MSI K7DMaster, now we happy

[Ben]

I just spent the big bucks on a Dual MP setup. Tyan Tiger, two boxed MP1800's, 512MB of DDR. The Tiger was nothing short of a finicky piece of junk. I even spent MORE money on an Enermax P651 550W PS in case my PC Power&Cooling 400W was too small. Still, pile of junk. BSOD's, black screens, lock-ups, etc.

Today I traded it in for a MSI K7DMaster. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! This thing powered right up the first time, everything works, not a single crash yet, period! We happy.

I always did like MSI.

Time for some benchmarks...

 

[mwalters]

Ben,
Have you been able to get anything to work in the 64-bit PCI slots? I have a Promise Fastrak TX4 ATA RAID controller that stops the board from booting if I put it in one of the 64-bit slots. If I put it in a regular 32-bit slot, it boots fine and I can setup my array. Then when it gets to Win2k, the driver install fails. It seems like I've tried at least 50 different ways to install the drivers and no-go. I was even on the phone with MSI tech support (long distance!) and they didn't even know they were available to the public yet, let alone have a solution for me. Any light you could shed on this with your setup would be appreciated.

 

[GAZZA]

mwalters
check out some helpful advice from 2CPU.COM

 

[Ben]

mwalters, I have a Mylex ExtremeRAID 1100 in one 64-bit slot and an Adaptec 29160 SCSI card in the second slot. Both cards are working great.

I was a little worried about the Mylex because I know it doesn't function at 66MHz. Some reviews reported that you can only run 66MHz devices in the 64-bit slots but the MSI web site says it will run 33/66MHz devices. Sure enough, it works. I think it does however bump both 64-bit slots down to 33MHz if either slot has a device that doesn't support the higher speed.

There's some good info over at 2CPU.com that might help and you can also check out www.amdmb.com. The forums at amdmb.com have helped me with a few questions.

Next time I reboot I'll check my BIOS version just to see if it's the same as yours. I do remember that my board is V1.0.

 

[Ben]

Hey, I think I just found your problem. I looked up that TX4 and it doesn't appear to be 64-bit. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like it's 66MHz but only 32-bit.

If that's the case, then there's your problem. You can only run 64-bit cards in the 64-bit slots on these MPX boards. If you look at the indexing tabs on the 64-bit slots you will notice that there's no tab that lines up with the 32-bit slot tabs. They do that on purpose. For example, look at a Tyan S2460. The 64-bit slots have tabs parallel with the 32-bit slots. You can run 32-bit cards in any slot on that board. Now look at the S2466. The 64-bit slots are missing tabs. In particular, the ones that are for 32-bit cards.

 

[mwalters]

Ben,
The TX4 does have the extra slot so that it fits in the 64-slots. I think it's a BIOS problem of some sort. I've looked briefly at 2cpu.com, but I'll do a more thourogh search today at work (if my boss isn't there!). Also, that doesn't explain why it's not loading the drivers properly in Win2k when I install it in a regular 32-bit slot. I get the same driver loading problem for my video capture boards running in the 32-bit slots. That's why I REALLY need to have the TX4 work in the 64-bit slot, I have two capture boards, plus the USB card that came with the MB = all 32-bit slots used!

Link to TX4 Card
Link to TX4 Picture

If I can't get this card to work, maybe I'll try the one you're using. Is the Mylex IDE or SCSI?? I need an IDE for my 3 Western Digital 120Gb Specials!

 

[Ben]

OK, I see what your talking about.

I just looked in the manual and I was surprised to see that you can run 32-bit/33MHz cards in those slots. At least, that's what it says.

It lists 64-bit/66MHz, 64-bit/33MHz, and 32-bit/33Mhz, but not 32-bit/66MHz for some reason. But you would think that the board would at least default back down to 33Mhz with that TX4. The only other thing it says is that the 64-bit slots are only 3V while the 32-bit slots are 5V. It seems like it would work to me.

The Mylex card is SCSI so that won't help you much.

I keep forgetting to check my BIOS version. Lemme reboot right now. BRB.

 

[Ben]

LOL! I just rebooted. I have no idea which BIOS I have.

 

[GAZZA]

On the Asus dual board there is a dip switch which allowed non 64 bit 66mhz cards to run in those slots , not sure if the MSI has the same thing or not but worth checking out .

 

[mwalters]

I haven't had much time in the last 2 days to work on this thing, but I did scour the board for a dip switch or jumper to change the 64-bit slots, and didn't find anything. I also went page-by-page through the manual and didn't find anything. I'll post an update after I work on it again.