Bizarre problems with K7s5a

[1stTimeBuilder]

Hello All,

I recently built my first system using a k7s5a motherboard, and have been having some unusual problems. They are:

1. Memory problems when running in debug mode with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 (the same code works fine in other OS'es and on other machines
2. The bottom inch or so of documents occasionally doesn't print when printing from inside Adobe Illustrator 8.0. This is a random problem. Sometimes a reboot fixes it, and then it may come back, etc.
3. Microsoft Office applications occasionally do not work. They eventually launch but are so slow that they never respond. Again, a random problem.
4. I have had one hard reboot, where the computer just rebooted on its own.
5. When I run memtest28, I get errors during test 5. However, the number of errors changes every time I run the test.

I have tried 3 different video cards, two AGP and one PCI card. I've tried two different memory sticks. Nothing has solved the problem. Does anyone have any ideas? I have the following system:

1.4 Ghz Athlon
256 MB PC-2100 Crucial DDR
k7s5a motherboard
eVGA GeForce2 MX-200 graphics card
40 GB IGM ATA 100 7200 RPM hard drive
325 W AMD approved power supply
Cendyne 16x10x40 CDRW drive
Dell monitor
Intel 2100 DSL modem
Win2000

I've installed the latest AGP drivers. I'm running the BIOS I received with the motherboard. It is dated 8/27/01. I tried to flash to a newer BIOS from the OCworkbench site, but it didn't work. I created a boot floppy in Win98 (since it said not to do it on my Win2000 machine), but I couldn't get it to find the harddrive where the updated BIOS and flash utility were located.

If anyone has any ideas what I might be able to do to fix my problems, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you

 

[Workin']

<< I created a boot floppy in Win98 (since it said not to do it on my Win2000 machine), but I couldn't get it to find the harddrive where the updated BIOS and flash utility were located. >>

That's probably because your hard drive is NTFS format, and the Win98 boot disk doesn't understand that. You'll have to put the flash utility and new BIOS on the floppy and flash from there. Cross your fingers and say a prayer before you do it. Although I will say I've never had a problem in over 10 years flashing from a floppy.

Welcome to the weird and wacky world of the K7S5A. From my experience with several of these boards and what I have read from others, it seems this board dooms you to a lifetime of freaky strange problems, that is if it doesn't just completely croak eventually. 1/3 of these boards that I have used have spontaneously died after about 2 weeks of trouble-free operation. Just quit booting, nothing could revive them. They now rest peacefully in a landfill. And they were not from the same batch.

Good luck, maybe a BIOS flash will fix your troubles. At least it probably won't make them worse.