Motherboard or processor...

Author
Discussion

d3ano

Original Poster:

7,408 posts

260 months

Monday 25th August 2003
quotequote all
Hello all, i have been having problems with my new system from day one.
I have a new MSI 865PE Neo2 motherboard and a P4 2.8GHz (800mhzFSB) CPU. Now the problem that i am getting is that these parts will work when powered up, but when i try to load XP Pro from my old hard drive it locks up at one certain point (trying to load and Mup driver i think)
And if i try to install XP Pro on the new SATA hard drive it goes part way though then powers off!
I have tried to disable the on board sound card, the network card and i have played around with the enable and disable options that are avaliable in the BIOS. But i am now stuck and i was wondering if anyone knew what the problem could be.

I owe a drink to whoever can help me on this.

Thanks all.

D3

tuffer

8,882 posts

274 months

Monday 25th August 2003
quotequote all
The problem is XP..........It's crap, try W2K and see if that helps. Might not be what you want to hear but it will remove on possible cause.

d3ano

Original Poster:

7,408 posts

260 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
Right tried to install Win2000 Pro, and the bugger powered down by itself as soon as it got into the Win2000 GUI screen.
As the MB and all the other gubbins are on the desk rather than inside a case (i thought earthing was a problem) as soon as i connect the plug to the PSU it powers on by itself. Could this have something to do with it????
Well i have had enough with it now. I don't know where the bloody problem is.

manek

2,977 posts

291 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
XP's better in almost all respects IMHO than Win2k.

The problem sounds more like a lack of device drivers somewhere along the line. When early during install it asks for SCSI disk drivers, try inserting the driver for your SATA drive. I doubt if XP understands SATA drives about of the box.

ErnestM

11,621 posts

274 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
d3ano said:
Right tried to install Win2000 Pro, and the bugger powered down by itself as soon as it got into the Win2000 GUI screen.
As the MB and all the other gubbins are on the desk rather than inside a case (i thought earthing was a problem) as soon as i connect the plug to the PSU it powers on by itself. Could this have something to do with it????
Well i have had enough with it now. I don't know where the bloody problem is.


Turn off APM in the BIOS until you are up and running...

...also as alluded to above, it sounds like XP/Win2k both are having trouble with the device driver for your SATA drive...

ErnestM

d3ano

Original Poster:

7,408 posts

260 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
Right all Power Management crap is off.
I have tried to boot from an older ATA hard drive that had a working version of XP on there before, and it hangs! What the hell is going on.
MSI 865PE Neo2 Motherboard...hmmmmmm

chris watton

22,478 posts

267 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
do you get any error screens at all when the PC powers off? It could be a number of things, from faulty memory to an under powered PSU. At this very early stage of intallation of XP there should be no problems with drivers, as XP is essentially in safe Mode whilst installation is taking place.
Is it possible you can install an IDE drive, just to rule out (or in) the SATA drivers?

Chris

squirrelz

1,186 posts

278 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
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Can you force it to use a lower FSB - 533MHz perhaps, to reduce the power drain, just to see if it makes any difference?

onedsla

1,114 posts

263 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
Hmmm - Are you using an AGP graphics card? I think the problem is power related and may be caused by your card not supporting the voltage your 'board is supplying it?

d3ano

Original Poster:

7,408 posts

260 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
chris watton said:
do you get any error screens at all when the PC powers off? It could be a number of things, from faulty memory to an under powered PSU. At this very early stage of intallation of XP there should be no problems with drivers, as XP is essentially in safe Mode whilst installation is taking place.
Is it possible you can install an IDE drive, just to rule out (or in) the SATA drivers?

Chris


No error screens at all. I will try the installation to a normal IDE hard drive, but i doubts its that as it won't even boot into Windows on an IDE HD that already has XP on it. This is the current spec of the new PC.


These are the parts that i have.
New
* MSI 865PE Neo2 motherboard
* 2x256MB 3200TMTc DDRSDRAM
* P4 2.8G 800FSB
* 400Watt Q-tec PSU

Old
* Winfast Titanium500 Ti (G-Force 3) 64MB

Does this make things any easier?


onedsla

1,114 posts

263 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
I have a feeling that your AGP card will run at 3.3v - your motherboard only supports 1.55-2.1V.

