My final farwell to KS75A . . .BUT WAIT !

[RanDum72]

My experience with these boards is that its basically the luck of the draw. Once it works, it works like a dream, if not then it becomes a nightmare. I have RMA'ed about 5 of these boards back and their replacemnets have been running flawlessly. I probably got 4 of these boards that are completely trouble free from the start. The only thing that keeps me coming back for more is the price. at less than $60, I can put up with the inconvenience of occasionally getting a misbehaving board. And, I also know that once I get the sucker to run, it runs very good.

 

[Jhill]

My ecsboard with win 98 pauses on POST for 7 seconds when I start it up and when I shut it down i get a blue screen for 30 seconds before it shuts down. I do have it on fast post.

Anyone have any thought on this?
PM's are welcome also

Thanks

 

[RossGr]

I had an ECS k7s5a/ 1.2Ghz Athlon for about a month last fall. I got it up and running with minimal problems, it hung on checking NVram until I moved the PCI vid card to slot 4 or 5. It then ran very well for about 2 weeks, it then started random lockups and finally after a week or so of that it simply refused to boot. I choose not to roll the die with ECS again, I want to run my system, not fight it. Initailly I replaced it with a ASUS K7M, very nice board, but I could not justify the price tag, so settled on a Shuttle AK31 rev 3 board. It is currently running very well with all of the same hardware and even the same Win 98 install, I have not wiped the drive clean since before the ECS install!

So, now how did I, for a single build, suddenly become an incompetent system builder. I have been building systems for over 10yrs, my first was a 286, and I have always had stable (Well as far as MS, goes) ,reliable systems. I would really like to be running a Sis chipset but not until someone other then ECS is building them.

 

[V00DOO]

Had the cold boot problem with ECS K7S5A. Followed a couple of suggestion from the oveclockerfourm: Got Enermax 431 PSU, put a fan on the chipset, ect to no avail. Finally decided to RMA and problem solved. Now I am a happy camper. My suggestion is if you are having problem with the board exchange it.

 

[inqztive]

JKYamamoto,
Have you ever thouguht you might have messed up installing the CPU? if you have problem everytime you have installed a new CPU, Well may be you are not doing it right. Particuarly if their technician is able to run it ok.

 

[darkside9923]

Hrmmm a farewell to ECS? Well Im new to the AMD game but I bought an ECS K7VTA3 Rev 2 even though I read some bad expereiences with ECS, other than a heat problem i havent been able to nail down this board rocks, first post the board worked with out a hitch second post after some adjustments worked even better. Ive done a full burn in and the system was rock stable (running win XP) Maybe Im one of the lucky ones and got a working ECS, or maybe its just waiting to die :Þ who knows but for 70 dollars For a KT266a based Mobo Id buy another one. Running 4,300 3dmarks with a Geforce II gts, runs what I need it to run and wicked quick.

-ECS K7VTA3 Revison 2.x
-Amd XP 1700 (Oem Newegg.com)
-Thermaltake Volcano6cu (not the + series)
-Crucial 2 X 128 MB Pc 2100 DDR
-Deer Power 300 Watt PSU
-Visontek Geforce II Gts 32MB DDR
-Nvidia reference 27.20 Detnator driver-
-2 Maxtor Diamond 60 Hd's
(they have one drive space beteen each other)
-Creative Audigy sound card
-3 x 80 MM Evercool case fans running 2900Rpm's and pushing 30 CFM's

 

[hoihtah]

wow... sorry to hear that it's not working out for you...

usually the problem with k7s5a is related to the power supply.
but your macron 400 has 210 combine W to 3.3+5v.
which should be sufficient.

 

[JKYamamoto]

inqztive, The cpu has two corners that have no pins. It only fits one way. The one time that the system did work. It did not survive the night. This was after installing drivers inculded on the installation CD. DX8a, video drivers, etc. The system was running I let it run over night or so I thought and the system was dead in the morning. Upon returning the M/B and cpu, there was a pile of about 30 M/B returned to Fry's stacked in a corner. Along with OEM cpu's and boxed cpu. All they do is put a sticker on the returns and replace in their stock.

 

[Daovonnaex]

Double spaced for your reading convenience
I had a rather poor experience with an ECS KS75A approximately a month prior to this time. A friend of mine desired a new computer, but for a very low

price. The ECS seemed like a fine value, so I decided on it. I had heard that it had some issues, but I dismissed these as the errors of incompetent

builders. Unfortunately, the KS75A proved me wrong. The case was a simple Antec SX635, so there were neither case nor power issues. I used a 900MHz

Duron and a Millenium Glaciator II (great HSF, quiet, small, and good cooling). For the memory, I placed a single Kingston 256mb PC2100 DIMM in one of the

DDR slots. It was a tight fit, so I used contact lubricant (which is proven safe, and I've never had an issue with it). The graphics card was an old Voodoo 5

5500 I had lying around, which as we all know, had no quality issues in any way. As for sound, I used a Philips Rhythmic Edge--great card, superb quality.

