IWILL KK266 LOSERS !!!!

[nino]

Now that I've gotten your attention. I can't believe how many of you are bitching that your system isn't giving you any video output after cold booting. How many of you are running into this problem using the default voltage AND default CPU speed? I'll bet a HELL of a lot less.
You bozos are RMAing your boards because of this. I can understand the multiplier problem but not because of the fact that the board isn't running the way you want it to when you overclock.
I was one of the first to get this board and when I set my system up I noticed no problems at default settings. When I overclocked I ran into problems and common sense told me that it was because there wasn't enough voltage to the CPU to get to the bios settings. This isn't NEW news. We've been running into this since the BX and i815e boards.
I set my L7 bridges and the problems went away. I'm sure not going to send my board back because it wasn't meant to overclock. I really don't know how they are going to fix this problem anyway. The CPU determines the initial voltage and then the BIOS adjusts it from there. It'll be a clever trick if they get the BIOS to adjust the voltage BEFORE the CPU gets a chance to change it.
I guess COMMON SENSE isn't so COMMON anymore. I can't wait for you guys to get old enough to provide a product to someone, have them misuse it, and then return it. It's like bitching at axe manufacturers because you can't hammer nails with a sharp edge.
I'm sorry to go off but I'm noticing a lot less thinking these days and people always trying to blame someone else instead of being responsible for themselves.

 

[classy]

HUH? It is designed for overclocking. And I don't get video after cold booting even with default settings.

 

[KevinH]

Hehe, I was gonna respond early but was gonna let this go. Anyways...the whole POINT of the Iwill board is that it's overclockable. That's why they chose to include those FSB's and multiplier switches. What do you think they intended it to be...an ornament? I agree that a lot of the problems people have are user related. HOWEVER, to say that by overclocking the chips, they're NOT using the Iwill for what its intended is pretty weak. If you wanna flame someone for not running default, go troll over at zdnet. I'd be so bold as to guess that 95% of the people who buy the latest round of kt133A's do so EXPRESSLY FOR THE PURPOSE of overclocking. If they didn't, they'd have stayed with the kt133's. Likewise, board makers like Abit and Iwill are marketing their boards AT overclockers so don't gimme that silly little axe/hammer analogy.

 

[compuwiz1]

Hey, last time I checked, the Abit even has an AnandTech logo on the box.(AnandTech happens to be the biggest overclocking enthusiast hardware site on the net, just incase you didn't know that)

You may have come in as a sheep to fight the wolves here. Calling people BOZO's right off the bat is not going to earn you much friendship here. I would suggest maybe you find a non overclockers forum to spout off in.

 

[nino]

Nah, what would be the fun in that.
Seriously though,
I'm finding way too many people aren't using common sense to solve their problems and never think that it could be what THEY are doing that is causing the problem.
I respect this group and a large majority of you have very insightful solutions to problems. I post my questions and also my solutions.
The problem occurs when people don't realize that it is what THEY are doing that is causing the problems.
Just for kicks, I'd like to see the number of people that were having problems AND overclocking at the same time. I've got friends who get pissed at Norton Ghost because their drive was corrupted when they unghosted WHILE overclocked. Whoa...who's to blame here. Similarly, they get pissed when they get a chip that doesn't overclock well. Read some of these messages and you'll see people blaming the motherboards because their chip won't overclock. Who's not using their noggin? Yeah, sometimes it may be the board but more than likely it is the chip.
I'm not trying to piss people off, REALLY. I just wish that people would apply a little logic to their ways before screaming RMA.
As far as MOBO manufacturers marketing goes...
I'm not as well informed as some of you EE's or CS majors are so would somebody please tell me exactly the procedure of the boot-up sequence. I'm thinking that it is board read chip and at a hardware level provides voltage and then enters bios and resets voltage accordingly. If this is wrong then let me know but let me know the truth and NOT what you think. I'm looking for an expert. My last 3 boards had this problem and it shocks me that nobody else has.
It's one thing to market a board to overclockers and I think the KK266 delivers to that market but to say that it SHOULD do everything the way you THINK it should AND then return it because it doesn't do it the way you THINK it should've is, in my books, wrong. You made a decision to buy a board so stick with it unless it is faulty. Every board that I've ever worked with has had its own peculiarities and it takes a while to figure out exactly how the boards work but that is part of the fun and learning experiences. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

 

[Robzila]

All I have to say on the subject is that it seems to me this is only occuring to regular KK266 boards of revision 1.2. The raid boards are not effected. As with any overclocker friendly board, sometimes it takes some tinkering to get things straight, especially with VIA chipset boards. My board has proven to me to be the highest clocking most stable motherboard I have ever owned, and I have the Sandra screenshots to prove it. Whatever the case, if its the board, Iwill has proven time and again that they will handle it. If its user error (which I agree is very frequent these days), then find a forum and get some help. By the way, check my rig sig below for the goodies.

