
I have not updated my BIOS to 1.2 yet and my machine is running about 10 deg. hotter than yours. I think a BIOS update would put me on the right track and that'll happen when I get back from work tonight. I had assumed that heat was not my problem in this case becasue the issue occurs after the PC has been off for several hours and it is just turned on, not long enough to generate enough heat to cause instability. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.
Disabling Stuff:
My HD and CDROM are both IDE, so I have my SATA controller disabled in BIOS. I also have my serial and parallel ports disabled. I also have the onboard video disabled in BIOS in favor of the Radeon 9800 I installed. I have USB enabled and I had the F: problem that I heard other discussing, but that corrected itself the second time I installed Windows. Is this typical?
Memory:
I have two sticks of 512 and on boot I am told that dual channel mode is enabled, as I had intended it to be.
PC-Alert:
I have not heard a single good thing about it so I have not even atempted to install it yet.
Wattage:
I assumed that this would not be a problem because I've read of other running their systems in a similar configuration as mine (same vid card, processor, etc) without any issues. Assuming that I am having a power problem is there anything I can do to test that other than unplugging my CDROM and seeing if that makes a difference? I think just about everything else in that machine in absoloutley necessary.
My current plan of action is to update my BIOS tonight and see if that does anything for me. Again, thanks for the quick response and please let me know if you have any other ideas or things to try.
- Ed Andocs

MEGA 865 New Build Issues

Hello All,
I am building up an 865 system. I've searched the forum but haven't found my exact problems. I have noticed two issues before even installing the OS! The first is CD/MP3 playback in Hi-Fi mode is awful, with playback "studdering" every 3-4 seconds, radio playback is fine. The second is PC mode won't detect my SATA drive (in BIOS/Post) if I have previously been in Hi-Fi mode? The only way I have been able to get the system to recognize my SATA drive is to unplug the system for awhile then enter PC mode. If I go to Hi-Fi and then back to PC mode it won't see it any more. My configuration is MEGA 865 w/Bios 1.1, P4-3.2Ghz (Northwood), Pioneer AO8XL Dual Layer DVD Burner, Maxtor 250Gb SATA HDD, 512Mb Crucial PC400 Memory. Will be installing Win XP Pro SP1 once I get the HDD detected reliably.
Thank,
Chris

ok ok, heres another great post for non-techi's (pardon me if u are indeed a technical wizz )
IDE devices and hard drive guide(Written by Assaf & Bas)
have a read through that, at the very least it should give you some pointers.
let the forum know if you get it sorted - every post can help everyone in some way, good luck

Mega 865 Pro and Nlite - SCM Issues

Hello, I have just got a Mega 865 Pro and have installed Windows XP on the system using nlite http://www.nliteos.com to strip windows down to the bare minimum, the boot times are great and it goes in to and out of hibernation is seconds, the problem is that I have stripped out one component that allows the System Control Manager to perform properly, my front LED display stays blank, even if I fire up the Intervideo Hometheatre it does nothing and all the front buttons do not respond. Everything else runs fine though
Has anyone tried out nlite and does anyone know which component of windows I've removed that I should have left in?
Thanks
Niblet

I'll try installing the new SCM program tonight, though the original ones that came on the disc didn't work (they did on a standard install of XP that I did)
I'll post my findings later.

