Epox 8KHA+ - worth the trouble?

[Razl]

I was a faithful Asus fan until most recently. After some research and positive reviews, I settled on the Epox EP-8KHA+ for a Via's KT266A chipset rig. My first board from NewEgg was DOA! The floppy controller was dead, the LED posts were dead, and it would reboot constantly. NewEgg quickly sent me a replacement and I was up and running in no time.

However, I'm experience quite a few random reboots. Sometimes it happens within 10-15 of starting the computer to a few hours before a hiccup. Poking around the net, I found a few reviewers were experiencing random reboots too. They seemed to dismiss the problem since they were usually pushing the board?s FSB to it's limits. As for me, I'm not OC at all. The AMD1700 is fast enough for me for now.

Here's my gear:
Enhance 350W PSU
EP-8KHA+
AMD XP1700+ (cooled by the Alpha's 80mm monster)
Crucial DDR 256, 2.5 X 2
IBM 40GB 7200 IDE
LeadTek G3 Ti 200 64MB
TDK CDRW
Toshiba DVD
SBlaster Live 5.1
Optional rear Epox USB adapter
FK-320 Case (avg temp 27 case, 34 CPU)
--------
W2K Pro SR2
Via's 4in1, 4.37
NV Detonator, 23.11
BIOS 11/02/2001

IMHO, a nice rig that I'm proud of. Err...almost. I've tried using default BIOS setup and disabling almost everything in the BIOS. I also swapped out the PSU with a working rig?s PSU, thinking it may a power problem. Nope. Anyone else experiencing this or know of a know problem with this board?

That?s what I get for not sticking with Asus?

 

[jamesbond007]

I just sold a system that was almost identical. The EPoX board you have is by far one of the best ones there is when it comes to VIA+AMD.

First, you might want to check your RAM timings. Second, it could be possible that one or more of your RAM chips is faulty or defective. What you're experiencing is exactly what my friend had when his Crucial chip decided to die after a month of use.

Those are the things I'd check out.

Good luck! Nice rig, BTW.

 

[KouklatheCat]

I would give the board another couple tries. My 8kHA is very stable and probably one of the best boards I have had.

 

[JustStarting]

Do you have rounded cables?? The same thing was happening to me when I installed some in my system. Guess my HDD didn't like them. I left one rounded cable on my burner and that works fine.

 

[KouklatheCat]

I have rounded cables on my HDD but regular cables on my DVD and CDRW.

 

[Razl]

Since I posted this message, I've reflashed my BIOS with Epox's latest, 8khi1b02.exe. I used this version before, but it was a few weeks ago and they only had the 8khibo2.bin file. I know the .exe just loads awflash and automates the process, but what the heck. It's worth trying.

jamesbond007-
I have the RAM set on AUTO and NORMAL speed. It appears the BIOS is detecting it correctly (2.5 lat). As you suggested, I'll pull the two Crucial 256MB DDR sticks I have running on a FIC AD-11 board (crap for OC, but ultra-stable - that's priority-one for my office rig!). It?s the same speed DIMMS, but has ECC. I know this mobo doesn't support ECC, but it should still work, right?

KouklatheCat-
Good to hear from someone getting good results! I've read on PCNut that Epox Techs are aware of some faulty BIOS chips installed on some earlier released boards that causes the "random reboot syndrom". Epox sent PCNut new chips so they could install them on their current inventory. I?m not sure if NewEgg had the same service.I?ve checked my BIOS, but it's covered by a foil sticker with the symbol, "U=". Hmm, I can't tell if this is an affected BIOS chip or not.

JustStarting -
Yes, I have those infamous round cables. All three. My HDD is on the Primary as a Master and my DVD and CDR are shared on the secondary IDE, and a floppy cable. I'll take your advice and use the standard 80 pin cables.

Thank you everyone for the quick feedback. This forum rocks!

 

[AA0]

round cables are known to cause many problems. I won't use them as some people have constant problems, and many types, and some seem fine.

