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DEAD - OOS AGAIN - $15 Core2Duo Capable Biostar MB (refurbed)...

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Got mine this morning. Looks like I have 2 1000uf caps, (OST brand), with bulging tops near the aux. 12v connector on the board. Not huge dome, but not flat. So much for "factory reconditioned"? Wont be able to fire this up for a while, so cant test MB right now.
 
Flatbroke said:
Got mine this morning. Looks like I have 2 1000uf caps, (OST brand), with bulging tops near the aux. 12v connector on the board. Not huge dome, but not flat. So much for "factory reconditioned"? Wont be able to fire this up for a while, so cant test MB right now.
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That sucks. I'll have to take a closer look at mine. I would have to think the manufacturer's 90 day warranty should cover that, even if it does "work." IMO, swollen caps, regardless of current function level, are a sign of impending doom.
 
i wouldnt use one of these if they paid me 15. its way less trouble to go to frys and get an msi g31 board for 30
 
OBLAMA2009 said:
i wouldnt use one of these if they paid me 15. its way less trouble to go to frys and get an msi g31 board for 30
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No Fry's near here. Low cost hardware vendors near me don't exist - places like Computer City, Compusa, Egghead, and Computer Renaissance have all gone to the wayside. Locally owned PC shops cost markup make it difficult to go there for hardware purchases.
 
Motorheader said:
No Fry's near here. Low cost hardware vendors near me don't exist - places like Computer City, Compusa, Egghead, and Computer Renaissance have all gone to the wayside. Locally owned PC shops cost markup make it difficult to go there for hardware purchases.
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What motorhead said...

I was gonna snag one for a base to an htpc build (money is really tight atm so I have to buy really cheap but still want to be able to play with my toys hehe)... unfortunately, the deal ran out before my paycheck arrived 🙁
 
Looked mine over, and it looks like two tall brown caps were replaced in the corner by the CPU socket next to the PS2 ports. Every cap is fine, but these two are bent over which would indicate a human resoldered them on the board, not a robot on the assembly line that initially soldered the board.
 
got mine installed and fired up. only thing is I can't find any drivers for the onboard video/sound for Windows 7 64bit. But it isn't a big deal I have 4850 and a sound card coming in a day or two. Anyone else have any luck with Windows 7 64bit drivers?
 
Arik5405 said:
got mine installed and fired up. only thing is I can't find any drivers for the onboard video/sound for Windows 7 64bit. But it isn't a big deal I have 4850 and a sound card coming in a day or two. Anyone else have any luck with Windows 7 64bit drivers?
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For sound, try here:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...=23&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

For video, try here:

http://www.via.com.tw/en/support/drivers.jsp

Not positive about what chip is right for the Video, should be Unichrome 9 Pro, but not sure which one. Hope this helps. I probably will be loading XP when I get the rest of my parts, but the above links seemed to have drivers for both.
 
OBLAMA2009 said:
i wouldnt use one of these if they paid me 15. its way less trouble to go to frys and get an msi g31 board for 30
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I don't think Chris Crocker approves of your use of the word gay.

Honestly, I can agree that Intel makes a better product for intel chips, but personally I have not had any issue with a VIA product for as long as I've been building PCs. They ain't the fastest, but from my experience, they always work.
 
got mine Monday. Arrived in it's original box, with manual, driver disk, sata cable, Ide cable and back plate, all sealed like from the factory. I see what could be replaced "Brown" caps around the cpu socket, like perhaps 3 of them? All the rest of the caps show no signs of bulging "Crossing my fingers". Will try and fire it up tonight, Hoping for the best!
 
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I put my system together, and have no video out, no post. I tried a pci video card, cleared cmos, tried reseating ram, cpu, diff ram. No go 🙁
I will remove the board tonight and see perhaps if one of the newly "human soldered Caps" is grounding out under the board.
Any other ideas anyone?
 
E1500 celeron, 65w, I guess the board supports a E1600, and Ive seen where others have put in a E1500 and worked fine. I would try flashing the bios, but dont have another Socket 775 cpu or floppy. I can imagine the bios needs and update for cpu support, would explain things. "no video post, no beep codes.
 
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Mine looks ok. Found a Core2 Duo 6400 and 4GB RAM on Craigslist for $100 - if everything works fine this will be one cheap system. Will build and put on Win7 tonight.....
 
Ordered two and they look fine. Looking brand new and sealed. The caps near the AUX 12v are pretty straight and don't look as if they've been replaced.

I've got like three C2Ds at work doing nothing that I've gotten from scrap systems. Too bad the ram costs more than the board and CPU combined for me!
 
bigjay69 said:
GAH! Nothing I do will give me a post or video with this board 🙁 I tried 2 diff power supps, a Celeron E1500, a p4 2.8 chip, 4 diff sticks of ram, on board video, and 2 add in vid cards. Nothing. Well least it was only $15, but thats $15 I could have spent twords a working higher priced board form my brother 🙁
time to RMA?
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Perhaps newegg can help you out? I thought they had a 30 or 90 warranty on the board?
 
I started with a clear head this morning. Got the system to post and am up and loading xp. weird! Has 2007 bios rev. No floppy to flash it with. 100 mhz oc so far, will step up hopefully hitting 3 gigahertz with E1500 😛
Happy turkey day to all!
 
bigjay69 said:
I started with a clear head this morning. Got the system to post and am up and loading xp. weird! Has 2007 bios rev. No floppy to flash it with. 100 mhz oc so far, will step up hopefully hitting 3 gigahertz with E1500 😛
Happy turkey day to all!
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Did this work with the e1500 without a bios flash, I ordered an e1500 for mine but was going to refuse shipment if the board refuses to work with it without a hassle.
 
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