Things to know before (and after) building a Mega 865

As I am seeing a lot of the same questions regarding the Mega 865 I created this document,
29-Oct-2004 Added Northwood benefits
29-Oct-2004 Emphasized NOT to use live update for bios update
Processors in general
Start with the processor, I would say get something around 3 gighz (give or take) which is quite affordeble. If you are going for a prescott, make sure you upgrade your bios to 1.3 (see below).It will run a bit hot (understatement) otherwise.
If going for northwood any version is ok I believe. When I chose mine I let $$$ descide, and the prescott was on sale. (If I would buy a CPU for the Mega again, I would most likely go for a Northwood this time). Before buying your processor make sure your processor is supported, you can find the supported processors here;
http://cweb.msi.com.tw/program/products/slim_pc/slm/pro_slm_cpu_support_detail.php?UID=547&kind=4
Harddisk
As for Harddisk, I would suggest anything goes but take a serial ata since that is becoming the new standard nowadays.
When buying a HD larger than 130 Gig, make sure you install from a Windows XP SP1 CD (or higher) or divide your HD in smaller pieces. Otherwise you will not get a bigger partition than 130 Gigs.
DVD/CDROM
As for DVD/CD player, there is a special thread (see below) where everyone states if their DVD/CD player is working with the mega (there are some issues with some drives in HiFi mode, EVEN if they are MSI)
Mega PC barebones optical drive compatibility list
Memory
As for memory, get at least 512 Mb or 1024 Mb if you want to sit cosy. two sticks of DDR400 (a.k.a 3200) will do. Get a a-brand like Kingston, Samsung or look around on the forums what will work.
Installing Windows XP
Before installing Windows disable your USB devices, if you fail to do this you run the chance of not installing Windows XP on your C: drive (harddisk) and this will cause you trouble later on. After installation is complete you may enable them again.
Prescott processors & full size AGP cards
As for the GPU (Graphics card), this depends on what you are going to do with it. If you wanna try out at showshifting, and viewing get one with integrated TV tuner. Or use the on-board (some people are quite happy with it) and add a separate PCI tv tuner. If you wanna do hefty gaming (Doom3, Far Cry ... etc) you may want to get an better one. I'm quite happy with my Radeon 9800.
Please note; According to MSI, Prescott processors in combination with full-size AGP (add-in) cards are not supported. This is most likely a power issue since the full-size cards use a lot of power to run. Some forum members, stuborn as they are, are running with a full-size card.
Also note that you are installing a full-size card on your own risk in combination with a Prescott processor.
To calculate your estimated power supply take a look here;
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
The following graphics cards seem to be working (please add to this thread if you have tested a full-size card with a Prescott processor so I can add it to this document)
Club3D Radeon AIW 9800 PRO
ATI Radeon ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 XT
ATI Radeon 9800 SE
AOPEN Aeolus 5900XT 128 Mb
Wise words from Stu:
If you do not want to take chances, go with a Northwood processor. Apperantly there is little perfomance difference between a Northwood and a Prescott processor, and the Northwood runs slightly cooler too.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 & Bios Update
When installing Windows XP with SP2 make sure you have the latest Bios version loaded (1.3) or install a Microsoft work-around fix. SP2 will not install without it, and you will have a hard time getting your system to work.
The Microsoft work-around fix can be found here;
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;885626
The latest bios version can be downloaded here;
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/bios/bos/spt_bos_detail.php?UID=547&kind=4
To install the latest bios, I would advise against using live-update. Use one of the following options instead;
1) Burn a bootable CD-Rom also containing the bios and flash software, (note some of the original Win98 CD's are bootable to MS-DOS prompt)
2) Create a bootable USB-memory key
--- Download the HP util to create one
--- http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/hpcpqdt/us/download/20306.html
--- Then create a bootable floppy on an other system or download from
--- http://www.allbootdisks.com/
--- (I used the Win98SE No ramdrive )
--- Then use the HP tool (on an system with an floppy drive) and enter a: as the source for booting,
--- and use the above created floppy.
--- Then copy the rest of the files from the a:\ drive (like autoexec.bat, config.sys etc) to the memory key.
--- ... and ... voila one bootable USB
--- make sure in the bios that the boot order of the USB key is before the Harddisk and your set to go.
3) Attach a floppy drive to the Mega 865
Bios update failure
Some people still manage to goof-up their bios, by doing the bios update from windows (winflash, live-update). I think there is only one road to travel when this happens, you have to attach a floppy drive to your mega. Then follow the following instructions (Award bios)
http://www.msi.com.tw/html/support/bios/note/boot.htm
Good luck !
PC-Alert
Do not use the PC-Alert version from the MSI website as this does not work together with your Mega 865, instead only use the one on the CD-Rom that was supplied. In general even the supplied PC-Alert has caused a lot of grief (Taking up resources, reboot problems ... etc). If you choose to install PC-Alert, at least remove it from your start-up folder where it is installed. You can always start it manually from the MSI menu in your Start menu.
A good alternative to Pc-Alert is Speedfan, this program should be able to spot your 2 temeperature sensored CPU fans. You can then connect these fans to the CPU temperature sensor and be able to tweak the RPM's according to your need. Speedfan 4.17 can be found here;
http://www.almico.com/speedfan417.exe
Temperatures
As these tiny PC's have very little space, it is quite normal for them to run a bit hot. Do not be alarmed to see CPU temperatures around 60-65 degrees when running on load (depending on your processor of course).
Wireless Network adapter
As for wireless internet, the mega865 has a built-in mini-pci nic (network card). which supports only the 11 Mbps data rate. I think you have to try it out and see how it goes, you can always upgrade to 54 Mbps. I would suggest to get a 54Mbps access point, so you can always upgrade if needed (54Mbps will also work with 11 Mbps) Some forum members have succesfully replaced their Wireless Network adapters with a 54Mbps one. The following network adapters seem to be working;(please add to this thread if you have tested a wireless 54Mbps network adapter so I will add it to this document)
Intel PRO/Wireless BG Network Adapter
6 Channel sound
I recently bought a 5.1 set from Soundblaster. You can connect the 3 connectors to the back of your Mega, then in the Sound util set it up for 5.1 surround sound and you are ready to go. Definately worth it !
Reboot problems
When you run into problems when the Mega reboots suddenly, watch out for a couple of things.
Always check your event/log viewer. It is in your configuration management, but the easiest way to start it is to enter the following in your Run or Command line entry
eventvwr /s
Check if you see red-dots in your application section or system section. Google the problems before dropping them on the forum ! (As most problems are not Mega related IMHO)
One problem I had was caused by BITS 1.5, I had to upgrade to BITS 2.0. (I think it was recently released by Microsoft-Update but I mention it anyway). Bits 1.5 caused my Mega to reboot.
LCD Display / Sound problems
If you have any problems where your front LCD display is not working or your on-board sound is 'missing' first try unplugging your mega from the power outlet (so completely powering down) for 2 minutes. If you still have problems, drop them on this forum.
LCD API ?
Alas, no external programs are available to 'drive' your LCD display. Nor will MSI release an API/Blue print on how to control it.
If you find anything missing here or have additional tips, please add them to this thread and I will update this document.
Good luck with your Mega !
Raymond

