Official MSI P7N Diamond (780i) Discussion/Review/Overclock/Guide/BIOS Thread

[stickboy00]

I'm using the standard drivers and have also been unable to get any sort of EAX working (such as in Bioshock). The impression I've gotten is that this card is only a slight step above integrated audio; if you want good sound, then buy a real sound card. Perhaps it's possible to get more functionality out of this card, but if so, I've not heard about it.

Also, for those wondering about how I've been doing regarding reboots, I recently eliminated another source of reboots for my system: nVidia's ntune. I'd have random problems with reboots when settings profiles were loaded (both automatically and manually), as well as reboots when doing simple things like changing fan speeds. Other issues were profiles not always loading when I told them to, which was actually a godsend at times when loading them would cause a reboot. I've replaced it in its entirety with RivaTuner, which so far has been both reliable and stable. Since I'm sure most people with this board have it for its SLI abilities, I figure there are probably other people out there with ntune that may have similar problems. If you have it, I recommend getting rid of it.

The MSI canada sight states EAX 5.0 compatibility. I have a normal x-fi PCI card in my other rig and It doesn't work very well with EAX 5.0 in BF2, either, although I can enable the AdvancedHD mode. Sounds are very bad on some maps, though, and so I don't use AdvancedHD mode.

[Krispinn]

Well, I have been trolling this board for about a week and finally got my password.

I believe I have read this entire thread and still can not resolve my issue.

I believe my problem is alot like Zepto's.

I bought a Voodoo PC back in 2003 and had it personalized in Silverstone Blue. It was antiquated and I just couldn't see giving it to Goodwill or somethign so I decided to build it anew.

I went to Newegg and bought

VGA Asus EN 9800GTX+/HTDP/512M RT
CPU INTEL / C2Q Q6600 2.40G 775 8M R
MEM 2Gx2/OCZ2RPR10664GK R
CPUCooler / Arctic P4 / ACFZ7-PRO R
MB MSI P7N Diamond 775 780iSLT RT
HD 750 / WD 7k 32M SATA2 WD7501AALS R
CPU Thermalpaste / Arctic Silver 5
Ti TR2RX 550W Power Supply

The only reason I got the Mother Board is because Newegg suggested it in a bundle deal. I had bought the PC Builder's Bible and the Computer Shopper to help me decide on the speed / $ issues.

I put the whole thing together and shaped and tied all the cables and got it looking like a sexy Voodoo PC should and fired it up. It booted with no problem and I went throught the basic BIOS setup following the manual provided by MSI. I had a copy of Windows XP with the original Voodoo PC and installed that.

When Windows was finished I went through updating all the drivers and updating to SP2 etc..

The Machine started having random reboots. It was not the blue screen of death kind, it displayed no errors just rebooted and went through the posts etc and restarted windows with no errors. There is no rhyme or reason to the random Reboots. I really didn't buy this stuff to be a power house I just wanted to use it as a gaming / media PC on the Sony 52" XBR in the entertainment room.

I used the factory defaults minimum and optimal and still could not get stability. I tried numerous suggestions from this site and still could not get the system stable.

Modified numerous BIOS Settings / Removed and Replaced Sticks of RAM / Reinstalled Windows / Downloaded all the monitoring and stress programs suggested on this site / and pulled out most of my hair.

I finally used one suggestion I saw that was Default All and set the FSB to 1333 / 666

The system runs through the stress tests and has been on for about 72 hours now. The problem is when I shut the system I can't cold boot the system. E.G. If I let it sit overnight and try to boot it up in the morning with these settings it gives me an **********ERROR********* message during boot up and never makes it to Windows. I have to hard boot it and del into Bios select a default setting, let the system warm up dealing again with all the random reboots during this period and once the system gets warm I can reboot / del / and reinstall the 1333 / 666 settings.

One problem that I do notice is that the voltage settings are frozen to me in the BIOS. I see all these values for CPV / DRAM / NB / SB / etc... but I can't get to them. If I place the cursor on them it says that it is not recommended to change these values or something to that effect.

I downloaded all these things like Prime 95 / OCCT / Everest / Coretemp / Memtest 86+ etc.. so if you would need some specific data to help me let me know.

I am not uber l33t at building computers. I have put several together and used the defaults on the builds in the past with no problems. This twinking is a whole new area for me so please forgive me for being such a newb. Again I am not looking to crank this thing up to the breaking point I just want a nice stable machine. I know I seen in other posts that if that is what you want you should have got a Dell etc... Please hold those comments. I love this case and the paint job and really didn't want to give it up.

Please help me to get stable.

Krisp

[loonym]

What bios are you on? Have you tried any other?


edit: I'll try and refrain from the dell cracks

[stickboy00]

Did you try 1066/533 with everything default?

