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

[renethx]

Originally posted by: 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?

Official BIOS archives

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: 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

Originally posted by: 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.

I second Artanis. Any boot sequence can be saved and works with BIOS v3.40.

 

[Saucepot]

Originally posted by: renethx

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).

This is the problem absolutely nothing is displayed before the XP logo screen appears I will try again under Windows again as you suggest as Windows looks in Order

If I need to try with a floppy is the BIOS Recovery method the only way I should adopt and why is this a last resort

Thanks

Mike

 

[Saucepot]

Ok Here is an update on my BIOS problems I have been at for some hours trying to understand what is happening and have some more info I have updated the BIOS now under Windows quite a few times (Ver 3.00 3.20 3.40) and each time on the first reboot I get the "CMOS Checksum Bad" message (Note that now the Bios updating goes thru all the stages satisfactorily which was not the case initially)

It then gives me 2 options F1 for BIOS setup F2 to carry on (This loads Windows) If I go into BIOS setup and simply save my settings it then reboots OK into Windows However if I load optimised settings and save it will give the "CMOS Checksum Bad" error again

I have managed to use the pause button to halt the 1st screen display and can confirm that the correct BIOS version is being displayed.

So do I have a problem or not. All looks in order but I am concerned about this error message after the BIOS update (is this normal?) and why loading/Saving Optimised BIOS settings would give this error Should I RMA this board? or is there any other tests I can do


Thanks

Mike

 

[renethx]

You have sucessfully updated BIOS and everything is normal. The following message appears after flashing BIOS or choosing Load Optimized Defaults:

CMOS Checksum Bad
Press F1 to Run Setup
Press F2 to load defaults value and continue.

If you press F1, set up BIOS and save and exit, then this message won't appear any longer.

 

[Saucepot]

Originally posted by: renethx
You have sucessfully updated BIOS and everything is normal. The following message appears after flashing BIOS or choosing Load Optimized Defaults:

CMOS Checksum Bad
Press F1 to Run Setup
Press F2 to load defaults value and continue.

If you press F1, set up BIOS and save and exit, then this message won't appear any longer.

Ok I think I understand what is happening now and all looks OK apart from one thing which still concerns me. I have only made minor changes to the BIOS Settings and these do not present a problem However If I select the Load / Save Optimized Settings in the BIOS then these do not seem to be correctly loaded on the next reboot as I get the CMOS Checksum Bad message again This does not seem right to me or maybe there a particular setting here that is causing the problem Do you know what these Optimized settings are so I can check them more thouroughly

Thanks

 

[renethx]

The Optimized Defaults are the default values set by the mainboard manufacturer specifically for optimal performance of the mainboard (Manual p. 3-26). Whether you feel right or not, the CMOS Checksum Bad message appears after loading Optimized Defaults and this is normal in this board. If you press F1 and then press F10 (save and exit) without changing BIOS, this message will not appear although the optimized default values are still kept in BIOS.

 

[Saucepot]

Originally posted by: renethx
The Optimized Defaults are the default values set by the mainboard manufacturer specifically for optimal performance of the mainboard (Manual p. 3-26). Whether you feel right or not, the CMOS Checksum Bad message appears after loading Optimized Defaults and this is normal in this board. If you press F1 and then press F10 (save and exit) without changing BIOS, this message will not appear although the optimized default values are still kept in BIOS.

Thanks very much for your help At least now I know my board is OK and that should save me a lot af aggravation I must say that without the guidance from these forums I'd be well stuck.

Mike

 

[BernardP]

About to update BIOS from 3.0 to 3.4 with DOS/floppy method...A few questions.

The flash utility seems to have changed with 3.4 BIOS. It is not AFDOS404.exe (as in renethx's first post) , but rather Afud408.exe. It was AFUD404.exe with BIOS 3.2

Did those who have flashed to 3.4 use Afud408.exe?

Do I have to worry about lowercase/uppercase when typing at the command prompt?

Edit: In this MSI page http://www.msi.com.tw/html/support/bios/note/ntfs.htm
They say: "Boot the computer using a windows ME or windows 98 startup disk. It must be one of these! A plain boot disk will not be good enough"

I have a boot floppy I made with XP, (A/right-click/Format/Make Bootfloppy). Should I use a Win98/ME boot floppy instead? (I have one)

What do they mean by "a plain boot disk"?

