MSI K7N2 Delta2-FSR -- problems installing Windows

[PicHold]

I've tried a few different versions of XP, and it restarts midway through setup. It seems to take a real long time to even load all the temp files, and then it reboots while it says "Setup is starting Windows."

I tried using a Windows 2000 install CD, and it reboot much quicker.

I tried pressing F5 when it says to press F6 on setup, and I chose the i486 option-- that seemed to get farther. But still ended with a reboot after loading drivers.

Not sure what to do. I kinda wanted to avoid RMAing the board, but if I have to.. grrr.

Any tips? Seems to have a lot of bad reviews on newegg, and I wish I would have read them more carefully before purchasing.

Thanks in advance.

 

[OdiN]

What RAM are you using? That board had issues with some brands of RAM....well it had issues in general.

 

[PicHold]

Corsair Platinum XMS.

Actually no, I have GEIL in there. PC3200. I have Corsair in the comp I'm using right now. Think thats the issue?

 

[DasFox]

Yeah switch the memory and try it. Try using the XMS in it.

I just had a BIOS go bad on mine 2 days running, GL with that board, hope it works out good for you. If the thing gives you any problems, let me know I'm selling a Abit NF7-S2 in a few weeks, that's only a month old, decided to just go and get a SLi board, of course another Abit

http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/products.php?categories=1&model=204
http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/13-127-185-01.JPG

 

[PicHold]

Yeah, its running Windows setup a lot faster, and got to the formatting screen.

Does this mean it wont work at ALL with my other ram? If thats the case, I have no use for this board. My XMS goes in my NEW comp I just built

Or would a BIOS upgrade possibly fix this? Grrr.

 

[DasFox]

I'd see if there was a update for it, unless you're already running the latest version and if after that it still acts up, then it's picky on the ram and doesn't like the GEIL.

Make sure you have the BIOS settings correct for the memory. I just leave things on AUTO, for most motherboards which is fine unless someone wants to OC.

 

[PicHold]

First thing I did when I loaded the comp up was load optimized defaults. I then disabled floppy, raid, etc. Other than those few things, it's on default. I'm now up and running with the XMS memory, and am posting from the computer. But like I said, I don't want my GEIL memory to go to waste.

 

[PicHold]

i looked for updated bios on their site, and the only one they had was from January of this year. The one that came on the board is from April of this year. I even tried downgrading to see how it would go, and when I reboot I couldn't even use the internet. Any suggestions as to where to get a newer bios upgrade?

 

[DasFox]

There site has been down for me to reach them for the past 2 hours. The bios updates are on their site if you looked where your motherboard is located it will show them and if you found that, then that is all there are.

I mean under the USA site, not the others. I can't get into the USA site, but the others had the January bios that you mentioned.

I get the feeling the GEIL might not run in it.


P.S. You POSITIVE that your bios didn't say ----> 2004? MSI isn't going to have a April2005 Bios in a motherboard that isn't available on the site for updates.

Also one last thing just try to boot the board with only ONE stick in it. Try to get it going that way, under Dual channel with the Geil it might be acting up, but if you can get it take one, then afterwards it might accept the other.

 

[PicHold]

WinFLASH tells me the bios date was 4/1/05. And I got it running with the XMS. I'll try sticking the geil back in it right now and see what happens.

edit:
Okay I have boot with both one stick of Geil, and then two sticks. So far they both get into Windows just fine. Is there any way I can force a check of stability with them or not?

edit2:
There is 3 dimm slots, 2 purple and 1 teal. When both sticks are in the puple, it boots. But in windows I run cpu-z and it says they are both operating at different speeds.

slot#1: empty
slot#2: frequency 200mhz, 2.5-4-4-8
slot#3: frequency 166mhz, 2.0-4-4-7, then has the slot#2 frequency right after that.

they are running in single channel mode. I've used the same ram on an asus board and they ran in dual channel mode from the get-go.

This seems a bit weird to me. Can anything be done?

 

[DasFox]

PicHold you have to run them in the different color slots to get DUAL CHANNEL. Try them now in the different colors and make sure the bios as the RAM on auto, and LOOK in the BIOS and make sure, typically the higher performance boards have a few memory settings, like "Frequency" and "Timings" If you have a "Memory Frequency" setting, place it on "AUTO" not "SPD"

 

[PicHold]

When I did that it beeped at me all angrily, and wouldn't post.