Is my neo2 Plat dead?

[ironique]

Ok. It all started when I flashed my bios to version 1B (TCCD Mod). The flash was succesful, but when I rebooted the system it would not post. So I reset the bios using the bios jumper and rebooted, which let to a normal boot and everything was fine. Then a couple of days ago, my USB ports stop working, completely. So I flash back my bios to v1.9 which ends up being even worse! No my PC wont post at all. If I reset the bios (jumper) it boots but hangs after a couple of seconds (after posting). I doesn't stay on long enough for me to flash the bios again. I've not installed any new hardware and I've swapped out the RAM to no avail. Anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem could be? Help!

 

[keeleysam]

Looks like you fried your board and your warranty.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Dunno is the warranty is gone....but good luck redeeming it. I have had no luck contacting MSI about my mobo....I've had at least 3 bad neo2 plats....one DOA from mwave (soda spilled on it?!?!?! That isn't MSI's fault....) One the floppy controller died, another DOA that wouldn't accept my Corsair RAM, my current one which cannot handle my HDDs being set to go to sleep after 30 min.

Giving this board to my dad (he wants it for D/V editing....won't need the HDD sleep feature.) And buying a BFG nForce 4 Ultra....it may be another chinese P.O.S. at heart, but its got BFG's 24/7 tech support....and since ALL motherboards are chinese P.O.S., and I cannot find an Tyan mobos out there for my setup......

I'd say trash the board, sell your videocard on ebay, and buy a new mobo and vid card that use an nForce 4 from a company you can trust.

Not some Taiwan based company that rips you off.

 

[11427]

Before you give up,........
Pull power cord
remove CMOS battery
clear CMOS jumper for 5 min or so (clear data)
replace CMOS jumper (keep data)
replace battery
plug in power
boot and load optimized defaults
then flash to bios 1.6, most of the newer bios' are pretty flakey. I had some boot problems when I tried 1.B, it would hang and a power off would get it going again.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Yeah, good point. Nearly every time I flash BIOS I need to do this....with any current MSI board.

The 1.B rev is pretty F-ed up....I flashed back to 1.5, although I may try to inch up to 1.6 at some point. 1.B (1.9 and up really) cause A LOT of people to get errors like "cannot have option ROM" and then some hex stuff for the vendor and part.....MSI just has really bad support.

 

[rickyman]

i have 1.9 bios, and i have msi neo2 plat. and it works fine with me.

 

[Ike0069]

Did you flash with a floppy, or using the Windows flash utility?
Flashing in Windows is actually recommended by MSI and shoudl not aaffect your warranty. I'm sure if you call them and tell them that you tried teh new BIOS, it had problems so you wnt back to 1.9 and it no longer posts, they will take care of you. The Neo is a great board, but it has probalby more than its share of bad boards. MSI support knows this and (at least has been in the past from everything I've read and my own experience) been extremely liberal on Neo2 RMA's.

I've RMA'd my Neo2 once thru MSI directly and they didn't even ask what happened. You tell them it won't post, you tried some troubleshooting with no luck, and they just give you an RMA#.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Well, either way, I never got anywhere with MSI. They ignored me. I will never buy an MSI again, nor will I recommend them ever again....just do a search on these forums and others, MSI seems to be one of the worst....mainly BIOS issues.

 

[ironique]

thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll give it one more try before i go for a dfi nf4 ultra + sapphire GTO2. I also get that "cannot have options rom" message. flashed from dos on a mem stick. Sometimes i can boot up long enough to reflash, so I'll try going back to bios 1.5 and see if it helps.

 

[Shenkoa]

I have used MSI for years with never a problom outside of getting it to accept RAM (Intel boards are better in the memory compatibility department) but because I have never had a problom I have never had to deal with their customer service so no comment on that.

I am sure my opinion would change in a flash if my mobo died.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Yeah, I'd first clear CMOS, then try to revert to an older BIOS.....MSI F'ed up its latest BIOS versions....dunno how, because it was 3-4 versions in a row that have been really buggy for people....maybe because their programmers are from India?......oh well. Thats why I need to wait till they start using C to program bios, then write my own bios up! hehe....

 

[ironique]

Oh well, tried everything suggested and it hasn't worked..... DFI, here I come!

 

[RampantAndroid]

sorry to hear that, I know buying a new mobo isn't cheap or fun.....I just dumped my MSI Neo2 Plat in favor of a BFG nForce 4....so far I love it!