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!!

Similar Messages

New remote controller for Mega 180

I was thinking that is it possible to use MEGA PC 865 PRO's remote controller in Mega 180 'cause one provided with mega 180 is not what I want.
It looks like that 865 Pro's controller would be much more useful, its bigger and there is better buttons (larger - so you can actually find them) .

Hi there,
I have the 865 (non Pro) and the remote is nothing to get excited about, not sure if it's the same as the Pro version. Have a search for "remote" in this section there are a few other more interesting options.
cheers
Rich

Remote (again) on Mega 180

Hi,
Got my Mega 180 together and it seems to work OK, BUT the remote doesn't work. Does it require the TV card since the motherboard manual doesn't seem to indicate a connectyor for IR in. I don't have the MSI TV card in my configuration.
Does anyone have a clue where to start debugging (Yes, I changed the remote battery...)
Regards,
Matti

The remote should work in HiFi mode as a barebone machine, i.e. with no CPU, RAM, TV Card etc. If this does not work, then suspect a hardware fault, or battery problem. You can do this with the full installation, but just switch on into HiFi mode.
If this works then try the PC mode. I believe that the TV Tuner card is needed for the remote to work in PC mode, but I haven't tried it without. You meed to install Media Center Deluxe III to make use of the remote in PC mode.
I have found the Media Center Deluxe III not very good, and hence have switched to ShowShifter (which requires more money to be spent). This does not work with the remote straight out of the box. I believe you need third party software like Girder. Does anyone have experience on installing and configuring Girder, I've still to start?
DON'T RUN THE "GREETING" APPLICATION OFF THE TUNER CARD CD, IT WILL TRASH YUOR LCD.

Which TV-tuner card for MEGA 180

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

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

Girder Plugin for MEGA 180

Hi folks
I'm writing girder plugin for the MEGA 180 remote control. Unfortunatly it works just until reboot and that happens on any system - not only on MEGA 180.
Perhaps some of you are familiar with girder plugins and can tell me where the bug is.
http://n.ethz.ch/student/nschmid/MSIStuff/MSIGirderPlugin.zip
Plase read the README first.txt file for installation, watch the code, test the binary and tell me if you have the same problem. The source code need Borland C++Builder to compile.
I started also a thread in the girder forum.
Thank for helping me.
Nathan

Hi people
I've found the error and it is corrected. Additional I added the new device id I've got from Girder developer. I think the plugin will be soon aviable on Girder webpage.
Please heck out new version at
http://n.ethz.ch/student/nschmid/MSIStuff/, read the installation notes and download with the link.
Jadi wrote:
Quote
Now all I have to do is to program Girder for: ...
Please publish your configuration file. I think it will be a peace of interest for everyone.
Habe a nice day
Nathan

Advice needed for buying an AGP card for MEGA 180

Since 1 year I have a MEGA 180 with a SEMPRON 2500 processor, 512 MB DDR RAM, Lite-On DVD-R/W, Hauppauge PVR-150 running MediaPortal 2.0.0.0.-RC4 and it rocks!
I am not so happy though about the TV-output of the integrated GF4MX that came with the nForce2 chipset. I would like to disable this and insert a low profile, passive cooled nVidia-6200 with 128 MB-DDR. I am a bit worried about the power requirements of the card and the juice that the power supply (200W ) can deliver. Is it safe to use this card or should I adjust my demands? I am using the system for media purposes only, e.g. recording and watching recorded TV, watching movies and playing music. MediaPortal requires a DirectX-9 compliant card, DirectX-8 also works but with video artefacts. Gaming is no requirement.
Can anyone please advice what to do ???
Thanks in advance, Leo

Quote from: johnsaunders18 on 21-December-06, 06:08:32
get a nvidea 6200 they are fine, on a mega, i have built 3 machines based on teh mega 651 and they are all fine
hope this helps
john
Now that's what I call a quick answer
Thanks, John.

Front Panel LEDs problems for Mega 180

Hi, it's rigth one year I got a Mega 180, and I've not ended yet to tune and optimize it
I admit it's like a hobby now
I immediately ask you for my LEDs problems.
I have read many topics and maybe other people have the same my problem, also if I'm not sure if they treat about the Front Panel LEDs when they speak about the "LCD Display".
I have some switched off LEDs in my front panel, in the "time" displayng and in the volume bar: I have to substituite them? Someone have done it before? It's possible to remove the front panel or I have to disasseble all the pc
Or it's a firmware problem?
I also thank all people that cured the section of optical devices compatibility: last week I bought a new Pioneer 111D, because my LG GSA-4167B was not suitable in the PC mode, for DVD playback.
In fact I had many problems for the DVD fluently playback: I have spent 4 months trying new video codecs and also substituting the video card, then I finally have understood that was an optical device problem.
The Pioneer 111D was perfect in the PC mode, but then I had problems for HI-FI playing mode
Then I finally used my old Pioneer 108, that I had in the old desktop, and all work (I pray) fine both in HI-FI and PC mode.
I'll be very happy also to describe to whom that will ask me, my experience with the Mega 180 "assembling", during the last year, hoping it could be useful for other people.
Thanx

