The *Official* MSI K8NGM2-FID GeForce 6150 Motherboard Thread

[gxshockwav]

There's a MSI AM2 equivilent, but I believe the availability is pretty scarce in the U.S.

Link to am2 equivilent

On another issue, Avi85 pointed out that he was using a 30mm fan ( EVERCOOL EC3010 ) on his northbridge. Anyone else have experience with this fan in regards to it's noise signature? Is there a more quiet 30mm fan available?

The reason I ask is because I wanted to undervolt the panaflo fan on my thermalright xp90 hsf. Undervolting it, however, keeps any air from going over the northbridge, thus leaving the northbridge hsf really hot.

 

[subcodec]

Originally posted by: darincm
Is there a decent AM2 equivalent yet? I can't seem to find one

Since the MSI version with the AM2 socket is seeming not available here in the USA, the next best thing would be Asus's version. http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1138&l1=3&l2=101&l3=296

Newegg has this listed for about $90 including shipping. Not overly bad IMHO.

Unfortunately, this board doesn't have a bracket with a S/PDIF or a serial port.

 

[darincm]

I would get the ASUS, my main concern is Windows only audio - I dual boot Linux

 

[erikistired]

i bought the 939 (fid) version of this board today, set everything up and boom. no go. my memory all kinda fails memtest86 in either set of the dual channel slots. it's matched mushkin that has been running in dual channel in my a8n-e for awhile now. so i put them into 1 & 3 and it runs great (in single channel 333mhz). load windows, update the bios, back into slots 1&2. windows dies. back into 1&3, works great again. now i'm worrying about my memory, so i run memtest86 for awhile in 1&3, no errors. i pull out my old case, swap everything back onto the a8n-e, dual channel, run memtest86 for a few hours, no errors. so i guess i got a flakey board. it's the version 2, but honestly i might go another direction, because i need this system up and stable. this is a nice board, nice features, but having an unstable system isn't too much fun.

i actually have one other weird thing going on, in firefox (and firefox only) any website i load, the text shakes (no virus, fresh load of windows, no spyware). not the whole window, the menus look fine and bookmarks. just the rendered site shakes. doesn't do it in IE. crazy stuff. so i'm gonna load windows again with the a8n-e and see if the shakes go away. either way i'm going to get this board replaced and try again. i like the sff thing (got a ultra microfly, using my trusty enermax psu tho), gives me some desk space back.

 

[avi85]

Originally posted by: fisher
i bought the 939 (fid) version of this board today, set everything up and boom. no go. my memory all kinda fails memtest86 in either set of the dual channel slots. it's matched mushkin that has been running in dual channel in my a8n-e for awhile now. so i put them into 1 & 3 and it runs great (in single channel 333mhz). load windows, update the bios, back into slots 1&2. windows dies. back into 1&3, works great again. now i'm worrying about my memory, so i run memtest86 for awhile in 1&3, no errors. i pull out my old case, swap everything back onto the a8n-e, dual channel, run memtest86 for a few hours, no errors. so i guess i got a flakey board. it's the version 2, but honestly i might go another direction, because i need this system up and stable. this is a nice board, nice features, but having an unstable system isn't too much fun.

i actually have one other weird thing going on, in firefox (and firefox only) any website i load, the text shakes (no virus, fresh load of windows, no spyware). not the whole window, the menus look fine and bookmarks. just the rendered site shakes. doesn't do it in IE. crazy stuff. so i'm gonna load windows again with the a8n-e and see if the shakes go away. either way i'm going to get this board replaced and try again. i like the sff thing (got a ultra microfly, using my trusty enermax psu tho), gives me some desk space back.

see what happens if you put it in slots 3 and 4

 

[erikistired]

same thing. i just tried that after tearing everything out of the case and setting up the parts on the table. i'm gonna take the board back (it's brand new) tomorrow and get another one.

 

[mrnuxi]

I was just about to get a new system based on the FID and then the core 2 duo splash hit, prices dropped substantially on the AMD cpu's, and now I'm waiting just a bit longer to see what shakes out. Also to see if any equivalent (integrated video) boards come out for core 2 duo. It just doesn't make sense to me to spend $200+ for a mb when I'm not a gamer.