rkoppen i salute you
a truly glorious summing up of the main points asked about the Mega 865 in particular, although many points will invariably refer also to the other Mega series
if i can add my tuppence worth, anyone considering going for a powerful graphics card can always shy away from the prescott
i was reading an article just when the prescott core cpus came out and the review basically said that there wasn't really much performance wise between the new prescott and the older Northwood cores.
obviously newer prescotts have higher clock speeds now (3.2? 3.4??), but surely a 2.8ghz CPU is still going to be powerful enough to play the latest games!! (in conjunction with a top graphics card obviously)
is the extra temp increase surely worth the extra couple of hundred mhz?

Media Center DVD 'Stutters' on MEGA 865

Hi
I am an IT professional, but I am a newcomer to the MEGA series PCs. I bought a MEGA 865 Delux for a 'computer newbie' friend as payment for a favour, and I am in the process of configuring it all now.
Spec is
MEGA 865 flashed to bios 1.2
MSI DVD Player DR8-A2 BIOS 1.6
NO TV CARD (yet)
Win XP PRO SP2
512MB RAM
Celeron 2.0GHz (yes I know, but I had a new one going spare, it'll do for now)
I have applied ALL latest drivers
I have applied ALL latest BIOS patches
Windows XP is fully patched up to SP2
I am currently running in 1024x764 Truecolour 70Hz mode.
Everything works great, my friend should be really pleased with it ... except
MEDIA CENTER III !!!
Now that was kind of the idea of buying the MEGA PC, my friend could use it with the remote control for DVD, Radio etc etc, but when I play a DVD using the media center it 'stutters', the video and sound are interrupted and it really is unwatchable.
Looking at the CPU resource is see that it is strained to 100% utilisation.
If I run the same DVD Movie with PowerDVD (came with the MSI DVD Drive), or even with Windows Media Player, it plays beautifully and the CPU is comfortably down at 40% utilisation. Unfortunately the remote seems to do nothing for PowerDVD.
Is anybody finding that the Media Center works great on their system? (if so, what's the secret?)
Has anybody else encountered similar problems to mine?
Does anybody know how I could fix the problem so that when I present this great new system to my friend as an expression of my gratitude, it is not 'flawed'?
Please help if you can, I would like to deliver the system in the next couple of days.
Thanks
Steve

