*** Official MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum (nForce4 Ultra chipset) Thread ***

[Nugget1981]

Thanks. That seemed to work. I found a guide from nvidia that spelled it out for me. Thanks again for the help.

Nuggs

 

[Tonyklem]

Hey guys, i have been reading through this whole thread. I have a couple problems of my own. When i go to boot, it will post, then hang after it lists my Opteron 148. If i restart it will boot up fine 1 out of 3 times. But i can almost never boot straight up on the first try. tried updating to 1.9 BIOS and 1.D BIOS to no avail. im going to try your BIOS(Ryan) and see what happens.

The other problem im having is, i cant get my onboard audio to work properly. When i go into the Realtek manager program and change the settings around(I have tried just abou everything) Ill either get no sound at all, or just center and sub. i tried plugging my headphones into each jack and no difference. anyone help me out?

thanks

 

[eastvillager]

Originally posted by: MayanGuy

Originally posted by: pickle965
Hey, I've been running on a Neo4 Platinum for about a year so far with minimal issues. Just recently the chipset fan started getting increasingly loud and I was wondering if I should attempt to RMA it and just get a new revised board and hopefully quieter fan or just to replace it? The Vantec CCB-A1C IceBerq is apparently a perfect replacement with a very quiet fan, any experiences with this cooler? Thanks.

I considered a replacement fan, but opted for a Zalman heatsink....it's been workin' just fine. Although, I did have to cut it a bit to get it to fit under my graphics card. If you do repplace it, I would like to know if it's noticebaly quieter.

My fan died, I haven't done anything, board still works fine. I bought some light machine oil for it when it started acting up, but never got around to actually using it.

 

[thescreensavers]

Mine is having some issues but I am goign to RMA it and see maby that was not the problem but it cant be anything else. it wont boot and wont show video if i try a cold boot but if it jsut restarts it works. wired i know

 

[warbean]

Thinking about getting this board with my slightly aged FX-53. (Socket 939) I just need a non-SLI board, stable. No OCing.

ANyone had a good experience with that processor and this board? I deifnitely want an nforce 4 board.

 

[cupajava]

Originally posted by: warbean
Thinking about getting this board with my slightly aged FX-53. (Socket 939) I just need a non-SLI board, stable. No OCing.

ANyone had a good experience with that processor and this board? I deifnitely want an nforce 4 board.

I built a rig over a year ago with this mobo and opteron 146 overclocked to 2.5 ghz and it is still running rock solid stable to date. This board was also great right out of the box and didn't require any tweaking to run stable at stock. You'd be hard pressed to find as good an nforce4 skt 939 board (non-sli) with it's feature set that runs as good right out of the box. Just make sure to use the latest bios revision.

 

[warbean]

What is the difference between this board and the K8n Neo4-FX? Dooesnt the platinum version already support the FX?

 

[warbean]

Along those lines, I installed this board yesterday and things seem to be running ok. I am running BIOS version 1.B (11/28/05), BUT on the MSI website, it says that the 1.B is only a BIOS for the K8N nEo4 Platinum F series. What does this F mean? Should I switch to the more standard 1.9 for just the 'regular' Platinum users?

 

[warbean]

Don't mean to spam this thread, but I have one more question. When I boot, it hands at the RAID detections creen for wayy too long, asking me to press Control F to enter the RAID utility. It waits like 10 seocnds for me to do this, then move on.

I don't want RAID on my system and it's not installed! Anyoneknow how to skip this part of the boot process. (If I press control F, it just says no RAID detected and moves on, but i dont want to press it every time I start my computer.)

 

[pharaownage]

First post.

Just wanted to report that my experiences with this board have been trouble free. Slapped all my stuff in and it worked, it can get my Opty to 3GHz without breaking a sweat. I am about to try the 3v vdimm mod to see if I can get higher OC out of my RAM.

I feel like I have an intimate understanding of this board and it's OC abilities, so hit me if you have any questions about overclocks on this thing.

Warbean, I also would like to find out how to disable this annoying RAID ****** and boot faster.

This thread was a great read and incredibly informative, thanks to all those who contributed.

 

[BCBcomics]

I have a weird problem maybe you guys can help with, after reading this whole thread I'm pretty sure somebody will know what to do.

Anyway, I just swapped out the my old power supply (Antec SmartPower 2.0 ATX12V 500 = Died) for a new one. No big deal, and everything went in fine till I tried to start it up. I'm getting the 'No Keyboard Error - No Keyboard Present'. I've tried everything that I can think of to fix it but nothing has worked, anybody know what it could be. I would normally think the power is bad I just dunno it doesn't seem like that would be it. I was actually thinking a short of some kind.

I should also mention I get a quick 'beep' also when I try and start.

 

[pharaownage]

Is your keyboard USB or PS2?