 

[KevinH]

Nino, you're absolutely right that a lot of people are jumping the gun with the RMA. As I stated above, this was occuring with the KX133 chipset. Man, I was pulling out hairs trying to get my old Epox board to run nice...you know what? It was partly me and partly the motherboard. Several bios upgrades later, the wrinkles were ironed out and the board ran fine for me.

If you read the complaints people have, however, the problems are not because their chip can't hit these speeds. People are purposely UNDERCLOCKING chips in order to utilize a higher FSB. This should be click and go and right now for some reason it isn't. Very few people are suggesting to RMA...most people who post here are trying to solve these issues. From my perspective, the amount of information desseminated here is worth the occasional "GRRR...FVCK ABIT" type of posts (although no where near as helpful as Amdzone and Storagereview forums...those guys are REALLY l33t).

-K-

 

[Smith]

No manufacturer guarantees that you can OC...NONE, NADA, ZIP !

That being said they do market them with the understanding some people will try. Why else does
my old Abit BX6-R2 allow me to set boot up errors off ? We can also assume that most boards are pretested and have a high spec tolerance, above there normal use. They also build into advertising and web review sites that feed on OCing features.

The other factor is the CPU. Some can do better then others so we can't always blame the MB. I'd say it's your money and if you want to exchange or refund based on not OCing it's an honest thing to do. What is dishonest is to use your own negligence such as to high a voltage setting for example onto the MB manufacturer. If you burn it out this way you should pay for your mistakes.

 

[classy]

You guys might would have a valid arguement if the issues with the Iwill boards were only happening when overclocked. That is not the case. The issues are happening with default settings. The board has more than just multiplier issues.

 

[rempe]

Nino maybe you should be a little more informed on what youre saying.There is a problem with the rev. 1.2 and the mult.I just heard back from Iwill and they are going to rma the board no guestions asked so you know that they know theres a problem

 

[WarCon]

I'm not going to vent, but here goes blah blah blah blah overclocking blah blah blah. Now that is out of my system, What are you talking about?
There are real issues with almost every mobo, Iwill included. Alot of people post problems here to get help....ummm. Not everyone knows enough to reset your mobo by holding the insert key during power up if you screw up and set it tooo high to post and don't wanna jump that jumper on mobo. They come here to learn that. Some come with bad attitudes (cocky know it alls), but there are alot of people who come here to learn and grow in their knowledge for themselves and their friends because it is just plain boring to run your system at its default voltage when you can get more out of it. You know I don't know much technical stuff but just being on here for the last couple weeks my knowledge has increased tremendously. So lets keep this forum as a place for the pursuit of tech support and news of good and bad equip and for learning. Vent over-

 

[nino]

Well said Warcon.

That is EXACTLY my point. Let's use this as a way to get information and learn about the problems before sending the board back. For those of thinking that you are right...
I agree that there are problems with the version 1.2 board and fortunately for me I have 1.1 versions BUT blatantly saying that the Iwill boards have problems and you should send it back is going to get the people w/version 1.1 to UNNECESSARILY send theirs back too.
Look it, I created this post to get everyone's attention and it IS doing it. I want the KK266 owners know that they may have luck by just increasing the core voltage upon bootup by crossing the L7 bridges and success w/multipliers by crossing the L1 bridges.
I'll bet that we'll all be shocked by the number of people that are having problems and sending the board back without trying these things. I've installed 10 KK266 version 1.1 boards over the past 3 weeks and not one has given me a problem with overclocking (including multiplier adjustments) PROVIDED I cross the L7 and L1 bridges using THE REAR DEFOGGER REPAIR KIT. If you try this with lead and it doesn't work then you BETTER be sure that it ISN'T the lead causing the problem.
I'll bet the percentage of people that tried this BEFORE sending the board back is very low.
p.s. I'm glad to see that I've elicited a pretty good response on both sides of the issue

 

[jstdenis]

Nino; I hope your still here; I have an Iwill KK266(ver1.1) and just set it up this weekend with T-bird 750. At day one with all BIOS settings at default and with a LOCKED T-bird and only CPU/HSF, mem and video card installed the sys booted to 700MHZ( the code on the core of the T-Bird is A0750APT3B). When I reset CMOS and reboot, the CPU is recognized as 750 and I am told to enter Iwill Smart Setting and save changes.
Save the change to 750 and the reboot starts and I am back to 700. In short, reset CMOS, get boot to 750; all subseqent boots yield 700 until you go back to the CMOS reset routine. I would say MY ver1.1 has a problem.

Trying to work thru this but pretty difficult if defaults don't work!

 

[Snelski]

nt

 

[nino]

Sorry to hear about your problem but if you notice I said that the past 10 boards that I got had NO problems not that ALL 1.1 boards do. How did you make that leap?
What have you done about your problem to correct it?