Some (but very few) cards have a voltage controller.

Otherwise can you test with a new card like a Geoforce FX?

d3ano

Original Poster:

7,408 posts

260 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
I am not to sure on this voltage thing.
Should i set the AGP Port to 3.3V or 1.5? IS there anywhere were i can read up on this voltage settings?

onedsla

1,114 posts

263 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
Your motherboard will be set to the 1.55-2.1V range - it will not support 3.3v. Some graphics cards have a voltage setting (usually a jumper) but IMHO it's 90% likely that yours doesn't.

I've found that voltages of these components not generally publicised and thus very hard to read up about. I'd suggest starting with your motherboard manual or any literature contained in the box, but the following site includes this info in the review of your 'board:

www.digit-life.com/articles2/roundupmobo/msi-865pe-neo2-fis2r-i865pe.html

I'm not sure where to find confirmation about your graphics card (do you still have the manual?) but I'm fairly sure it will be set to 3.3v and you won't be able to change.

If you can borrow a new graphics card, I'd try this first. It is possible to damage your motherboard if it's voltage causing this problem, but it should be ok unless you smell burning!!

Have you tried the MSI forums at all? I believe it's a known problem with their boards.
Dave

jvaughan

6,025 posts

290 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
d3ano said:
Right all Power Management crap is off.
I have tried to boot from an older ATA hard drive that had a working version of XP on there before, and it hangs! What the hell is going on.
MSI 865PE Neo2 Motherboard...hmmmmmm


I have found that some IDE drives actually require APM to be on!.... Just upgraded my pc and have just been through all the teething problems .. XP is the easiest IMHO to install as it has most drivers. Good Luck.

chris watton

22,478 posts

267 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
Yes, XP is without doubt the easiest and most user friendly OS to install and use.
Your PSU should be well up to the job, so we can rule that out. Where did you buy your memory? I ask because I have built 3 PCs, and if there has been a problem, it has usually been memory related. I have had to RMA 2 lots back toy Ebuyer and bought decent memory from Crucial, which has never let me down.
It may also be woth checking out the motherboard's website for the latest drivers and BIOS updates, this has also saved my insanity in the past.
I have an XP3200+ and Asus A7N8X Delux system, and I did find that I had to disable the first boot device in the Bios, I have the CD as 2nd and Floppy as 3rd boot device. As my SATA RAID0 array has it's own onboard controller, it does not show on the initial boot screen, but shows afterwards (Silicon Image SATA Drivers) The GPU card should be fine, as it is far from being ancient and should be fully compatible with your motherboard's specifications, but, again, make sure you have the latest drivers installed.
I fully understand what you are going through, it is frustrating to say the least when you have shelled out all that money, and the damn parts don't work as they should and you have to end up spending days troubleshooting to find the problem!
Keep us updated

Chris

stc_bennett

5,252 posts

274 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
Regarding the graphics card problem, an old 3.3volt card shouldnot fir in a 1.5 to 2.1 volt slot as there is a plastic key at either end of the AGP slot. If the key is at both ends it supports all graphics cards (1.5 and 3.3 volt) if the key is at the top it supports 3.3 if its only at the bottom it supports 1.5 volt. should be in the user manual.

I had a similar problem with XP and an Epox motherboard a while ago. I installed win98 on a blank HD then upgraded to XP with no problem.

Steve

d3ano

Original Poster:

7,408 posts

260 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
It was the RAM Latency times (whatever that means)
It was set at 3 and i found out that the sticks like to run at 2.5 so i changed that on the BIOS and now ping. Its working. What the hell does that mean???

chris watton

22,478 posts

267 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
LOL,, always seems to boil down to RAM!!! That is strange though, as 2.5 is quicker than 3 for the latency so theoretically, the 3 should be more stable!!, but, thats PC's for you!!
Glad it's all working ok now

Chris

lx993

12,214 posts

264 months

Tuesday 26th August 2003
quotequote all
Only just spotted this thread - and the last time this happened to me it also turned out to be RAM.... after I'd replaced half of the rest of the machine by trial and error