I use the Saitek Eclipse keyboard and Razer Diamondback as my primary input. Both of these are USB devices which are reliant to recieving power from the computer immediately as it turns on to work properly. If your input devices are similar you can try the following things:

1. Boot the machine. Turn it off using the power switch. Turn off the switch on your power supply. Unplug the power cable from your PC and switch your power supply on. Switch it off again, plug your cable back in, switch Reseat your keyboard and mouse in different USB ports and power the machine on again.

2. It's possible your BIOS was reset when your power supply failed. Plug in a PS2 keyboard and verify that any 'USB keyboard' settings in the BIOS are enabled.

3. Make sure you're not using any front panel or case USB ports as they often don't supply enough power.

4. Test your mouse and keyboard on another computer to ensure they function properly.

5. Check the wires of your mouse and keyboard for possible damage.

That should cover it. Damn I get detailed when I'm blazed. Peace!

 

[imported_Truenofan]

hey i got a problem, or a question that is, i cant find the ram divider anywhere....can anyone tell me where it is in the bios.

 

[pharaownage]

Okay I verified this so here's the straight dope:
In the DRAM configuration menu there is a field called "Memclock Index Value (MHz)"
According to the manual it supports the following options: 100, 120, 133, 140, 150, 166, 180, 200. You may have different options depending on your BIOS version.

 

[Kid Vicious]

The bearing of the NB fan on my mobo stopped spinning. I contact MSI and they sent me a replacement. What should I use to clean the melted thermal adhesive off the chip before I install the new fan? Would rubbing alcohol work or should I just scrape the adhesive off until the surface is mostly clean?

 

[pharaownage]

My weapon of choice for thermal paste removal is a thick paper towel (one that won't leave flecks of paper all over your parts) dipped in rubbing alcohol. If it's a seriously bad case and that won't work try a product called Goo Gone, it's an orange liquid that comes in a spray bottle.

 

[KoolHonda]

Originally posted by: warbean
Don't mean to spam this thread, but I have one more question. When I boot, it hands at the RAID detections creen for wayy too long, asking me to press Control F to enter the RAID utility. It waits like 10 seocnds for me to do this, then move on.

I don't want RAID on my system and it's not installed! Anyoneknow how to skip this part of the boot process. (If I press control F, it just says no RAID detected and moves on, but i dont want to press it every time I start my computer.)

Disable the RAID controller in the BIOS.

 

[rekless]

I think that my MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum has failed in some way. My rig just continuously reboots. It comes to the screen that asks me to boot in Safe Mode, Safe Mode w/ Networking, etc. I've selected every option but it still comes back to that screen. My rig is around 14 months old and my specs are below.

I tried booting from the Windows XP CD too. I launch the Recovery Console, it detects my hardware and when I press "r" to recover, I get a Bad_Pool_Header stop error BSOD. I keep getting the same stop error every time I use the XP install CD to launch the Recovery Console. When I boot without the XP CD it continuoulsy reboots.

I've searched the web but haven't found anyone with BOTH issues of getting a BSOD from the Recovery Console on the XP CD and a continuous reboot when booting from the hard drive.

I've disconnected the DVD-ROM, DVD burner and removed the soundcard. I've swapped the RAM around, booted with only 1 stick on DIMM slot 1, booted with only 1 stick on slot 2, etc. Tried with a stick in slot 1 and 2, then a stick in 3 and 4. No dice.

I've also tried:
- Changed the "Halt On" BIOS setting from All Errors to No Errors...basically telling it to not stop for any errors during boot. Didn't help.
- Set the Timing Mode BIOS setting to Auto from Manual...basically telling it to auto detect my DRAM timing. Didn't help.
- Disconnected the SATA hard drive and replaced it with an IDE hard drive from my Sony VAIO. System recognizes the new IDE drive during boot but then does the exact same thing as before....it goes to the advanced options screen asking to boot in Safe Mode, Safe Mode w/ Networking, etc. It just keeps looping back through the boot sequence.

I installed Abrosoft's FantaMorph v3.6 over a week ago and things ran fine until now so I doubt that has anything to do with it. Leading up to this, I had a "keyboard not present or found" error during power up. I swapped the USB keyboard for an old keyboard and rebooted. It recognized the keyboard but now it's in this reboot loop.

Temps are running fine at: System Temp 35C/95F and CPU Temp 38C/100F
Nothing is overclocked.

My rig specs:
AMD Athlon64 3200+ 90nm Winchester
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum non-SLI (obviously) BIOS version: v1.1 011205
Corsair XMS 3200XL Platinum 400 MHz 2x512
Sapphire Radeon X800XL
Gamesurround Fortissimo III 7.1 (now disconnected)
Sony DVD-ROM DDU1615 (now disconnected)
NEC DVD-R DL ND3250A (now disconnected)
Antec NeoPower 480 power supply

Please help me!!
Thanks,
rekless

 

[Kid Vicious]

I am also using the k8n neo4 with the v1 out-of-box bios and I was having the same issues with unstable booting and random crashes.

