Multiple Errors with MSI K7N2G

[Artanis]

I just put together a new computer...

Ive got 2 problems:
1- On startup, the windows loading screen shows for about 5 seconds... then the screen goes completely black for almost 20-30 seconds untill it loads into windows. I tried a few things in bios for this, but I dont know most of the things listed there...
2-Which brings me to the second problem... Im using my onboard GF 4 MX, which might be the reason for problem one, but I doubt it. Graphics with the card are very pixelated. I installed the new detonator drivers, and it didnt help either. Any thought or is it cuz the card is crap?

My setup:
Athlon 2000XP - not overclocked
MSI K7N2G Motherboard
2x256 MB DDR 333 RAM
1x 56k modem
1x Creative PCI 128 Sound Card
1x 20.4 GB Hard Disk
1x 16x DVD
1x 40-12-48 CD-R
and a floppy of course...

 

[rcj187]

1. disable all the features that you arent using in the bios. lan in particular really slows down boot times
2. yes the onboard graphics is crap. although it is good for an onboard solution if you want to play decent games at decent quality and framerates you need a proper card

 

[Artanis]

I just went into my Bios and disabled the onboard LAN. It almost cut the black screen time in half. One thing puzzles me... it says i have an AC97 Modem onboard. I dont have an onboard modem. Im going to try and disable my D-Bracket which has one USB 2.0 port on it, later.

I thought that the onboard Gfx would be something close to the actual GF 4MX, but its not. It only has 32MB ram and is pulling those out of my normal system ram, which is really dumb. I wanted this as a temporary solution untill I get a normal card. Now I gotta hurry....

 

[Artanis]

Would it be possible to assign more ram to my gfx card ? I didnt see anything in the bios...but i wouldnt really know what to look for either.

 

[Scout]

Not sure how much memory you can assign to the video on this board, but just look for the setting in the BIOS and see what the options are...somehow I thought you could go to 64 on that...

It doesn't make sense that you are having such problems with the on-board graphics. They should work pretty well. Can you describe more about what it looks like?

And it's not really all that dumb to share system memory on this board since you have the dual channels which provide more bandwidth than your CPU can use (limited by FSB bandwitdth) so it really doesn't slow the machine down much at all.

Oh, and you can just ignore or disable things like the on-board AC97 modem... these are just BIOS options that aren't even presant on your board. You'd think they would taylor the BIOS for your board, but these options keep poping up, even though the board may not even have them!

Scout
700 Mflops in SETI!

 

[Artanis]

Well, I ran 3D Mark, and at some parts graphics become pixelated completely. On other it becomes layered...for example on a cloud which is round, you have layers of texture visible, like first a small circle, then a bigger one around that, then a bigger one...and so on. I dont really know how to discribe it, but generally it look crappy. Now i'll go disable that modem.

 

[Victory]

I just got done debugging one of the boards I had built for a brother of a friend. I had similiar issues as well with weird lines popping up on the screen(windows would close, but leave transparent boxes). Anyhow I got it fixed. If you're not running the 3.4 BIOS get it!!! I am using the kingston ram kvr333 which the board didn't initially like. The BIOS update took care of it. Over 2 weeks now, not a single jaggie or crash.

The video memory is selectable up to 128MB dedicated to it. I can't remember exactly right now what it says but it is right under the AGP Aperture Size.

So if you're running Kingston ram, upgrade to the 3.4 BIOS and you're problems go away.

😎 Save heating costs on your home, overclock your PC!!! 😎

 

[Artanis]

Whoah! I just set my aperture size to 128, and I remember seeing something underneath it...I'll go check it out right now.
And I'll find my BIOS version.

 

[Artanis]

Yeah! I set it to 128MB and fired up Need for Speed 6...no lag at all anymore...
Well its still a piece of junk, but now its a piece of junk attitude.

 

[Victory]

Actually it's not a bad board. The guy I built it for is a college student. He's running Autocad 2000, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator 9. Runs all of it fine. Sure you don't get all the bells and whistles, but it does it job quite well. On the upside as well, THERE IS AN AGP SLOT that supports 8x for when you are so inclined to pop one in. All for $100. Not my first choice for personal, but in a beginners budget system, hell cant beat it.

😎 Save heating costs on your home, overclock your PC!!! 😎