Help - My Motherboad (not CPU) is Overheating - Is it Dying?

[Peter007]

My system on K7S5a became unstable 2 days ago. I've notice it only happen when I'd play 3D Games:
it is pretty HOT in SouthernCA - so I've assume its my CPU Overheating.
I removed the Case, clean the Vocano Copper Heatsink, applied new ThermoGrease.
Now everthing powerup okay. But this time, the system would crash even on semi-3D games like Hyperbowl.

I've open the case up again, but I've notice majority of the heat seem to be coming from the Motherboard Chipset
itself. It was as if the entire Motherboard is overheating??? This is really odds?
Has it ever happen to anyone else.

Luckily, I have a spare K7S5A lying around and put the CPU in that motheboard and everthing is fine.

Question is should I trouble shoot the motherboad anymore, or should I assume its dying and dangerous to put
another CPU into the damn thing. Has this ever happen to anyone?

 

[Danzilla]

Bought one ECS K7S5A motherboard. Had more problems with it than the rest of my MBs put together (not counting one bad bios flash on a SOYO). For a $30 MB (part of a Fry's combo) I figure I learned my lesson and should be happy it worked at all.

D.

Edit: yes, have heard of the ECS MBs overheating when you stress them (ie. almost anything). Consider if you've moved the computer recently or done anything else to reduce airflow or ambient temperature.

Edit2: Just noticed you didn't say if the original MB you're having a problem with is a ECS too, just that you had a spare K7S5A. Can't help without decent information.

 

[aphex]

I've had more ECS mobo's die than another other i've built with.

 

[Malladine]

Weird. I built a pc using an ECS K7S5A in early '01 and it's still going strong with not even a hiccup.

 

[Peter007]

The Original - Overheaing - K7S5A is version 3.1.
the Spare - working - K7S5A is 5.1 PRO edition

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: aphex
I've had more ECS mobo's die than another other i've built with.

I've only built one, told the guy he'd have problems with it... lasted ~8 months. worthless.

 

[Cerb]

Many K7S5As from rev 1 to 5 here, and nary a problem like this (L7S7A2 is another story), however, I wouldn't say it is impossible, given the POS tape they use to attach the NB sink. I'm in the middle of GA, so I feel ya about the heat!

Given the price, get a Gigabyte SiS 748 board. Sweet little board, cheap (~$50), and it should boot up the OS fine, no re-install or anything else, just windows freaking out, finding new hardware, and having to install the new drivers.
It has a nice passive sink with paste and push-pins, like God intended. Of course Gabriel came up with this neat idea of using a Z-shaped wire retension clip to save a bit of money, and it isn't a bad way to go, either.

 

[Peter007]

So is it common for Motherboard to heatup when its about to die?
Or do motherboard died of a sudden death like most CPUs?

 

[Mem]

So is it common for Motherboard to heatup when its about to die?
Or do motherboard died of a sudden death like most CPUs?

No not really common,normally they just die just like some MSI boards for example(I had one that just died) another thing that can happen is leaking capacitors on the motherboard, that happened to my old Epox board and is quite a common problem.

Back to your overheating problem,you could try a fan on the chipset heatsink to see if that helps at all and depending on your skill remove the heatsink and reapply thermal paste,it has been known for some boards to have less then adequate thermal paste underneath the chipset heatsink.

Btw I`m running a K7S5A Pro V5 board in my backup PC for a few years now and it has never given me any problems.

I've notice it only happen when I'd play 3D Games:
it is pretty HOT in SouthernCA - so I've assume its my CPU Overheating.

Also have you tried a different video card to rule out a heat problem with the graphics card?

 

[Peter007]

up for more opinions