I think you may have a better chance at contacting him via the forums there. I don't know if this user also frequents Vogons.

Personally I don't think I ever used the MSI 815EPT.
The CPU support list on the MSI webpage of this board also lists the 1.4GHz Tualeron (the Celeron variant of Tualatin PIII) as incompatible, perhaps due to MSI considering the board inadequately adapted for the increased powerdraw that the 1.4GHz parts would require? The 7.4 BIOS file was released after the 1.4GHz parts had already been released, so it's not like the parts didn't exist yet, thus not causing incompatibility that way.

If you can't find a way to get the 1.4GHz part working, perhaps you could opt to get the next best thing, which is the 1.26GHz Tualatin-s. Or perhaps you could try your luck and modify the BIOS (not recommended if you're new to all of this).

Tetrium wrote on 2020-09-28, 12:41:

I think you may have a better chance at contacting him via the forums there. I don't know if this user also frequents Vogons. […]
Show full quote

I think you may have a better chance at contacting him via the forums there. I don't know if this user also frequents Vogons.

Personally I don't think I ever used the MSI 815EPT.
The CPU support list on the MSI webpage of this board also lists the 1.4GHz Tualeron (the Celeron variant of Tualatin PIII) as incompatible, perhaps due to MSI considering the board inadequately adapted for the increased powerdraw that the 1.4GHz parts would require? The 7.4 BIOS file was released after the 1.4GHz parts had already been released, so it's not like the parts didn't exist yet, thus not causing incompatibility that way.

If you can't find a way to get the 1.4GHz part working, perhaps you could opt to get the next best thing, which is the 1.26GHz Tualatin-s. Or perhaps you could try your luck and modify the BIOS (not recommended if you're new to all of this).

Thank you for your reply, I am not in any way qualified to venture in modifying the BIOS, although I thought of that as a solution that he might have applied. Didin't even remember the forums at that site, I will try to contact him there.

Thing is, at this moment now that I have this cpu I would prefer to go with it all the way through even with a new motherboard instead of spending pratically the same money on a downgrade. It really is a bummer that this is the only Tualatin model not supported by this board

In order to touch on all the possibilities to find a solution, is there a particular place in these forums where I could ask for someone to help me regarding modifying the BIOS?

There may be multiple revisions or versions of this board some of which do support the CPU while others don't. Try to find out wether your board is identical to the one the 1.4GHz CPU actually runs on.
If the board's power delivery is indeed a bit tight for the 1.4GHz model but somebody else got this setup working you may get lucky trying to replace the aged capacitors.

^
According to MSI (and cpu-upgrade) you need a PCB v5 board for Tualatin support (even though MSI don't mention the 1.4-S PIII). Does this match your board markings?

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2020-09-28, 15:08:

^
According to MSI (and cpu-upgrade) you need a PCB v5 board for Tualatin support (even though MSI don't mention the 1.4-S PIII). Does this match your board markings?

MSI 815EPT Pro v5.jpg

Yes it does!

Do you know that the CPU you have is tested good? Did you test it in another board yourself to verify?

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-09-28, 16:00:

Do you know that the CPU you have is tested good? Did you test it in another board yourself to verify?

I bought it on Ebay, it was quality checked and previously tested by the Ebay store before shipping. I would test it myself if I could, but unfortunately Tualatin supporting boards do not come easy where I'm from, or at all. If that was the case, I wouldn't insist on this particular board.

The most frustrating is having the only Tualatin CPU that apparently the board does not support. That is what makes me think that it can't be that hard to start it, for people who know what they are doing, which this user I mentioned and quoted at my original post apparently does.

If he only updated the BIOS, or if there was a way to "read" the 7.4 BIOS complete changes list that this version provides, maybe I could find out if the only thing he did was to simply update the BIOS, thus turning my attention to my CPU being the problem.

Weird, as it certainly seems to work on the board version I pictured. Here's a link to someone with the combo, who submitted a validated CPU-Z overclock entry

http://forum.pcekspert.com/showpost.php?s=686 … 0&postcount=212

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2020-09-28, 16:49:

Weird, as it certainly seems to work on the board version I pictured. Here's a link to someone with the combo, who submitted a validated CPU-Z overclock entry

http://forum.pcekspert.com/showpost.php?s=686 … 0&postcount=212

815EPT Pro LE5 on CPU-Z.jpg

Isn't MSI 815EPT PRO LE5 (MS-6337LE5) a different version from the MSI 815EPT Pro (MS-6337)? Seems like it

Is there any way to read the inner contents of this BIOS 7.4 version in order to see some kind of changes list? Do you think the user I quoted as a reference changed the BIOS so the cpu would run on it?

BTW as a reminder, I already installed this version and the cpu didn't post on it.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/815EPT_Pro.html

You could try underclocking it to 100MHz.
The board might also have a fail safe mode that'll clock the FSB @66MHz.

AFAIK the only difference is the LE5 lacks the Promise FastTrak 100 chip / IDE connectors

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2020-09-28, 17:09:

AFAIK the only difference is the LE5 lacks the Promise FastTrak 100 chip / IDE connectors

Thanks, it's a shame I can't test this on another board or apparently contact the guy that managed it to run.

Doornkaat wrote on 2020-09-28, 17:02:

You could try underclocking it to 100MHz.
The board might also have a fail safe mode that'll clock the FSB @66MHz.

I'm no expert at all, what would be the point of underclocking it? Just to see if it posts then change it back to 1.4Ghz and see if it keeps posting? Regarding that fail safe mode, what can I do?

Apart from all your suggestions as soon as I can I will retry to set it up again.

Because I updated the BIOS all settings changed to some default right? Do you think after the update he tinkered with some options before switching cpu's to the Tualatin?

