Asus K8V w/ faulty caps...

[bcassell]

So, I put together my system at least 4 months ago. It's an A64 3000+ and an Asus K8V Deluxe. At first I was in computer heaven. The 3000+ easily went to 2.2ghz and my computer was screaming. Then after a few weeks I started noticing that games would crash occasionally. So, I started running tests. Memtest86 runs for 36 hours no problem. 3DMark runs 24 hours no problem. Prime95 runs.... 5 minutes. Error. Ok... so I try upping the voltage a bit. Error. Ok, back down to stock settings. Error. Ok, up the voltage a bit at stock speed. Error. Ummm, starting lowering the multiplier. Finally I get it to run overnight stable... at 800mhz. Well, lets fast forward 3 months, my system is "working", if you can really call it that. It's just not stable at all. I was about ready to go buy a new cpu, thinking that was my problem, when I remembered something about the K8V and faulty capcitors. I check my board and sure enough, I have the bad ones. Ok, so now I know my problem -- my motherboard can't regulate voltage correctly. And that explains why it's slowly degraded over time...

So... after all that you must be wondering what my question is? Well, it's this -- what do I do? Can I get the board replaced? How long will it take? Should I just buy a new motherboard? (I'm thinking I probably should, I can't really stand to be without a computer for weeks). If I DO get a new motherboard, what board should I get? Thanks for your help,

Bryan

 

[MDE]

You'll have to RMA the board. If you can do it through wherever you bought it from (Newegg is really fast) otherwise Asus will take 2 weeks plus shipping time. They should definately replace that board.

EDIT: If you can solder pretty well you can also replace the capacitors yourself, just make sure to watch the polarity putting them on

 

[bcassell]

Hmmm, Newegg will really take back a board that I've been using for 4 months, lost the packaging for, etc? I'll definitely get in touch with them tomorrow... otherwise I should contact Asus I guess?

Well, lets just assume for a second that I can't go a day without a computer, and I was going to purchase a new mb first before I sent this one back. Would it be worthwhile to wait for nforce3 250s? Or should I just go with whats out now? Any recommendations?

Bryan

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: bcassell
Hmmm, Newegg will really take back a board that I've been using for 4 months, lost the packaging for, etc? I'll definitely get in touch with them tomorrow... otherwise I should contact Asus I guess?

Well, lets just assume for a second that I can't go a day without a computer, and I was going to purchase a new mb first before I sent this one back. Would it be worthwhile to wait for nforce3 250s? Or should I just go with whats out now? Any recommendations?

Bryan

You'll probably have to go through Asus then. Here's the least painful way of going about things:
1) Go here and create a new RMA request.
2) Wait for an email with your RMA number, the return address, etc.
3) Send the board back. Make triple sure that you include a piece of paper with a description of the problem (even though it should be obvious that the caps are bad) and write the RMA number on the outside of the box in large letters\numbers.

As for a replacement, I have no clue, but the newest AOpen that AT reviewed looked good, but it had some initial issues.

 

[Markfw]

I would buy another K8V. They are great (as you know if the caps aren't bad). Sell the RMA board when it comes back. The only other ones I would consider are the Aopen AK86-L or the ASROCK based on the 755-2 chipset (don't know the model number)

 

[bcassell]

Yeah, I really like my K8V except for the fact that it's horribly unstable =). What are the benifits of the ASRock 755 board? I keep seeing it recommended, what's so great about it?