Thanks for the advice everyone.
After much searching I found the elusive registry changes and applied them to my system. Unfortunately these changes made no discernable difference to the DVD playback.
While I appreciate that there are a number of Open Source projects in development (dependant on 'Girder', pay software that still does not appear to FULLY replace the advertised functionality of the Remote/LCD/Radio etc), and also alternative products that I could purchase, I do not feel that I should have to buy these to make my MEGA media center PC play DVDs.
It's not as if the inability to play DVDs is a minor issue in a Media Center. It's fundamental!!
If it will not work as a media center PC 'as supplied' then it seems to me that I should return it to the retailer and buy a 'Shuttle PC' for much less money. I could spend the savings (I reckon on about £70) on a better CPU or just pocket the difference. Features and software that do not work are of little use to anybody.
With all due respect to you all, if everybody who bought the system and had these problems returned it to the store as 'not fit for purpose' then I suspect MSI would have resolved the issue long ago. It seems to me that end user tolerance has resulted in MSI's indifference.
If I have no fix by Thursday then it's back to the store.
I have mailed MSI Tech Support, hopefully they will come up with something as the system looks great otherwise.
Still open to suggestions that do not include 'break up the CD' or 'buy this other software'.
Thanks
Steve

Mega 865 Duluxe - Graphics card upgrade

Hey there, I have a mega 865 Deluxe and I have just brought an LCD TV. I am currently using the onboard graphics card, but thinking about adding in a new card that has DVI output.
Can anyone suggest what sort of card i can get away with adding. I'm gonna use it for the occasional game, watching dvd's and using the LCD TV as my new PC monitor.
My current set up is:
Mega 865 Deluxe
Win XP Pro SP2
Northwood P4 2.8
Maxtor 80gig harddrive
1Gig
Soundblaster 24 bit Live sound card

Thank you. I just picked up an ATI AIW 9800...I read here that a lot of people are using that. I am using the 2.8GHZ Northwood processor, so I hope I don't run into over heating issues

Mega 865 Pro All in Wonder AGP card question

Helllo,
I own Mega 865 Pro, and iam looking to install AGP card that has all the features of video editing instead of buying two cards like Pinnacle and graphic card, so i have been searching and i found All in Wonder series, which has TV tuner as well, has any one tried this before, it would be fun to have HDTV beside all the prevoius features of editing issues all in one card, but iam not sure that the power will be enough, so please iam seeking advice.
Regards

Quote from: Stu on 18-March-07, 04:00:21
as you are using MCE2005, in order to use the TV capture in Media Center, you should be sure that it is supported in MCE
May you reccomed a card to me that support MCE and has the prevoius features as iam not expert in this matter, beside i have heared that i can upgrade the power supplu toget more than 240 watts as thats what i get normally from MEga 865 pro, is that possible to upgrade the power supply? because most new cards needs from 350 watts and above
Regards

System Control Manager on Mega 865 Pro

Hi,
I Have a Mega 865 Pro, I would list whats in it but do not consider that any of this would help.
The system has the System Control Manager software installed which allows for you to use the buttons on the front of the system within Windows XP, if the software is not installed or running then one of the problems is when you use the CD eject key the system will restart.
The software runs normally on my account where I'm an admin. However, if I have any other accounts running then the software will not run with the following message.
MGSYSCTRL
Detecting Model type failed!
You may not run this program correctly
Can anyone assist in making sure that I do not give my kids admin access under Windows XP?
Thanks
Rob

Update.
This has now been resolved by performing the following.
1, Download the bios update using the link below, the MSI update utility never reconised that there was a newer version of the bios available.
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/download/dld/spt_dld_detail.php?UID=602&kind=4
This fixed the reboot issues when using the eject cdrom button!!
2, The System Control Manager cannot be used under a non admin account, this was corrected by performing the following.
export from mthe registry, and then delete:-
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"MGSysCtrl"="C:\\Program Files\\MSI\\System Control Manager\\MGSysCtrl.exe"
And Change to:-
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"MGSysCtrl"="C:\\Program Files\\MSI\\System Control Manager\\MGSysCtrl.exe"
Then run the new on the Admin account only.
Hope this helps some of you!
Regards
Rob

MEGA 865 Deluxe with MSI DR8-A 8x8 DVD±R/±RW Writer

Hi everyone,
I am just about to put this box together, please advice..
Heard any compatibility issue on this one? IE, ejecting problems or loosing functionality in PC or HIFI mode? or any issues at all....
MEGA 865 Deluxe with MSI DR8-A 8x8 DVD±R/±RW Writer
It will be a bummer if I go put this together and it doesnt work properly. That will be money down the tube.
Thanx.

