MOVED: AUTO BIOS UPDATE K9N2 SLI platinum FAIL

This topic has been moved to AMD64 nVidia boards.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=130056.0

Quote from: Svet on 02-September-09, 09:11:32
And have you done this?:
Quote from: Stu on 31-August-09, 18:15:06
Clear the CMOS after a BIOS update. >>Clear CMOS Guide<<

Similar Messages

K9N2 SLI Platinum Fails Boot In Morning

System:
# AMD Phenom X4 9550
# MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum
# 2x2GB G Skil DDR2-1066 ( Bios DDR2 800/2.1 Volts )
# GeForce 8500GT
# 1x Seagate 500GB Sata
# 1x Maxtor 60GB ATA 133
# 650W PSU
Having Boot problems: Failed Boot this morning, System Shutdown 10 Hours ( PS AC On , LEDs Lite )
Failed at 2nd Green Light ( memory size check ), Reset and system Booted normal..
Previous: Overnight AC OFF , No Leds, System Failed Boot at 2nd Green LED and kept Recycling.
Several Power sw On/Off, system Posted with Bios Check sum, Booted defaults, System ok.
Ran OK all day..
Note: system Memory passes Memtst+ at 1066, 6 hours , no fails......
& Sandra Hardware tests ok
Question, Is Bios powered by PS when Power is off ( Leds are Lighted ) or could Battery be bad,
( I know, I will get another, But I don't think it is the problem )

You should have had early warnings if the battery was running low.
Could have been some kind of power problem during night, of course. If you mean by reset that you restarted the system, that would however suggest the PSU is on the limit.
There isn't much use in overclocking your memory, so I suggest you run it at 800.
And please specify your PSU a little better. Watts mean nothing substantial at all. It says mostly what profit the manufacturer wants.

MOVED: How to adjust CPU NB Multi, or HTT Multi in BIOS on K9N2 SLI Platinum?

This topic has been moved to Overclockers & Modding Corner.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=126239.0

Ok so that setting allows me to adjust the HT Link.... though it does this by multiples of 200... starting at 200; going up as high as 3000+
However I discovered that I can only go up to 1800. If I try to set it at 2000, then my system refuses to POST and I have to clear the CMOS and start over.
I also discovered that, changing this setting, does not seem to have any effect on the CPU-NB setting.
What does have an effect on the North Bridge; is changing the CPU FSB Frequency. However, not only does this adjust the North Bridge mhz, it also overclocks both the CPU and the DRAM frequency at the same time; but I can't get the North Bridge any higher then 2370mhz without again, causing the system to refuse to POST and resulting in me having to reset the CMOS and starting over.
The reason I was asking and trying to do this is; I was told by OCZ, if I can adjust my DRAM to around 1000mhz, and the NB to 2400mhz, then my ram, which refuses to run at 1066 without crashing my system; I was told my RAM would be preforming equivolent or better then 1333 ram. But it seems my K9N2 SLI Plat will not achieve that 2400 without becoming unstable.
The highest I can get it is 2370...

MOVED: NB Multiplier on K9N2 Sli Platinum?

This topic has been moved to Overclockers & Modding Corner.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=137312.0

Quote from: BOSSKILLER on 24-December-08, 11:27:25
Don't think that new BIOS can improve your OC.
"/ 2x1Gb Pc2-6400 Crucial Ballistix @ 462/924 5-5-5-15 1T /"
That's too high and tight, most probably that holdon you back
Hi i'm back... my two sticks work very well on these spec. and in order to follow your advise i've lowered the ratio at 1.1.66 so that they can run less than 400 mhz and in spite of that i'haven't been able to rise my phenom more than 230 htt :(
I "googled" 2-3 hours to understand what could prevent me for reaching higher htt frequency and i discovered that as the K9A2 model my K9N2 hasn't got a very important and useful option in its bios that's to say: "Adjust cpu nb ratio" which can allow the end user to lower the ratio of the internal memory controller of phenoms set by default at 9x for regular models (ex: 9550...) and 10x for Black edition models...This bios option is available on Dka 790 gx/platinum ( I'm about to suicide myself )
So in my case as my 9650 is overclocked at 11,5*230 the nb ratio is by default set at 9*230 which is quite high and if i could lower it for example to 8x or 7x i would be able to rise more than 230 my phenom's htt... this option is still missing in new beta bios release, so i hope it will appear for the future release....

K9N2 SLI Platinum raid setup after bios flash

Hi
I'm building a new system based on K9N2 SLI Platinum. Apart from a new 80 GB sys. HDD everything else is reuse from another MB (MSI K9N Platinum).
Here is what is puzling me: Before trying to install WinXP i flashed the bios to 3.2 because of the included updates to the raid bios. Flashing went well, however in my setup I want the 80 GB HDD to be non-raid and the two 320 GB HDD to be raid1. I've set this up in bios so that only channel 5 and 6 is enabled for raid and would expect that the 80 GB HDD (channel 1) would show up as a normal sata HDD when starting up. But it doesn't - it is listed as 0.0 xxxx after the "press F10 to enter raid setup" message?
This is strange because I had the same HDD setup on my old MSI K9N Platinum and there the 80 GB sata HDD was shown as a "normal" disk and not as a "appendix" to the raid list.
Because of this I have problems installing WinXP on the 80 GB HDD
Any suggestions?

