AMD Sempron Processor 3100+ & ECS NFORCE3-A Motherboard for $80 at Outpost.com

[furballi]

If the front USB port was properly connected, and it was working, then there are two most logical explanations:

-The front USB ports may lack adequate protection from power surge

-The Dazzle product can cause power surge and damage the USB header and other components on the MB

Never hot connect/disconnect an electronic device. That's just common sense. I don't care if it's USB or XYZ. This is a bad practice. If you're lucky, then the USB device will come with some sort of current-limiting device to reduce the amount of in-rush current and voltage. Mouse and keyboard are generally immune from this problem because they only draw about 100mA.

You should have tested the Dazzle product on the 2nd board with the power OFF. If okay, then we would know for sure that the power surge was the root cause.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: qilin
I guess a warning to others who own this board: don't hot plug any USB device, especially products of Dazzle, into the front USB port! How does this sound...

Sounds good.

 

[qilin]

Never hot connect/disconnect an electronic device. That's just common sense. I don't care if it's USB or XYZ. This is a bad practice.
You should have tested the Dazzle product on the 2nd board with the power OFF. If okay, then we would know for sure that the power surge was the root cause.

Lesson learned. There are so many claimed hot-swappable USB/firewire devices, external drives, cameras, camcorders, etc. Do you always power off both the computer and the device first before connecting them? Guess life is no longer easy.
Too bad I didn't think that Dazzle did it until I plugged it again on the 2nd board :-( It did not happen immediately when I plugged in the device, but about 20 sec after I unplugged it, both times.

 

[furballi]

Having a decent background in engineering, I know not to put too much faith in specs. Generally, any USB device with a motor (HDD, optical drive, printer, etc) should be treated with extreme caution. The in-rush current during hot plug can zap the MB. The risk of damage is lower if you unplug a device while it is running.

Let's take a look at this example. Disconnect the negative post on your car's battery. Wait about 30 seconds and reconnect the negative post to the battery. See the small spark or puff of smoke? That's the large in-rush current vaporizing the metal.

I hope you can get ECS to repair the board under warranty with just shipping charge. Perhaps you'll retest with the Dazzle connected to the PC before applying power. It should work okay.

 

[deadken]

I have my second combo up and running. I lapped the SB heatsink and applied a good thermal paste before I mounted the board. I have it running at 250FSB and +%3.4. It failed P95 after 5 hours with +%1.7. I haven't gotten to install the Biostar BIOS yet. I keep coming up with floppy disk errors. I hate floppy drives and will probably try burning the info onto a CD-Rom (I had linked to an ISO image in my original post) and flashing it from there.

I hope that one of these two combos will get to 2.3Ghz with %3.4. If I get that far with both, I will be overjoyed.

-Ken

 

[BUBKA]

man, I would do that Biostar flash, but now SMARTfan "cool n quiet" thats a killer, i love it when the fan does not even spin

 

[furballi]

Need to dowload that BIOSTAR program to flash BIOS. The floppy works fine with my rig.

 

[freshspace]

Originally posted by: deadken
WOW! I'm in for 4 Zalmans! Can't beat that price!

-Thanks Furballi

I ordered 5, thanks to everyone. These cost around $5 each, even in Korea! Zalman is a Korean company. Anyway, after I ordered mine (it has been shipped already), the site shows none available. Sorry about that to those who wanted to get in but could not.

 

[DarkTXKnight]

Ok I have what I am sure is a silly question about the RAID on this board. The documentation says that it supports RAID 0+1. now I know Im rusty but that would require 4 drives normally right?? But there are only 2 SATA ports. Does that mean that 0+1 is using two drives from SATA and two from the IDE ports or am I missing something? Also do they need to be the same size ??

 

[deadken]

Originally posted by: furballi
Need to dowload that BIOSTAR program to flash BIOS. The floppy works fine with my rig.

Yeah... I had downloaded the Biostar flash utility. I haven't really played with the floppy on either ECS/Sempron system yet. I am having issues with the drive in my main rig. I think that it is just a bad floppy. I seriously am hating floppies now. I think I will just try to do everything with a CD-Rom. I wonder if I can set bios to boot from a USB 'thumb' drive??? I'll have to look into that.

EDIT: BTW, I got my Zalmans today! That was pretty quick especially for free shipping and handling!

 

[T8ZBUD]

Back again at Fry's B&M and Outpost.com for 79.99

 

[soflawill]

outpost again showing call for availability

 

[robertk2012]

Originally posted by: freshspace

Originally posted by: deadken
WOW! I'm in for 4 Zalmans! Can't beat that price!

-Thanks Furballi

I ordered 5, thanks to everyone. These cost around $5 each, even in Korea! Zalman is a Korean company. Anyway, after I ordered mine (it has been shipped already), the site shows none available. Sorry about that to those who wanted to get in but could not.