I have the same box and optical device. I have yet to get an audio CD to play completely through in HiFi mode. It will play for 3 to five minutes and then quits, LCD reads No Disk. I can get it to start up again with no problems but it only plays a few minutes at a time. It works fine in PC mode both in playing Audio CD's and DVDs so I am guessing that my problem lies in Hi Fi circuitry/or wires. I believe you should be able to use the 865 in Hi Fi mode without O/S, Memory, or even a CPU. Good luck.
DS

Mega 865 - MSI Media Center SLOW on Music mode (CD audio)

Hello,
I'm having a problem with the Mega 865, when I'm playing CD audio with the Home Theatre / MSI Media Center Deluxe II application. It seems to VERY, extremely slow. It takes about 30 seconds for the application to respond when I directly click into the application, and it does not hardly ever respond to the remote. When I try to close the application once it has begun playing an audio CD, it does not respond very well, usually not within 30 seconds. When I open the task manager, the CPU usage is between 90 & 100 percent. I looked at the system requirements for this application, and the computer has over twice the requirements, so that is not the problem at all. I tried updating to DirectX 9.0b and Media Player 9, but that did not seem to improve performance. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Phillip

This email from tech support may be useful. I'm not sure if this is a new version or not. Its a 110MB download, so hopefully it will help. I'm downloading it now. I'll let you all know if this works (in case someone else has this problem, and they are searching through the posts):
Dear Phillip T. George ,
Thank you for contacting MSI Technical Support.
Deleted by GV
Besides, please take a good look at this update for Microsoft DirectX
v9.0b:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8dfd1b6d-e177-4
a0e-91d0-b4310675b02b
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8dfd1b6d-e177-
4a0e-91d0-b4310675b02b&displaylang=en> &displaylang=en
Thank you for supporting MSI product. Please feel free to let us know if
you still have any further issues or inquiries.
Best regards,
MSI Technical Support
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please include previous mails when replying!
-----Original Message-----
From: Phillip T. George [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 3:15 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Mega 865 - MSI Media Center SLOW on Music mode (CD audio)
Hello,
I'm having a problem with the Mega 865. When I'm playing CD audio with
the Home Theatre / MSI Media Center Deluxe II application. It seems to
VERY, extremely slow. It takes about 30 seconds for the application to
respond when I directly click into the application, and it does not
hardly ever respond to the remote. When I try to close the application
once it has begun playing an audio CD, it does not respond very well,
usually not within 30 seconds. When I open the task manager, the CPU
usage is between 90 & 100 percent. I looked at the system requirements
for this application, and the computer has over twice the requirements,
so that is not the problem at all. I tried updating to DirectX 9.0b and
Media Player 9, but that did not seem to improve performance. Any
suggestions? Also, I'm running Windows XP Home Editon and very few
things have been installed on this new machine.
Thanks,
Phillip T. George
Electronic & Computer Solutions, Inc.

Restart Problem Fix for Mega 865

Just letting people know how I fixed my Mega 865 restart problems
my quick story
I built my 865 with 512RAM and installed XP MCE2005. The next day I installed a 1 GIG RAM chip and the system would not boot into XP. It would get to the windows boot screen and crash when loading the hard drive drivers.... or somewhere around there. couldnt even get into safe mode. I removed the Radeon 9800 and it booted. oh no could it be the AGP Card?
well I put it back in and tried every thing,
removed the new 1 GIG RAM, same problem
reset BIOS
reset to Safe Settings BIOS
reset to Optimal BIOS
repair XP recovery console, fix MBR ...etc
then I the BIOS I tried dropping the AGP Aperature size from 64MB down to 8MB. It fixed the problem.
I'm guessing the issue is really one of power. the PSU is only 230w and with the extra ram stick, it had problems putting out enough power.
so I dropped the agp aperature down to 8MB (shouldnt matter as the card has 128MB and hopefully shouldnt need system RAM)
I also turned off the serial port (set it to disabled - who uses the serial port anyway)
and disabled the modem and network card (dont need the modem and I'm using the wireless card instead of the ethernet one)
hopefully turn these things off will prevent furthur power issues when running games and stuff.