Also, on the same page, they say to copy the flash utility to the RAM drive, while renethx, in his master post, recommends (Section 11), to flash directly from the floppy. Is the flash faster from the RAM drive? The only point I see to this is that it could theorically reduce the probability of a power failure during the flashing procedure.

The shy young man said to the more experienced girl..."I have to tell you it's my first time..."

 

[LouSly]

Renethx thanks for the reply with the BIOS archive link

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: BernardP
About to update BIOS from 3.0 to 3.4 with DOS/floppy method...A few questions.[/i]

So I decided to proceed, being confident I would not get in trouble. I noticed a few things.

When booting from the made-with-XP bootdisk, I get a keyboard error message. Whatever I type on the keyboard, different characters appear on screen. So I decide to use the Win 98 bootdisk.

Win 98 bootdisk tells me there is no valid FAT partition on the C drive (of course, it's NTFS)...Then that is has loaded diagnostic tools on the C drive (hopefully not destroying data I have on this drive :Q ). Then a cryptic message that might or not mean that RAM drive is D

So I decide to flash directly from the floppy, as recommended in renethx's master post. All goes well. I notice the CMOS CHECKSUM DESTROYED message at the end, just before PROGRAM ENDED NORMALLY. No wonder people are getting a CMOS CHECKSUM BAD message on rebooting.

I reboot, go into BIOS (F1) and selects to load optimized defaults. Reboot and get
ERROR LOADING OS

Upon rebooting again, I notice that the boot sequence has a non-system HD as the boot drive. After a bit of fiddling in the menus, I select the proper boot HD...Reboot...

I pause on the boot screen to confirm I have BIOS 3.4...Loading Windows...Now, it is going through a "New Hardware Detected" process, at least for USB and the Realtek HD Audio, possibly a few more items. I wonder what this can have to do with a BIOS update.

Finally, I reboot to check all BIOS parameters and re-enable Cool'n'Quiet.

And I am again in business

The experienced girl said to the now less-shy young man: That went well...It was fun! We should do this again sometime.

 

[renethx]

Usually the "New Hardware Detected" message does not appear after BIOS was updated unless you disabled onboard USB, audio etc. in the previous BIOS.

 

[RjG]

Geez Bernard, that was an adventure.
The CMOS checksum thing is a bit weird. I have tried all the BIOS versions, and the only
one I got checksum problems on was 3.13.

I wonder, since I've been hounding them to fix the MEMTEST issue, if they've cut'n pasted some bios code from 3.13 (where memtest last worked) into 3.40, LOL

I'll try loading 3.40 and post back here how it goes.

 

[RjG]

Reading back , I think I see where some confusion was. The "checksum error" is when you reboot the very first time after flashing the BIOS, and it says "F1 to configure" or something to that effect.

Renthx is correct, it always does that. (I like it, no chance of missing the chance to get in to SETUP and having windows load up before getting in there to change important things, like S3 suspend mode)

Once you save your BIOS options, the "checksum error" goes away permanently.

I flashed using the windows BIOS util, boot block + nvram and "clear cmos" checked.
It worked fine, went to 100% and asked for a reboot. Nothing weird.

Rebooted, loaded defaults, set up some options, and checked MEMTEST with and without USB legacy, everything was fine

Then powered down, cleared the BIOS (red button), and loaded defaults/reset my options and repeated the above tests. (I like clearing the BIOS before loading defaults, no particular reason)

I did change the boot order, and that saved fine as well.

Booted up windows, no new devices were detected.

So I can't say there was any issues at all updating the BIOS.

Now, there IS a small issue with LEGACY MODE. It appears your RAM Bandwidth takes a small hit if you turn this on. Maybe it's part of the memtest fix? Dunno.