Every time I tried to start the system, I encountered one of the following problems: the system would either fail to post, fail to give a video signal, or simply

refuse to power up. I then began a roulette of component interchanging that proved time consuming, frustrating, and disappointing. I tried changing the

CPU to an Athlon Thunderbird 1.2GHz, a Duron 600MHz, an Athlon XP2000+, and an Athlon MP1900+. I tried changing the memory to a Crucial DIMM, a

Mushkin DIMM, and Corsair DIMM. I tried changing the graphics card to a Matrox Millenium II, a Matrox G400, a Matrox G550 Dual Head, a GeForce 3 original,

a GeForce 3 Ti500, a Radeon DDR 64 VIVO, a Voodoo 3 3000, and an ATi FireGL 2. I tried changing the sound card to a Sound Blaster Live! Gold, an Aureal

Vortex SQ1500, an Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500, a Hercules Game Theater XP, a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, a Philips Acoustic Edge, and no sound card. I changed

all of these configurations around, until every possibility had been tested. Nothing worked. I try modifying the capacitors and voltage regulators. Nothing

worked. To those of you skeptics who would question my ability, I tell to simply look at my current Athlon rig. I'm using a 350w peltier, a custom-built power

supply, and a custom hacked case. I don't think that ability is the issue. After this entire ordeal, I RMA'd the board to Newegg, and they promptly sent a

replacement. I built it to original configurations, and when it failed, I gave up on ECS. I really have to wonder why they deem themselves to be elite. I

returned this board, and then paid a bit more to get a Gigabyte GA-7DX+, which is, in all honesty, probably the most stable socket A mainboard ever sold

(ignoring the 686B south bridge issue with SB Live! cards, of course). I built that up with the original equipment, and it worked immediately. The $30

premium that it commanded was a cheap price to pay to avoid the issues that Elite Group foisted upon me.

 

[PlatinumGold]

The cpu has two corners that have no pins. It only fits one way. The one time that the system did work. It did not survive the night. This was after installing VIA 4 in 1 soultion. DX8a, video drivers, etc. The system was running I let it run over night or so I thought and the system was dead in the morning.


hmmm, he installed Via 4 in 1 drivers on a SIS chipset mb. anyone else see a problem with that??

YO the VIA 4 in 1 DRIVERS are for MOTHERBOARDS WITH VIA CHIPSETS.

I hope you don't consider yourself a COMPETENT System Builder

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< The cpu has two corners that have no pins. It only fits one way. The one time that the system did work. It did not survive the night. This was after installing VIA 4 in 1 soultion. DX8a, video drivers, etc. The system was running I let it run over night or so I thought and the system was dead in the morning.


hmmm, he installed Via 4 in 1 drivers on a SIS chipset mb. anyone else see a problem with that??

YO the VIA 4 in 1 DRIVERS are for MOTHERBOARDS WITH VIA CHIPSETS.

I hope you don't consider yourself a COMPETENT System Builder >>

That just made my day. How could anyone possibly install Via drivers on a SiS chipset? That man wins the mule award of the hour.

 

[AA0]

I'm surprised the drivers even installed

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< I'm surprised the drivers even installed >>

He may've simply gaffed on the typing. I doubt that Via 4-in-1 drivers would install on a SiS 735.

 

[desy]

Uh oh
Seems my ECS wasn't the only problem I had!
My Micron 256 MB of 2100 DDR seems to be crap . . . .

I just got in my Epox board eagerly set it all up and proceeded to do a clean install of W2K but hmmm can't load this file that file etc.
OK load ME my old standby hmmm same kinda stuff ? Change out my Samsung CD and use a 24X10X40 LG , hmm same stuff?
Remove modem and set bios to all defaults disable onboard sound, same stuff?
Head over to operating systems and guy with a thread same stuff, so I do what they suggest there ,already did a bunch of it but drop the FSB to 100 mhz . .
Same stuff? OK finally happen to have 512 MB Micron in a machine on the bench beside it and finally clean error free install ! Crap!
The ECS still had enough probs of its own that I didn't want it anymore but I will shamedly admit I didn't do everything I needed to before I gave up
So lesson learned, I didn't have probs loading operating systems on the K7S5A but hella time on the Epox! Everything was the same between the two only diff was the MB.
Now the diff is MB and ram and smooth as can be.

 

[nortexoid]

i mean, it isn't totally unlikely that u simply got a faulty board....plain and simple. - u should've rma'd it for another K7S5A...if that failed, THEN pay the restocking fee and grab the epox, but it seems unlikely that a second board wouldn't run properly (provided u know what u're doing)

 

[gogeeta13]

<< Uh oh
Seems my ECS wasn't the only problem I had!
My Micron 256 MB of 2100 DDR seems to be crap . . . .

... but I will shamedly admit I didn't do everything I needed to before I gave up
>>



Hmm, no surprise. You all flamed me, and I was right.

I consider not checking memory to be a classification of an incompetant system builder. Memory and CPU are the 2 first things I will check if something isn't working.

I rest my case. Considering this is a tech board, I am surprised by how many idiots(and I am not saying this to you, desy) the hot deals forum can pull in..

 

[desy]

Ahh but I didn't say I didn't use other memory.
In fact I started with a duron 950 and PC 133 memory and couldn't get it stable.
Like I said jumped through all the hoops.
Power supplies
Bios update
Heatsink compound on the chipset
Muliple reloads with newer and newer dirvers
Gets to a point where when it doesn't seem what you do, its a pig , and a pigs a pig
I'll also add after I built around the Athlon it was pretty stable for a few months except for the CMOS reset thing and kinda degraded to being more unstable. I have bought 3 ECS mbs since OCT just not that particular one BTW
Now I have to replace ram and pay 2X as much as I did in Oct though , It was one of the reasons why it took so long to get around trying another stick of DDR, My supplier where I bought the ram went out of buis after 18 yrs in buisiness :Q
So I was going to eat it, but I bought the MB elsewhere and could RMA it, not unreasonable considering the many threads. I buy only Intel MBs for work and just started to recieved the 845D BG's last week so this was the first opportunity I had to swap DDR but hey it was Micron shouldn't have been a prob?