ECS K7S5A Fails to POST

[jflynnpa]

Looking for ideas and help here...
I have a ECS K7S5A MB with 512MB of DDR RAM, ATI 8500LE 128MB video, and Athlon XP CPU that has worked fine for ~ 10 months that won't POST now.
System appears to start Boot process then gives one longer beep then 8 short beeps.
I have tested the Video card, replaced the CMOS battery, zeroed the CMOS via the jumper and reseated the AGP card and memory all to no avail.
Is it the Power Supply, the MOBO or has the CPU expired?:disgust:

 

[RedRonin]

According to Beep Codes @ PC Mechanic:

"1 long, 8 short - Display test failure. Your video card is either missing or defective. Replace it. If its part of your motherboard, you'll need to replace it or bypass it."

Try reseating the graphics card, with and without the screw that attaches it to the case, or a different graphics card.

HUN-YA!

Red Ronin

 

[jflynnpa]

Swapped in another functioning AGP card. Same result. Tryed the vid card from the failed PC in a working unit and it works fine so I think it isn't the card though it may be the MOBO interface to the card. Any other ideas? The AMI site says 9-11 beeps is indicator of major board malfunction....

 

[RedRonin]

Was power completely disconnected when you cleared CMOS? Some people disconnect the power cable, remove the battery and then move the jumper, leaving the motherboard that way anytime from 15 minutes to a couple of hours before trying again.

Have you tried a PCI graphics card? If you have one lying about, I'd try it just to make sure, without an AGP card installed.

What is the rating of your power supply on the +3.3V and +5V rails? Generally 20A and 25A are considered bare minimum respectively for this motherboard, with 28A and 35A recommended. There should be a minimum Total Combined Output (TCO) of 180W for the two rails also, 220W recommended. Though a lower quality generic power supply will often work early in the lifetime of a build, impedence increases with time in use, causing such flaky POST problems after a while.

HUN-YA!

Red Ronin

 

[Peter]

You might want to check whether the AGP card seats well in its slot, and is all the way down.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: Peter
You might want to check whether the AGP card seats well in its slot, and is all the way down.

I agree. My friend had the same issue with the beeping. Re-inserting the card and making sure it was seated - using more force than you think it needs - fixed the problem. Just a very tight slot.

 

[Comcom]

If you still can't solve the problem by changing the video card, I would suggest the problem is on your memory chips. I had an experience of same mother board, and it ended up with replacing DDR memory chips after a long and extended troubleshooting. The system was working fine for 14 months before the memory chip died.

 

[jflynnpa]

Thanks for the ideas. Tried the reseat on the AGP card several times and anymore force will crack the board. Also tried to POST with no devices other than the AGP card and MOBO connected to the PSU to no avail. The PSU is 300W and appears fine.

I have reseated the memory several times without a benefit so I guess the next attempt will be another piece of DDR RAM to see if that helps.

I am pretty sure at this point that the MOBO is just bad. Why it would fail after a prolonged period is weird but I don't know what else to check.

MOBO choices are to replace the K7S5A with another ECS for $55 or buy an ABIT or ASUS nforce2 board for around $125-150. Recommendations?

 

[Booster]

I second the idea of getting a different board. That ECS board is somewhat notorious... However, I have one and it works just fine. That board has tons of memory issues though. I suggest you do the following:

1. Get a different stick of RAM, for example, 128MB of PC133.
2. Once it boots up, flash the BIOS to its latest version.

That should fix all your problems. If you use 2 sticks, try to run it with only 1 stick.

 

[CraigRT]

typical of ECS... same thing happened to my friends' K7S5A... he had to get a new board... i talked him into something quality this time as his other one lasted ~6 months.