Just ordered one.

 

[CuriousMike]

FWIW, I started having instability issues awhile after putting together this rig.
Instability = Machine would reboot doing the silliest of things ( closing web browser, opening .txt doc etc.)

I figured it was either: Running my ram at 1T, running at 2.4ghz or running CnQ.

My first test was to run Prime 95 for 18 hours at my settings above. It ran fine. That should have been the biggest indicator of the issue.

So, I set my processor to 2.3ghz, RAM at 2T, and turned off CnQ. Ran for a few days doing normal stuff, no issue.
Turned RAM to 1T. A few more days. No issue.
2.4ghz, RAM at 1T. It's been a week. No issue.

Believe it or not, turning off CnQ has definitely resolved the issue.

 

[furballi]

C n Q will also change the RAM speed by 3 to 4 MHz on-the-fly. If your RAM is at the border line of failure, then C n Q will push it over the edge. Backing off the core speed will fix the problem.

My system is fine at 2.43GHz with C n Q. Folks blame C n Q when the root cause is running the system too close to the BLEEDING EDGE.

 

[GML3G0]

Damn, I ordered it, but now it says on their website on the order tracking status that it's back ordered.

The item is currently out of stock. You should receive a back order notice on this item including an expected delivery date if one has been provided by the supplier.

What the hell does that mean? Has my order been cancelled? Will they ship it out to me when they get another batch? Have they charged me?

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: GML3G0
What the hell does that mean? Has my order been cancelled? Will they ship it out to me when they get another batch? Have they charged me?

That question would be best answered by their customer service.

1-877-OUTPOST

 

[robertk2012]

Originally posted by: CuriousMike
FWIW, I started having instability issues awhile after putting together this rig.
Instability = Machine would reboot doing the silliest of things ( closing web browser, opening .txt doc etc.)

I figured it was either: Running my ram at 1T, running at 2.4ghz or running CnQ.

My first test was to run Prime 95 for 18 hours at my settings above. It ran fine. That should have been the biggest indicator of the issue.

So, I set my processor to 2.3ghz, RAM at 2T, and turned off CnQ. Ran for a few days doing normal stuff, no issue.
Turned RAM to 1T. A few more days. No issue.
2.4ghz, RAM at 1T. It's been a week. No issue.

Believe it or not, turning off CnQ has definitely resolved the issue.

Sounds right. CnQ would change the votages so while running full load you were fine but it was those inbetween states that didnt have enough voltage. You can change the voltage for each state if you want to continue to use cnQ.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: GML3G0
What the hell does that mean? Has my order been cancelled? Will they ship it out to me when they get another batch? Have they charged me?

That question would be best answered by their customer service.

1-877-OUTPOST

I am not outpost but can answer that ..they'll hold your order as backordered for awhile..they place a temp hold charge against your cc tho for a few days then even that'll disappear whilst waiting to fulfill the order (if fulfilled at all) then cc will be charged ...from an outpost email

Thank you for your order! We apologize but the item(s) you ordered is currently out of stock and we are unable to provide a definite ship date at this time. However, we continually receive new merchandise in our warehouse and we hope to fulfill your order within the next thirty days or sooner if possible.

At this time, your order is still pending and will ship as soon
as the item(s) is in stock. If you would prefer to cancel, change, or check the status of
your order, you may do so at anytime prior to shipment by
calling customer service at 1-877-OUTPOST, (International
customers may call +1-408-350-1484) or e-mail us at
backorders@outpost.com. If you choose to cancel your order
we will provide a full and prompt refund of any charges which
you may have incurred for unshipped items.

hope that helps

 

[birddog]

page 3? ttt for this one

 

[robertk2012]

There is a thread with the link but the information is incorrect and is over 50 pages long.

I purchased two and have been completely satisfied with them. Well only used one of the motherboards.

Link

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because a thread is long does not mean that it is outdated.

for active threads, as a courtesy, you should notify the OP of the other thread that the price has changed.

Mod

 

[StormSide]

Yeah so lets just start a whole new thread cause Robert thinks so. What else ya got on the
docket today Robert?

 

[robertk2012]

Originally posted by: StormSide
Yeah so lets just start a whole new thread cause Robert thinks so. What else ya got on the
docket today Robert?

The old thread was titled at $90 so yeah we start a new thread because I say so. I wouldnt have paid 90 but did pay 80 so its a big difference. Do you have a problem with that?

 

[greenwar]

Comon guys, this is a good deal. Just buy it or move on. Thanks Robert.

 

[v8envy]

AGP makes it unsuitable for gamers (AGP form factor video cards with any oomph at all are obscenely priced). Ah well. Can't have everything for $80, I guess.