the prescott core P4s are hot enough as it is, without squeezing a 3.2ghz in there, along with a hot GPU
i would recommend the northwood core P4, as they run cooler and are just as good as prescott P4s as tests have shown
and i would also advise you to search through this forum for topics about mega 180 heat issues; the issues will apply to all mega series, just seems to cause more of a problem with the 180, but most ideas will apply to 865
first thing to check is airflow, make sure that there are no cable looms in front of heatsink, obstructing airflow to the fan. bear in mind too that by default, the fan is already blowing hot air off the AGP card onto the heatsink (yes, poor design by MSI but it can be resolved apparently by "reversing" fan airflow).

MEGA 865 running Linux

I'm new to the forum. Here's the system I ordered from NewEgg:
MEGA PC 865
Celeron 2.4 Ghz
Kingston 512M PC3200
DVD+-RW MS-8408A
TV@nywhere MS-8606
Maxtor 40 GB, 5400 RPM
I threw all the pieces together, no problem. Well, the IR cable doesn't plug into the TV card. I just left it off for now. There is another post that covers that issue.
After lurking through the forum, I noticed a couple things. Everybody is running Windows on MEGA 180s. There isn't much information about anything else. Since I want to run Linux on a MEGA 865, I'm starting this thread to share my experience. I see a few other people have tried this as well, anything you can pass on would be great.
My first suggestion is to get Knoppix. You can download the live CD from here:
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html
Burn the ISO image to a CD. (I used version 3.4)
Reconfigure the MEGA BIOS to boot from CD before the hard drive.
Boot the disk and you'll get to the KDE desktop.
This is KDE 3.2.2 with Linux Kernel 2.4.26
What does the bootup sequence look like?
hda: maxtor
hdc: generic DVD RW 8XMax
memory: 507028 kB
Processor: Celeron 2395MHz
ACPI: ac battery button fan processor thermal
[at this point the fans mercifully drop down to low speed and I can once again hear myself think!]
USB found
Firewire found
Soundcard: Intel 82801EB AC'97 (i810_audio)
Video: Intel 82865G (XFree86 i810)
Network device eth0 detected, DHCP started
Eventually a root prompt will pop up and then the KDE desktop. Which, I must say, looks fantastic. This is my first time working with a Linux GUI and I am blown away by not only the kwality of KDE but also by the breadth and depth of the applications included with Knoppix. Starting with just this one CD, I have a fully functional and useful PC in minutes. Everybody should try this.
Where to go from here?
Press CTRL-ALT-F1 to get back to the root shell where you can type commands. If you don't see the "root@tty1[/]#" prompt, just press return until it pops up.
On my system, I see an error "Cannot initialize the agpgart module". I don't know what that means or why I'm getting it, but it's the only error I can see in the bootup sequence.
On the net, you will find a lot of people talking about using "knx-hdinstall" to permanently install knoppix to your harddrive so you don't have to boot off the CD everytime. Well, this script has been renamed to "knoppix-installer". Just type that at the prompt and you will be lead through all the steps you need to get a permanent installation. I won't walk through all that here, but ask if you have any questions. Suffice it to say, my HDD now has several partitions and two Linux installations on it (the other being Gentoo). I boot using GRUB.
I have two goals for my MEGA 865.
First, I want to use it to store my digital photos from SD memory cards.
Long term, I'd like to use it as a PVR and DVD player in my living room.