Hi BOSSKILLER
Thanks for your quick response.
Quote from: BOSSKILLER on 12-August-08, 00:14:44
Well, leave the 80GB only and install XP over it.
Then connect other two HDD's and enable RAID for them.
Unfortunately this didn't help. As soon as I installed the Windows nVidia RAID SW it prompted med that it had registered the 80 GB disk as a new disk that wasn't a member of any RAID. This happened everytime Windows XP was started.
The trick was to add the 80 GB disk as a Spanned disk using the nVidia RAID BIOS setup utility. Install Windows XP (again) and the Windows nVidia RAID SW and setup RAID 1 on the other two sata disk.
I don't think this is a great setup but it works. I hope that MSI will fix this issue in a later BIOS upgrade. It would be nice if the enabled/disabled for sata RAID setting actually worked.

K9N2 SLI Platinum BIOS Flashing.

I have a new K9N2 SLI Platinum and as yet no processor. The best deals look like they are for the Phenom 8xxx series of triple core machines, but they are only supported by BIOS 3.2 (or later). My board is of course at 3.1. The question is whether the board will run enough to be able to flash the BIOS to the new version using an unsupported processor or do I need to have a supported one ? If it is the latter I think I will go for a fast X2 rather than a triple or quad core, I don't for the most part run more than 2 processes that consume a lot of resources.
Thanks
Jim

You'll need a 1.4Mb floppy drive to flash the BIOS.
Go ahead and get an AMD 9850 BE or 9950.
(Personally I'd get the AMD 9850 BE and OC it to 2.6 Mhz - cheaper than the 9950)
I built my rig with AMD 9850 BE - booted the first time it was fed power.
But, being the "good tech", I had downloaded the latest of everything from MSI support site,
and saved to Floppy and flash drive.
(The CD you get with the M/B does NOT have the latest BIOS/Drivers)
The very FIRST thing I did was update the BIOS to version: 3.2
After that, just load your OS and install the drivers.
Good Luck.
-Neut.

New K9N2 SLI Platinum isn't booting into BIOS

So i just built a new system with an MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum, and installation went by with a breeze. However, after supplying power, and turning the system on for the first time I'm met with absolutely nothing.
I'm not the most advanced in this category, and I've certainly never experienced the likes of this ever. I've gone through the hardware configuration a thousand times, and I'd know if it were that.
I was wondering if anybody knew a few tricks to get this new board to boot. I'm suspecting it's probably something small and obvious I wouldn't ever think of.
But yeah, any help would be much appreciated.
Current System:
Mobo: MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum
CPU: AMD Phenom X4 9850 (black edition)/stock cooler
RAM: Corsair Dominator 2x2048Mb 1066Mhz DDR2
GPU: PNY XLR8 GeForce 9800 GTX
HDD1: Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB 10K RPM
HDD2: Seagate Barracude 1.5TB 7200RPM
No operating systems yet (which is kind of impossible since I can't even set the boot order without the BIOS loading.) But I plan to run XP Pro alongside Gentoo.

All fans are spinning fine, I'll get the PSU info later, I took it from an old system I built before my last deployment. It's an 850 watt (single 12 volt rail) system, not sure the exact specs on it anymore.
I do believe though, that I've managed to knock something loose as it keeps beeping repeatedly now when it boots. Before it was absolute silence on boot. (which is weird because i don't actually remember installing the speaker?)
Oh, the DVD drive is from another system too, and pretty old, but it opens, and functions.
I also swapped between onboard video, and the graphics card to see if it was maybe the graphics card and still nothing.
Though I have to use a DVI converter with the graphics card (which is pretty lame for a 200+ dollar graphics card to have two DVI ports and an SVID port, but no HDMI port.)
Anyway, I originally tried to boot with my 1080P television connected into the HDMI DVI* port for the mobo.
Keep good language in a forum!
Now if I can just figure out what was wrong in the first place eh?
It seems the reset button allowed it to boot into the BIOS, but a regular boot wont?
Edit: Still wont boot into BIOS or POST though, I'm met with a blinking line that's been there for over 10 minutes now.

