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

[notareal]

My question: how do you get it to control the CPU fan smoothly?

Go SpeedFan Configure > Advanced > Chip > Property > set PWM 2 mode : Manual PWM Control from Thermal Cruise. If fanspeed is not shown (fan speed below 1000 rpm) cange FANx divisor to 16 or greater.

 

[avi85]

In pcAlert there a system temp listed, I was wondering where this sensor is located (northbridge, mosfets, etc...)

If this has been asked before I apologize, I did searches for some keywords and couldn't find anything

 

[Saucepot]

I have got my board up and running and am contemplating whether I should upgrade my bios from version 3.0. I am not interested in overclocking at the moment. I would like to know what issues if any anyone has with 3.0 and also how inaccurate are the temperatures reported by the original bios

Many thanks

Mike

 

[RjG]

Originally posted by: Saucepot
I have got my board up and running and am contemplating whether I should upgrade my bios from version 3.0. I am not interested in overclocking at the moment. I would like to know what issues if any anyone has with 3.0 and also how inaccurate are the temperatures reported by the original bios

Many thanks

Mike

What possible reason is there NOT to update it? There are lots of other fixes in the newer bios releases besides the temp sensor offsets.

 

[avi85]

On MSI Taiwan K8NGM2-FID download page there is a version 3.4 BIOS has anyone tried this?
What will this change?

 

[juninjesus]

Thanks for informing me...
I updated v3.4..... Difference? Well... Nothing except 1 thing.
I upgraded from v3.2 to v3.4

When memory frequency setting is set to lmited instead of auto, only 3 frequency was available, 100, 133, 166Mhz. So I had to set it as Auto for 200MHz frequency.

Now 200MHz is also available.

I was expecting more overclocking option such as CPU voltage adjustment or higher HTT frequency or more memory divider... Well, it was just dream..

But it is still very stable and good motherboard.

 

[Saucepot]

Because it was mentioned that 3,20 caused Errors to be reported in Memtest86 Just by coincidence the new bios 3.40 has been released Maybe this fixes this

Mike

 

[Artanis]

Live Update also has been updated.

 

[RjG]

Originally posted by: Saucepot
Because it was mentioned that 3,20 caused Errors to be reported in Memtest86 Just by coincidence the new bios 3.40 has been released Maybe this fixes this

Mike

That would be nice. The memtest issue was easy to fix with 3.20 though, just dig out the pink and green adaptor that came with your keyboard and mouse. No issues with them plugged in the PS2 ports.

 

[Artanis]

3.40 seems to solve the errors reported in Memtest86 ! That's very good

 

[ultrachrome]

I already use this board in my HTPC with 2 x 512MB RAM. I've been very happy with it so far.

I would like to use this board to upgrade my 939/AGP system so I can upgrade to a 7900GT. However, I'm using 4 x 512MB and I see that with this MSI board that would limit me to 333MHz.

My multi-part question is: Is this a common limitiation? Should I care, should I look at other motherboards, or should I buy new RAM?

 

[RjG]

I put in 4x256 at first, and although the boot screen SAID 333 (or 166?), CPU-z reported 400 DDR with all the bios settings at default.
You may HAVE to leave all the settings at default (auto) for it to work at that speed too.

You can't believe everything you read
The bios post screen lies a bit, it reports speeds that actually relate to the multipliers that have been chosen.

So try it, and see what happens. It likely will default to 2T timing, it was a while ago, but I'm pretty sure that's what happened with 4 sticks of "Value Ram"

 

[sun4384]

Does anyone know if I can install win2k onto a standalone Seagate SATA 250GB HDD? I can see it correctly in the BIOS setting, but when booted with win2k installation CD, it only sees about the half of the hdd. (The same is true using logical disk manager after the installation...) BTW, this crappy hdd is too noisy! Maybe I'll have to RMA it.

Another question is about the bios (v3.2) settings for the Venice 3200 and 2x1GB PC3200 2-3-2-5 Patriot memory. I don't have any PCI card installed, and I prefer stability to performance (to be frank, I don't know how to OC...). Any recommendation for the bios settings?

 

[CthulpiSS]

Originally posted by: avi85
In pcAlert there a system temp listed, I was wondering where this sensor is located (northbridge, mosfets, etc...)

as I mentioned previously - with some OC (Venice 1800@2250MHz) and 23 C ambient,
I have 72 C on N-bridge, and 58 C on S-bridge.
So (imho) no sensors near bridges.
Also, SpeedFan 4.29 beta 7 can read SYS Fan (the same as in pcAlert4)

I just pointed some quite silent 120mm fan at the mainboard (Arctic Cooling Fan 12, 1500rpm nominal, 1650 read, 56 CFM) and bridges temps dropped dramatically: 48 C on N-bridge (24 C less) and 30C on S-bridge (18C less)
SYS Temp (from pcAlert4) dropped by 3 C

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: sun4384
Does anyone know if I can install win2k onto a standalone Seagate SATA 250GB HDD? I can see it correctly in the BIOS setting, but when booted with win2k installation CD, it only sees about the half of the hdd. (The same is true using logical disk manager after the installation...)