[Krispinn]

I will verify the BIOS when I get home. I tried it initially with the stock BIOS that came with the MB.

After I started getting the random reboots I updated all the drivers and BIOS. I should be on the most recent release BIOS since I believe MSI had some kind of AUTO UPDATER.

I have not tried 1066 / 533 with everything else default but I will try that as well.

Krispy

[Krispinn]

BIOS Version is 1.2 I updated it after the first run of random reboots.

Krispy

[loonym]

I never had this issue but I saw it brought up on occasion in this thread. Some people got relief through bios version and tweaking and I'm sure there are some who did not, for whatever reason. It's not beyond possibility that some of these boards are faulty but you should read back through and exhaust a few options before you declare it a fail.

[Fiskbit]

That is exactly the problem I've had. I had random reboots until I ran at 1333 FSB, and it's been relatively stable since. The big problem I have is turning the computer on after leaving it off overnight or longer; I either get exceptions or no POST. I've been slowly giving it more and more voltage, but this is the sort of thing that takes a long time to test, so I'm not sure how much it's helping. The exception issue almost never happens now after so many voltage increases, but it still has a ton of trouble POSTing. I've found that NB voltage at about 1.275v or even 1.25v works pretty well for countering the exceptions, though I'm currently up to 1.35v (I'll probably lower this back to 1.275v soon). CPU voltage hasn't done anything worth noting, but the real stars are FSB Term and CPU GTL Ref. I currently have my CPU GTL Ref at .832v and FSB term at something like 1.249v. They were vital to getting Windows to boot at 1333. I may have posted my voltages earlier in the thread, but off the top of my head I think I needed around 1.225v for FSB and and my CPU GTL Ref at 2/3 of that to get it booting.

Also, I'm running BIOS 1.2b2, and stability's been pretty consistently good since the overclock and getting rid of nTune.

[Krispinn]

Fiskbit,

I believe it was your threads I followed seeing that you had similiar problems. It will run forever it seems at the 1333 setting but like you said if I turn it off and try to turn it on in the morning I get ****Error**** and no posts. At this point I have to go to defaults or something like them to get to windows and deal with random reboots until the unit warms up inorder to reset the BIOS to the 1333 setting.

I can't seem to adjust my NB, SB etc.. voltage settings. The BIOS has them grayed out. I tried toggling numerous things inorder to gain access to these with no success. I think when you scroll over them it has red text to the right saying that its not recommended to adjust these values.

Loonym,

I spent about a week reading this entire thread and trying the numerous suggestions found here. You seem like a wealth of knowledge on this thread and newbs like me appreciate your input.

I typically turn off my computers when not in use (my wife freaks out when I leave stuff on) I can't turn this unit off or I have to go through about 30 minutes of crap to get stable.

I would like any help you people have to offer. I hate to scrap this board and go through this again but if anyone can suggest a decent replacement board for this build I would appreciate it. I don't plan on SLI Video or Multiple HD's on this unit it is really just to play some games and view stuff like HULU in the media room.

Thanks,

Krispy

[stickboy00]

Man, that sucks about all your problems with your build. I have had my P7N rig up and running for a week now and it is rock solid even with the small 8% overclock and a puny 550W PSU running 2 8800GTS SSCs.

I've built many computers and usually the types of problems you describe are caused by faulty components.

I hope you get it worked out.

[nugzo]

Fiskbit,

I believe it was your threads I followed seeing that you had similiar problems. It will run forever it seems at the 1333 setting but like you said if I turn it off and try to turn it on in the morning I get ****Error**** and no posts. At this point I have to go to defaults or something like them to get to windows and deal with random reboots until the unit warms up inorder to reset the BIOS to the 1333 setting.

I can't seem to adjust my NB, SB etc.. voltage settings. The BIOS has them grayed out. I tried toggling numerous things inorder to gain access to these with no success. I think when you scroll over them it has red text to the right saying that its not recommended to adjust these values.

Loonym,



I spent about a week reading this entire thread and trying the numerous suggestions found here. You seem like a wealth of knowledge on this thread and newbs like me appreciate your input.

I typically turn off my computers when not in use (my wife freaks out when I leave stuff on) I can't turn this unit off or I have to go through about 30 minutes of crap to get stable.

I would like any help you people have to offer. I hate to scrap this board and go through this again but if anyone can suggest a decent replacement board for this build I would appreciate it. I don't plan on SLI Video or Multiple HD's on this unit it is really just to play some games and view stuff like HULU in the media room.

Thanks,

Krispy

You could just have a bum board. I see the egg has a 30 day exchange program. Maybe its a good time for a RMA. The voltage issue is strange... maybe try a different bios. In the mean time if you google search the reg files to make XP sleep like vista, it may save you some hassle from booting. I used it when i used xp and it worked great and is super fast. If you cant find it pm me and i'll email it to you.