K9N2 SLI Platinum video won't initialize with monitor connected

Hi,
I've gone through the RMA process with my vendor and I am on my third motherboard right now and I am still having an issue (so, basically, nightmare scenario here ). The first and second motherboard failures seemed slightly different but the failure seems to be the same for the second and third and it is making me think that another factor may be at play other than the motherboard. All of the failures have been with the integrated video (which is all I plan to use at the moment --I don't even own a PCI-E video card right now nor have any plans to get one in the near future).
In the first motherboard, everything seemed to work (as far as I could tell --4 green diagnostic LED's and all that) but no video signal was produced. Testing with an antediluvian Virge DX based PCI card (some of you kiddies may be too young to remember such things) did show normal booting with that video card (as far as I allowed it to go) and I suspect, from the pattern of hard drive activity, that with the integrated video the boot process was also normal (I just couldn't see it because of no video signal being produced). But that is past and has been RMA'd.
The replacement motherboard and the motherboard replacing the replacement motherboard, on the other hand, have seemed unable to initialize video whenever my monitor is connected but if the monitor is not connected, they work fine (but then video defaults to a 1028x768 mode and I cannot run my monitor at native resolution). Curiously enough, my second motherboard worked correctly twice before exhibiting the described behavior making me think, at the time, that I just got really unlucky and simply had had it fail shortly after testing it those two initial times.
Not being able to initialize video while the monitor is plugged in means that if I try to start it while the monitor is attached, the motherboard will not even POST and that the diagnostic LED's will be stuck at the video initialization stage (three reds, and one green at group 4).
Furthermore, if I start it with no monitor attached and plug the monitor in after I get 4 green LED's, it will start booting the OS (Windows XP) but the screen will go black when the Windows XP logo should be appearing. I can also leave it unplugged until it should be at the Windows XP logo stage (or plug it after the 4 green LED's and unplug it again before the video mode switch happens) and when I plug it back in I can see the Windows XP logo. However, as soon as it switches to the Windows XP desktop, I get a black screen.
And again, if I leave the monitor unplugged until the Desktop should be showing up and I plug it in at that point (or go through the process of plugging and unplugging the monitor while avoiding having video mode switches happen with the monitor plugged in) I do get a Windows desktop at the 1024x768 resolution. Once in the desktop, as far as I can tell, I can do anything there that I normally would be able to do (so I mostly have a working system, as far as I can tell). I have even installed drivers, verified that the sound works, etc.. I will still do a repair install at some point because I am not doing this the "right way" and I probably needed to do it anyway (though I think it's using the right kernel and everything --showing 3 CPU's, etc.) but I am not looking for answers with that as my issue shows up before the system even goes through POST. Again, note that I cannot even take advantage of my monitor's native resolution with the current kludge.
Curiously enough, if I try to switch to my native resolution of 1920x1200 it will do it but only by switching me to a virtual 1920x1200 desktop on a 1024x768 display (so there's no actual video mode switch involved and the desktop becomes bigger than what my monitor can show). It's as if part of the subsystem is reading the monitor and "knows" that it supports 1920x1200 but another part of the subsystem is just assuming some sort of 1024x768 default common lowest denominator for digital displays. I attribute this to the fact that video has been initialized with no monitor connected.
I originally had a 350W Enermax power supply (which worked as long as the monitor was not plugged in) supplying 32A on the +3.3V rail, 32A on the +5V rail and 26A on the +12V rail but I replaced it with the power supply shown on my profile (which was probably totally unnecessary as I'm only using the integrated video --but hey, I now have a blue light coming from my power supply so that makes it all worth it ). I suppose both power supplies could work badly with this motherboard model but it seems exceedingly unlikely that that would be the case (specially since everything works as long as there is no monitor plugged in during video mode switches).
I currently am running it, on cardboard, with a single stick of RAM (on the slot next to the CPU) and nothing else connected to it except the power supply (including JPW3 & JPW4), the CPU, a hard disk with a working Windows XP install, a mouse on the mouse port and a keyboard on the keyboard port (specification as on my profile minus one RAM module). I did play with RAM timings at the request of tech support but I can't imagine how it could be a RAM problem when everything works as long as a monitor isn't plugged in during video mode switches.
I did update the BIOS from 3.4 to 3.5. 3.5 did not seem to be available at the time of my previous motherboard and I knew it was a real long shot for this to be a BIOS issue that would be fixed with the 3.5 update (specially since the update mentions only CPU support stuff and nothing about video) but I am desperate. Yes, I have done the whole resetting the CMOS thing.
I am even considering the possibility that there may be some weird incompatibility between the video on this board and my monitor (under the assumption that, quoting Holmes, once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth). I don't even know how that would work. Note that my monitor worked in my previous system with the digital input (my previous system is no longer available to me for testing --but I did get a chance to test it, after having problems with my first K9N2 SLI Platinum motherboard which I returned, and it worked). Note that my monitor works with the system in question (I simply cannot have it connected while there's a video mode switch under way). Note that the lack of a picture seems to be related to the motherboard as evidenced by it being stuck at the video initialization stage if I attempt to start it with the monitor connected.
Any wild ideas? I do not want to return this motherboard a third time and I specially do not want to return this motherboard a third time if it's something that can be easily fixed.