 

[jstdenis]

Sorry for the leap! However, you do infer that problems are more likely attributable to users vs manufacturers(and thier vendors. See JackiO post at www.amdmb.com(Forums, Iwill MB).

In any event I attempted to update the Bios to the most recent ver(~3/9/01); however, after reading the instructions(meaningless) at Iwill web site I was cautious. After downloading and reading the readme file(unintelligable)I opted to forego this option(didn't want to render the board useless). I have flashed one or two bios but never came across such garbage instructions prior to this attempt!!!!!

In the interium I e-mailed(~4:30PM CST)Iwill TS describing in detail the problem(and set up parameters)and asking for advice. Recieved reply ~7:30PM CST------NO advice; just RMA the board.

Contrary to your experience, Iwill has BIG problems with the KK266 release and they know it! In support of Iwill I have heard they are aggressively addressing the problem, including unequivocal replacement of problem boards. On the negative side, whether it be an Iwill problem, Via chip set problem or some other vendor problem, this fiasco is unacceptable. The technology uninformed do not buy into technology because of never ending foul-ups like this. Does anyone do thier homework anymore?

Regards

Saint

 

[invasivedoc]

News Flash: IWILL is owning up to some defective 1.2 boards and will RMA all bad units. All new stock 3/5 and newer is said to work well.

your humble reporter.

 

[btac]

I'm interested in the post about the bios. I agree with the web site being a little confusing. What's with that? They have a new bios and then tell you not to load it. But no real reason why. Is it just a bad translation? If they're posting a new bios, why not load it?

 

[compuwiz1]

Hey, this loser here, just booted a 1GHz Tbird at 1530 in this IWill KK266. So far running good.

 

[nino]

Check www.fullon3d.com for the Iwill version 1.2 problem and the possible fix.

It looks like you might be able to do this yourself if the details are unfolded which could save you some time through the RMA process IF this is all the problem is.

I just checked the fullon3d pdf file and it is confusing (after looking at my rev 1.1 board). It appears that the picture that they are showing is EXACTLY how my rev 1.1 board is and I don't have ANY problems. I don't know if that is a picture of what the board SHOULD look like or one of what a board SHOULD NOT look like.

Those of you w/ rev 1.2 and problems, please list.

Thanks in advance,
Nino

 

[bupkus]

Concerning the confusion of the instructions. IWILL has apparently decided to hire a local to translate these instructions into english. I for one depend on clear language as technical writing is difficult to understand without butchered translations. I only wish these Taiwan companies would run these publications past a true english speaking technical writer. I'd be willing to spend the extra pocket change it would probably cost for that advantage.

As long as people are reading this I have a technical question.

Using VIA Hardware Monitoring System V1.07 I'm getting a real voltage irregularity. The voltage for the 2.5V Value= 0.31 ! What is that about, and should I be concerned? And what's the CPU Hysteresis? My CPU Current Temperature is 24C, way below CPU Hysteresis Temperature. System Current Temperature is 22C.

 

[gerryko]

I'm getting that same low reading at 2.5 volts as is another guy who posted elsewhere. Don't understand that hysteresis stuff either

 

[White Widow]

Well, after reading the Iwill RMA breifing, it does indeed look like I will be RAMing my board tomorrow morning. A little investigation with the flashlight revelaed that I do, in fact, have a 0 OHM resistor at R357, which is what is causing all the troubles for all of us with the Rev 1.2 boards. According to Iwill, fixing the problem involves removing that resistor from R357 and putting another 0 OHM resistor at R356, where there currently is none. I suppose anyone with good soldering skills could do it themselves...maybe that guy who swapped his Radeon RAM for some faster stuff will give it a shot! At least they are doing a "we send you a replacement, then you send us the bad one." I hope they won't mind the extra scratches I put on the PCB around the Socket-A clip...hehe. Serves them right for putting it so close to the PS.

As for the odd voltage, the KK266 reports my 2.5v voltage around 3.3v! What?

-Aaron

 

[Superdoopercooper]

White Widow... I'm thinking of doing the fix myself. It will take all of about 1 minute. And, it just so happens that a zero ohm resistor = wire. So, if somehting where to happen to the resistor you were taking off, then R356 could be just replaced with a wire. I would stay away from teh conductive pin (as someone suggested somewhere) because you don't know what amount of current runs through that trace.

I posted over at AMDMB to find out if the R356/357 is the *ENTIRE* story behind the RMA. If so, the ease of fixing it makes me think I shouldn't waste Iwill's money having them send me a new one and me send mine back.

 

[bupkus]

Just where are R356 and R357? I've managed to find a stack of 354... 351 and another 350,369... 366 all just SW of the south bridge.
Also, down by the WOM I found R361 and R359, but that's the closest I could come to finding those resistors.
HELP. I need to know if my interests are best served by an RMA as I have no soldering experience or skills.