The whole process is about narrowing down the problem:
Underclocking it either manually or by triggering fail safe mode will reduce power consumption and increase stability.
This way if it posts underclocked you know the CPU isn't completely dead and the board/BIOS has no problem with the CPUID. The problem is then either lackluster stability at high clocks or instable power delivery.
If there's an identical board running this CPU at full speed the board design is probably fine with the higher frequency so you could try recapping the board to stabilise power delivery.
The manual says there's a six pin jumper block in the upper right corner. It's layed out like this:
6 3
5 2
4 1
Short 5-6 and 2-3. This should have the CPU run at 66MHz FSB (700MHz core).
If it works you could also try 100MHz FSB by shorting only 5-6.

Also flashing the BIOS does not necessarily reset the CMOS. Try doing that yourself using the CMOS jumper.

By the way, reading the manual I just found out this board supposedly has an integrated POST diagnostic function using four onboard LEDs located left of the PCI slots. Compare their signal to the manual and tell us what they indicate please.

One other thing to note... just because a seller on eBay said that they tested something in a listing doesn't mean anything unless you saw them test it with your very own eyes.

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-09-28, 20:38:

One other thing to note... just because a seller on eBay said that they tested something in a listing doesn't mean anything unless you saw them test it with your very own eyes.

Doornkaat wrote on 2020-09-28, 20:09:

The whole process is about narrowing down the problem: Underclocking it either manually or by triggering fail safe mode will red […]
Show full quote

The whole process is about narrowing down the problem:
Underclocking it either manually or by triggering fail safe mode will reduce power consumption and increase stability.
This way if it posts underclocked you know the CPU isn't completely dead and the board/BIOS has no problem with the CPUID. The problem is then either lackluster stability at high clocks or instable power delivery.
If there's an identical board running this CPU at full speed the board design is probably fine with the higher frequency so you could try recapping the board to stabilise power delivery.
The manual says there's a six pin jumper block in the upper right corner. It's layed out like this:
6 3
5 2
4 1
Short 5-6 and 2-3. This should have the CPU run at 66MHz FSB (700MHz core).
If it works you could also try 100MHz FSB by shorting only 5-6.

Also flashing the BIOS does not necessarily reset the CMOS. Try doing that yourself using the CMOS jumper.

By the way, reading the manual I just found out this board supposedly has an integrated POST diagnostic function using four onboard LEDs located left of the PCI slots. Compare their signal to the manual and tell us what they indicate please.

Thank you so much for your help and patience. So even if it posts after your process, the (eventual) solution would still require recapping? I don't have anyone available near me to do that.

I'm starting to think that I may very well need to acquire a new board and use the cpu on it, and use this MSI with my previous cpu. And if the problem persists with the Tualatin, present the problem to the store and go from there. Even without much choice nowadays regarding buying PIII-S Tualatins online, they were still very helpful

I have a MSI 815ept pro V5, and that board had trouble starting up, until I figured out that it's caused by tight spacing around the ATX power connector. Some power supplies have a tab on the connector that's too wide, and on this board the tab can apply sideways pressure on the inductor right next to where the tab goes. That's what prevented the board from starting for me.

Well, before we get too deep into all kinds of what ifs it may be best to just try those basic troubleshooting steps first. 😉

But regardless of what is going on with that particular board you should probably consider aquiring some basic soldering skills if you want to stick to this hobby. All of your hardware is going to fail sooner or later and from experience especially on hardware of this time period capacitors are usually the first thing to fail. Additionally worn/failing capacitors stress other usually long lasting components, so being able to replace them is very helpful at the very least.

Even though soldering seems rather scary at first it is actually pretty straightforward and replacing through hole capacitors is not a very difficult task. It just takes a little bit of practice and some decent tools (which can be had for less than 50$ total.) You can absolutely do this.😃👍

pixel_workbench wrote on 2020-09-29, 02:32:

I have a MSI 815ept pro V5, and that board had trouble starting up, until I figured out that it's caused by tight spacing around the ATX power connector. Some power supplies have a tab on the connector that's too wide, and on this board the tab can apply sideways pressure on the inductor right next to where the tab goes. That's what prevented the board from starting for me.

Thanks for the suggestion, the board starts with my previous cpu with no problems at all, it's the Tualatin I wanted to apply that is the problem.

Doornkaat wrote on 2020-09-29, 03:03:

Well, before we get too deep into all kinds of what ifs it may be best to just try those basic troubleshooting steps first. 😉

But regardless of what is going on with that particular board you should probably consider aquiring some basic soldering skills if you want to stick to this hobby. All of your hardware is going to fail sooner or later and from experience especially on hardware of this time period capacitors are usually the first thing to fail. Additionally worn/failing capacitors stress other usually long lasting components, so being able to replace them is very helpful at the very least.

Even though soldering seems rather scary at first it is actually pretty straightforward and replacing through hole capacitors is not a very difficult task. It just takes a little bit of practice and some decent tools (which can be had for less than 50$ total.) You can absolutely do this.😃👍

I understand, thanks for the encouragement. In this particular situation I would prefer to spend that money on another board (same amount funny enough) that I know is fully compatible than opening that particular can of worms at this point in time with no guarantees. You see, time for me is an issue right now. I have some time for now to complete this Tualatin build and install everything I want on it before it will be impossible for a long period to do anything on it. So you know, to buy the tools, learn, probably screw up, retry, get it right, but it may still not work... it's just faster and practical to use that money on another board, and keep this MSI board for another build in the future, or even trade it, who knows.

But you do raise a valid point, I will have to reserve time in the future to learn that. I'm just a casual user that wants to complete a build, but even so it makes complete sense to know how to keep them alive