Quote from: Svet on 25-May-09, 02:21:06
Have you tried with just memory stick in 1st DIMM near to CPU socket and mainboard out of PC case?
Yes, I currently am running it, on cardboard outside the case, with a single DIMM (on the slot next to the CPU) and nothing else connected to it except for the power supply (including JPW3 & JPW4), the CPU, a hard disk with a working Windows XP install, a mouse on the mouse port and a keyboard on the keyboard port (specification as on my profile minus one RAM module). And it works,... as long as the monitor is not ever connected while video mode switches occur (including power on). And this is exactly how the previous motherboard which I returned also behaved.
Addendum: As an additional note, I have tried the other DIMM on the same socket by the CPU with the same results (everything works as long as there's no monitor connected during a video mode switch). I also managed to make a bootable Memtest86+ (is that what people use to test memory these days?) USB stick and I am running it right now. It has shown no errors right so far but it has only been running a few minutes. I do not really expect any memory errors to be at fault since they would have to be magical memory errors which only cause problems when there is a monitor connected while a video mode switch is happening but I'm desperate to try anything to find out what the issue is.

K9N2 SLI platinum - another problem w/ Phenom II

I decided to upgrade my K9N2 SLI Platinum from Phenom 9850BE to Phenom II 940 3.0GHz. I switched the CPUs but I didn't update the bios from 3.2 to 3.3. When I powered up the bios 3.2 system with the Phenom II it posted and booted but then blue screened. I restarted and went into the bios settings and checked the hardware monitor and it showed the CPU temperature at 80C! I looked at the voltage and this bios was giving the Phenom II 1.8 volts. I immediately shut down and felt the CPU sink and it was quite warm after only 60 seconds or so. That wasn't a stock heatsink either - it was a CNPS9700 with AS5 - a lot of copper to heat up.
It seems that the 3.2 bios, if it didn't recognize the CPU, should not have set the VCORE to the maximum of 1.8 volts and continue to run.
Also, I replaced the Phenom II with a sempron to upgrade the bios and had a problem after successfully flashing 3.3. I spent the weekend back and forth with MSI support and they sent a beta bios 3.3.3 that did work. My problem with 3.3 was that the machine would freeze before POST with the Group 2 LED flashing green/red.
I'm waiting for a new CPU and wondering if I should also RMA the motherboard. How come so many people seem to have flashed 3.3 with no problem but mine didn't work?
# CPU: worked: 9850BE with 4 2Gb sticks of CORSAIR DOMINATOR 1066 (worked at 1066 all four)
burned up by bios version 3.2 Phenom II 940
used to flash bios: Sempron 1800
# Motherboard model: K9N2 SLI Platnium
# Video card: MSI 8800GTS
# Hard drive(s) Seagate SATA 80Gb
# No other cards.
# Operating system: win32 XP
# Power Supply: New ANTEC Neoblue 650W.
Will

Quote from: hifi239 on 04-February-09, 00:37:10
Thanks for all the information. As I said, I have the MB working on a spare Sempron and I am waiting for a new 940, but here are some facts I'm still curious about:
1. With a plain vanilla Sempron 3400+ and a plain vanilla one stick of slow memory my K9N2 SLI Platinum will not boot correctly with bios 3.3, even after resetting cmos, unplugging, etc. MSI tech had to send me 3.3B3. Anyone know why that would be. Is there something wrong or different about my MB compared with everyone else that has 3.3? What bug in 3.3 is fixed with 3.3B3?
The sempron should boot correctly. (3.3Beta3 is a pre-3.30)
Quote
2. I'm sorry but I think that with 3.2 or 3.3 or 3.3B3, before flashing, after flashing, with cmos reset, with cmos not reset, the bios should never put the red maximum 1.8 volts on a CPU it doesn't recognize. I never set that parameter. It is a bios bug for it to switch up to 1.8 Vcore. I had the 9850BE at Auto (about 1.1V I think).
You need 3.30 and after reset the cmos.
Quote
3. "I doubt it burned the CPU" Really? The max case temp for 940 is 60C. Mine got to 80C. That's not good, even if it does still work. Fortunately I purchased from NE who will RMA it.
I doubt yours even got 80C as you where using the wrong BIOS...did you measure it with a digital temp-meter?
Did you burn your fingers on the heatsink?
It's not the first time a CPU temp is being read wrong in the BIOS.
Quote
4. digit123abc said "i have the same board and 940BE, 3.3 sets the cpu voltage to 1.8volts even after bios reset and loading defaults" So, when I get the new 940, with 3.3B3 am I really going to have to rush into the bios and change the 1.8Volts to auto before I burn that CPU also? If so, that's a bad bios bug.
A BIOS default is Vcore at Auto, never seen anything else....not a BIOS-bug but he didn't reset the cmos after flashing.
And again 3.3Beta3 is older then 3.30 that is release version.
Same as with Windows7 Beta....thats prior to Windows7 Release.

