Code Red Problems! **** Update ****

[SmokinBarrel]

Okay, here's the problem:

1st Board = MSI SLI Ultra 4 (Neo 4?) first board was bad, and MSI issued a new board to me. Second, I had the same problem, and MSI never called me back to issue a 2nd RMA#. Thus, I was stuck with a $200 board that doesn't work. I ate that cost = No more business with MSI. I bought and Abit board to see if it worked while I was trying to get another board from MSI.

2nd board = Abit (model = ?) While I was waiting for the MSI (2nd board) board, I installed the Abit board. It worked, and has worked for 8 - 9 months. Just recently, my system crashed. I keep getting Boot Disk Failure message, and it doesn't want to boot my harddrives. I've tried everything I know, including a new drive. Furthermore, sometimes it counts my Memory, and sometimes it doesn't. And, most of the time it won't recognize my floppy or CD-ROM drive. Virus, Motherboard, Memory, I'm not sure what it is. So, I figured I'd try a new motherboard, and move on!

My question:
What board would you recommend? Basically, after 12 months, I've spent $300 on mthrboards, plus the new one I'm about to purchase. I don't plan to use SLI, but would like the best chipset possible, because I'm a gamer. Any suggestions on stable boards to purchase? Recommendations?

System:
System: Athlon64 3200+ Winchester / ATI x800XL Graphics Card / (Raptor 34G HDD Primary)(Raptor 74G HDD Hope to be Secondary - Possibly Corrupt) / 19" Hyndai LCD (8 ms) / MSI Neo4 Plat Ultra4 Chipst SLI - Now = ABit / Win XP Prof / 1 G Ram 2.5-3-3 Corsair DDR400 / NEC DVD/CD dual layer read/write /
Edit/Delete Message

Thanks in advance for the advice!

-St. Louis, MO

 

[frost_fenix]

for stability i recommend ASUS. i have had several ASUS motherboards for about 8 years now and never had any of them give me any problems. i have always had the via chipset version of their boards but im sure that you will hear good things from others who have had nforce chipsets.

if its stability you are looking for ASUS is what i would buy.

 

[177ine177ine]

I've gotten the same problem. I just built my system about six months ago. It's an A8n-sli motherboard, 3500+athlon64, leadtek6600gt, a gig of RAM, and a western digital sata 160 gig hard with a nec 3520 cd drive. Usually it happens when i just turn on my computer one day, and it says boot disk failure. The first time, i tried to rma the board, but then managed to fix it by reformatting without the RMA. Recently, its happened at startup and also during high cpu usage (gaming) where the blue screen pops up. The solution i figured works is just popping open the case and taking the sata wire out of the hard drive and back in. Works for me I believe it's probably a hard drive issue, I'm trying to pick up a new 150 gig 10000rpm WD, see if that fixes it.
I don't think it necessarily is the motherboard, but asus support suggested it was. get back to me on it

 

[baracuda73]

If you have had trouble with MSI and Abit try a DFI very good mobo. EPoX would be another option both good reputations.

 

[SmokinBarrel]

177ine - I unplugged the sata wire on the motherboard, but not at the hard drive. Restarted, error reading - obviously. Then shut it off, and hook it back up, and I still have the same issue. I get a Boot Failure error.......and it tells me to install a start up disk.....but, the board won't start my floppy or CD ROM drive(s).

Heck, I popped the MSI board back in, and it won't even fire up! I tried all possible "Power SW" configurations, and it won't start up. Man, very discouraging.

This is my 4th or 5th system build, and I'm stumped!!! I even put in a new hard drive, and booted up, and got the same error, BOOT FAILURE. Unbelievable. Expensive problem.....

 

[bourgeoisdude]

Sounds to me like it's not a motherboard related problem, but I could be wrong. The one that didn't fire up at all is a bad mobo but the other is fine. Boot failure means it can't find your data, meaning:

1. Your hard drive isn't detected, possibly you just need to reset config data from bios,

2. Hard drive is there but for some unknown reason your bios is not set to boot from it,

3. Hard drive is there, mobo is set to boot to it, but either the hard drive is blank or you got a virus/trojan that took out your Master Boot Record from your system partition.

Check bios settings on the computer that powers on, and look for either a reset configuration settings or a Reset ESCD data option, enable it or choose yes, then save and exit setup. If still no boot, use a bootable cdrom to see if your hard drive even has data on it (use windows xp cd for example, and see if it says prev. version detected)

My guess is you'll get it to work on the system that gives you a boot failure error. If not maybe your hard drive is bad and that needs replaced, or possibly the ide/SATA cable needs replaced.

 

[VTOLfreak]

And they always forget the power supply... 8)
A PSU is not something that just "comes with the case".

What brand and how many Watts are you packing?
An overloaded PSU can cause fluctuating voltages wich in turn can do all sort of weird things to your system.

 

[nanoprobs]

Yes try replace a new power supply of about over 400W, don't get a cheap one. Get a decent one, u could always check the sticker on the power supply and see how many certificate is stamped on it. I have a similar problem before having freezes in games and sometimes SATA drives not detected or just window crashes. But after I tried with a new power supply it fix all the problem. I'm not sure if this will fix your current problem, but u can always try then if it doesn't fix the problem just return the power supply to get a refund. Also after getting a new PSU it is always better to reformat the H.D and reinstall a new fresh OS for testing.

 

[SmokinBarrel]

Power supply = 480 watts. Antec Neopower.

It could be the PSU. Because my game "Gun" started to "hesitate", or "stutter". So I closed it. Then I opened "Panzer Elite" to play it, it locked up. So, I rebooted because the system was locked. That's when I got a Boot Failure message.

 

[VTOLfreak]

That PSU should be sufficient for your setup.
If you have a multimeter you could check if its working correctly.
Don't use the mobo's sensors, they are way off most of the time.
And your multimeter can remember any voltages spikes or drops.
(Called MIN/MAX function on most models)

 

[SmokinBarrel]

Original Problem:

MSI Neo4 SLI Platinum - Started, but received a "Boot Failure" message. Turned it off, and then back on......no power!! Played with the connectors, power switch, etc.....no power!

ABit - Worked for about 9 months, and recently went down. Received "Boot Failure" message. I couldn't access the floppy drive, CDROM, and both HDDrives wouldn't initiate. For the most part, the floppy drive, and CDROM where immobolized!

ASUS A8N-E - Purchased lastnite. So, so good! Seems to be running stable, and very quick. Or, quicker than the ABit. Although, the ABit board was a lower level or older model. Anyway, it seems to be running fine now. And I've accessed the other two harddrives as a second and third drive. I used a new harddrive when booting up with the new motherboard.

Conclusion: I think it was a bug, or serious corruption. It seems my computer was becoming more and more unstable before the final crash.

 

[frost_fenix]

do you still have the other motherboards? maybe it was some bios corruption. you might be able to make a disk (floppy or cd rom) that can flash your bios and get the old mb working again and if you arent going to use it you could at least ebay it.

 

[nav_909]

Hi have you tried resetting ur CMOS battery?

i've come across that a few times and that usually helps .