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

[darkeyed]

Well here is what I have found so far. I have had a problem getting my fsb above 230 so I decided to isolate the HTT and the CPU and the Memory to see which was giving me the problem.

So I started with the HTT. I set my cpu mult to 8x and my memory to 166 and 2.5-3-3-8 2T and started pushing my fsb at htt 4x.

I was able to post at only 230 then I bumped my northbridge volage some but I could not get the board to post above 235fsb with htt set to 4x or 3x. The board runs fine at 200 htt5x though. So I thought maybe the hard drive sata port isnt locked so I unplugged my hard drive to see if the bios would post and it still did not work. It starts to post and then the hard drive light stays on and it just sits there.

So I backed off the clock to 230 and htt 4x and reset my cpu to 10x and my memory to 2-2-2-8 1T and the machine runs prime stable for 12 hours. This seems to tell me I have something in my motherboard that is not stable at almost any overclock level of the fsb. Any ideas or comments? Did I get a weak motherboard?

What I hoped to run was 250 htt4x with the best memory timmings I could get. But right now the motherboard seems to be holding me back.

Any help would be apreciated.

 

[imported_scoobydoo]

Originally posted by: Elfear
Any of you guys have problems with your monitor shutting off when you restart? Anytime I oc everything will run great, Primes fine, 3DMark01-05 run fine, but when I restart the computer the monitor acts like it isn't getting any signal from the video card. Just wondering if it's the board or some setting with the video cards.

I'm running at 2430MHz (270FSB x 4HT) (3000+ CPU) and I'm having problems with random soft boot startups. That is, there doesn't seem to be any set pattern to when the machine will successfully reboot after a soft reset or not! Makes troubleshooting very difficult. I've tried running at all voltages to see if it is a voltage problem, but at all the voltages I;ve tried, I still get the same problem. However, the machine seems to be completely stable once booted up - passed Prime95 24 hours and S&M v1.5.1. I've left the machine to run at 1.7v now (although this fluctuates between 1.686v - 1.705v).

Also as detailed in another thread, I cannot get 3x HT to work above 257MHz (at any settings), yet 4x HT works all the way up to 295MHz.

I consider myself to be quite experienced with overclocking and I have to say that this setup has so far been the most frustrating experience ever as there doesn't seem to be any logical way of systematically eliminating each factor properly - as I said, the 3x HT multiplier issue for me and also the fact that you get random soft boot failures. First and last MSI board if you ask me (I'll probably switch to DFI at the next opportunity)

 

[darkeyed]

Scoobydoo - Do you know where in the BIOS the pci locks are set and how to insure the SATA locks are in place?

 

[taelee1977]

OK... turns out my computer was rebooting on its own because of IRQL_not_less_or_equal blue screen of death. I just bought this MSI Neo4 board about a week ago. Sometimes, this BSOD happens 10 minutes after I boot up... sometimes a few hours later. Since I just put together all the parts for my brand new computer, I'm having a hard time isolating where the problem is coming from. I tried running memtest86+ and my memory seems to be fine... Ran prime95 for a few hours and no errors there either. I'll try disabling the onboard sound tonight to see if the video card was sharing the same IRQ as the onboard sound. I have Windows XP Professional SP2 installed with all the current nVIDIA video and chipset drivers. I don't have any extra peripherals installed except the ones that came with the mobo. I am not overclocking yet, so no heat issues here. My CPU is running at 30 degrees Celcius. No idea how hot the NB is because there is no temp sensor, but it should be cool enough with the NB fan going 7000+ rpm. Anyone else having problems like this???

 

[taelee1977]

oops, here are my specs.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (90nm)
Mobo: MSI K8N neo4 Ultra
Mem: PDP Patriot 2x512MB PC3200
Vid: Leadtek 6600GT 128MB PCIe
HD: Hitachi 80GB SATA

 

[imported_scoobydoo]

Originally posted by: darkeyed
Scoobydoo - Do you know where in the BIOS the pci locks are set and how to insure the SATA locks are in place?

I do not have any idea the PCI lock is set, I assume that PCI is locked regardless? Also, I have avoided the issue with SATA by not using them! I have heard that people are basing from the K8N Neo2 that SATA 3&4 are the ones that are locked, although how true this is, I do not know.

 

[Elfear]

Sounds like a problem with the board than scoobydoo if you're having the same probs that I'm having. It's frustrating because the board is amazing (mine went up to 360MHz FSB before it pooped out). Maybe a new BIOS update will fix things. We need to call MSI and let them know about the issues we're having.

 

[kindest]

Originally posted by: Elfear
Sounds like a problem with the board than scoobydoo if you're having the same probs that I'm having. It's frustrating because the board is amazing (mine went up to 360MHz FSB before it pooped out). Maybe a new BIOS update will fix things. We need to call MSI and let them know about the issues we're having.

360FSB
:laugh: :shocked:

 

[Painman]

This board takes a LONG time to post... rather annoying, it's a good thing I seldom shut down or reboot during normal computer use, but when I'm testing I hate having to wait so long to see if the system will come up or not. And I sure miss that feature of the ASUS boards that reverts your CPU to safe settings after a failed POST - at least MSI gives you a clear CMOS button rather than making you futz with a jumper.

Other than that, no big problems so far. Tried setting the FSB to 333 and the system came up and stayed up, stock voltage to the NB. Got my CPU to POST at 270x10, 1.55v, 3x HTT but it crashed immediately afterwards. More work to do there, but I'll wait for new PSU and RAM and xfer the XP-90 over from the P4 setup before I look much further into that issue.