[Fiskbit]

Krispinn, I'd go check my BIOS to help you out, but I'm currently doing stuff that requires my computer to be on for a while longer. When I get a chance, I'll check it out. You may need to change some setting to gain access to the voltages, but I'm not sure about that; it's been a while since I've last had to clear CMOS to get this computer to boot. Also, you do know that unlike changing the FSB and RAM speed (which requires typing in a new value), changing voltage uses the + and - buttons, right? Silly question, but worth asking.

Normally, I turn on my computer and it simply doesn't POST, but after turning it off and back on a couple times it POSTs and boots without a problem. If this continues for me despite working through all sorts of voltages, I'll be forced to RMA this board; no reboots is certainly superior to trouble booting, but it's still unacceptable. I think when you figure out how to change the voltages, you'll at least be able to get into a position like mine where booting up doesn't take more than a few minutes at worst. Maybe we'll get lucky and figure out settings that will fix this on both of our systems.

nugzo, is it possible to get a computer into sleep mode without having all the fans run? I know that hibernation is an option, but that requires getting 4gb of RAM to and from disk. If I turn off my computer, I'd prefer to have the fans and lights go off, as well.

[Krispinn]

Stickyboy00, Nugzo and Fiskbit,

Thanks for your responses.

I may end up RMAing the board if I can't get his worked out. I hope it doesn't come to that, those will be some strenious hours lost.

Fiskbit, it really sounds like we are in the same boat which makes me think it is an issue with the board.

As for the Voltage settings they are grayed out like your RAM is when you are in Automatic mode. when I move my cursor over it the info on the right side is in red and says it is not recommended to adjust these settings but I can find no option to ungray these settings.

I will check the google the reg file about that sleep mode. I have been putting it in Standby when not in use, though I think the power consumption is still pretty high.

Krispy

Krispy

[BababooeyHTJ]

I had that problem for a while, before I got my processor stable. I needed a high vterm (stock is pretty low) and vcore to maintain stability. This board also seems to like a high NB voltage. Just run the "Intel burn test" from the Intel section. Its a great program for quick accurate stress testing.

[nugzo]

All fans and lights should be off in sleep mode. http://downloads.techrepublic.com.co...x?docid=271188

[stickboy00]

In my BIOS the voltage options are also greyed out but I am still able to adjust them using - or + keys.

[FedericoUY]

Hi all. I'm having a problem with vista x64 sp1, my mouse and other usb components does not work. Any suggestions?

[Fiskbit]

I checked out my BIOS today and all of the AUTO settings were grey, but could be adjusted with + and -. I tried changing a multitude of settings, but none of them were able to lock me out of messing with voltages. Are you sure you tried + and -, Krispinn?

FedericoUY: Are you sure that you have USB enabled in the BIOS? There are options (separate) for having the USB and USB 2.0 controllers enabled.

[Krispinn]

I will try again tonight.

Krispy

[FedericoUY]

FedericoUY: Are you sure that you have USB enabled in the BIOS? There are options (separate) for having the USB and USB 2.0 controllers enabled.

Hi, usb and usb legacy support controller are both enabled. Is that your question about?

[Fiskbit]

Yeah. Well, partially; there's also a USB 2.0 option in that same menu that is normally invisible, but you can make it visible by pressing F4 (why these aren't visible by default, I don't know. I think it's a pain). It's probably fine, but always worth checking out... I don't know what else might cause the problem, so in the event it's already enabled, maybe someone else can offer some suggestions.

[FedericoUY]

Yeah. Well, partially; there's also a USB 2.0 option in that same menu that is normally invisible, but you can make it visible by pressing F4 (why these aren't visible by default, I don't know. I think it's a pain). It's probably fine, but always worth checking out... I don't know what else might cause the problem, so in the event it's already enabled, maybe someone else can offer some suggestions.

Yes that's right, but USB controller, USB 2.0 controller and USB device legacy support are all enabled. Thank you anyway. Maybe it's a Windows problem, I don't know.

[BababooeyHTJ]

Which chipset drivers do you guys use? I am having driver issues and would like to find out what everyone else is using.

[Fiskbit]

I think I'm using v15.17 of the 780i drivers with the exception of my SATA/RAID drivers, which are for the 790i (since the 780i ones were (are still?) broken). These drivers seem to work fine. Now that I have nTune off of my computer and am running at a high enough FSB, everything's stable.

Krispinn: did you figure out how to change voltages?

[stickboy00]

version 5.10 dated 8/9/2007. I haven't noticed any problems.

-edit: that's my sata driver version