K9n2 sli platinum will only boot/post when running single channel

Hey
I am having problems with the rig when i want memory to run Dual channel.
I have tried all bios settings (or at least i think so) and all memory slot combination (or at least i think so) without any luck.
When i put 2 sticks in dimm 1+2 I get nothing but a black screen.
When I then turn my pc off, putting 1 stick in dimm 1 it will boot and I get the message: DQS training failed on previous boot.
Mainboard: MSI K9N2 Sli platinum
CPU: AMD 5600X2 Windsor 2x1mb cache
HD: have tried with WD 250gb and hitachi 160gb sata2
Psu: Have tried with OCZ 500W and corsair 620W
Memory: Have tried with kingston pc5400 and Adata pc6400 both 1gb sticks
GFX: Have tried with GF8800GTS, ATI 1800XT and GF8500GT
CPU cooler: CM Gemini2
Motherboard have BIOS 3.1 ( so there should be no problem with running the cpu)
everything except for mainboard have been testet with other gear and is working 100%
Memory passed memtest with no errors.
Some facts
1 stick in dimm 1 = boot/post single channel
1 stick in dimm 2 = black screen.
1 stick in dimm 3 = boot/post single channel
1 stick in dimm 4 = black screen
1 stick in dimm 1 + 2 = black screen.
1 stick in dimm 1 + 3 = boot/post single channel
1 stck in dimm 2 + 4 black screen
1 stckk in dimm 3 + 4 black screen.
1 stick in 1 + 4 = Boot/postor black screen..cant remember but for sure not dual.
1 stick in 2 + 3 = boot/post or black screen..cant remember but for sure not dual
I have tried:
manual timming settings, both recommended and lower timmings.
Auto timmings
More volt to memory
More volt to cpu
Tried 800, 667, 553 and 400mhz
Tried sli memory disabled and enabled
Changing cpu ratio
Tried T2 and T1
Have tried load default settings
load optimized settings
everything on auto
well, that’s just about it and don’t know what to try next.
So if anybody have some input I would really appreciate it.
Regards
Jesper

Have you done that?:
Quote from: Stu on 13-September-09, 02:54:40
Have you tried taking the board out of the case and setting up outside on a flat anti-static surface? Maybe there is something shorting the back of the board where the DIMM slot is.
If no change:
Leave just one memory stick in 1st DIMM close to CPU socket,
ensure that system is stable the flash to the latest BIOS ==>
http://eu.msi.com/index.php?func=downloaddetail&type=bios&maincat_no=1&prod_no=1443
You can >>Use the MSI HQ Forum USB flasher<<
Once done re-test.

K9N2 SLI Platinum - new Phenom support and OC

____________E D I T ___________________
MSI K9N2 SLI PLATINUM
SUPPORTS
AMD PHENOM X2 965 BE CPU
____________E D I T ___________________
if it didn't I would be crying in a corner somewhere not posting this from my super fast PC
Thanks to all you guys
____________E D I T ___________________
Hi guys,
Had my lovely new M/B for a few months now and It has been a wonderful board.
despite one hiccup where the PCIE bus had a moment / died ( flashing the BIOS to latest fixed it )
My setup currently :
Jeantech Storm 700w Modular PSU
MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum
AMD Phenom 9550
with Zalman silent fan
4GB crap ass RAM (that's a real brand .. honest)
2 x BFG 9800GTX+OC in SLI I likes these .. they make lovely noises in my dark room .. VrrrrUmmmmmmm mmm mmmm mmm
500 GB slow ass HDD (Again the marketing dept of this brand were out to lunch when they launched it)
Windows 7 RC. latest build
Nvidia Det's 190.xxx latest driver
mostly playing Fallout 3 (graphics are beautiful but notice the CPU is lagging behind now)
So to the Crux of my issues :-
I'm looking to upgrade a few things here though,
as you can see a few components are severely bottlenecking performance.
First off the RAM.
going to get some nice Kingston 1066 DDR2 (4GB or should I go for 8GB ?)
next .. a WD VelociRaptor 10k rpm HDD probably just a small 74GB or the 150GB drive
and finally the pies de resistance ( yes PIES ! .. I like PIES !!) shiny new AMD Phenom 965 CPU
SO... Will the 965 phenom work in this board ? I've logged on tech support but no answer,
latest BIOS is installed already 7374v35 i think.
I know it's a 140W CPU so okay there,
the Socket AM2+/AM3 is good
.. I just NEED to be sure before spending £200.00
if not .. is it worth getting the 945 or 955 BE and clocking them ... could the board handle clocking the 965 ??
and last of all, if any one has any opinions on the build .. let me know... have you built a similar rig ?
cheers all
PIES out ~!
OCD

