Another ECS K7S5A failure

[PCHPlayer]

Just thought everyone who is contemplating an ECS K7S5A would like to hear another story of failure. My kids K6-400 finally died so I decided to go cheap and put together an ECS K7S5A system (Duron 1Ghz, ATI 7000, 128 cheap SDRAM), the PS was 320W and on AMD recommended list. Immediately started to get BSOD's. Found a good deal at CompUSA for an Antec 400W PS... more BSOD's. Borrowed some quality SDRAM from a friend... more BSOD's. Got a stick of Crucial 512MB 2100 DDR for my other computer and moved a 256 MB Crucial stick to the ECS computer... more BSOD's. All the while I installed XP at least 3 times, kept trying different audio drivers because many of the blue screens were from cmuda.sys. In addition many of the shockwave internet games my kids like to play kept crashing IE. Talked to the guys at Fry's about returning the board and got the run around (because ECS does not do RMA's for retail customers, only vendors). He told me I should have bought the $14 return guarantee.
Purchased an Asus A7N8X Deluxe version 2.0 . Using all the same components as before. It's been running for 3 days (including 12 hours of SiSandra burn in) no BSOD's and my kid has played her internet games for at least 2 hours and no IE errors have occured.
I was a fool for not returning the ECS once the blue screens started, but I figured I knew what I was doing and could fix it. Stay away from these boards (even the Fry's guy said the same thing). I know many of you have had great success with them, but why take the chance.
Long post, but I wanted to warn folks as Fry's keeps trying to push these POS.

 

[PCHPlayer]

Anyone want this POS? It's yours for the price of shipping. Hell I'll even throw in a 128 MB stick of cheap SDRAM.

 

[HappyPuppy]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with the ECS board. It does seem to be touchy and finicky. Eilther it is rock solid or it is a POS. Mine has been running for a year and a half without a problem, as it has for the vast majority of users. I'm glad you found an alternative that pleases you.

 

[schreier77]

I'll take you up on that offer...YHPM....

 

[bambam]

Mine died too after 10 months ( but really never was reliable when it was working ) . I bought it at Fry's Outpost.com , I argued and argued when their customer service dept about getting an RMA# so I could return it to ECS for warranty . Finally they made arrangements for me to RMA the board to BTC USA (how do they fit in this - maybe Fry's wholesale vendor ? ) for a $10.00 handling fee so my cost for the RMA will be about $20.00 to get this iffy board repaired or replaced by a third party . I think that it will be my last ECS motherboard and I'll go with a brand who will accept warranty RMA direct from the end users .

 

[BlvdKing]

I've had one of these boards running for nearly 20 months now, most of that on a crappy generic PSU. It's wierd how many failures there are with this board. Maybe I got lucky?

 

[Bonesdad]

I got one of the first rev 3.1 boards that came out. Never a problem, even with my original cheapass PSU that came with my cheapass case. I originally had SD Ram installed with no problem, upgraded to Crucial PC2100 DDR again, no problem. In fact, I never had one issue with this board. I have had it for over a year and a half with out a single hitch. Maybe lucky, but it is a great budget board.

 

[Cerb]

No problems, and one will soon (in just about a month now) be 2 years old.
If you were going to get the A7N8X Deluxe, why'd you ever bother with the K7S5A? They are good boards--at least all the ones from Newegg have been--but it's nowhere near the league of the NForce2.
My dad won't be parting w/ his K7S5A until he is forced to move to a new processor family.
I just want the L7S7A2...
...and use Newegg. RMA is nothin'.

 

[Adul]

bleh ecs

 

[kursplat]

Talked to the guys at Fry's about returning the board and got the run around (because ECS does not do RMA's for retail customers, only vendors).

BULL.... take it back and tell them you just don't want it after all. i've taken back an ECS board to them before with no problem . that guy is jerking you around . fry's takes back everything as long as you have all the stuff that came with it in the packaging.
good luck

 

[Macro2]

I think the K7S5As go bad because of heat. The one I have left .runs like a champ. Over a year now. Then again I have a good PS and a large fan sucking in air on the side of the case and a big exhaust fan.

OTOH, the best reason for getting this board is if you HAVE to run SDRAM. Otherwise spring for a nForce2 board or even a KT333 board.

Mac

 

[Cerb]

...havent' thought about heat. Any machine my dad or myself make(s) always has good cooling. After all, a decent $5 dual ball case fan really does make all the difference in the world.

 

[TheCorm]

I have built loads of systems with 300W Generic PSU's and K7S5A boards....hardly ever an issue....either with SDR or DDR, Athlon XP or Duron....I guess there are some bad ones out there....

Anyone notice that the K7S5A boards smell more than most? ...a stronger chemically new electronics kind of smell....

Corm

 

[CraigRT]

I don't want it.. I've seen the failures too... I'd never buy such trash, personally.

 

[desy]

Bought it had trouble with it , bought Epox no trouble same compononets.
Mine was a Rev 2 board ? I think and that was supposed to be one of the more problematic ones.
I've had other ECS model boards no problems, just that one sad one
and yes THEY smell!!

 

[osage]

I've had 3 of these boards, going back to 09/2001 running F@H 24/7. 2 are going strong, 1 died about 3 months ago, due to a burnt voltage reg on the board.

luck of the draw ?

 

[nick1985]

the guy at fry's said they werent that good??!!

jeese. i better tell my friend who has a perfectly stable one to return it because a worker at fry's said it wasnt very good



PS--its luck of the draw, just like everything in life IMO

 

[xSauronx]

two brothers, each have one

one is rock solid, hes never had a problem (though, it seems that all ecs boards are fvcking picky about the modem)

the other had some kind of problem (i forget now) and he got it replaced, and this one has a bad agp port AND pci problem. sometimes it works, sometimes the agp doesnt work...for no reason

and he cant fill any pci slot other than #2
i wouldnt expect to use number one of course, with agp video and all, but it wont work using any other pci slot

what a pain. id reccomend buying one for a budget box though, but only if you get it from a reputable vendor who will EASILY replace it if you have a problem (second brother didnt, and hasnt gotten an rma number after over a week)

 

[Cerb]

what a pain. id reccomend buying one for a budget box though, but only if you get it from a reputable vendor who will EASILY replace it if you have a problem (second brother didnt, and hasnt gotten an rma number after over a week)

mmm, Newegg.

 

[Cat13]

Too bad about the board. I started running these boards well over a year ago and they were rock solid. Overclocked as much as possible with its limitations. 2 of the boards died, one on its own, the other my fault(doing some mb mods) so I replaced them with an Epox and Soltek NF2. The other 2 are still going strong.

 

[slycat]

your initial gut feeling is right tho'...
ECS=Cheapo and while the k7s5a is decent...its a pretty erratic board.
i've built 4 systems around this board(none for me)...all worked but each time i do it
for people i add the disclaimer that this board is sucky but cheap and good for a cheapo
but pretty ymmv and don't cry if it dies coz u'll get nothing back.

 

[bambam]

Are all the ECS boards ( K7SEM, K7S7AG, L7SOM etc ) this YMMV ?

 

[Peter]

Not really. Most of the time it's unexperienced builders, and too cheap stuff around the mainboard (PSU, RAM, ...).
I have built many systems from ECS and PC-Chips boards - and not one of them has failed so far.