 

[KouklatheCat]

Razl,

Both my board and the board I used in my friends machine have the foil sticker with the "U=" on it. I think you can tell what version your bios is when your puter boots, if you can read that fast.

 

[KouklatheCat]

Razl,

I checked my bios at post. If I am reading the information correctly it is dated 11/02/01 and is version 6.00PG???? Not sure if this is correct, I had to reboot five times just to get the information I got. I hope this helps.

 

[Cosmo3]

First thing to try is run it with just 1 stick of memory and see what happens. I had to increase my memory voltage when I went to 2 sticks to make my system stable. The power supply may also be a problem see if you can get the specs on the combined 5volt line on your power supply the better power supplies are over 200W. Last thing what are your system and cpu temps, if you used the shouldered washers with the Alpha on that motherboard your temps will be high and you may need a higher cfm fan if temps are too high. My motherboard temp is 22C right now and my cpu temp is 34C with the Alpha heatsink and a 48cfm fan.

 

[Mem]

<< round cables are known to cause many problems. I won't use them as some people have constant problems, and many types, and some seem fine >>



I`m using round cables here with my Epox 8KHA+ infact that`s all I`ve in there,you can use round cables with no problems if you keep the lengths normal size, I`ve solid stability never had reboot problems at all,now back to Razl`s problem you tried increasing the voltage a little on the CPU as well?..also what`s the readings on the 5v and 3.3v rails you`re getting?

Looking at your post I would say it`s a PSU problem still and would not rule that out unless you tried a 400w Antec or Sparkle in your rig,the Epox is fussy on PSUs and even if you tried a different brand does not mean that PSU was adequate for the Epox.



<< That?s what I get for not sticking with Asus? >>



That always makes me laugh I`ve never needed to go Asus & pay extra for nothing also I don`t know why people say remarks like yours since I`ve never had a board problem with Abit,Epox,QDI ,MSI and few other brands I`ve had.

Epox is just like the rest if it`s setup right and you have the right hardware it will work fine.
One more thing you could do is try it with minimal hardware so the load on PSU is less then see if you get the same problem if not then add one hardware at a time.

 

[Mustanggt]

I had the same trouble when i got mine but I flashed it to 11/30 bios and its been rock stable since.

 

[Razl]

First, thanks all for the suggestions.

Here's my HEC350LTD-LT (350w) PSU's rating before any changes:
Vagp=1.53 +5V=4.94 +12=12.22 Vio=3.31 Vdimm=2.67 Vbat(v)=3.13 5Vsb(v)=5.51.

Then I pulled the power and IDE on all bay devices and HDD, and I stick of RAM. This had zero effect on the voltage numbers, good I assume? I swapped out the HEC (AMD approved) power with my case's installed PSU, Enhance ENP-0730 (300w). The only change was slight drop in: +12=12.09, Vio=3.28 and 5Vsb(v)=5.42. I don't know what these # should be, so does anyone spot a problem here?

Regardless, lumping everyone's advice together, I did the following: Left only 1 Crucial RAM in, swapped the rounded for standard ATA/100 cables, boosted my CPU one setting above default, disconnected my floppy and CDRW drive, and unplugged all fans (except the 80mm on the Alpha Heatsink) and left the case open. The last wasn't for reduced cooling (since I'm getting good temps), but to reduce power consumption.

So far so good, but it's only been a few hours. I hope this does the trick Thanks all!!!

 

[Razl]

I checked my bios at post. If I am reading the information correctly it is dated 11/02/01 and is version 6.00PG????

KouklatheCat, the 11/02/01 date reflects the BIOS firmware date stamp. I think PCnut had bad BIOS chips (hardware), which Epox quickly sent updated BIOS chips. The "bad" chips had a 10/?/01 date earlier. I don't think this date shows up at POST. With the changes below and using the same BIOS firmware 11/02/01, like you, I hope all goes well. Thanks!