If I boot with an ethernet cable plugged into my router, then Knoppix detects the on-board adapter and properly configures eth0.
From the root shell, type "ifconfig eth0"
You'll see the assigned IP address, MAC address, and network statistics. I can "ping designlab.info" and I get a response in 190 ms. Your mileage may vary.
It seems to be important to have the ethernet cable connected when you boot. If you don't then the eth0 interface will not be configured.
How about that card reader?
Make sure it's there:
grep "^S:" /proc/bus/usb/devices
I see 5 USB devices on my MEGA 865. Four of them are "USB UHCI Root Hub". The other one is "8-in-2" which is the card reader. If you have other USB devices, they should show up as well.
Drop an SD card into the front of the MEGA and type
fdisk -l /dev/sdb
How did I know it was sdb? Umm, I don't remember. Somehow I figured out that sda is some other scsi device. Anyway, you should see your card listed as "/dev/sdb1"
mkdir /sdcard
mount /dev/sdb1 /sdcard -t vfat
ls /sdcard
... and you should see a list of the files on your SD card. At this point I was pretty happy. The network is working and the card reader is working.
You have to have the card in the reader when you type "fdisk". Otherwise, you won't see the sdb1 partition.
When you are done using your card:
umount /sdcard
The umount is important to make sure any changes you made are actually written to the card before you remove it. I think you risk corrupting your files if you don't umount before you remove.
To make this easier in the future, I edited the /etc/fstab file and added the following line:
/dev/sdb1 /sdcard vfat noauto,users 0 0
Now I can simply type "mount /sdcard" and "umount /sdcard" without all the "/dev/sdb1 -t vfat" stuff.
Here's some more good information about using card readers with Linux:
http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~ggbaker/personal/cf-linux

Mega 865 wireless network problem.

Hi all,
New here and seeking a solution to a specific prob.
Have built a system from with a MSI Mega 865 Delux. P4 Chip, ATI all in wonder graphics/TV card, Maxstor 160 GB hDD.
System is specifically as a home entertainment/ video capture and record.
Problem with wireless networking.
I have a wireless network with three PCs all with USR wireless cards and a usr 8054 router which actually does little but extend the rance of the network, Internet connection is through host computer on a single channel ISDN line.
When I connect to the network with my Mega 865 (XP TO XP) the connection is massivly slow, in fact pages on the net refuse to load it is that slow.
The 865 is causing the host compiter to drop its connection to the router for about 50 % of the time, I can see its icon flashing red as the connection is dropped and returning to green as it reconnects.
It sounds like an incompatibility issue some where but I can't find anyone else with the same problems.
Any ideas anyone?
Thanks, Epirb.

Quote
Originally posted by Normunds
Quote
Originally posted by epirb406
PS didn't I read somewhere else on this forum that SP2 is a bad idea with this machine?
To my knowledge, the SP2 caused trouble for Mega 865 if a certain type of P4 CPU was installed (Prescott?)
That was so because this sort of CPU requires some "alternative" microcode to be loaded into it upon startup.
One published workaround was to replace certain file in the SP2 package with its predecessor from SP1,
another (more solid, IMHO) - to upgrade the BIOS of PC so this revised microcode is loaded with BIOS. At this point in time, I believe, the revised Mega 865 BIOS is available as an official release.
You are right, the issue is only with certain processors; see also (this includes the m-soft workaround too)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;885626
This revised bios is not available IMHO, one of our forum collegues managed to get a beta version of a new bios, which does the trick. If you need it give us a shout.
Ray

Mega 865 configuration - will it work?

Hi there
I am just about to take the plunge and build myself a Mega 865 and have a few concerns over what I intend. The configuration I am thinking of is as follows:
Mega 865
P4 3.0Ghz 512 cache 800fsb
2 x Corsair 512Mb DDR400/PC3200
Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 160Gb Serial ATA 7200 8Mb Cache
MSI DR8-A2 DVD-RW
MSI GeForce FX5900XT
Nebula Digitv PCI card
My concerns are as follows:
1) Will the GeForce FX5900 physically fit in the Mega 865?
2) Will the PSU supply enough power for this configuration?
3) Will temperature be a problem?
Any advice on the above would be greatly appreciated, along with any other issues that I may have overlooked.
TIA
Blinkie

1: It will eventually fit when you carefully route the power wires.
2: Don't know, if your're lucky: be aware that the PSU has effectively about 200W (when heat is involved)
3: Heat will be a problem but can be managed: look at the thread of Anakin on this forum.
Check for the serial ATA connector onboard. I don't know about the 865, but although the 180 has a serial ATA power connector, it cannot be connected to the motherboard.
JaDi.

Mega 865 Issues

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