The bandwidth shown by MEMTEST:

USB LEGACY MODE OFF:
L1 20492
L2 5091
Mem 3255 MB/s

USB LEGACY MODE AUTO with a USB mouse plugged in:
L1 20492
L2 5091
Mem 3152 MB/s

100 MB/s is not a big deal, I guess. But it was an unexpected side effect.

 

[RjG]

Originally posted by: Saucepot
Ok Here is an update on my BIOS problems I have been at for some hours trying to understand what is happening and have some more info I have updated the BIOS now under Windows quite a few times (Ver 3.00 3.20 3.40) and each time on the first reboot I get the "CMOS Checksum Bad" message (Note that now the Bios updating goes thru all the stages satisfactorily which was not the case initially)

It then gives me 2 options F1 for BIOS setup F2 to carry on (This loads Windows) If I go into BIOS setup and simply save my settings it then reboots OK into Windows However if I load optimised settings and save it will give the "CMOS Checksum Bad" error again

I have managed to use the pause button to halt the 1st screen display and can confirm that the correct BIOS version is being displayed.

So do I have a problem or not. All looks in order but I am concerned about this error message after the BIOS update (is this normal?) and why loading/Saving Optimised BIOS settings would give this error Should I RMA this board? or is there any other tests I can do

Hmm. I went back and read it all yet again... this is a bit hard to follow.

I hate to disagree.... but after loading BIOS 3.40 , if you really are in the BIOS setup screen, and you select "Load Defaults" and save it, and get "CMOS Checksum Bad" when it reboots, then that doesn't sound right.

It is normal to get "CMOS Checksum Bad" the *FIRST* time.

It is NOT normal to get it again after loading defaults and saving.
I tried several times, and could not get it to have any error after loading defaults and saving with this BIOS version.

Can you confirm this is what actually happens when you load/save defaults?

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: renethx
Usually the "New Hardware Detected" message does not appear after BIOS was updated unless you disabled onboard USB, audio etc. in the previous BIOS.

Thanks. As I had done none of these things, there must be another explanation.

 

[Saucepot]

Originally posted by: RjG

Hmm. I went back and read it all yet again... this is a bit hard to follow.

I hate to disagree.... but after loading BIOS 3.40 , if you really are in the BIOS setup screen, and you select "Load Defaults" and save it, and get "CMOS Checksum Bad" when it reboots, then that doesn't sound right.

It is normal to get "CMOS Checksum Bad" the *FIRST* time.

It is NOT normal to get it again after loading defaults and saving.
I tried several times, and could not get it to have any error after loading defaults and saving with this BIOS version.

Can you confirm this is what actually happens when you load/save defaults?

I cannot load and save the Optimized Defaults even after first time thru. On next boot I get BAD CMOS error everytime. I am not sure what exactly these Optimized defaults are else I would try to isolate the problem area (anyone know?) Also if I make another change at the same time (eg Disable Fast Boot Up) then this is reset when I next inspect the BIOS settings so I assume the Optimized defaults have corrupted the CMOS somehow. Fail Safe defaults are OK however and everything else looks in order. This is a new board and I have yet to my system get fully working and do not want to register XP until I am sure all is OK This looks in doubt now Any further clarifications appreciated

Mike

 

[RjG]

Well, first thing to check is if you have the "Flash Protect" enabled... that would cause what you are describing.
Although I can't imagine how that would have been set by flashing the bios.

If that wasn't it, then shut the computer off by the main power switch (or unplug it) and hold the red button down for
15 or 20 seconds. That is the bios "Clear" switch. It will reset the options back to default. Then power up and
try loading optimal defaults and saving them.

You may also want to try flashing using the windows BIOS util, boot block + nvram + "clear cmos" checked, instead of "load defaults" checked.
I notice that's one difference between what we both did, maybe that's what messed it up...

Could also be you have something enabled that I don't, or vice versa, that's screwing it up for you. Either way it's worth figuring out.

 

[mrnuxi]

Hi there,
Fantastic thread! Thanks to renethx and all others who have contributed. I have read ALL the posts over the last few days. I am close to going with the FID, but I thought I would ask some questions before I do. The K8NGM2-FID seems like the perfect mb for me because I have no interest in games, but would like to use a large hi-rez monitor and always do tons of multitasking. I plan on running some variant of linux as the main OS, and may dual-boot WinXP. I have tons of experience with linux so that shouldn't be a problem. My alternative idea (which I'm leaning toward) is to run linux and then use VMWare to run guest versions of (in no particular order: WinXP, Win98 [for some legacy sw I need], Vista, Solaris x86). So here are my questions:

1. Anyone have experience with VMware on this mb?
2. If so, anyone using VMware with a linux host? Which variant? Most of my experience is with Redhat (many different versions). I would love to use Fedora Core 5, but I don't think that is a supported host OS for VMware.