What I am interested in is being able to run 4gb or more of memory. As has been pointed out here: if you put 4 sticks of memory in the FID your memory speed drops to 333. I think this is a function of the nForce chipset, not particular to the FID, but maybe it is a FID peculiarity. If I wanted to run 4gb or more, can anyone suggest an alternative?

--mrnuxi

 

[subcodec]

Originally posted by: fisher
i bought the 939 (fid) version of this board today, set everything up and boom. no go. my memory all kinda fails memtest86 in either set of the dual channel slots. it's matched mushkin that has been running in dual channel in my a8n-e for awhile now. so i put them into 1 & 3 and it runs great (in single channel 333mhz). load windows, update the bios, back into slots 1&2. windows dies. back into 1&3, works great again. now i'm worrying about my memory, so i run memtest86 for awhile in 1&3, no errors. i pull out my old case, swap everything back onto the a8n-e, dual channel, run memtest86 for a few hours, no errors. so i guess i got a flakey board. it's the version 2, but honestly i might go another direction, because i need this system up and stable. this is a nice board, nice features, but having an unstable system isn't too much fun.

i actually have one other weird thing going on, in firefox (and firefox only) any website i load, the text shakes (no virus, fresh load of windows, no spyware). not the whole window, the menus look fine and bookmarks. just the rendered site shakes. doesn't do it in IE. crazy stuff. so i'm gonna load windows again with the a8n-e and see if the shakes go away. either way i'm going to get this board replaced and try again. i like the sff thing (got a ultra microfly, using my trusty enermax psu tho), gives me some desk space back.

This is actually the same type of problem I had with my board. Though it first happened to me when I moved from one computer case to another. I was starting to think that I messed something out. Like you, my memory kept showing up with errors and Windows was quirky and crashing all the time.

I still am not sure what all caused it, but when I went back to the Nvidia Nforce v8.22 driver, all was good again. Even though a Windows driver shouldn't make a difference, Memtest even ran good (that is the part that really confuses me).

Outta curiosity, what are you using for hard drives?? Are they SATA? 1.5 or 3.0?? using RAID??

 

[subcodec]

Originally posted by: mrnuxi
What I am interested in is being able to run 4gb or more of memory. ...If I wanted to run 4gb or more, can anyone suggest an alternative?

--mrnuxi

WOW. What type of applications are you using that you would want 4gig+ of memory??

I would think that if you would want to run that much memory, you should probably look more in the server class of motherboards.

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: subcodec
This is actually the same type of problem I had with my board. Though it first happened to me when I moved from one computer case to another. I was starting to think that I messed something out. Like you, my memory kept showing up with errors and Windows was quirky and crashing all the time.

I still am not sure what all caused it, but when I went back to the Nvidia Nforce v8.22 driver, all was good again. Even though a Windows driver shouldn't make a difference, Memtest even ran good (that is the part that really confuses me).

Outta curiosity, what are you using for hard drives?? Are they SATA? 1.5 or 3.0?? using RAID??

one sata drive, 3.0. i'm not even getting as far as loading windows (well mostly because i can't when i have the memory in dual channel, the cdrom gets read errors). i put in the board, video card, memory, cpu, cdrom and at that point it flips out in memtest.

 

[subcodec]

On your SATA drive, there should be a jumper to limit it to 1.5. Try doing that. Some in this thread have mentioned problems trying to run the full SATA II 3.0.

Just trying to help out. I know how much of a hassle it is going through an RMA.

 

[erikistired]

i don't have the hdd hooked up yet. yeah i know about hassles, i bought the board locally tho so hopefully it won't be too bad.

 

[mshan]

In my mobo's BIOS, I've got an LDT of 200.9 (apparently default value as I haven't changed anything).

Is this front side bus of 200.9 normal, or should I change it to 200 (any harm in doing so?)?

EDIT: also just did the Windows Live Update 3 from BIOS 3.20 to 3.5 (successfully ). Gonna test the system for a while then try adding the other stick of Corsair Value Select into slot two and see if all of the MemTest errors and systems crashes I got when I tried dual channel before are gone.