WoW !!
Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it...
and after a drunken bout of spontaneous cash wastage on the internet last night :
1) AMDOA06KNF PHENOM II X4 965 £151.07
2) WDGA060T2 WD VELOCI RAPT 150GB £99.07
3) KTEA069M4 4GB 1066MHZ DDR2 £41.70
... goods on the way...
So I guess in a few days I'll be able to update you all on the build and will more than likely be updating this post with my random moronic questions and queries when the next thing goes wrong
looking into Power requirements
9800GTX+ SLI requires a min 550w PSU .. and so far in top gaming and 3D benchs hasn't gone over 250w on the meter ( pretty good I think)
the Zalman CNPS9700 LED seems to keep everything cool without any power to the fan... but I leave power on low just for the pretty blue lights
I'm happy to listen to any advice though,
One thing I will need is any pointers you can give on the K9N2 built in OC facility in the BIOS .. is it any good .. can I TRUST it to not fry my CPU by running it on auto ? is there any recommended settings ? etc. your thoughts and experiences welcomed
OCD

Strange K9N2 SLi Platinum issue getting progressively worse

Quickspec:
AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ ADV60000DOBOX
K9N2 SLI Platinum
G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
2x BFG Tech GeForce 8600 GT OC2 w/SLI bridge installed
Western Digital Caviar Black SATA 1TB
No additional cards
Microsoft Windows 7 x64
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 -- 750W Continuous @ 40C (825W Peak) +12VDC @ 60A (Single Rail)
I put together my system (http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=628222) in April of '09 and everything has been rock solid. About 3 weeks ago, I started seeing strange graphical glitches, which can only be remedied by a system reboot. See below:
Initially, I thought that the issue may have been software related, as I could screenshot the problem, and noticed that the problem would occur only after waking from sleep mode, and only while playing fullscreen games. Before assuming anything, I ran diagnostics and checked my temps, all of which were in spec, so I decided, maybe I had lost my primary video card. I tried each of my SLi cards independently with the same result. I've also tried using each PCI-E slot with similar results.
I moved on to test memory with Memtest86, which would lockup @ 5% through its first test. So I started sequentially removing RAM sticks until it ran. After pulling out two sticks of ram, I thought I had nailed down the issue, things were stable again, but the system would periodically not POST, no VGA, nothing. Diagnostic LEDs would be RED|GREEN|GREEN|GREEN but would boot normally after a power cycle.
After a couple days of stability, the video glitches came back. At this point, I'm thinking it could be the Mobo itself. Upon boot my LED Diags go RED|GREEN|RED|GREEN and don't change. The system is failing to POST most of the time, and when it does boot, just completely dies under any stress whatsoever.
Obviously, I would imagine, it could be a power issue, but I have a solid PCP&C Silencer 750 which I would find hard to believe is causing the issue. I could test voltages, but I'm doubtful this is the issue.
Any thoughts on what I might try next?

Quote from: Stu on 04-February-10, 03:18:53
The graphics corruption your screnshot shows would seem to be symptomatic of a failing VGA card.
Yes, but not only. I doubt that's VGA failure for this case.[He got 2 VGA's, tested each one alone with no change, Both VGA to be failing sound not much realistic]
Unstable system memory can cause the same artifacting/visual corruption
Quote
I moved on to test memory with Memtest86, which would lockup @ 5% through its first test. So I started sequentially removing RAM sticks until it ran. After pulling out two sticks of ram, I thought I had nailed down the issue, things were stable again, but the system would periodically not POST, no VGA, nothing. Diagnostic LEDs would be RED|GREEN|GREEN|GREEN but would boot normally after a power cycle.
One more pointer to exclude the VGA{s}
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# G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Can you provide exact models? or link to manufacturer?
Quote
# G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Quote
# AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ ADV60000DOBOX
Quote
which I linked in my OP http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=628222,
RAM : 8192 MB DDR2 Dual Channel
RAM Speed : 387.6 MHz (Unknown) @ 5-5-5-15
Slot 1 : 2048MB (6400)
Slot 1 Manufacturer : G.Skill
Slot 2 : 2048MB (6400)
Slot 2 Manufacturer : G.Skill
Slot 3 : 2048MB (6400)
Slot 3 Manufacturer : G.Skill
Slot 4 : 2048MB (6400)
Slot 4 Manufacturer : G.Skill
With all four memory sticks installed drop memory divider to 667.
[current in use is default 800, you can do that from BIOS Setup,
Cell Menu adjust option named "FSB/DRAM Ratio", apply to either "333", "667", "1:1.67", "5/3" {all mean the same}]
The CPU's [AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ ADV60000DOBOX] memory controller, can't handle them at full speed.
[For more details refer to this topics:
==> https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=130043.0
==> https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=120827.0
Other tips:
* Test each one memory stick alone with >>Memtest86<<,
use the 1st DIMM close to CPU socket to isolate if you have an defective stick.
* You can apply memory voltage in BIOS Setup recommended by memory vendor if need[2.0 - 2.1V, check specifications at memory vendor for your sticks]

Re: K9N2 SLI Platinum Powers halt on boot w/2 mem. modules.