Here's a list of the planned hardware purchase, in case anyone has suggestions for changes:

MSI K8NGM2-FID
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester Socket 939
G.SKILL 2x1gb DDR 400 memory
AMS CF-1089 mATX Mini Tower case
Enermax Noisetaker EG495P-VE SFMA ATX 485W psu
2 x Samsung SpinPoint P Series HD160JJ 160gb SATA II disk
Pioneer 16x DVD burner
Sony IDE DVD-ROM Model DDu1615/B2s
Scythe S-Flex SSF21F 1600rpm 120mm S-FDB case cooling fan

Thanks for your help,
--mrnuxi

 

[foxyrick]

@Saucepot,

I had similar problems with a 'bad cmos checksum' when I tried using optimised defaults - it was because I did not follow the exact instructions for flashing the BIOS. You must add some switches after the flash command. This is from MSI's text file:

1. Please use parameter "/P/B/N/C" at the end of reflash command when you reflash BIOS under DOS mode.

When I did it that way, it worked without error. That was with BIOS 3.2, but is probably the same still.

Hope it works,
Rick.

 

[renethx]

Right now I don't have a floppy drive so I can't say precisely, but if you type in

A:\> AFDOS404

you'll get usage of commands, something like:

/B Program Boot Block
/N Program NVRAM
/C Destroy System CMOS

So the options in WinFLASH have exactly the same effects as these commands. Please read

AMIBIOS8 Flash Update & BIOS Recovery Methods

for details.

 

[Saucepot]

Originally posted by: foxyrick

@Saucepot,

I had similar problems with a 'bad cmos checksum' when I tried using optimised defaults - it was because I did not follow the exact instructions for flashing the BIOS. You must add some switches after the flash command. This is from MSI's text file:

1. Please use parameter "/P/B/N/C" at the end of reflash command when you reflash BIOS under DOS mode.

When I did it that way, it worked without error. That was with BIOS 3.2, but is probably the same still.

Hope it works,
Rick.

I have only used the Windows Boot method and will try your approach after more trial and error. Have you tried Windows BIOS flash method ?

Mike

 

[foxyrick]

I read somewhere (a few places) that advised against using the Windows method with this board at the moment, so I haven't done that.

Your CMOS problem does sound just like mine, so hopefully the DOS method (with switches) will work for you too. It tought me to RTFM!

Cheers,
Rick.

 

[Saucepot]

Originally posted by: RjG
Well, first thing to check is if you have the "Flash Protect" enabled... that would cause what you are describing.
Although I can't imagine how that would have been set by flashing the bios.

If that wasn't it, then shut the computer off by the main power switch (or unplug it) and hold the red button down for
15 or 20 seconds. That is the bios "Clear" switch. It will reset the options back to default. Then power up and
try loading optimal defaults and saving them.

You may also want to try flashing using the windows BIOS util, boot block + nvram + "clear cmos" checked, instead of "load defaults" checked.
I notice that's one difference between what we both did, maybe that's what messed it up...

Could also be you have something enabled that I don't, or vice versa, that's screwing it up for you. Either way it's worth figuring out.

I still had the same problem so I identified the differences between Fail Safe and Optimized Defaults. I then loaded Fail Safe and modified these to match the Optimized settings It then rebooted no problem. Upon re-reading the opening thread :

After clearing CMOS or loading Optimized Defaults, the following messages will appear at the first reboot between auto-detecting IDE drives and booting into Windows:

CMOS Checksum Bad
Press F1 to Run Setup
Press F2 to load defaults value and continue.

If you press F1, change (or do not change) BIOS, and save & exit Setup, these messages will go away permanently. If you press F2, they will reappear at the next boot.


plus noting what others have said then it appears that it is not uncommon for this peculiarity to happen and as I can save all settings without a reboot problem I feel OK about this board. I dont feel up to trying the DOS method I'm afraid It looks very problematic and I have had my fill of endless re-booting

Maybe you have a different version of the board ?

Thanks for your help

Mike

 

[raskolnik]

Does anyone know of any detrimental effects caused by having ram in DIMMs 3&4 (alone) as opposed to 1&2? I recall reading the the -FID needed a stick in DIMM 1 to boot and run stably. However this doesn't seem to be the case in my experience; am I overlooking something?