I was using a usb keyboard and got the keyboard not present error on boot a lot too. Ends up that was a big clue. The Neo4 has stability issues with usb 2.0 supported devices. Simply plugging a device (camera, printer, and in my case a pocket drive) cause the whole system to fly off the handle.

My Solution: I upgraded to the v1.9 bios and all seems well. I haven't full stressed the system yet, but it boots normally and remains stable.

 

[rekless]

Kid Vicious...
So how do I update the BIOS to v1.9 if I can't get into Windows? According to MSI's website I should NOT flash my BIOS from floppy.

It basically says that I have to:
- create a DOS boot disk in order to boot to DOS
- enable BIOS FLASH in the BIOS set-up
- get the new BIOS file and an executable onto my hard drive
- boot to DOS and at the A:\ prompt, change the directory to the hard drive and run their executable file

I suppose that I could create a DOS boot disk from my Sony VAIO that's also running XP. But I have no idea how to get the new BIOS and executable onto the hard drive of the problem computer.

Ideas?

Thx

 

[Kid Vicious]

i opened up my case and kept resetting the cmos until they finally tripped over and reset (little read button on the board below the battery). I might have pulled the battery too. My North Bridge fan had also stopped spinning, for different reasons, but i jogged that a little and the system booted, dunno if that was of any consquence tho.

I loaded the BIOS from a floppy disk using the award flash utility, despite what the site said, and i didn't have any issues. Though make sure you have a second blank disk to save a backup to. backup first then reboot and load the v1.9's. I think that warning pertain to a dated issue with an older neo board. not sure tho.

 

[merrygoround]

current specs:
neo4 plat
3200+ single
antec truecontrol 2 550W
OCZ Gold 2x 1gb 2.8v
wd 320gb hd
ati x1900xtx

My setup won't boot. There is no display. Fans spin and the LED bracket lights up 4 red... meaning it thinks its the CPU. Well, I tried RMAing the CPU- X2 3200+ - and it still doesn't work. So, I RMAed the motherboard. Same problem. Got another CPU (single core this time) 3200+ and still doesn't work. replaced CMOS battery. took motherboard out of case to see if it was a grounding issue. Only things I have not tried is swapping memory (could it be wrong voltage) or videocard (pretty sure it works fine), but I took it in to a repair shop and they said it was the power supply. I RMAed it. and that didn't help. I'm going to take it somewhere else to get it fixed, but wanted to see if anyone has experienced this before.

 

[Muhumbe]

Hello,

I am getting OCZ EB DDR500 PC-4000 2x1024MB Platinum Edition Dual Channel Kit 3-3-2-8 for my MSI K8N Neo4 and I tried reading through all of these posts, but I did not find exactly how I should set it up in the bios. Do I manually set all timings as it is shown on the memory, or do I need to run a divider? I am not sure how to do a divider if so. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[rekless]

Originally posted by: Kid Vicious
i opened up my case and kept resetting the cmos until they finally tripped over and reset (little read button on the board below the battery). I might have pulled the battery too. My North Bridge fan had also stopped spinning, for different reasons, but i jogged that a little and the system booted, dunno if that was of any consquence tho.

I loaded the BIOS from a floppy disk using the award flash utility, despite what the site said, and i didn't have any issues. Though make sure you have a second blank disk to save a backup to. backup first then reboot and load the v1.9's. I think that warning pertain to a dated issue with an older neo board. not sure tho.

Ok...I reset the CMOS several times. Pulled the battery out and left power supply unplugged over night. Still no help.

I successfully flashed the BIOS to v1.9 via floppy.....and loaded optimized settings in BIOS....still no help.

Still stuck in the contiuous reboot. I do see a very brief glimpse of the Windows XP splash screen now before it starts over. Before it would just go to black screen after I selected Safe Mode, SM w/ networking, Last Good version, etc, etc. Not sure if seeing a glimpse of that splash screen means anything though.

Any thoughts?

 

[Kid Vicious]

apologize, i am out of ideas.

I had good luck with the msi email-online tech support, and they seemed to reply quite fast. I know several people in this thread have run into the rebooting issue. If you have the D-bracket installed i'd watch that and see where the boot fails then return the error to msi tech support.

The black screens on boot and continuous rebooting almost sounds like a video driver instability. Had a similar issue on an older machine that I was loading XP onto, and I had to boot into safemode to disable the video driver that XP auto-installed. tho, if you can't boot into safemode your at a loss. I think some people in this thread disabled a usb keyboard cache feature in the bios and that restore stability in some cases. not sure where its located in the menus tho.

msi tech support did say to me that an HD reformat might be necessary to restore stability after a bios update to v1.9. If you have an extra drive I would try booting XP on that first and use it to rescue your files off of the original drive. sorry if im not much help. best of luck.