MSI K7TPro2A Power Up Boot Problem

[Poe]

We have 3 of 4 systems using the MSI Pro2A motherboard that fail to boot when the power switch is pressed, just four red DLED's. A subsequent press of the reset button sends the boot process merrily on it's way. We are using a 1GHz T-bird and are not over clocking (yet). Anyone else out there with a similar problem?

 

[quirionz]

I must have encountered at least 35 people who own a Pro2A and experience this problem. What PSU are you using in those systems?

 

[Poe]

We have the Enhance 300 watt supply. I don't have the specific model number handy, but they came with the Evercase chassis we just purchased. We did check them out with the AMD approved list and they were on it. Thanks for the reply. Misery loves company!

 

[SpongeBob]

I also have heard a lot of people complain about this. I have no prblems with my Pro 2-A though. There is a new bios out, maybe that is one of the fixes. Good Luck!

 

[quirionz]

No, the new bios doesn't help. Lots of folks of have the cold boot problem do own an AMD approved PSU. Apparently, the Pro2A is fussy about the timing and will only work properly with certain PSU. If enough people bug MSI, they might resolve to adress this issue...

 

[bulldawg]

My solution was to send it back and get a Gigabyte board. No problems since then.

 

[idgaf13]

I was having all sorts of problems with my Pro 2a
when I was running win2k pro
Problems seem to have stabilized under win98
no mysterious lock-ups or freezing
seems strange and I cannot explain why
but that is my experience.

 

[leorick]

I just bought the MSi K7T Pro 2-A board and an 800MHz Duron and I'm glad that I didn't encounter this boot-up problem. It's very stable on Windows ME, and considering the fact that I only have 230 watts P/S.

However, I did encounter another problem. I counld't Install a sound card on the board. No Matter what I do, it just doesn't get detected.

Anybody has a good explanation or similar experience.

Leorick,

 

[SpongeBob]

Did you disable on-board sound in the bios???

 

[Poe]

We have been surfing this problem quite a bit. There is an extensive site on the Pro2A at:
http://members.home.net/xtend1/
This individual is trying to gather data on the cold boot problem. Our cold boot problems have started to become intermittent on two of the three systems exhibiting the problem. One still fails to boot "reliably". A fourth system is still cold booting without any problems. BTW, the power supply is the Enhance ENP-0730, 300W.

 

[leorick]

Hello,

I did disable the onboard audio in the BIOS and to no luck, it still won't work! I've check this twice. Were you able to install a sound card?

 

[steven185]

I have a sb live value on my msi kt7pro2a and dont have any problems
make suer that both onboard sound and modem are disabled in bios

 

[leorick]

Thanks. I think the problem is my sound card. I'm planning on buying SB Live next week anyway.

 

[leorick]

Thanks. I think the problem is my sound card. I'm planning on buying SB Live next week anyway.

 

[Ermel]

Hi everyone!

I am a (sad) owner of an Abit KT7A-RAID motherboard, and I've also had problems like yours. (No Boot on Cold Boot)

The Reset button-solution worked for me too, but after reading some FAQ:s and doing some investigations on other forums, I came up with a workable solution (I think...).

I started by adjusting the I/O voltage in BIOS (SoftMenuIII) to 3.4 volts, and then i raised the AGP Driving Strength to FF (hexadecimal).

I still don't really know if this solves the problem forever, but since I did these adjustments, I've had no problems with cold-boots. OK, I've only cold-booted twice since then, but it's worth a try isn't it?


BUT... There is still one problem left, and that is that when Windows ME starts up, (on a "successful" cold-boot) it always finds a new "PCI VGA compatible display adapter".
The screen is grey instead of "Win ME-blue" and screen resolution is set to 640*480, 256 color...

Now I should tell you all that I HAVE installed the proper drivers (Version 5.33) for my video device (Asus V7700 Geforce2 GTS DDR TV-Out) and the last time i closed down Windows, everything was fine and dandy...

After a while it says it's found a "Standard PCI-video device (VGA)" and asks me to restart my system to complete the installation.
After this I have to restart my system TWICE again to get my former screen resolution back (1152*864, High Color).

THIS KEEPS BUGGING ME!! Does anyone have a solution for this? It seems the system (Win ME) detects new hardware everytime I cold-boot my system...

I would appreciate if someone came up with a possible solution to this problem. Thanx.

 

[Motero]

I built 2 Pro 2-A mobos and they both work great. Never had a problem getting sound cards to work.

 

[kw3i]

jezze all you people with these problems and this board are scaring me, i bought this board cuz all i read about it a month ago were good things now everyone has annoying problems with it. i guess im one of the lucky ones, althoug it is out of use right now and going into a new system, maybe then ill start to have my share of bad luck

 

[SpongeBob]

Don't worry kw3i, I have heard lots of people who have had zero problems with the Pro2-A. Most posts in this forum are people with problems with theirs, but people who don't have problems(the majority) don't post cuz they don't have anything to post about!

 

[Stoney]

I had the same problem with a 1.1 gig T-bird. When I put in a 900 the problem went away.

 

[Madmarc]

Ermel,
Have you tried to use the Detonator 6.50 drivers?
I also had problems when I first installed WIN ME.
With these drivers everything runs great.
MSI K7TPRO2 bios v2.2
Duron750@850
320MB pc100
Hercules geforce2 MX

 

[JohnyB]

I was having problems starting up my K7T Turbo. I would get 4 red leds and no display, but my fans, drives... turn on. However, after pressing the reset button it boots up normally. Anyway, under advanced chipset features. There is a DRAM Timing by SPD. I selected no, and chose my own settings. Now my computer starts up normally. So Try that and let me know if that worked for you.

 

[Ermel]

Madmarc:\>

I just downloaded them from GeforceX. Shall finish my dinner first, then I'll install them.
I'll get back with the results.

/E

 

[leorick]

Hello,

You know what, I think installing the new Detonator 3 drivers from NVIDIA will solve most Video Problem. I've got Duron 700 with the dreadful MSI K7T Pro 2-A board with a TNT2 card.

It seems that the video drivers that came with the card (from the video card manufacturer) doesn't not work well with ME. Even if I try using the manufacturer's new/updated drivers for ME, still doesn't work well. I can't seem to (at times) have problems accessing the OpenGL subsystem. Especially when running quake.

Using the reference drivers from NVIDIA is the best trick. It even gave me a 20 fps increase.