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

[RjG]

Originally posted by: tempoct
Thanks for the tip. Adding DDR voltage is so obvious but somehow I had missed it
I was experimenting with BIOS v3.13b, disabled the spread spectrum, DDR voltage @ 2.65v, the max I can get it to run Super PI 8M w/o any error is 2.36GHz.
On BIOS v3.20, the max I can boot into windows is 2.34GHz (and Prime95 failed around 5 mins). Anything higher will get BSOD while booting. It won't even post @ 2.4GHz. (I guess it's really need that +0.05v).
IMHO, I think my Venice wouldn't go higher... I got it as OEM version but I don't think that's the different. Maybe I've just got the one at the bottom of the pile.

Now I'm trying to improve perf by overclocking other things. Now I left the RAM frequency floating (running at CPU-LDT speed).

Originally posted by: RjG

To bump DDR voltage, go in the Cell menu | Voltage control | Adjust DDR Voltage
use the + and - keys to make it go up and down.

Bios 3.20 Vcore is not "adjustable" since the multiplier trick doesn't exist. If you really want extra Vcore juice just run RMClock and set up a single transition of full speed with 1.45 volts. Easy

PS, mine's a DH-E6 , easy 2500 on default voltage. Bump your DDR up and see how it does. Make SURE you turn all the "spread spectrum" junk off.

TEMPOCT, don't lose hope yet... seeing your CPU is OEM, maybe the heat sink could be remounted? Maybe a bit less goop would help, or a better heat sink? What's your temps at?
I played with my venice 3200 DH-E6 for a bit with the tool RENETHX posted last night. 2700 seemed no problem. 2800 primed for 15 min or so, then blue-screened. 280 was kinda overclocking the RAM a bit though (default volts and timings on the ram)

http://members.shaw.ca/randyg/MSI/venice2700mhz.PNG

 

[tempoct]

Originally posted by: RjG

TEMPOCT, don't lose hope yet... seeing your CPU is OEM, maybe the heat sink could be remounted? Maybe a bit less goop would help, or a better heat sink? What's your temps at?
I played with my venice 3200 DH-E6 for a bit with the tool RENETHX posted last night. 2700 seemed no problem. 2800 primed for 15 min or so, then blue-screened. 280 was kinda overclocking the RAM a bit though (default volts and timings on the ram)

http://members.shaw.ca/randyg/MSI/venice2700mhz.PNG

Wow. That's excellent OC. My HSF is OK. I'm using a modded Zalman 7700 and temp is around 40-41c loaded (Bios v3.20). My Venice really need more voltage to get into Windows... Maybe the OEM version has been tested a bit less than the retail version, since it is most likely not get OC'd.
I'm thinking to get an Opteron to try. I saw the 146 is on sale around $170... or maybe wait a while. Hopefully, socket 939 CPU will have some price drop after AM2 went live.

 

[R3MF]

Originally posted by: renethx
R3MF,

Are you sure that your drive is SATAII 3.0Gb/s? There are many flavors in DiamondMax series drives. Check the model number of your drive (printed on the surface of the drive or you can see it in device manager) and compare it with the data sheets (pdf files) downloadable from this page.

A user who has Maxtor 6V080E0 (DiamondMax 80GB, 3.0Gb/s, 8MB buffer) reported that he was able to install OS when jumper was set to "Limit Data Transfer Rate"

It is a Maxtor DM10's but whether SATAII or not i don't yet know.

Device manager reports it as a 6L200M0.

but either way. the drawing that shows the jumper has no analogue on the drive itself, and i cannot even reconcile that drawing with the drawing directly beneath it which does look exactly like my drive.

more to the point my Windows installation (Samsung 250) will not show me the drive to play with even though Device manager can se it.............!?!?

many thanks for the assistance.

 

[renethx]

R3MF,

6L200M0 is DiamondMax 10, Serial ATA (1.5Gb/s), 8MB buffer. Please see this data sheet. Naturally your drive does not have the data transfer rate jumper pins.

If you cannot install OS in this drive, the cause lies elsewhere. Incompatibility of DiamondMax 10 Serial ATA drives with NF4 chipset is a well-known fact. This issue also applies to GeForce 6150/nForce 430 chipset. I had a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATA (1.5Gb/s) 16MB buffer 300GB drive (model 6B300S0) and I confirmed that this drive was not recognized by BIOS of the K8NGM2-FID board. Perhaps this problem applies to the following drives:

6B200M0, 6B250S0, 6B300S0

and the RoHS versions of the above:

6L200M0, 6L250S0, 6L300S0

Many users reported that firmware update fixed the problem (but the success rate is not 100%). You need to contact Maxtor tech support to obtain an appropriate firmware.

