System boots now, screw ECS boards.. what other mobo's you guys recommend??

[kitkit201]

The things I noticed so far is...

-CPU FAN boots and runs, so does the HDDs, CDROMS
-I hear the bootup sound, but no beep, indicating that the proc is okay..
-Cleared the CMOS several times, but still no luck..
-Holding down the powerbutton enables me to turn off the computer (hard reset)
-Took off the CD ROM IDE and POEWR to it...(leaving the HDD only)...
-No burning smell coming from the system, especially CPU..

HOWEVER! I did notice that when i put on thermal greese, I didn't put it on evenly, so it got onto the other leads of the CPU chip... after wipping it off, on the surface of the chip, I can see the pins from the other side on the front side.. not the copper of the pins, but jsut the indentation... no burn smell though...


My specs are :

Ecs K7S5A PRO
AMD 2400XP
2 x 256 Crucial 2100DDR
2 x 40g Maxtor HD
Antec SL350S PSU
and other stuff...

Any help would be grately appreciated fellow AT members!! thanks!!

 

[chemicalplay]

Maybe, the cpu is knackered, but im not sure. I have had a similar problem where my motherboard and CPu were both fried. I would say test the cpu in a mates motherboard and go from there.

 

[jmagg]

I would reseat the processor, and reseat and run 1 stick of ram for starters.

 

[kitkit201]

im gonna take ur advice chemicalplay and get a new mobo and cpu combo at frys tonight to test things out.. no one else i know has an amd here, they all graduate..

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: jmagg
I would reseat the processor, and reseat and run 1 stick of ram for starters.

Yep, and video card too. Clean up all the excess thermal grease. Don't have any hard drives, cdroms, floppy, etc hooked up. Just the one stick of memory reseated. Try too boot this. Don't have any extra, sound, nic, ect installed either.

You can also remove the motherboard from the case and boot it outside of the case because it could have a short with the case somewhere.

 

[kitkit201]

thanks amdskip, im ognna try these insightful advice when i get back from work in 2 hours.. will keep u guys updated...

 

[SemperFi]

K7S5A. That is where I would start. I built 2 systems with this board. The first is still chugging away. The second system mb was bad out of the box. The replacement worked fine for 8 months. Needless to say the third wasn't a K7S5A.

Incidently the symptoms were the same as yours. You press the pwr button the fans and everything ran. No beeps no video nothing else.

 

[kitkit201]

Hey everyone..

Fixed my problem.. i went to Frys this morning and 'borrowed' a AMD box and abit Mobo.. turns out exactly what SemferPi described.. one day the K7S5A board works, and then the next boom! Doesn't work anymore.. I dont know what I'll do with this board now, maybe RMA it back to ECS and hopefully get another better board (I highly doubt it)... But for the next 15 days, I'll be using the Abit board definately... Thanks for the great suggestions.. the mobo was bad and my proc (whew!) is alllright....

Next obvious question would be.... what should I get next? Mobo speaking

 

[lobadobadingdong]

if you're looking for onboard graphics, I prefer the Shuttle mn31n, it's a very stable nforce2 IGP board, and has dual head video built right in. as well as loads of usb2 and firewire ports. (thier on sale at newegg.com for $70 after a $15 mir through november)

 

[SemperFi]

If you are going for onboard graphics I second lobadobadingdong's suggestion. I built one for a friend using that board. Lots of features for little $$. Be aware if you want to use the firewire you will have to buy a header. It doesn't come with the board.

That was the first shuttle I have bought since my cyrix 166, the first system I ever built. I got 2 bad boards in a row. Said that I would never buy another. Well it is still running flawlessly for him. The only tech support calls I get are operator error. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one for myself.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: SemperFi
If you are going for onboard graphics I second lobadobadingdong's suggestion. I built one for a friend using that board. Lots of features for little $$. Be aware if you want to use the firewire you will have to buy a header. It doesn't come with the board.

That was the first shuttle I have bought since my cyrix 166, the first system I ever built. I got 2 bad boards in a row. Said that I would never buy another. Well it is still running flawlessly for him. The only tech support calls I get are operator error. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one for myself.

must depend on where you got it, mine came with the firewire header(bought from newegg about 4 months ago), but it does seem neweggs pictures show that it doesn't come with them now....

 

[SemperFi]

Looks like you got lucky or I was unlucky. I bought mine from newegg back in August.

 

[jvang125]

seems like many people are having problems with the k7s5a boards. i think i got the very first batch of these boards and mine has been running solid ever since. mind you the setup is all at stock speeds. i do admit there was a little hiccup at first with the cheap sdram i had but after going with some name brand ddr, i had no more problems. i had that board in my comp, my bro's comp, and now on my second comp. still no problems.

 

[PCDumbass]

Any other K7S5A replacement recommendations?

Must be cheap, like the K7S5A and have an onboard LAN port.

-Rob

 

[moonsite]

You can also get the Biostar M7CND Pro or something like that at newegg for about $50 after rebates. It has the latest Nvidia 400 Ultra chipset. Good for overclocking and runs very stable. Ofcourse if you want one with all the features, get the Asus A7N8X Deluxe for 118 at newegg.

 

[alm4rr]

I'm an MSI fan

 

[MichaelZ]

down with ECS trash!

 

[amdskip]

Originally posted by: i82lazyboy
down with ECS trash!

I'd say at least 30% of returns because of "defective" ecs motherboards are user error if not a lot more. I've had really good luck, used at least 15 of them and never had a dead one. You have to consider the amount of these boards that are being used compared to other boards mainly because they offer a ton of value for what they are. The defective rate is probably about the same as other motherboards. You do need to have decent memory and a decent power supply to get them to work good. I have one in my server and it will run forever without having to reboot.

 

[networkman]

Geez.. no love for the ECS boards?!? Why not? I've literally got 11 of them running fine here at my house! Six of the Pro version, 5 non-Pro. Heck, the Pro versions are even OC'd to a 150fsb with absolutely ZERO problems! Mine are from all different places of purchase too, so no idea why you've had the bad luck, but I like 'em.