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

You could try flashing to the newest BIOS. I had a few reboot problems when I got my board using U= as well. I flashed to one of the newer BIOS's and there we go...problem fixed. Other that the BIOS prob, it could be RAM, or one of your components. Remember to watch what nVidia drivers ya use too, don't want the whole infinite loop problem. The 27.xx's seem to have fixed that (at least for me) and you can find em leaked..

 

[DoubleL]

Well I built one and it booted right up and ran like a champ, But after a couple weeks it stated to reboot and all kinds of errors, I was running two sticks of 256 Corsair 2400, I just set it over on the bench and put a Dragon+ together and when I had time to go throught it I found it had a bad memory chip, Pulled one of the sticks out and running fine,

 

[FatMan42]

I'm on my 3rd 8KHA+. The first was totally DOA. The second had only one working RAM slot. The third seems to be fine. I'm gonna stick with this one for a while. Especially if Toroughbreds will work on it. In fact - I'm wondering... if current mobo's are going to support the next year's worth of CPU upgrades, what's new in the system board arena? I mean, something pretty shiny is going to need to come along to entice us tech-freaks to upgrade again this year. What? Serial-ATA? 166FSB? USB 2.0 and FireWire everywhere?

 

[Mustanggt]

I have tried every bios on my 8KHA+ and the 10/17 bios was the most fast but reboot trouble 11/30 works best for me,I even tried the 12/something bios but did not like it.

 

[cheetoden]

Well, I just finished swapping out my BE6 for this board a couple hours ago. No problems yet. Just gotta re-install all of my software after a pretty painless Win XP re-install. Its gonna take some time to learn how to tweak this board for optmum performance and then I'll probably try to unlock my 1800+ and make this system cry for its mother

 

[ShinSa]

I built a system with the same mobo last week for my gf with 256 micron ram and i got a call last nite sayint the computer rebooted by itself.

Now, Im getting kinda worried.

 

[Pyramor]

Razl,

How's it working? Stable?

 

[Wind]

When u hv reboot probs for this mobo. Update to latest bios first. If ur probs still persist, then only start to t/shoot.

The new bios from Epox solved many many & I say many reboot probs. The next components to look at after bios is the PSU. Take a reading on those 3.3v, 5v & 12v rail both idle & f/load & c if they r low. The most important part is to keep the 3.3v & 5v rail healthy. Both rail should stayed during f/load at 3.10v & 4.70v to be stable.

Again, this voltage is a guideline...& I've seen ppl running stable w/ a lower voltage.

 

[Razl]

Good news all. My board has been running flawless ever since I made the suggested changes. It's never gone this long without a FRR (F'n Random Reboot).

I slowly added devices back on, first the two bay drives, then the floppy, then the case fans, and finally the 2nd RAM. So the only two things different are that I've "86ed" the round cables and the kept the CPU bumped a hair about default of 1.75v. So it's got to be one of those two. I'd guess it's those cables. Too bad because I really liked the look of those cables, but I'll take stability over appearance any day!

I did notice that if I enable only USB 1&2 (the two I need) in the BIOS, it doesn't always boot. If I change it to Enable All, it's fine. This is not a big deal since Enable All works for me.

Thanks for pulling me out of this snag! Long live Epox! (Mem, that's a tongue and cheek cheer for you)

 

[Mem]

<< Thanks for pulling me out of this snag! Long live Epox! (Mem, that's a tongue and cheek cheer for you) >>




Lol thanks ,btw my default voltage is around 1.78/1.79v ,and don`t forget I`m using rounded cables as well .

 

[wasnlos]

glad everything finally worked out for you.

just one other word about the rounded cables. i assure you that there are different levels of quality. the cables rounded cables i buy and use when building a computer can easily even exeed a length of 90cm (i have no idea what that may be in inches ) and i only ran into trouble at the beginning when i got el cheapos. now i spend a little more and enjoy the easy handling everytime.

just look for version with some hint for "TP" or "TWISTED PAIR", these are the ones i mean.

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AKASA as a manufacturer has very nice ones in silver, look really great in any rig and have the best quality i ran across so far.
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