Hi,
hopefully someone has had expierence with this problem and can help.

System so far. MSI P45 Neo3-fr mobo, Core2 Duo E6300 cpu, 2 gb pc4200 DDR2, Diamond Raedon 4850 video card and a Coolermaster 550w powersupply.

Now for the problem. I moved my cpu and ram from an ECS p4m800-pro to the MSI, added a Nvidia 9600gt and when I booted there was no video and three equal length beeps from the pc speaker. Tested the video card in an older Intel 915gag board and the card works fine. Took the mobo back to the store thinking that the PCI-E slot was hosed, but they had no problems with it, it posted and displayed with out a problem. So I did some more poking around on the web and read that there could be an issue with PCI-E 2.0 cards with this mobo, and it would need a bios update. Since I couldn't update the bios if I cant see the bios I picked up a Raedon 4850 instead. Guess what, no video and 3 beeps. Perhaps it was my Antec 430 watt psu. Nope, just today I added the Coolermaster 550 watt and still the same problem. And to top it off Google is blocking the MSI support site saying that it might be compromised and installing malicious software.

So, any ideas from you guys? If my cpu or memory is hosed, should I at least see anything on the screen that indicated that the video card is working? I have been building systems for over 15 years and I have never been this stumped!

Thanks
~eric~

Isn't three beeps a memory problem? Try re-seating your memory. Try with just one stick. Try different slots.

whats the point of returning a pci- 2.0 card... and getting another one if you suspect thats the problem...

anyway look into your mobos manual to find out what the beeps mean, it sounds more like a memory problem

TeraMedia: Just tried that, no luck, no boot.

thogrom: I read on some message board that the 9600 had problems with the ver 1.0 bios on the MSI board. So why not try ATI instead? Also, the board did show video when I brought it back to the store and they used their test videocard (though I don't know what video card it was it sure was smaller than the Nvidia or ATI cards and did not have a input for the PCI-E power connector.)

Also, the manual says nothing. (figures) It was the first place I checked as my wife is a Technical Writer and hounds me to read the documentation! (i suppose to justify her paycheck)

One more question... Would a computer fail to boot if the ram clock speed is to slow? i.e., if I had 400mhz DDR2 and the Board specs say 800 or 1066?

That would be a problem. You will need at least 667Mhz with that board I think.

Supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.8 Volt DDR2 667/800/1066*(OC) SDRAM, 16GB Max (To support 16GB max, please check the criteria at Intel website) - from spec listing for that mobo.

The E6300 is designed to work with DDR2 533 at a minimum. For your board, with DDR2 667 or better stock setting bus 333.3, mult 7X. To make it work with that mobo, you will have to use faster ram and play with the CPU:RAM ratios.

Thank you all for your help!

So if I understand correctly, if I wanted to go for a 1:1 ratio with this Mobo I could upgrade to a E6550 which is a 333mhz w/ 7x multiplier and upgrade my ram to DDR2 667mhz?

I think I finally understand the problem... My thinking was f@#cked when I assumed that the beepcode was telling me that the video was hosed, in fact it was saying that my Ram was incompatible. Ah well. If Fry's will take back the mobo, i'll make sure my replacement take 533mhz DDR2.

oh and one more question, if I bought 667mhz DDR, it should run with the E6300, I would have to throttle it down to get a 1:1 match?

You don't have to run at 1:1. It's always nice, but not needed. You can't run BELOW that.

Your board will operate at 266 x7, and will support the E6300 with no problems. For RAM to run at 1:1 it would need to be 533, which is NOT supported.

So, you just get some inexpensive 800Mhz RAM and run it at some other multiplier of 266 (beyond x2). I don't know what your BIOS will support, but for sure the RAM could be run at 266 x3, which would be about 800Mhz.

In truth, you will not see a performance hit as it makes very little difference what ratio the RAM is running on.

Thanks all for your help (and for not being condescending!) Everything works great and I'm buying a six pack of Firestone Pale Ale to drink in your honor! *hic*