Reviving old MSI 6380E

[dkozloski]

I'm trying to revive an old MSI 6380E MB but I've got the infamous memory detect problem and it hangs early in the POST. Has anybody come up with a fix over the years. I've done all the regular fixes like removing all the cards except video, reseating the memory, and resetting the BIOS to no avail. When I first got it out of storage and cleaned it up, it booted up fine a couple of times then the whole world turned brown.

 

[VirtualLarry]

How old is this mobo, and what socket is it?

If it's really old, why do you want to bother to resurrect it? You can get G3258 CPU + mobo combos for under $100 USD.

 

[Burpo]

The VIA KT333 chipset is old and always had problems with certain memory chips (especially high density). Trying to revive it now seems like a lost cause, but I would start by disabling cache. If it still fails, I wouldn't waste another minute on it, especially when you can buy a used system that easily outperforms it for around $50 - $70 on ebay..

 

[dkozloski]

Thanks guys. It actually was a pretty good rig in its day with a Mylex ULTRA-SCSI RAID with four Barracudas and decent video. The problem is that newer boards don't have a game port and my joysticks, wheels, and pedals aren't compatible with USB to game port adapters. At age 75 I guess it's time to put away childish things.

 

[ElFenix]

if you have pci slots in your board you can get an asus xonar sound card with a game port still (or a variety of what looks to be the same generic card) on newegg.

edit: apparently the game/midi port on the siig card available on newegg doesn't work with any windows later than XP. i wonder if that's the case with the others?

edit2: someone else is reporting that the xonar card doesn't work at all in windows 7, though newegg reviews being what they are, it may have just been an issue for that user.