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Bios ID: 51-0211-000000-00111111-071595-41E_43C-MS5182-T99-0

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 8:55 pm
by JEN
Can anyone tell me more about this Motherboard?

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2004 11:58 pm
by Rainbow

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 3:38 am
by JEN
Thanks

I was reading the doc file which came with the bios i downloaded. It says you have to get into the command prompt and start the bios update program.

What are you supposed to do if the computer keeps restarted before it can boot from any drive?

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 3:52 pm
by Denniss
Where does it restart exactly ?

It might be possible there's a memory error - try only with one stick of SDRAM or with only one bank of EDO
Reduce FSB to 50MHz or the lowest possible

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 2:11 am
by JEN
When does it restart?

Well it seems to get through the boot memory test ok, and even displays a list of all the drives e.g.

primary master : seagate harddrive
secondary master : CD ROM Drive
etc

once the drives have been displayed it then restarts and does the exact same thing again.

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 3:27 am
by ajzchips
If the system was working before, and you're using Win9X or ME, then try FDISK /MBR with the boot diskette.

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 12:09 pm
by JEN
ajzchips wrote:If the system was working before, and you're using Win9X or ME, then try FDISK /MBR with the boot diskette.
I need access to the command prompt to do that dont I. The computer restarts before getting that far.

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2004 2:53 pm
by ajzchips
Is the BIOS set to boot from floppy first?

Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 2:09 am
by JEN
I have tried setting all the drives 1 by 1 as the first boot drive, but the computer does not continue long enough to boot from any drive. It restarts before it gets a chance to boot.

Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 2:24 am
by ajzchips
Tried clearing CMOS? Tried seeing whether you can access your floppy (just curiosity) having disconnected your IDE cables?

Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 9:10 am
by Ritchie
I am suspecting a faulty main board, but would try:

* Removing all cards from the system temporarily, including video if the main board has on-board video.

* Then reseating RAM and video card several times; see then if any better.

* Maybe a bad RAM chip or bad video card. Try a spare known good RAM chip (remove all unnecessary ones temporarly) and a spare known good video card (if you can get hold of them).

* After this I would suspect a dead main board, after resetting BIOS as others suggest of-course (try removing battery overnight or something). I hear power supplies can be a common cause of system hardware problems but do not have a lot of power supply related problems myself.

Good Luck - I will be interested to hear of further developments on this topic.

PS: Although I will be surprised if it makes any difference, also disconnect your drives completely both from power, main board connector and drives while troubleshooting just in case. Then you can connect them one by one after (hopefully) solving this one and see if they make any difference.

Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 9:31 am
by Ritchie
I just had a look on MSI's web site to see what I could find out about this board. Socket 7 board, so possibly it is old enough to have developed a fault. Also noticed that a BIOS update corrects an issue related to entering BIOS setup with a USB keyboard.

If you by any chance have a USB kb installed, try a standard kb. I don't think you would be using a USB kb (on a Socket 7 system) so this being the case try changing to anouther known good kb anyway. Just in case your keyboard is faulty and is sending strange codes through to the system which are telling it or causing it to reboot. May be a key stuck error sequence sending a reboot code or something.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 1:24 pm
by JEN
Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas. However I cant try them out until the weekend. Will keep you posted.

Thanks again :)

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 10:45 am
by JEN
I have tried doing most of the things mentioned in the above thread, but nothing worked!

1. Reset BIOS
2. Tried different RAM
3. Removed all cards
4. Disconnected all drives
5. Disconnected keyboard + mouse

The only thing which made a difference was the FDD. When this was removed, instead of the system restarted at the point which it normally restarts. It froze instead ???

While the case was open I decided to remove the CPU and install it again. I noticed that there was no thermal past on the CPU. Its one of those AMDs with a heat spreader. Does it matter that there was no past on it?

The other thing is, I don’t have a spare graphics card so I didn’t disable the onboard graphics processor.

So, does this mean that the motherboard is dead?

Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 12:33 pm
by edwin
While the case was open I decided to remove the CPU and install it again. I noticed that there was no thermal past on the CPU. Its one of those AMDs with a heat spreader. Does it matter that there was no past on it?
Yes. Apply a very thin layer (you should almost be able to view through it) before attaching the heatsink/fan.