I'd like to thank everyone who responded to my troubleshooting cry for answers!!

BigBlue... Turns out you were right about the RAM. The MSI KT3 Ultra ARU doesn't like Atlas Precision RAM at all... Got some Original Samsung RAM, plugged it in and it booted up all nice and pretty. No issues at all.

Now, gonna try to return the old stuff and see whether the company honors their compatability "guarantee" or not. It'll be interesting to see whether or not I get my $$$...

Again, thanks to everyone who contributed!

:cool:ness has been achieved. :D

Yes, please do keep us informed about the RMA for the Atlas memory.

You will really enjoy your MSI board now. It truly does love Samsung memory.

I don't remember what harddrive you were running, but I highly recommend splurging for an ATA133. Man, the speed is amazing. You can get a 40gb Maxtor ATA133 for $78 plus shipping from Newegg right now. I just slapped one in the other day and was immediately impressed.

BigBlue...

Thinking about two ATA133 drives for a RAID array... Gotta love the built in RAID capability of the Ultra ARU! Oh, and the USB 2.0. I love how the board's running and all the bells and whistles included. Glad I picked it. GO ME!! =)

Well, whether or not you use the RAID, an ATA133 harddrive on this board is well worth the money. But I do agree, the RAID feature is nice to have. I went with the vanilla version of the board because I just didn't feel like I needed RAID or USB 2.0 at the time. And I'm already running a kick-arse Santa Cruz so I didn't need the souped up audio.

I kinda wish now that I had went ahead and gotten it just for the USB features, but I'm sure this board will take me a long time into the future. There are always add-on cards for the stuff I'm missing. When I decide to upgrade to the KT4 or the KT5 or whatever is available at the time, I'm sure I will go with the additional goodies.

One more thing you could splurge on is another 256mb stick of Samsung PC2700. I'm running two sticks of it now and it really makes the system scream right along.

BigBlue...

Once again, I just want to say thanks! I don't know what I'd be thinking right now without your input. The system continues to run well. As to the RAM, the stick I originally bought was 512mb, but the stick that works is 256mb. I'd originally planned to have 512mb in the system, but now I'm thinking about ADDING 512mb instead. 768 would be fun. And with RAM prices now, it'll be cheaper than when I bought the RAM originally.

On the horizon, the two ata/133 drives, a new mouse and a wireless network. Probly a sound card too when I get around to it. The onboard sound is fine tho and my other system is my sound machine... Klipsch 4.1s with a SB Audigy EX.

Again, I can't thank you enough for your post. Frustrations vanishing in the blink of an eye! =)

Hey, I'm just glad I could help.

Feels good to actually have an idea pan out into a solution.

Yeah, I've been thinking about slapping in another 256mb stick for a total of 768mb. Although 512 seems to handle everything I throw at it.

Also, there may be an issue with populating all three DIMM slots on this board. I thought I saw where people were having problems. Gonna have to post a thread over at amdmb and ask around before I go ahead and buy another stick.

The MSI forum over at www.amdmb.com is a good place to go to get board specific information and help. That's not to say that help isn't freely available around here, but sometimes it's good to ask of people who are dedicated to one brand over another.

Ok, so the three RAM stick problem may not be on just this board, but rather, with the chipset or something. I don't know, I read a bunch of mumbo jumbo that went flying at a high rate of speed right over the top of my head.

Anyways, I'll post back with whatever answers I get.

If anyone here knows a thing or two about what I speak of, by all means, jump into the fray and tell us what you know.

Forgot to mention in my "No Problem" post that this is the whole idea behind the forums. Believe you me, I have come here with questions galore. I remember one frantic weekend in particular. :rolleyes: It feels good to be able to give back.