Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (
More info?)
On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 19:13:44 -0000, "Kate"
<kate@REMOVEbillkath.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Greets again George and thanx for your response.
>
>This system - part of a network of two, both behaving badly - was put
>together by the supplier 'tho they didn't run the full 24 hr test cos of the
>the holidays. Its obvious it will have to go back under the warranty but
>'twould be helpful to have some idea of the cause so they don't try too much
>technobabble - Have learned that the BIOS - Jul 04 - may be incompatible
>with the Winchester 90 CPU :-0 and so would prefer the mbrd to be replaced
>rather than BIOS flashed. Will also get them to check the memory timings.
Yes the Winchester 90nm compatible BIOS, V1.2, was released in Aug 04 and
corrected in V1.3 Sep 04 for Cool 'n' Quiet. The latest BIOS is V1.4. I'm
not sure what the ramifications might have been of running a BIOS which
didn't support the lower voltage 90nm CPU - I hope not an overvoltage of
the chip.
>> Have you run Prime95 Torture Test to check that the memory is working OK?
>> BTW I have the same mbrd with a 3500+ and 1GB of Crucial.
>
>Yes I remember you said you were about to put one together back in Nov - is
>it running fine then?
>Might there be an issue with Corsair Value Select ... we *we're* trying to
>keep within a budget
Mine is running just fine - rock solid with Crucial 2x512MB PC3200 single
sided DIMMs. Some people seem to have no probs with the Corsair Value
Select; others have said it's marginal.<shrug> Check out the forum at
http://www.msi.com.tw/index.htm
>> Which OS are you running and did you run the mbrd driver install?
>
>Using Win 98 - waiting for the 64 bit OS - Did install the mbrd drivers tho
>there were probs there too in that the DVD drive door kept locking mid
>install while the PC asked for a different disk -- also mouse/keyboard kept
>failing to respond - in fact we've installed the OS then formatted no less
>than 3 times on each machine.
Could be the old BIOS... and I hope that's Win98SE, otherwise you're
wasting your time. I didn't bother with Win98 - thought of trying to boot
it and then decided it wasn't worth the trouble since I have a SATA hard
drive and driver support is said to be absent, so just put WinXP Pro on. I
have a Lite-On SOHD-167T DVD-ROM (region freed
... Lite-On is great for
hacked firmware) on Primary master and a NEC 3500A DVD +/- R/W on Secondary
Master and no trouble with either.
>> It sounds like it lost its CMOS setup which could indicate a short or bad
>> battery. Are you sure the video card is mounted in its slot properly?...
>> sometimes you really have to push hard when the slots are new to make it
>> seat 100%. Are you sure the mbrd is mounted OK, with the holes well
>> aligned with the standoffs and no extra standoffs which could cause a
>> short?
>
>These are the inponderables I know not answers to. But with one PC 'down',
>the other lost a good number of files overnight so there's no Control Panel
>and just blank windows - aarrghh.
>
>
>> What did you choose from the BIOS Setup for a "Load" of settings? I've
>> seen the opinion that MSI has the "Optimized" setup set too aggressively
>on
>> timings - use the "Safe" settings and then go through all the options to
>> check them. If you had chosen their Dynamic Overclock option turn it
>off -
>> IMO it's fluff which is not worth the aggro. The only other thing I can
>> think of off-hand is the power supply - what brand & wattage and what is
>> the amps rating on the 12V rail?
>
>The assembler choose the BIOS settings, not myself -- personally I think I'm
>a bit out of my depth with going through these -- have concerns that I might
>'kill' the mbrd and void the warranty.
>The PSU is a 380 Tagan Silent and there are 2 case fans so its quite cool.
Some of the power supply mfrs had to boost the 12V output - e.g. Antec used
to be 18A on their TruePower 380, which I have in my Sonata, and changed it
to 24A. Your Tagan 380 is currently rated at 22A which should certainly be
enough.
For BIOS Setup, it's a good idea to get familiar with things in there - not
unknown for the mfr's defaults to be off - and you get some knowledge of
what's possible... even if you don't change anything to begin with. If in
doubt you always have the option of "Exit with no Changes".
IME with Win98, it's always better to do the initial install with all
frills, like network, sound, USB, Firewire, SATA etc., disabled in BIOS
Setup and then once the thing is working with a bare config + video + DMA
for drives, start enabling one by one and checking that the function works.
This is especially true for an ACPI capable system and there may even be
some Win98 updates you'd want to install before enabling the frills, e.g.
for USB. For a network with mapped drives, this one is essential to avoid
the shutdown hang:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/contents/WURecommended/q260067/Default.asp
Rgds, George Macdonald
"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??
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