K8n Neo 4 Platinum Sound problem

[sideeffect]

Hi I just bought a Neo4. Making a pc for a friend its all up and running but the onbourd creative 24 bit audio isnt working properly.

The drivers installed fine and its properly displaying in hardware devices and says it has no issues. Its on its own IRQ and i installed the latest update i could find for the drivers.

The problem is it is badly distorted sound and extremely quiet it sounds like its not being powered properly but the motherboard is otherwise all working ok.

Im wondering if there are any issues with the onboard sound chip that anyone knows about.

Bios version is 3.4 has a clean install of win xp home with sp2 and all new updates. Nvidia drivers installed are 6.70.

Ive tried removing and reinstalling the drivers many times but its never helped ive tried switching all options available to me in the configuration program but still no luck. So any ideas ?

Im thinking at the moment that the creative chip must be damaged but i really hope not as i just put this pc together .....

[revenant]

No - this is likely the dreaded, your (his) psu does not have the -5v line, issue. I am guessing.. sounds exactly like it... Is he using a native 24 pin mobo power lead psu?

[sideeffect]

Hi there i read somewhere else about this -5 volt but it was like a small forum and i didnt quite believe it fully and i was unable to confirm it.

The Power supply is a Antec TruePower 2.0 430W PSU. I dont think it does have a -5 volt line but it is a good power supply none the less.

Seems most new power supplies dont have -5 volt lines do you have any suggestions as to what i should replace the power supply with?

Or if anyone knows a thread or link to somewhere with more information about this that would be great also im unable to find any documentation about this -5v requirement.

Quite annoying really because i researched every component going into this build and never saw any mention of this issue in any reviews i read.

The power supply is 24 pin but the additional 4 pins over the 20 pin are for 5V, 12V, 3.3V and GND. So still no -5volt anyway. I have a enermax 460 watt 20 pin psu that i will take around to test the motherboard with tommorow but im unsure if that even has -5 volt line. (dont think it does)

If enermax and Antec are making psus without -5 volt lines ( 2 of the biggest and best psu manufacturers ) Surely the MSI mobo should be sold with a warning about this issue......

[sideeffect]

Well i just bought a ocz modstream powersuply that has a -5volt rail so hopefully it will work now fingers crossed.

[Kelldor]

Hi! I'm not sure if this is related, but there is an EEPROM update for the SB Live chip on that board. There's a link to it Here (http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/111) along with bios updates and mods. Not sure if it's related, but just in case I hope it helps. Good luck :)

[sideeffect]

Thanks for the link Kelldor. The onboard sound is working now i bought a OCZ modstream that did have a -5 volt line on the psu and the sound worked perfectly.

Such a annoying issue though.....

[benji]

Yeap, I asked the guys at the MSI forum. They even have a sticky (http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=76926.0) regarding this issue.


a) It must have a 24-pin connector;
b) It must have the -5v power rail;
c) It should have at least 26amp on the 12v rail, (where 28a and above is preferable).

Sickening isn't it?

[sideeffect]

Yes it is pretty sickening. Im just pleased its all sorted out now. The OCZ modstream is a good psu and was really fun adding that to the system so it was worth it. I Could have done with finding that list before as i had to read about 20 reviews of psu's looking for one with a -5 volt line and 24 pin design. In the end the extra cost sending the old psu back and replacing it with a more expensive model could have paid for a pci soundcard.....

[aicjofs]

Yeah those power supplies are hard to find, because -5v isn't part of the newer spec.

It's an odd problem too, some people don't have -5v and have no problems where others do. MSI says you need it, and then they say you don't...

Glad you got it fixed. :)