RIP MSI YMFPOS

[Handruin]

After a frustrating battle over the past couple days, my MSI K7T Pro 2A has died.

It all started a few weeks ago when I began to notice every few days that my system wouldn't respond while trying to save files over my LAN. I'd switch on my monitor, only to be greeted with the yellow stand-by mode light. So I'd hit the reset switch on the case and the machine would come back to life.

As of Sunday the machine continued to get worse, and now I was having random application crashes and BSOD. Simple applications that never crashed in the 3 years this machine has been running. So I figured I might have a virus....

I installed a trial version of NOD32 and scanned the machine. During the course of the scan, NOD32 died twice, but never did it find a virus...

OK...my memory has gone bad. I download 3 different memory testing software applications. One being a Windows based tool, I let it run for a few hours and no errors found. I tried the next tool that booted from a floppy. I ran that memory testing tool for about 4 hours in a DOS based environment...No errors found. I try the third DOS based tool which I kicked off this morning and when I returned home from work, it was still running and not one error found after 11 hours of testing.

OK, so I updated my BIOS, which I haven't touched in well over a year. It was working fine, so I had no need to touch it. BIOS upgrade went fine, so I upgrade video drivers.

Nothing is working right. I still get random application crashes, and I can't do anything in 3D. Now I get BSOD's stating "unable to page in unpagable area" or some bullshit like that. (GeForce 3 Ti200) So I took apart the entire machine tonight and cleaned all the dust out of it. I put it all back together and still no change. Out of my clumsiness, I knocked over my Antec 1240SX case and it smashes to the floor and nails the corner of my chair (mother fucking ^^#$*!!) The only thing I'm thankful for is that I took out all my hard drive cages prior to the case falling down. The only thing in the case was my Sony burner… Guess what… now the case not only has a small dent, but the side door no longer fits because the ENTIRE GOD DAMN CASE BENT in the frame. It bent bad enough that a metal rivet popped out. The front plastic face no longer fits correctly either. Son of a ^&^((&^(*.

But now I have a new problem. My SCSI card no longer is recognized during boot. (the card wasn’t in the case when it crashed to the floor) I reboot the machine and I see the LSI BIOS menu, but the machine is frozen and I never see "Press CTRL + C".

So I shut it down and change PCI slots. Boot back up and the card works, but reports a config problem and informs me the card is resetting to original defaults. WTF is going on? If Storagereview.com still had it’s old forum, I’d be able to point out I had a similar issue 3 years ago and it was fixed by putting another scsi card in the box at the same time…not sure why this fixed it.

So I downgraded the detonator drivers to the last version known to work. I still can't get 3D applications to work. I started testing the 3D screen savers and they leave very ugly lines on my monitor after I exit out of the screen saver. I tried it again for kicks and the system locked up and BSOD. I think the GeForce card may have been the real issue, but now I’ll never know.

POFS. So I decided to downgrade the BIOS back to my original version (2.8). Well...it all ended there. The downgrade reported successful, but after I restarted the machine...nothing but constant beeping. Fucker.

Now I'm pissed as hell, and I have a useless motherboard, but a working 1.2 GHz CPU and 768 MB PC 133 crucial ram. (at least I think so)

 

[Handruin]

 

[Mercutio]

Sounds like a job for ebay, man.

 

[blakerwry]

Does the board use an award BIOS chip?


If so you might be able to save it. Even after a bad flash.

 

[CityK]

Doug, try unplugging the PSU, take the battery out of the mobo and leave it for a bit (maybe overnight....working on things when your angry is no fun).

Give it a shot tommorow...maybe swap the video card first before you fire it back up.

.

 

[Handruin]

Yes, it has an award BIOS.

 

[Handruin]

I tried shorting the BIOS jumper for about 20 minutes, but it didn't help. (I had the PSU unplugged while performing this)

I don't have an extra video card to test in this system right now, otherwise I would try your suggestion.

I've killed this board before with a bad flash and I know the sound it makes. The last time I sent the entire board back via RMA. The warranty no longer applies now, so I can't do this. Out of all of this, the thing that pisses me off the most is my case... I really like this case, and now it's screwed up. (I know...it's my own fault)

 

[blakerwry]

Blind flashing an Award Motherboard

1.) You need to make a bootable floppy. The best way to do this is to go to www.bootdisk.com and download DrDOS...but you want the one "for flashing" as it has no drivers or any unesessary files with it. It's just "pure" DOS. Just click on the downloaded file and it will prompt you to place a floppy in the drive and will create the boot floppy for
you.

2.) Place "awdflash.exe" and whatever BIOS your flashing (ex.
123abc.bin) on the bootable floppy you created.

3.) Now you need to create an autoexec.bat file. This is what
automates the entire process since it's being done "blind". To do
this, all you need is a text editor, notepad being the easiest. Just
open notepad and type "awdflash 123abc.bin /py /sn /Sb /cd /cp /cc /R"
without the quotes. Make sure you fill in the "123abc.bin" with the
correct filename...this is just an example. It should look like this:

awdflash 123abc.bin /py /sn /Sb /cd /cp /cc /R

Make sure there is a space between awdflash and you BIOS file and after your BIOS file and between all switches. Now save what you created here in notepad on your floppy as autoexec.bat

Basically what this does is it automatically loads awdflash, inserts
the BIOS file, and....