> Hi, I'm new to LabVIEW! Ok, what I'm trying to do is create a front
> panel with 9 LEDs. Then I have a Menu Ring, with three different
> options. These options determine the order in which the LEDs are lit.
> So what I was planning on doing was creating three subVIs, one for
> each of the options...but how can I do that when I only have one
> boolean for each LED? So basically how can I relate the LEDs on the
> front panel into the subVIs? I tried using globals - but it seemed
> like that just passed on the state of the boolean instead of allowing
> me to actually change the boolean in the subVI. I hope this makes
> sense...I'm really confused! Thanks for any help!
Initially, you might just hook your ring to a case structure to
determine which frame exe
cutes. You can put the terminals for the
Booleans in the different diagrams and about the only other thing to
keep in mind is that you probably want a delay in the loop.
Greg McKaskle

40mm fan 3pin to mini 2 pin converter for Mega 180 anyone ?

Hi
I have read at length the mod advice to cool this little blighter down. I have purchased new 40, 50 and 60 mm fans, but I have just spotted the power connectors on the existing chipset and cpu fans (except 1) are miniature 2 pin connections. The new quiet fans have standard 3 pin connectors.
My questions are.
1. Should I just power the fans via the power cables from the PSU instead? I can get one of the cpu fans near the AGP slot into the supplied 3 pin connector, but what about the other two ? Do they need to be rigged to the motherboard ?
2. Does anyone know if and where I can but the necessary connection converters or fan replacements that will plug into the motherboard.
Many thanks for your help
Regards
Jasooon

Thanks Bas, haved hooked them all up and all running. Have just installed PC Alert 4 and now have warning errors of low voltages on the vcore.
Wondering how I can have caused this :( ?
thanks again for confirming approach

FSB Setting for mega 180

hi, i just looked at my fsb setting and its at 166. i have a 2800 barton should this not run a wee bit higher than 2079.6Mhz?? i thoguht the fsb setting could be put higher at 200 on the mga 180's. i could be mistaken.
thank you for your help,
s.

Are you absolutely sure about that Stu? It does do it, it is just a matter of will the BIOS recognise the CPU, for example a Barton 3200+ which does run with a 400FSB.
In the 'Advanced Chipset Features' section of the BIOS if you change 'System Performance' from Auto to Manual you can take the 'CPU FSB Clock' setting up in increments of 1Mhz right the way up to 200FSB, so you can do it, as I say whether or not the BIOS recognises your CPU is another story.
I have another nForce 2 system that I use as a server(A7N8X-VM400) and i'm running an XP3200+ with 200FSB in that.
What isn't supported is the use of the onboard video at 400FSB, you have to use an add in AGP card...
I'd try it but I would have to take apart 2 systems to try it out :-(
J.

Day 2 installation advice for Mega 180 delux

Now that i got past the DMI Pool Problem, and have XP installed. I have 2 problems with the system.
1: i can't get connected to my lan via ethernet. lights are on at both ends of the cable and nobody appears to be home. have run the wizzard a number of times. lan connection is not bridged
1a: after fighting the ethernet connection for a few hours, moved the pc to my office, checked ethernet with a different cable etc, no luck. since it was now sitting next to my wireless hub i figured what the heck maybe this will work.
after down loading and installing Ralink driver update (thanks forum) and changing my netgear hub to channel 3 (thanks forum) i am connected via wireless. eventually computer is destined about as far from my home office as i can place it (kids) so need to get ethernet working. sound familiar, any suggestions?
2: In control panel the audio device is showing yellow question marks, doesn't look like drivers have installed, do i need to install the MSI Media Center to get sound out? looks like Media center has been the source of lots of grief.
3: Now that i am online, should i upgrade the bios, system came with 3.3. reading the postings i am not sure i want to introduce any more variables into the equation, but if it will help with 1 or 2...
4: From reading the forums it looks like xp sp2 is working well for most people, comments? i am running sp2 on 2 other machines and it is very stable. wireless management is also much improved.
thx again.
Amd Sempron 2400 proc
Segate 120G Drive
Sony DRU-540 DCD+-RW/+-RCD Drive
Corsair 512Mb (2 DDR-Dims)
XP Home unpatched, Bios 3.3

I would reiterate both Stu and Normunds advice.
1. Only update BIOS if you have to
2. Get the latest Nforce2 drivers from Nvidia. That should make a number of things work better. Hopefully sound and ethernet. If you're using onboard video also get the latest Nvidia display drivers from Nvidia.
3. I installed MCE 2005 which is XP SP2 + a front end. It is very stable. I have very few OS related problems. But I would turn off automatic update for XP. They are constantly wanting to update stuff that I don't even use.
4. For your ethernet problem are you getting an address assigned from DHCP ? Have you tried the repair connection thing from MS or wntipcfg.exe release/renew ? Does the machine address show up as connected from the router ?
If none of this stuff is working I would suggest checking for a router software upgrade. This happened to me about 6 months ago. XP was using some newer protocols that was confusing my router... and nothing worked.

