ECS L4VXA2 and 2.4 celeron

[lilquacker]

Did anyone get the combo from Fry's and have any problem with it? My system is acting up and I'm not sure what the problem really is. It seems like a power problem, but just wanted to check with other people who have had experience with the motherboard first. I'm using the cheap generic 500w Power Magic power supply that I got from Amamax with the case, but when I run a fan (80mm fan or the cpu fan...I ran the system with heatsink while fan isn'tplugged in, but it gets hot and lags), the system locks up either while booting or after a little bit running WinXP. It locked up during the fresh install process too. I have the following components:

- Cheap case with generic 500 watt psu
- ECS L4VXA2
- 2.4ghz Celeron
- Radeon 9100 64mb
- PNY 256mb PC2700
- 40 gb 7200rpm Maxtor
- 52x CDRW
- Floppy

Someone please reply if you have more information on this motherboard and if any problem exists. Thanks

 

[lilquacker]

Update:

The power supply works with the K7S5A Pro combo so I kind of feel like it's not really the fault on the power issue. I messed around with the system a little more and found that the first bios release - revision 1.0a - seems to be the only one that loads without freezing, but it still feels laggy. If anyone has anything else to comment on this, please do. Thanks.

 

[movingincircles]

try 233 ddr sticks

 

[Jarhead]

FYI, if ya fellas ain't done it yet, there is a L4VXA2 BIOS update for 1.5V CPUs to make the board more stable.

In my case, the final 100% rock solid stable step was to move the one PC3500(or 3200, forget now) Infineon module to the slot next to the CPU. ( had a 2.4Ghz CPU installed at the time)

Also, if you are running Win98, you'll need to get the NDIS update, or windows will lock up with CPUs that run 2.1Ghz or higher, before being able to boot into windows.

Get it here:
http://www.sjordan.com/ndis_fix.html
The file can be downloaded from the link on the bottom:
http://www.sjordan.com/ndis_fix.zip (and you can install it in safe mode)

For XP folks having issues with installs:
Install the OS bare, e.g. single stick of RAM, no USB, no other cards besides sound card...some folks have had big problems trying to get XP installed on this board with everything hooked up, for some odd reason.

ECS Tiawan has some newer drivers than the US site, www.ecs.com.tw
Don't forget video card updates, both drivers and video bios updates
Also Via chip drivers, found at http://www.viaarena.com/ sometimes they have newer updates than ECS.

Last but least, diddling in the bios with all the switches as a last resort, but first try slowing you memory to as slow as it goes, and then work your way back up (made no difference here, see the second sentence in this message).

 

[LDSilver]

I have XP pro installed with an L4VXA2 and 2.4. My system keeps crashing like crazy. It will crash when it's booting and it can crash as soon as XP loads up or after a couple days. The crashing is very random.

The CPU runs at about an average of 37 celcius. I made sure my drivers were all up to date. bought a new power supply,updated the BIOS, tried different RAM, video cards, ran Scan Disk and replaced the motherboard. I swapped the CPU with 1.8 GHz celeron and now it it works with no problems. The other computer now has the 2.4 GHz CPU and runs stable too (It has a shuttle motherboard on it and Win 2k Pro).

I'm stumped, I don't know why it works this way and not the other. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate any help. I know the most obvious thing to do would be to keep it the way it is know since it works, but the 1.8 isn't mine.


- Cheap case with generic 400 watt psu
- ECS L4VXA2
- 2.4ghz Celeron
- MSI GeForce FX 5200
- 2 Corsair 128mb PC2100
- 80 gb 7200rpm Maxtor
- 48x CDRW
- Floppy

 

[Jarhead]

New BIOS is out:

Model Name : L4VXA2
File Version: 1.1d
File Name : l4vxa2_11d.exe
Release Note: BIOS CheckSum:6900h
1.Fixed install winXP fail rate with 100FSB 1.5v cpu.
2.Update XPU micro code.

All trademarks are properties of their respective holders.

BTW, the board works like a champ with a 2.4Ghz Celeron here....

 

[MrCookie]

I got the ECS/P4 2.66 deal from Fry's last week, and have been trying everything since then to get it to keep from freezing.
I have installed the OS 3 times, trying different service packs, and driver combo's. The results are the same... random freezes.
I ran a memory test program for a few hours (according to task manager the cpu and ram were fully utilized) and with that proggie running it stays up and running longer than sitting idle.

The BIOS update didn't help.

256 k-byte in slot 0
128 MB GF3 TI
3com nic (thought the onboard nic was the suspect, but problems still exist)
WinTV deluxe (added this after the first time I tried OS install)

$169 is a lot of quid to spend on a lemon, I am considering either selling the board and getting a different one, or taking the whole shebang back to Fry's and getting my cash back.

Anybody have any ideas? I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Kaieye]

I have the ECS L4VXA2 and 2.66 slightly overclocked to 2.8(This has to run 24hrs a day) and I have had no issues running at this speed. Windows XP loaded with no problems but I gave it one stick of K-byte PC3200 512 megs and a good high qualilty 350 coolmax power supply. I didn't even upgrade the BIOS and this machine feels a lot more responsive than my Athlon 1800 overclocked to 2400 speeds and a kt400 chipset motherboard.

 

[Kaieye]

I have the ECS L4VXA2 and 2.66 slightly overclocked to 2.8(This has to run 24hrs a day) and I have had no issues running at this speed. Windows XP loaded with no problems but I gave it one stick of K-byte PC3200 512 megs and a good high qualilty 350 coolmax power supply. I didn't even upgrade the BIOS and this machine feels a lot more responsive than my Athlon 1800 overclocked to 2400 speeds and a kt400 chipset motherboard.

 

[MrCookie]

Hmmm, I messed with the BIOS some more last night, and tried the fail-safe setting... big mistake. Never even would finish booting into windows.
Then I tried the optimized settings, and it was a ton better. It seems the harder I push it, the more stable it is.

 

[MrCookie]

Alrighty, did a reinstall with APM disabled in the BIOS, and things are looking much better at this point.


Inistially, I tried turning off APM and then booting in the previous Win install, and it kept rebooting ie endless looping, therefore the reinstall.