 

[imported_scoobydoo]

Hold down the 'insert' key on your keyboard while hitting the reset button (keep it held down) will put you into safe mode that will POST, then you can change back whatever made you unPOSTable. Saves a lot more time than having to set everything back again after a CMOS reset.

 

[pickle965]

Originally posted by: Painman
This board takes a LONG time to post... rather annoying

Seems like every MSI board I've encountered acts the same way...

Scoobydoo, thanks for the tip that will make things alot easier.

Is there anyway to enable press key booting?

 

[Painman]

Originally posted by: scoobydoo
Hold down the 'insert' key on your keyboard while hitting the reset button (keep it held down) will put you into safe mode that will POST, then you can change back whatever made you unPOSTable. Saves a lot more time than having to set everything back again after a CMOS reset.

Thanks for the tip, lots of new stuff to learn, trying both MSI and AMD here for the first time. :thumbsup:

 

[jrb357]

Well I've had mine running for about a week now. Here's some a things I've ran across.

Once i had the OS installed and all the drivers in i went to add all my usb devices, and wouldn't you know it it hated my external usb Smart Card Reader, wouldn't let XP boot past the XP bootscreen, but it's an older reader so ordered a new one, see if that helps. Then i thought using bootvis might help the boot performance, Selected Optimize system and it slowed it way down, really odd because I've used it on other systems with great results.
Then I tried to see how it would OC, and I can't get nothing over 210fsb stable at all. I tried every possible setting there was, (at least I think), but it runs fine at Stock speeds, so i'm not sure if it's the mobo or the cpu that's holding this setup back, because i tried that Corsair pc4400 ram that i got just for this setup in my Epox board and a xp2500+ Barton and hit 240fsb with the mem 1:1. Hrmm, wish i had another cpu laying around to rule that out. but I'll keep playing with it.

 

[murdmath]

Once i had the OS installed and all the drivers in i went to add all my usb devices, and wouldn't you know it it hated my external usb Smart Card Reader, wouldn't let XP boot past the XP bootscreen,

Try disabling legacy usb support in the bios.

Mat

 

[jrb357]

I looked high and low in the bios for that legacy usb support in the bios, and couldn't find anything related to it on this board. Please enlighten me

 

[Painman]

Originally posted by: jrb357
I looked high and low in the bios for that legacy usb support in the bios, and couldn't find anything related to it on this board. Please enlighten me

I believe it's in the Integrated Peripherals section, called USB KB/Storage Support.

 

[rhwimmers]

Does anyone here have 2 video capture cards they can test? I have a nforce4 chipset and cannot get any 2 capture cards to work together, want to know if its a chipset thing, or gigabyte issue.

Thanks
Ross

 

[HecDTec]

 

[HecDTec]

Oops, just wanted to know what if anyone used the MSI Corecenter software or the Nvidia Ntune? I'm having a problem I believe with Core Center setting the Memory, CPU Voltages back to what it is set in Core Center than what is set in Core Cell on the Bios. It's fustrating that I can record temps, voltage and fan speeds while running Prime 95. I have swapped my PQI PC4000 Ram for OCZ Gold Enhanced Latency PC 4000 ram. Got it running at 260 Mhz at 2.5 3 3 10 1T timings. Is there another program that I can monitor my mobo while torture testing?

 

[Spacecomber]

Originally posted by: taelee1977
OK... turns out my computer was rebooting on its own because of IRQL_not_less_or_equal blue screen of death. . . . Anyone else having problems like this???

I get this error almost everytime I try to log onto an AOL account, if the nvidia firewall is enabled. I actually get logged on, it looks like, but at the welcome screen I crash out.

 

[Derringdo]

I've experienced one or two of these bsods as well while using the Nvidia lan port and having the NVfirewall enabled. It looks like the error is coming from nvtcp.sys, so I switched to the Marvell lan port and I haven't experienced another bsod to date. Hmm..

This is using the latest forceware drivers from Nvidia's site.

 

[taelee1977]

yup. nvtcp.sys was the file that was causing the BSODs. I went to nVIDIA's website and turns out there is a newer driver that MSI Live Update didn't have and installed that one. Since then, no problems at all. I ran stress tests on my computer for 20 hours straight with no BSODs. All this trouble because of one little ethernet card driver. .. I don't think I'm gonna bother using MSI's Live Update anymore. Better off going straight to nVIDIA and downloading their latest nForce 4 drivers.

 

[Bukka]

Help - MB won't boot!!!!

Received the K8N Neo4 Platinum on Friday from ZZF and built the system yesterday, including a 3200+ Winchester and 2x512 Corsair Value Select 3200 CAS2.5, but I can't get the system to boot. Everything turns on, but I get nothing on screen, and the diagnostic LEDs show:
RG
RR
which according to the manual, is the "Memory Detection Test. Testing onboard memory size. The D-LED will hang if the memory module is damaged or not installed properly."

I've seen that others have successfully used the same memory. I've tried one stick at a time in both slots 1 and 3, and even pulled a stick of higher-end Corsair XMS 3200LLPT from a working system, all with the same results, so it doesn't really appear to be the memory. Can anyone think of anything to try, or do I just RMA the motherboard?

 

[rhwimmers]

Which nforce 4 drivers did you get? The ones for the chipset off their main driver page (where you select the 4 boxes)?

 

[Bukka]

I haven't loaded any drivers - can't even get to a boot screen.