In addition to slipstreaming SP4, the following article could be helpful:

48-Bit LBA Support for ATAPI Disk Drives in Windows 2000

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe or Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
   • Value name: EnableBigLba
   • Data type: REG_DWORD
   • Value data: 0x1
4. Quit Registry Editor.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: ultrachrome
I already use this board in my HTPC with 2 x 512MB RAM. I've been very happy with it so far. I'm using 4 x 512MB and I see that with this MSI board that would limit me to 333MHz.

My multi-part question is: Is this a common limitation? Should I care, should I look at other motherboards, or should I buy new RAM?

-- It is a limitation of the NForce 4 chipset. I wonder if the NF5 chipset has a similar limitation with DDR2 RAM...

-- Impact on real world performance is slight or nil.

-- Generally, other NF4 motherboards have the same limitation. I seem to remember that Abit or DFI might have released boards that avoid this, but not sure.

-- Not RAM-related, so no need for new memory. You could try selling your RAM chips and getting 2 X 1 GB.

-- Another workaround is to overclock the board. See the Overclocking section in renethx's first post.

 

[juninjesus]

New Bug Report...

When FDD and ODD are connected at the same time with new v3.4 BIOS, boot sequense section cannot be modified.
It will be changed back to following order;
1 : FDD
2 : HDD
3 : Network
4 : ODD

This did not happened with v3.2 BIOS....

I tested several HDDs and ODDs.
Tested HDD : Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 40GB, Barracuda 7200.7 160GB SATA, Barracuda 7200.8 300GB SATA
Tested ODD : Yamaha CRW-F1 IDE, Plextor PX-755SA SATA
Tested FDD : Panasonic Brand

I tested several config. IDE HDD + IDE CD, IDE HDD + SATA CD, SATA HDD + IDE ODD, and SATA HDD + SATA ODD.... Same result. I need to disable one between ODD or FDD. Then boot sequence was able to be saved.

 

[Artanis]

I have 3.40 BIOS version and I used severel boot sequences that worked fine:
ODD/HDD/FDD - is the one i have now
FDD/HDD/ODD
HDD/ODD/FDD.

 

[BernardP]

Thanks Artanis, I will finally be updating from 3.0 to 3.4 then.

 

[winguy]

Is 1680 x 1050 resolution (20" WS) supported?

 

[RjG]

Originally posted by: winguy
Is 1680 x 1050 resolution (20" WS) supported?

Yes. Please read the first post, which is the "FAQ" : Supported Resolutions

 

[winguy]

Originally posted by: RjG

Yes. Please read the first post, which is the "FAQ" : Supported Resolutions

Custom resolutions. Ok I missed that. Thanks.

 

[Saucepot]

I have hit a problem when updating my bios (From 3.00). I used the AMI WinFLASH 3.06 method with A7207NMS.340 (following the instructions given exactly). I noticed that whilst it was erasing it seemed to stick at 31%. however it then said it had completed and prompted me to reboot. But I then got the message CMOS Checksum Bad on the reboot If I go into the Bios and Save and Exit it continues into Windows OK and will also reboot to Windows however NO information at all is displayed before XP is loaded and I have to guess when to hit the Del key to get into the Bios. Also If I then reload the Optimised Settings and save it will halt again on reboot with the Bad Cmos message. Selecting Save and Exit will let me load Windows again

I was very reluctant to update my Bios and it would seem with good reason. Can I recover from this? Many thanks for any advice

Mike

 

[LouSly]

My board came preloaded with V3.20 bios. Before attempting to upgrade I would like to get my hands on the zip file for 3.2. MSI download page only lists the new V34 file. Does anyone know where I can still pull the 7207v32.zip down from?

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: Saucepot
I have hit a problem when updating my bios (From 3.00). I used the AMI WinFLASH 3.06 method with A7207NMS.340 (following the instructions given exactly). I noticed that whilst it was erasing it seemed to stick at 31%. however it then said it had completed and prompted me to reboot. But I then got the message CMOS Checksum Bad on the reboot If I go into the Bios and Save and Exit it continues into Windows OK and will also reboot to Windows however NO information at all is displayed before XP is loaded and I have to guess when to hit the Del key to get into the Bios. Also If I then reload the Optimised Settings and save it will halt again on reboot with the Bad Cmos message. Selecting Save and Exit will let me load Windows again

I was very reluctant to update my Bios and it would seem with good reason. Can I recover from this? Many thanks for any advice.

1. Which version is your BIOS right now, 3.00 or 3.40? You can see it during POST. If it is still 3.00, flashing failed. If you can boot into Windows, try to flash again. Make sure that "Flash Protect" (in "Advanced Chipset Features" in the BIOS Setup) is "Disabled" before flashing.

2. The message "CMOS Checksum Bad" is normal after flashing BIOS. However if this message appears repeatedly at each boot, reflashing BIOS may be necessary, perhaps with "Boot Block Programming" enabled (Definitive Guide, Section 11. BIOS II. Methods of Flashing BIOS, Remark 2).

3. Use BIOS Recovery Feature in the worst case (e.g. no POST).