Not sure if this is the right forum for this but here goes...
I Just recently bought and put together a kit yesterday and i must say ive had a heck of a time trying to get it stable. it constantly hang on boot and i thought it was the mobo but decided to investigate further just to be sure. So i systematically disconnect everything and installed items one by one. first, mobo - cpu only - reboot - , then added one ram - reboot -, then video card and monitor - reboot -, each time always listening to any beep patterns. added mouse keyboard - reboot -, then check cmos disabled internal graphic to prevent conflict with pcie card. at this point i left it running for 2 hours browsing around net, playing videos, updating and installing software, at this point there were no hiccups so i shutdown and restarted the computer several times...so far so good...so i decided to install another stick of ram and rebooted....system hang on boot....hmmm. removed the extra stick and the system was back to being stable. I realized now at this point that its not the mobo. After reading the trouble you went through and it turned out to be your PSU, Perhaps that might be my issue too.
anyways, here are my specs
MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum motherboard (MS7374 rev1.2)
AMD Phenom 9500 2.2GHz Quad Core HT 3.0
500Gb Seagate Sata HD 7200rpm
2x XFX GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB Graphic Cards
4x 2Gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2
LiteOn Blu-Ray Drive
Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope OS
ULTRA LSP 650W PSU 38Amps +12Volts
currently my system is running stable with 1 stick of Ram and 1 Graphic Card but i would like to use all of them (Linux support for SLI is spotty last i heard but it might have changed). If anyone here got suggestion i could try before i splurged more dough for a bigger PSU let me know. Else, ill go ahead and let you know how it turn out.

Well, look like my problem may have been solved. Fredrik got me wondering too whether one of the RAM might be faulty. I cycled my Ram sticks by installing them into the motherboard one at a time then rebooting. The third stick that i put wont POST but all the other three does. So i installed all three good sticks back and the computer booted just find. Also, I found out how to change the Voltage in the BIOS by simply pressing + or - keys (perhaps would have helped if I read the BIOS help file earlier DUH...). As suggested by Bas, (and for insurance, just in case stick need more juice) I set the voltage to 2.05v although sticks runs find at default of 1.95v (BIOS voltage setting has a MIN = 1.95v MAX = 2.40v). Its in the safe setting range so hopefully they dont overheat. Apart from the voltage and the 2T, All others are put back to AUTO.
Anyways, Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it, I would not have been able to solve this on my own.
CHEERS and God Bless.

K9N2 SLI Platinum Blue Screen of Death when installing Windows XP

My hardware includes:
•   MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum Motherboard
•   Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5
•   GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3
•   AMD Phenom X4 9850 Quad Core Processor, Black Edition 2.5GHz
4MB Cache 2000MHz [4000 MT/s] FSB
•   Thermaltake Ruby Orb Aluminum Core CPU Cooler
•   UltraX3 850 Watt ATX Modular Power Supply
•   [1] Western Digital 200MB7200 ATA133 [Not connected yet]
•   [1] Maxtor 80MB ATA133 Drive [Not connected yet]
•   [1] Western Digital 500GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA II HARD DRIVE
•   [2] Seagate 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB SATA Hard Drives With 32 MB Cache
[Not connected yet]
•   LG DVD-RW
•   Toshiba DVD-ROM [Not connected yet]
•   AMI Bios v02.61
•   Antec Full Tower case
After partitioning my drive with Fdisk I tried to install Win Xp. My plan was to format the drive with XP. XP starts up and runs through the initial system check then when it prepares to install I get the blue screen that says [my words] "Windows has shut down to prevent damage to your system. If drivers are mentioned try disabling them in the BIOS or get the latest bios update from the equipment manufacturer..." The error is:
Stop 0x0000007E on the next line
pci.sys - address f7480BFbase at f7487000 Datestamp 3b7d855c
Just never had these problems setting up a system and soon I will be able to say it took me 2 years to get this running. Hope someone can help. Thanks

Use XP Installation disk with SP2 or SP3 included to fix the BSOD.
Simple your XP installation disk is outdated and cause troubles with latest hardware.

K9N2 Sli Platinum + SSD OCZ Vertex 3 = Slow Speed Problem [PARTIALLY SOLVED]

