MSI K7T PRO2A LOCKUPS !!!

[jcab]

My problem is the following:

When I play DIVX films, my computer crashes after a while.
I've seen that this problem has occured to many people.

My PC: (Windows 98SE)

Motherboard MSI K7T PRO2A
Guillemot 3D Prophet (it's a GeForce SDR)
Sound Blaster Live
128MB PC133 CAS3 RAM
8,4 GB ATA66 Samsung hard drive
48x Toshiba CD-ROM
Philips PCRW404 CDRW
56kb PCI modem

I've installed all versions 4in1 of VIA but didn't fix the problem.
I've tried AGP2x but it stayed the same...

Today I formated my hard drive reinstalled Win98SE but installed the separated VIA drivers, because that fixed someone's problem, but it didn't solve mine...

MSI could put a note regarding this problem (and how to solve it) on their website, because there are many who have this problem...

Would appreciate some help.


Greetings from Portugal.

 

[fir3wir3]

does your system beep when it locks up?

mine does...dunno why

 

[ctucker]

Hm, I had tried everything trying to get my SB Live Value! stable in my Pro2-A.. have you done all the standard stuff like disable SB16 emulation, make sure it has it's own IRQ, and disable onboard audio?

I'm the guy who installing the 4-in-1 one at a time fixed the problem... sorry it didn't work for you. I was about to throw the thing out the window.

 

[chows3]

I haven't even managed to get my sound card ALS4000 to work yet. I leave it plugged into the mobo, but as soon as I tried to install the drivers, win98se hangs. I can only get back in thru safe mode. At the moment I am using the onboard sound.

I bought the MSI K7T Pro2A because of favorable reviews in AnandTech and TomsHardware. If I had read these forums beforehand, it would not be my first, or even last choice. I agree, MSI should come clean what is wrong with their motherboards.

 

[RDSport323]

I wish I could help you jcab, but unfortunately, I don't seem to have that problem.. but, I must defend this motherboard aganinst chows3's statements...

This motherboard IS actually a very well designed and very easy to use motherboard for overclockers, as well as the joe average person. The only reason why you are reading so much about "problems" with this motherboard is because, 1) you are actively looking for MSI K7T Pro2a in each title of the threads in the forums, if you had a different motherboard, you'd be doing the same thing w/ that motherboard, and you will probably find out that those motehrboards have JUST as many if not more problems than the K7T Pro2a. 2) Every enduser is different... A lot of the problems that others have, I don't... and some of the problems I have, they don't... It all depends on the setup...

this is a great motherboard once you get all the knicks and tweaks in or out of it...

 

[jcab]

fir3wir3:

Mi PC doesn't beep when it locks up...

ctucker:

how do i find it if there are any irq conflicts ?
In system properties there are no resource conflicts, so everything should be fine....

 

[ctucker]

jcab, to see if there is any IRQ sharing, go to start : programs : accessories : system tools : system information.

My SB Live! Value is in slot 2 using IRQ5, and my network card is in slot 4 using IRQ11 (those are the only PCI devices I have).

I cannot believe that installing the Via 4-in-1s one at a time made a difference, but I know that's what did it. It was locking up with my stress test (DivX movie, mp3, sandra burn-in wizard) in two minutes, I installed Via drivers one at a time, reboot, no lockups. I was VERY surprised.

It may have also had something to do with everything else I had done. You may also want to make sure that nothing related to the soundcard is going on in config.sys or autoexec.bat.. this is one of the last things I did before solving my problem.

I'll check back later,
Caleb

Edit: Oh yeah, don't worry about it if "IRQ Holder for PCI Steering" is sharing an IRQ with the SB Live!.. At first, I didn't know if this was causing the problems but later learned it wasn't.

Edit 2: Hehe, ALSO, when I was installing the Via 4-in-1s, I selected AGP 4x Standard Mode (Not turbo) only because I got a blue screen right when I selected turbo.. not sure if this has anything to do with it.

 

[rbV5]

Is that the only problem you're having, playing divx files? not for instance, playing other large video files? How about large file transfers from a cd to your hardrive? burning cd's? How about graphic intensive games?

I have that motherboard also, works like a rock for me. A large amount of people on this board have this same motherboard thats why you see a large amount of posts..its not a bad board IMHO. You'll find the answer.

 

[kuji2000]

I have a similar problem (and a similar configuration)
MSI K7T Pro2A (Bios 2.2, 4in1 4.28, soltek ide driver 580_1033)
Duron 650(n.o.)
MSI GeForce2MX
128 MB CAS2 133MHz
SB Live!
Well 56-RWM-PCI modem
Seagate Baracuda 20GB ATA66 HD
Teac W54E CDRW (ATAPI)
PS 250W PCWINNER
Temerature up to 43°C on MB and 47°C on proc.

I experienced random lockups in intensive games and DivX videos too. I tried change almost everything (3 DIMMs, 3 gr. cards, 2 HD , remove SB ) without result. The best result is with disabled DMA for my CDRW drive (only... 2 lockups for a day). I do not know, what is wrong ( I will try change the PS too).
The best stress test was intro movie from QuakeIII (ID logo) - lockups in 4 cases from 5 (Quake minimal installation).

 

[RoboTECH]

tons of people on anandtech's forums have used this board. Therefore, you'll see a lot of people posting their problems.

Thankfully, the vast, vast majority of problems have been proven to be small issues (i.e. swapping out a cable, updating a BIOS) or user error.

Installing the Via drivers one at a time and rebooting is a Windows 9x thing for sure! That's how I do everything in 9x. Install ONE THING AT A TIME, then reboot. Install Windows. reboot. Install Via 4-in-1s, reboot, install video card drivers, reboot. Install DX8, reboot. Install sound card, reboot. etc....

kuji, I'd be willing to bet that if you change your PS out with a high quality PS like a 300w sparkle, you'd be good to go.

 

[jcab]

I've solved my problem !!!

My graphic card was using the same IRQ as the USB controller (and Windows didn't indicate any conflicts...) so I disabled the USB controller, because I'm not using it right now and after doing that the computer didn't crash any more !!

I hope that this will help many people ....