In Bios 3.50, CPU to NB frequency is 400 at default and NB to SB frequency also 400. Should these be 1000 and 800 respectfully?

 

[erikistired]

i'm starting to think the mushkin ram doesn't like this chipset or something, i swapped my msi board for an asus today and the same thing is happening. works great in single channel, errors in dual channel. put it back in the a8n-e and everything is peachy. perhaps it's a sign i'm not meant to go sff.

 

[batorok]

OK, I give. I have two problems with my new system. I have:
MSI whatever FID motherboard this thread is about
amd athlon64 x2 3800+
ocz value ram 2x512
2x320gb seagate 7200.10 drives
nec dvd burner
floppy
antec truepower 380 ps

I can load windows xp sp2 onto one of the sata drives. If I do that, I can't get the ethernet to work. There is something in the device manager without drivers, but it won't take the nvidia ethernet drivers. In the system bios the only thing I see is MAC LAN [auto/disable], and not the MAC bridge and other settings in the manual that should be there. I have updated to the latest bios.

The bigger problem is I can't for the life of me install to a mirrored raid array. I've followed every guide, using the f6 method, the slipstreamed driver method, and they all give me a BSOD loading windows. The raid was the big reason I upgraded, for data redundancy. ARGH?

Do I have a bad board? no ethernet, no raid? Or do I just need some setup help?

I've tried nvidia's latest nforce drivers 9.37 as well as 9.34

thanks in advance

 

[subcodec]

@batorok

Ethernet problem: The ethernet always worked fine for me. You should be able to install the Nforce drivers which include the IDE, ethernet, and other misc drivers. Follow the order that the first post provides when installing the drivers.

Setting up RAID: To set up an array, you need to enter the BIOS for the RAID. To do this, you need to press F4 (or something like that, can't remember off hand, but it does say on the screen) and the screens you'll get will be fairly easy for you to follow to set up a mirrored array.

Also, make sure you use the 430/410 Nforce drivers, not the Nforce 4. The current version is 8.26 (again, the first post lists the drivers and even where to get them).

 

[mrnuxi]

Originally posted by: subcodec

Originally posted by: mrnuxi
What I am interested in is being able to run 4gb or more of memory. ...If I wanted to run 4gb or more, can anyone suggest an alternative?

--mrnuxi

WOW. What type of applications are you using that you would want 4gig+ of memory??

I would think that if you would want to run that much memory, you should probably look more in the server class of motherboards.

I need as much memory as I can get for the following reasons:

1. 1. I run linux and do software development with lots of virtual desktops, memory-gobbling java development environment (Eclipse), many multi-threaded apps, etc.

1. 2. I do very little with typical Windows 32-bit single threaded apps.

1. 3. I will be using VMware virtual OS instances for multiple guest OS's.

--mrnuxi

 

[Msquared]

Originally posted by: MsquaredI've looked at the Zalman CNPS9500 cooler and the Scythe Ninja. Has anyone tried either of these...If so, how was the fitment?

Allow myself to answer...myself. I can now state with absolute certainty that the Zalman CNPS9500 heatsink/fan does fit on this board. I measured twice and bought once, and I have one of these installed my new FID right now. It does not overhang the DIMM slots at all, and it clears the rear bank of capacitors just fine also. Also, unlike the board used in the review on Silent PC Review, this heatsink does not extend over the side of this motherboard. So at this point, the only possible fitment I think anyone could have is if it is too tall (i.e., rises too high above the board) to fit in one's case. But at 135mm tall, it is nowhere near as tall as the Ninja or other real high-rise heatsinks.

I hope this is usefull info for someone. I am really glad to have found this thread, and hope this gives a little back to it.

 

[rwm]

Anyone know if the "push 3 times to revert" function works in BIOS 3.5? When do you push 3 times?? I seem to have hosed my BIOS because my system will no longer boot, with random failures. Makes it all the way to the hard drive sometimes, but other times it hangs up at the beginning. The other problem is I think the hosed BIOS has the floppy disabled so even if I got that far I don't think I can re-flash. Can you re-flash from a CD?