Hey folks,
I have a problem with my new SSD. I only get sequential reads of 140MB/s and writes of 114MB/s.
I think it is a driver related issue. I once got faster SATA2-like speeds but cannot reproduce the system settings again... Everything back to SATA1-like speeds after reboot.
First my pc specs:
MSI K9N2 Sli Platinum, BIOS v3.9
- 6 SATAII ports by nForce 750a SLI
- 2 ESATA (External-SATA) ports (back panel) by JMB363
- Supports storage and data transfers at up to 3 Gb/s
AMD Phenom II 965 Black
Patriot PV224G8500ELKB Viper II Series DDR2 4GB (2 x 2GB, CL5 PC-8500/1066MHz)
SSD SATAIII OCZ Vertex 3, 120GB, FW v2.11
LG Internal BlueRay BH10LS30
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
I only get very slow speeds with the SSD. I tried so many things that I am getting very frustrated now, I am even thinking about getting a new board and ram just to get the SSD up to speed...
1)
I installed Win7 first with all the default settings in Windows Setup from DVD. Default "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" driver was "Standard AHCI1.0 Serial ATA Controller".
SSD was connected to SATA1-port, On-Chip Sata Controller AHCI enabled in BIOS, Extra RAID/IDE Controller disabled.
All fine, but whichever benchmark I used (AS SSD, HD Tune Pro, Atto Disk Benchmark, CrystalDiskMark; other tools used: DriveControllerInfo, AIDA64/Everest, CrystalDiskInfo ) I got e.g. 140MB/s Read and 114MB/s Write sequentially (CrystalDiskmark, similar with random data AND only zeros ).
Trim working (it seems) with AHCI driver. I also changed to nvstor64 driver (nforce driver setup 15.56), with is marginally faster but not what you would expect from a SATAIII drive on SATAII controller.
2)
I installed Win7 using "diskpart" (Shift-F10) during disk setup, setting a cluster size of 64k instead of default. No real change.
3)
After reinstall of Win7 x64 (again...), I changed from SATA1 port to SATA6 port, also enabled Extra Raid/IDE controller set to AHCI as well.
Nothing changed. With all settings to default in Windows (ahci default driver), I then manually updated the ahci to nvstore64 driver in Device Management, rebooted.
Then a minute later after reboot I got the following Sequential speeds with CrystalDiskMark:
273MB/s read and 137MB/s write (random data) + 274MB/s read and 220MB/s write (with zeros) !!!
While I ran this benchmark Windows came up with a message: "You must restart your computer to apply these changes - Restart Now/Restart Later".
After the previos reboot, when I changed manually from AHCI to NVSTORE, I had changed nothing in the current session, apart from running CrystalDiskMark.
I did reboot and I was back to the slow SSD speeds again = 140/114 MB/s...
4)
I have tried every possible combination of mainboard SATA ports, drivers changing with nvidia setup/manually, deleting and disabling controllers (incl BSOD and startup repair :D ), chaning bios settings around, but I just cannot get back the faster speeds
There is never any change in speed, whether I use ahci or nvstore64, whichever benchmark I use, whether random or zeros...
5)
Could the SSD be broken, something internally preventing it from faster speeds (with this one random exception)?
Could it be that my K9N2 SataPorts only allows for / reduced to SATA1 speeds?
Am I missing something with the driver setup?
Do I need additional drivers for the extra JMicron Controller when using SataPorts 5/6 ?
I have no other mainboard to test this with...
Please guys, I am going to jump out of the window if I can't fix it... :(
Thanks, Mike

Hey guys - problem 'solved':
I tested the OCZ SSD Vertex 3 120GB with following sata3 controller card http://www.lycom.com.tw/PE-115H.htm.
The card itself works immediately (needs at least PCIe x4 slot, will work slower otherwise but still faster than the OCZ SSD @sata1 with nvidia chipset).
There is some raid setup, doesn't apply to me, the boot even with the card is really only a few seconds longer and not annoying at all. Windows (7 x64) needed a driver, supplied on CD (which is cheap and making noise like h**l). The card works w/o the driver but doesn't harm to install it...
Also, just to clarify, this sata controller card did not need any specific setup at all. Just put it in, plug in sata cable (I use akasa sata3-rated), maybe change boot device in BIOS (I didn't even have to), done - booting Windows as usual.
Benchmark CDM with sata controller card Lycom PE-115H:
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3845/cdmpe115hahci0x00.png
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7549/cdmpe115hahcirand.png
Speed is much better than before with nvidia chipset 750a SLI controller: sata1 (sata2 whenever it randomly worked):
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/505/cdmahci0x0.png
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6258/cdmahci0x0sata6contnv64.png
Final thoughts:
Well, I am happy with the SSD speed now (PCIe limited to 5Gbps). However, I had to spent quite some time to get it working on my sata2-cabable mainboard. Finally, I had to buy a extra controller card to get it working reliably at speeds faster than sata1. There is hardly any useful information on why this problem occurs with (older) nvidia chipsets and OCZ (sata3) SSDs. I still think that OCZ must know about this problem, but regards this issue as low priority, while at the same time not planning on giving up on sales to people with nvidia chipsets. Maybe OCZ should just make a big sticker on the box the drives come in with something like "Does/Might not work with nvidia chipsets, please use third-party sata controller card or different SSD manufacturer". But then none of these potential customers would buy OCZ SSDs...
I will keep the sata3 controller, anyway handy to have, but return the OCZ Vertex 3 120GB and replace it with a SSD from a different manufacturer (Corsair Force GT, Patriot and OWC are not that great to get around here). The benchmarks for most people will not achieve the maximum advertised OCZ speeds anyway, so why not go with a brand that allows for some plug'n'play with some customer support.
Hope this post helps others like me with their nvidia chipset + sata1 speed problem
Cheers, Mike

MOVED: AUTO BIOS UPDATE K9N2 SLI platinum FAIL

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