My recommendation is sell the Maxtor drive and buy a Seagate drive. Struggling with Maxtor drives is a waste of time.

 

[R3MF]

ah heck.

the drive worked fine yesterday in my Shuttle, and Device Manager still recognises it as there and "enabled" on my new 2-Fid system, and yet the drive refuses to show up in explorer...............

 

[krick]

I'm having trouble with an an E-MU 1820M PCI card.

Windows only recognizes it if I plug it into the PCI slot closest to the CPU. In the other slot, windows can't tell it's even there?

Is there a known problem with the PCI slots on this board or am I doing something wrong?

 

[menofware]

 

[ftp1020]

Hi everyone,

I've had the K8NGM2-FID for about a couple of weeks. What I read in this thread is convinced me that this mobo was exactly what I was looking for. My Venice 3200+ E6 is overclocked nice and stable at 2400Mhz, and there's probably room for more.

I'd appreciate some advice on how to get composite TV-out fully working, though. It works fine, actually, and I even have a hotkey set up for switching between analog VGA and TV-out. The problem is that I can't get the 6150 to treat the TV-out as a separate display. I should see two monitor icons in Desktop->Properties->Settings->Advanced, right? Under NView display mode, I only see "Single Display". The reason it's a problem is that the VGA desktop is 1280x1024 and TV-out is always 1024x768. When I switch from VGA to TV-out, all the desktop icons auto-adjust to the lower resolution and move around; I'd rather they stayed put.

I had an ATI with Hydravision, and the TV-out on that could display a lower resolution without resizing the desktop. And in clone mode, you could just pan around the larger desktop. Anyhow, if it can't be done I can always put the (PCI) ATI card back in, but any pointers would be appreciated. I needed a weedwacker to get around that Nvidia site...

 

[imported_Chargin]

I would really like to buy this board but its not available here in Australia which is strange. I noticed on the MSI site there is also a K8NGM2-NBP board heres a link
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=723
It uses the 6150b chipset, have Nvidia come up with an even better version of the 6150? Maybe I could import a board from the USA... it seems like the perfect solution for my htpc upgrade.

EDIT:Just found out NBP is nvidia business platform.

Woops, just realised this board is already mentioned on the front page. Not info on what the 6150b is though??

 

[DetoXL]

quote: Originally posted by: DetoXL ... when i set the ldt up to 250mhz it is accepted by bios, but cpu-z shows me only HTT @ 242mhz... is this a known problem? I haven't seen such a problem with Venice and Manchester. A primitive fix I can think of is reflash BIOS with BootBlock Probramming enabled or flash to the latest BIOS.

Tried Bios 3.13 and the error is fixed. So overclocking an Opteron 148 up to 2750MHz is impossible with Bios 3.0, because LDT higher than 242 is not possible (although 250MHz are accepted by BIOS).

Now the CPU works fine @ LDT 250... im really impressed by this board!!!

Thanks for your hint to upgrade the BIOS renethx!

 

[renethx]

Chargin,

My description is based on information provided by the MSI USA site, where the north bridge of K8NGM2-NBP is GeForce 6150. I don't know the difference bewteen 6150 and 6150B. There is no difference in spec/feature of 6150 and 6150B at least in the manual of each model.

NBP is designed for business users. Choosing NBP as htpc is pointless.

 

[tempoct]

Hi all,
I was putting the mobo in the case today after let it run barely for a while. I've just realized that the mobo doesn't have front MIC connector! The front audio ports only support output to headphone. Is there a way to get around and have MIC working for the front?
This is so weird to me. Maybe I am missing something in the manual?? Can someone clarify this?

Thanks,

 

[renethx]

tempoct,

The motherboard's Front Panel Audio Connector JAUD1 supports both AC'97 Audio and Intel HD Audio. So you can use MIC-In as usual. Please read Choosing Components > Case > Front Panel Audio.

 

[tempoct]

Ahhh... Thanks so much renethx
Doesn't seem like MSI mention this in their manual!

Originally posted by: renethx
tempoct,

The motherboard's Front Panel Audio Connector JAUD1 supports both AC'97 Audio and Intel HD Audio. So you can use MIC-In as usual. Please read Choosing Components > Case > Front Panel Audio.