Help greatly appreciated!

rwm

 

[rwm]

Regarding the previous message, I should have stated that the problem occured after I followed the canned instructions for overclocking the 3500+ in the first message in this thread. Before I did that I flashed BIOS 3.5, and the computer booted up and Mepis Linux worked. It was only after I set up the BIOS for the overclocking that the problem occurred.
Now I can't get anywhere :-(

rwm

 

[rwm]

Me again. I resorted to pushing the CMOS clear switch next to the CMOS battery and now things seem to be working again. I thought the 3.5 "push three times" feature was supposed to do this, but it doesn't for me. Maybe I misunderstand the feature.

rwm

 

[cka]

Has anyone had an issue with the onboard audio spontaneously dying? I had fine audio earlier, but now I can't seem to get a signal out of the rear speaker output. As far as I can tell all my settings in Windows are fine, the onboard audio is enabled in the BIOS, the device manager, winamp and other media players don't report any issues but I don't get any audio throughput at all.

EDIT: Nevermind, I guess Windows just flaked out as removing the device via device manager and having it detected again via Plug & Play fixed the problem.

 

[jimcpl]

HELP!!

I ran LiveUpdate to update the BIOS on my K8NGM2-FID mobo, and the program said it was successful, then asked me if I wasn't to restart. But when it rebooted, the machine won't boot!!

I don't have a floppy drive on this machine, so I couldn't make a recovery floppy during the LiveUpdate.

Am I out-of-luck??

Can anyone tell me what I might do to try to get this working again?

FYI, my daughter has the same motherboard. Can I somehow use her mobo to rescuscitate mine?

Thanks in advance,
Jim

 

[jimcpl]

Originally posted by: jimcpl
HELP!!

I ran LiveUpdate to update the BIOS on my K8NGM2-FID mobo, and the program said it was successful, then asked me if I wasn't to restart. But when it rebooted, the machine won't boot!!

I don't have a floppy drive on this machine, so I couldn't make a recovery floppy during the LiveUpdate.

Am I out-of-luck??

Can anyone tell me what I might do to try to get this working again?

FYI, my daughter has the same motherboard. Can I somehow use her mobo to rescuscitate mine?

Thanks in advance,
Jim

Hi,

I'm really happy to report that I got this working (PHEW !!).

First, I installed a floppy drive, and used the procedure here to do an emergency BIOS flash:

http://www.msi.com.tw/html/support/bios/note/boot.htm

In my case, after the flash, it beeped ONCE, not 4 times.

BUT, even then, I had no video.

I tried clearing CMOS, etc., but to no avail.

Finally, out of desparation, I stuck in an old PCI video card, and VOILA, I had video.

It appears that the CMOS defaulted to "PCI-E", and so the video was going to the PCI bus.

Once I got video, I went into BIOS, and set the video to "onboard", and tah-dah!!

That was it.

Jim

 

[mshan]

I've updated to BIOS 3.50 and still can't run my 2 x 512 MB Corsair Value Select PC3200 in dual channel mode. System blue screens and crashes before I can read what is written on the blue screen. Tried to Memtest via fdd or Ultimate Boot Disk and in both cases seems like program loads (can hear fdd or cdrw spin up), but just get a blank screen.

When I pull out the second 512 MB stick from slot 2, windows will again load and memory tests error free in Memtest. I know the memory is error free and it's been extensively tested error free in dual channel mode in an Asua A7N8X v2 deluxe mobo.

Anything else I can do or do I just have INCOMPATIBLE memory? (I bought my CVS brand new from NewEgg over a year ago; I think it was the original version that doesn't overclock at all).

EDIT: looks like one of my Corsair Value Select sticks has gone bad. Tried them dual channel in my Biostar M7NCG rev. 7.2 (Nforce2 chipset) and got all sorts of Memtest errors. Tried each stick single channel and one stick immediately produces screens full of red error messages in Memtest.

I've never abused this memory or even attempted to overclock or overvolt it (always spd) and it used to be error free and stable in dual channel in my Asus A7N8X v2 Deluxe mobo. Any idea what caused my memory to suddenly become defective?