/py - program yes
/sn - save no
/Sb - skips rewriting the bootblock
/cd /cp /cc - resets all configuration data and clears CMOS
/R - restarts the system when complete


4.) Once you have this floppy complete it's time to put it in the
drive, power the system up, and cross your fingers. Just keep your eyes on the floppy and HDD light and keep an ear out. It only takes a minutes or so to complete so you have to be ready to remove the floppy when the system restarts (you should be able to tell when all lights and activity stop, pause for a few moments and then restarts). At this point, if all went well, your system should POST. You can now go into your setup, make your needed changes, and bingo...your back in business.

 

[blakerwry]

worth a shot

 

[The JoJo]

Same case as I have. Have you been happy with it?

 

[Handruin]

The system won't even get to the floppy drive. Right after the drives spinup, the system beeps like crazy. I let it beep for about 5 minutes and then I couldn't take the noise any more, so I turned it off. I left the floppy in the drive, but nothing happened.

Is there any key combination, or something special I need to do?

JoJo, I've been very happy with it...until today.

 

[jtr1962]

This sounds to me like it might be the power supply going bad or even gone bad. Random problems that get worse and worse seems to point in that direction. Of course, the M/B failing might act the same way. Anyway, if you have a spare PSU I would swap that in and see if it works. It certainly can't hurt anything.

 

[CougTek]

The case shouldn't be a problem. If it bent one way, it can bend the other. I did countless times. And for the rivet that poped out ; you have a hammer?

Regarding the erratic behavior of your system, I would tend to point out the mainboard. Especially since it's a Microstar in their dreaded era. Inspect the capacitors carefully. Back in the KT133A days, the Microstar (and Abit) boards used poor quality capacitors that often leaked or bulged with time and cause stories like yours to appear on forum boards. I had two of those defective boards (both MSI) back from customers this Fall.

If you really find nothing to do with your parts, I have an ECS K7S5A Pro (with the USB 2.0 plugs) that's accumulating dust here, along with a TNT2 Pro graphic card in case yours ends up being capout. 25$ plus shipping of your choice and they are yours.

 

[Handruin]

Hmm....hammer...case...sounds like a possibility.

Coug, you're dead-right about the capacitors. Two of the medium sized capacitors are buldged and look like they are about to pop open at the top. They are also rusted at the top. (it looks like rust) I noticed this a couple months ago, and didn't think much of it other than it was odd. I'll take a picture when I get home if you are curious. (and maybe you can help confirm via the picture)

If your ECS board is working fine, I'll certainly buy it from you for $25 plus shipping if you don't mind the hassle to pack it up. I read ECS's website and it looks like that board takes both DDR and SDRAM, so I should be all set. Although I have 3x 256 PC133 chips, the board only takes 2 of either type, that isn't a big deal. I'll PM you when I get home about the details if you really don't mind. I'd like to keep this machine running, so if your ECS board runs stable (doesn't have to be the fastest thing in the world) I'd be very happy.

 

[Fushigi]

While it sounds like the capacitors are shot, here's a couple of other things to try:

1. Replace the keyboard (just in case there's a key stuck or something).

2. For testing, underclock the CPU & RAM. Take the 1.2GHz to 1GHz and the RAM from PC133 to PC100.

 

[blakerwry]

err.. uh reset the CMOS jumper should have been one of the 1st things to try if not done already

 

[Handruin]

The first thing I tried was clearing the CMOS via jumper. That made no difference. The monitor will not even turn on. I'm almost certain the BIOS is corrupt because this happened to me a few years ago. I can't the CPU or ram because I can't even get into the BIOS. With or without a keyboard, the system won't start, I tried both. (where it wouldn't normally start in the past without a keyboard)

What this board needs is a clean flashed BIOS chip installed. I'm thinking this isn't worth it if I can purchase Cougtek's board. It's that or I'm looking into a new setup.

 

[Dr Bombcrater]

The BIOS may well be corrupt, but I had very similar syptoms on an Epox KT133 board and it was all down to the caps. First it started showing random instability, then it took several tries with the power button before it woke up and then, finally, it died.

I replaced half a dozen bad caps and now the board works just fine, and the same trick has worked on 'dead' Soltek and Abit KT133/133A boards.

 

[blakerwry]

yup, I agree.. the board has 2 problems. Each of which would probably cause your more time, money, and hassle to fix than buying a cheap used board.

 

[CityK]

yup, I agree.. the board has 2 problems. Each of which would probably cause your more time, money, and hassle to fix than buying a cheap used board.

Not unless he tries with the Heavy Duty Precision Impact Adjustment Tool....satisfaction guaranteed.

 

[Handruin]

I've tried restarting this machine at least a dozen times and it won't do anything except beep rapidly form an on-board tiny speaker. There are also 4 LED's on this board and it indicates a memory failure problem, but I don't believe it is the memory.

Here are a few pics of the two suspect capacitors. It's hard to see they are bulging, but you can at least see the corrosion on the top. It's only these two that I've noticed an issue with.

Capacitor Pic 1

Capacitor Pic 2

Capacitor Pic 3

Capacitor Pic 4

Capacitor Pic 5

 

[blakerwry]

yup, caompare the blue caps with the smaller green one and it's plainly obvious that they're bulging as well as leaking.

Echoing what others have said previously, from my experience you'll get instability and eventually failure to boot.

It's an easily repairable problem if you have the caps and the experience. I MIGHT be able to do such a thing, but I would only do it as a last resort. I know my soldering limits and surfance mount caps seem like they'd be hard to do.