 

[imported_Jubei]

Thanks to the info on this thread, I have built a PC around this board for a family member with the following components:

AMD 64+ 3200
WD SATA 2 160G
ASUS 1608P3S DVD Writer
Cooler Master Centurion Micro-ATX with 380W PSU
1G Kingston RAM

After using the PC for 2 days, I noticed that every now and then a line flickers across the LCD monitor (LG 1750B). I know for sure it is not the monitor but I also use it regularly for my own PC. I am using the latest forceware drivers. I have set the BIOS so the onboard video has 128M RAM.

Does anyone know what my problem might be? I am suspecting that it might be the EMI ring inside the case. Any suggestions?

 

[pctwo]

Originally posted by: ftp1020
I'd appreciate some advice on how to get composite TV-out fully working, though. It works fine, actually, and I even have a hotkey set up for switching between analog VGA and TV-out. The problem is that I can't get the 6150 to treat the TV-out as a separate display. I should see two monitor icons in Desktop->Properties->Settings->Advanced, right? Under NView display mode, I only see "Single Display". The reason it's a problem is that the VGA desktop is 1280x1024 and TV-out is always 1024x768. When I switch from VGA to TV-out, all the desktop icons auto-adjust to the lower resolution and move around; I'd rather they stayed put.

I think the problem is only VGA or TV-out is active at any time. If your other monitor has DVI, you should use DVI since then you can have both outputs ative and use dual view.

If your ATI card works for you, you're probably better off using it. Unless it's a really old card, chances are it's better than the onboard video.

Btw, there's no composite output on the bracket that I'm aware of. Do you mean COMPONENT?

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: pctwo
Btw, there's no composite output on the bracket that I'm aware of. Do you mean COMPONENT?

There is a composite output on the TV-Out Bracket. When you use composite video signal, connect one end of the RCA cable to the dark blue connector of the bracket.

 

[trueimage]

Anyone replaced their NB or SB Heatsinks with other passive or active coolers? i was considering a zalman passive cooler for SB and something active for NB

 

[ftp1020]

I think I may have stumbled onto the solution of my problem.

On the GeForce 6150 tab for advanced display settings, only "Single Display" was offered under nView Display mode (the "Install DualView" from the Nvidia system tray applet did nothing). However, under Current Display, it allows you to choose either "VGA monitor" or "TV". I chose TV.

Pressing the Device Settings button, only "Select TV format" (NTSC, HDTV etc) was available; however, I noticed that "Device Adjustments", "Color Correction", "NVRotate", and "Change Resolution" were grayed out.

Once I chose "Apply" (which meant I was choosing TV as my "Single Display"), the video signal switched from my monitor to my TV. That's not a problem; I even have a hotkey set up to do just that. But - and here's the payoff for anyone reading this far - the Device Settings button would now show a menu with *all* items enabled, including "Change Resolution". When that was clicked, I noticed a slider (not easy on a 10 year old NTSC TV!) that allowed me to up the resolution for TV up to 1280 x 1024, which is the same as my monitor.

That now means that both displays have the same resolution and the icons will no longer auto-position to account for the default lower resolution of the TV display. The downside is that the TV display must now "pan" the desktop in order to display the whole thing. Not only can I live with that, that's what I wanted in the first place!

To NVIDIA: For such a complicated - hugely bloated IMHO - video driver, why can't you just set all the properties (with all options available) for a given display and then choose "Apply" to have all changes take place at once? You shouldn't have to switch to another display just to change its settings.

Earlier on in this thread, I think someone asked if hooking up a plain old PCI video card would work. I was about ready to give up the 6150 and tried plugging in my old (yes, pctwo, *very* old) Radeon 7000. I think it would have worked, but the price would have been completely disabling the onboard 6150. I was hoping to keep the 6150 for everything else and just use the Radeon for TV-out, but attempting to install the ATI Hydra drivers meant that Windows (2000) would not boot past the splash screen on the next reboot, and I half-expected that. I think if anyone were to try it, they'd have to make sure that every aspect of onboard video was disabled in BIOS *and* the Nvidia drivers uninstalled just to avoid the driver conflict(s).

Thanks to everyone who contributes to this thread. It's the best resource I've seen for this great motherboard.

 

[renethx]

ftp1020,

As pctwo said, the problem is that you are using the combination of LCD (VGA) + TV (composite or component or S-video) on GeForce 6150. As GeForce 6150 has only one RAMDAC (randome access memory digital to analog convertor), independent resolutions are simply impossible with such a combination. You must use the combination LCD (DVI) + TV (composite or component or S-video). If your LCD is analog only, you are out of luck.

