Crazy K7S5A problem!!!!!!!!!!!

[majewski9]

Now if anyone can figure this one out they have my respect. Okay sometimes when I turn off my computer after its been on for awhile it wont start back up. It justs sits there booting and rebooting but doesnt actually post. I have a good sparkle 300 watt power supply and Radeon 8500 LE vid card so you can rule those two things out. It used to do this all the time when I had a RageXL card but then it stopped when I got my Radeon 8500 or so I thought. The one thing I can think of is that my K7S5A is somehow damaged. It seems that if I open my case up and reseat my vid card it will fix it right away, but if I leave my computer off for about 15 minutes to a half an hour it will turn on no problem. Also it never does it when I restart only when I shutdown!!!!!!!!!! Has anyone had a similar problem? Can anyone explain what is happening? Its not that big of a problem but I would like to fix it!!! thanx

 

[clumsum]

I have experienced the same symptoms with my Amptron K7-830LM (ECS K7S5A clone).
My pc would occsionally not fully post (usually when shutting down after heavy use), and it would just make noise and the cd-rom lights flash........?
However, my mb is running oc'd at 150/150MHz, so I wasn't sure if that was a factor or not?

I recently replaced the old 300w psu with a higher (+3V & +5V combined) rated 300w psu ...... and I re-seated all components and cables.......
No repeat problems so far!

Check your 300w Sparkle psu:

The 300W Sparkle Model No: FSP300-60BT is rated combined (+3.3V & +5V = 150W Max)!
While the 300w Sparkle psu Model No: FSP-60ATV is rated combined (+3.3V & +5V = 200W Max)!

This is a whopping 50W difference on the combined 3V and 5V rail ...... !!!
It worked for me ............... so far?

I can't remember if I replaced my hsf or not (?) ........... I suspect this could possibly be thermal related, the cpu or psu may be approaching the max operating temperature ......... that would help explain the 15 min. successfull re-start?

 

[RanDum72]

I have the same problem with an ECS P6S5AT with the SiS635 chipset (basically the same chipset as the 735 except that its for socket 370 PIII/Tualatins) and Radeon 8500 128mb (not LE). What I do is take the screw off the Radeon, wiggle it in the AGP slot, re-screw it and power-up. ECS boards seem to have a history of faulty AGP slots ( I had two K7S5a's that died because of this).

 

[KF]

>It seems that if I open my case up and reseat my vid card it will fix it right away...

I think I saw somebody with a similar problem. After he fixed it, he said it looked to him like the AGP card did not sit quite even, so he took the whole mobo out. One standoff was sticking up and it bent the mobo slightly. He said something about pushing the standoffs in from the front instread of the back which I did not understand. Anyway it fixed his problem.

Or maybe you have a bent contact in the AGP slot.

 

[Pink0]

He said something about pushing the standoffs in from the front instread of the back which I did not understand.

Some motherboard standoffs have to be pinched into place. Some people don't understand how they're supposed to be installed and what they do is force them in through the back of the motherboard plate. This, of course, causes the motherboard to ride far too low. The proper installation is pinching the standoffs into the holes from the front of the plate.

 

[wxjunkie]

I had a similar problem with a completely different board.. the ABIT KT7 RAID.... however, I just opened it up, fooled with it for awhile, didn't really have an aim to my process, but eventually, it stopped doing that. I still have NO idea what was going on.

I did remember switching surge protectors, and reseating the video card, however, that video card was PCI, not AGP.

I didn't do anything to the PSU.

 

[Bovinicus]

I would try laying your case on it's side. This will make it harder for the AGP card to wiggle it's way out of a perfect seat in the slot. It will make it a tad harder to insert CDs, but I think I would rather have that problem than not being able to boot.

 

[majewski9]

Hmm I'll take a look at my power supply! I did flash my ECS BIOS to a overclockable K7S5A BIOS, but I had this problem long before this. Yeah it could very well be thermal related since I have a Athlon Tbird 1.33ghz and not the best of fans. Yeah Clumsum that is exactly what is going on! The cd rom and DVD rom lights flash but no post beep. im not overclocking. im probaly going to get a new mobo and go to water cooling which I think will fix the problem and satisfy my uipgrade needs.

 

[Snoop]

The k7s5a has been known to be incompatible with certain addon cards occupying pci slots. I had a strange problem with a netgear nic similar to yours.
What cards if any do you have in it?

 

[Yamyam]

I had a similar problem with my K7S5A. My system would become unstable after several hours of running, and wouldn't post again until I let it sit for a while.

Yep, you guessed it - thermal problems. I removed the motherboard heatsink, scraped away the cruddy ECS tape, and re-attached the heatsink with some Artic Silver. And just for kicks, I stuck a 40mm fan on it. Search through all your favorite tech support sites, and you'll find plenty of posts from others who've done the same thing.

Result? Nice, stable system.... no hardware crashes anymore 🙂

I don't know if this is the same problem you're having... I just thought I'd share a troubleshooting tip that worked for me

 

[Pink0]

Yes, This is most likely the problem. The k7s5a is well known for this and it is such a well documented troubleshooting step. They attach the heatsink to the chipset with double sided tape and there are no pins holding it on. The tape doesn't even cover half the chip and there is almost no thermal contact. I have had this board and fixed my stability problems by doing this. Remove the chipset heatsink. Remove tape. Apply thermal grease and crazy glue in corners or thermal adhesive. You'll find that before the procedure the chipset heatsink is cool to the touch even under load. You'll find that after the procedure it's blistering hot to the touch. This is because it's now doing its job. I highly recommend this procedure.