Mega 180 Remote

Hi,
Is there a "code" know'n for the Mega 180 IR-remote
I'd love to use my Marmitek remote for HIFI and CD playing
As i use the Marmitek remote for showshifter on my Mega 180 and for my TV, DVD and Sat set.
Don't like my table full with remote's

LOL
There is not any stockist in France for Mega 180 beacause this Mega is too old and nobody ditribute it now
And MSI France is not able to help me.
I'm very about MSI custumer service.
I must to make everything myself.

Mega 180 and 9700 Pro: What kind of cooler can i fit on it?

Hi, i'm almosteady to order my MSI Mega 180. When i get it i want to put my 9700 pro into it, it's now working in a water cooled system, and i'm not really impressed with the Hercules cooler it came with. So what i'm asking is: what cooler can i fit on the 9700 pro and it will still fit in the Mega 180?
Some interesting options include:
Arctic VGA Silencer
Zalman ZM80C-HP VGA Heatpipe Cooler
ZM80A-HP
I'm thinking that the zalman's are to big for the case (but i'm not sure), i don't even know if the arctic is going to fit...
I don't want to overclock my system or videocard, so no excessive cooling is required.

Hi,
I'm not familiar with the dimensions of the 9700 Pro, but I think it is going to be a VERY tight fit. Be aware that you have limited space and you're probably going to (partly) block the exhaust from the CPU cooler. Last but not least, the power cables originate from the PSU on the same side as the AGP slot is located.
Perhaps you can read some of the reviews of the Mega 180 on the Net (search Google for "mega 180" and "review") and have a closer look at the pictures that are made from the internals.
Greetz,
JaDi.

Mega 180 drivers, MSI website borked?

hi i'm trying to get the drivers for my Mega 180
i've tired using the automated driver updated but it finds nothing.
when i search for mega 180 it find the same product twice and each link gives me
Code: [Select]
Warning: require_once(/usr/local/www/web_2011/pages/product/bb/index.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /usr/local/www/web_2011/pages/product/index.php on line 13
Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required '/usr/local/www/web_2011/pages/product/bb/index.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/share/pear') in /usr/local/www/web_2011/pages/product/index.php on line 13
i've tried on two different pcs with ie and chrome
anyone know where i can get the drivers?
i specifically need the onboard graphics and nvidia chipset...

The europe site works, so I'd suggest you download the drivers from there: http://eu.msi.com/index.php?func=downloaddetail&type=driver&maincat_no=134&prod_no=40

MEGA 180 & Palomino cpu

Hi all, i tried the search function but didn´t find what i wanted.
so, will mega 180 work with a xp1800+ Palomino?
I intend to buy mega 180, but I have to know if my cpu will work for it.
if it will support the palomino, then i can buy 2x333MHz Kingston DDR258MB sticks.
otherwise I´ll only get 1 of those and then either a barton or a sempron cpu, sempron is supported?
oh, and how big is the box for mega 180? either in inches or centimetres

another question:
Would my old Duron 750MHz CPU work too?
Until I can buy either a Barton 2800+, 3000+ or sempron 2800 or 3000?
I´ll buy one of those in december.
I´ll use arctic silver when adding the newer CPU.
oh btw, I ordered the MEGA180 Deluxe with Kingston KVR333X64C25/512.
What Harddisk would be best to install into MEGA180?
I´m thinking of a 80 or 120GB HD´s from http://www.webhallen.com/list.php?avd=3&konsol=13&genre=53
Could this be good? http://www.webhallen.com/prod.php?id=11938
or is there better HD´s out there?

MEGA 180 remote control LINUX support

I'm trying to set the MEGA 180 up as a home entertainment system with Freevo on Debian (Linux).
The system now boots from network, and sound/video/tv-out works perfectly.
I've not managed to use the LCD, radio and remote control yet.
(Or the card reader, but that should not be a problem).
The radio and LCD I can live without, but the remote control was what got me to buy the system in the first place. Does anyone know how to make it work with linux?
If someone could supply me with specs for the hardware, I should be able to write a driver myself, but so far, I've had no luck finding the info I need.
(I didn't expect the onboard IR reciever to work, so I had build a serial IR reciever... but when I got the PC... no serial port )
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

These are the only links I have got that might be of interest.
http://www.siliconmotion.com.tw/bluebirdvl.htm
http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/msi/
not a lot of help I know but I light a candle every so often

Remote PSU for MEGA 180

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