I was wondering how using two analog displays LCD (VGA) + TV (composite or component or S-video) at the same time was possible. I tested but I am not yet able to use both displays at the same time. On the GeForce 6150 tab for advanced display settings, only "Single Display" is offered under nView Display mode. However, under Current Display, I can choose either "VGA monitor" or "TV". If I choose one of them, there will be no video signal to the other. Somehow video signals are sent to both of them in your system.

 

[pctwo]

a word on Cool 'n' Quiet:

I was getting BSOD (blue screen of death) crashes while playing video with on board video. I tried different forceware versions, different video ram settings. running at stock speed, different player software. But what finally cleared it up was turning off cool n quiet. Haven't had a BSOD since (a couple of weeks now)

Note that I'm pushing the system pretty hard: I'm either playing HD video or doing some CPU intensive video processing with ffdshow. My experience doesn't mean there's a problem with C n Q per se, but that it probably interacting badly with something else in my system and/or software. Point is, if you're tearing your hair out over mysterious crashes, try turning off C n Q.

 

[ftp1020]

Hi renethx,

Sorry, I don't think I explained myself very well. I am indeed only able to get one analog signal at a time, either to the VGA (Viewsonic CRT) monitor or to TV, but not both at the same time. I think it was you who explained that either in the first post or in a post further down that the single RAMDAC means only 1 analog display at a time. I expected that, but it only became a "problem" of sorts when I tried to configure the TV. The NVidia driver insisted on switching output to the TV before offering me the configuration settings for that device (the TV). That meant/means that I have to configure the TV's resolution etc while using the TV as a monitor - and the display properties and dialogs are nearly impossible to see on fuzzy old NTSC screens. On my first attempt at resolving the differing resolutions issue, I couldn't quite make out the resolution slider when it was displayed on the TV. A little squinting and comparing it to the VGA's display options twigged me that that's what it might be.

Maybe it's asking a little much, bit I kinda expect to be able to configure any device, even a (secondary) display device, while still viewing my monitor. Specifically, configure everything the way you want it, then hit "Apply" and have the changes take effect. The way Nvidia does it is that you have to switch the output to the TV first, then it allows you to configure it.

I certainly get the hint that my NTSC TV (is that "SDTV"?) is old hat, but I'm not buying anything in the video/TV realm until after the digital broadcasts have already started. Hey, if I'm going S939 only now, I'm obviously not the first-adopter type... :laugh:

 

[ftp1020]

Afterthought: To NVidia's credit, I really do like some of the little enhancements in the 6150, particularly in Windows Explorer where a multi-select group of files appear to have a colour gradient applied when they're being moved. And those transparent windows on the desktop (when you move them, needs to be enabled first) are not only cool, but useful!

______________________________________________________________________
MSI-7207 (aka "da FID"), 1GB OCZ Premier dual-ch 2.5-3-3-7 @2T, Venice 3200+ 0608 E6 @2400Mhz, 32°C idle to 42°C load on stock cooling, Fortron Sparkle 400W PSU ... in a Pentium-II case that still has a metal Intel Inside badge on it.

 

[horseflesh]

I just got "da FID" running and overall I'm pretty happy. Great thread here.

The one really irritating problem I have relates to component video output. I am using my analog HDTV as a monitor. I've got the video set up how I want it, but every time I reboot the system forgets that I told it to run in 1080i. It looks like it drops back to 1024x768 NTSC mode. A barely legible image is visible on the screen so I can go into the control panel and un-fuxor it, but it's a pain. Is there a way to make the video driver remember that the display is 1080i? Is it trying to detect the display type and failing?

ftp1020, how did you set up a hot key to switch between TV and monitor? Is it buried in the nvidia control panel somewhere?

 

[Salica]

Hello,

I'm experiencing problems with this motherboard and a Seagate 7200.10 SATA hard disk drive. Basically, the drive is not detected by the BIOS.

After many tries, I found that in order for the Seagate drive to be detected, I have to :
- Disconnect the two cd-rom drives connected to the secondary IDE channel
- Connect an IDE drive on the primary IDE channel
- Disconnect the SATA drive
- Reboot
- Shutdown
- Connect the SATA drive

At this point the SATA HDD is correctly detected by the BIOS. I can now disconnect the IDE HDD and reconnect my IDE optical drives. Once the SATA drive is detected, everything runs fine ... until a complete power-off.

Indeed, if I do a complete power-off of my system (i.e. by doing a shutdown and then removing the power plug or switching the power supply off), then the SATA drive will not be detected during the next power up.

This is REALLY annoying as you can imagine. I'm running BIOS version 3.20. I've contacted Seagate and my drive has the latest firmware.

Anyone experiencing the same problem or having an idea on how to solve this ?

Thanks !