AMD Sempron Processor 3100+ & ECS NFORCE3-A Motherboard for $80 at Outpost.com

[BigSpenderNOT]

Thanks again Ken, that sounds like good advice, I'll use the LAN drivers from the website this time!

I've also looked into my sound issue (after doing a clean install) and the headphone jack at the front of my case sends out sound perfectly fine, but the output jack on the motherboard gives me bupkiss (I am using the center one - lime green - which the manual says is output). Any ideas as to how to troubleshoot or did I maybe get a bad board?

The Sound Controller option under Device Manager does show the RealTek AC'97 Audio.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: deadken
It might be a 'day-late-and-a-dollar-short', but here is a Genuine AMD Athlon 64 X2 754 939 940 Heatsink/Fan NEW for $18 shipped from Ebay. I just bought one and there are 19 available for now.

That's the "good" one. I ended up with four of them from another eBay seller.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: BigSpenderNOT
the headphone jack at the front of my case sends out sound perfectly fine, but the output jack on the motherboard gives me bupkiss

Your front audio ports should have a "return" line to hook up to the motherboard. The pinout is something like this:

R L
* * * o *
* * * * *
RR LR

The wires from the front port will have a "return" line per channel that needs to go on the other pin. When you got the board, you would have had a jumper bridging R and RR, and a second jumper bridging L and LR. You still need to bridge them, but using the extra wire. It often is a loop off the same channel.

 

[BigSpenderNOT]

Hi Zap, thanks for the reply. My wires coming from the case only have a mic, a ground, a left and a right (all single pin). Do I just take the jumpers that came with the MB and use them to cover spots "6" & "10"?

 

[deadken]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: deadken
It might be a 'day-late-and-a-dollar-short', but here is a Genuine AMD Athlon 64 X2 754 939 940 Heatsink/Fan NEW for $18 shipped from Ebay. I just bought one and there are 19 available for now.

That's the "good" one. I ended up with four of them from another eBay seller.

I should have jumped on them when you posted it! Your seller gave a break on shipping when you bought more then one at a time (IIRC, that is). This guy gives no breaks, $6 per HS/F, and $12 Shipping for each one. Still, even @ $18, I am in for one (there literally is ZERO incentive for me to buy more then one). I have a XP-120 on my A64 3000+, but that is I bought it as a package. BTW: I had to lap the hell out of the the XP-120, the bottom was far from flat when I started.

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: BigSpenderNOT
the headphone jack at the front of my case sends out sound perfectly fine, but the output jack on the motherboard gives me bupkiss

Your front audio ports should have a "return" line to hook up to the motherboard. The pinout is something like this:

R L
* * * o *
* * * * *
RR LR

The wires from the front port will have a "return" line per channel that needs to go on the other pin. When you got the board, you would have had a jumper bridging R and RR, and a second jumper bridging L and LR. You still need to bridge them, but using the extra wire. It often is a loop off the same channel.

I agree, as long as your audio is working in the front, then that means your audio is working.... Now, in that stupid little book (or is a drink coaster) that they give you with the Mobo, on page #21 they give a picture/diagram and a pin-out of what each pins function is.

In case your manual isn't available (it might have a drink on it), I will try and explain it the same way as Zap, but I will try and get around how AT.com cuts out spaces. When you use the 'quote' feature on Zap's previous post, it puts the letters where he meant for them to be, but when you hit 'reply to topic' it deletes the spaces and his diagram becomes wrong. Perhaps this will work better...

246-0
13579

Pin 9 is Left Ch. Audio to Front Panel
Pin 0 is Left Ch. Audio return from Front Panel
Pin 5 is Right Ch. Audio to Front Panel
Pin 6 is Right Ch. Audio return from Front Panel
(BTW: The - is a blank spot)

Let's see how that looks when I reply to the topic.

-Ken

EDIT: You see what happens when I take too long to reply?!?!? Your post wasn't there when I started, but was there when I replied.... Ohhh well....

Originally posted by: BigSpenderNOT
Hi Zap, thanks for the reply. My wires coming from the case only have a mic, a ground, a left and a right (all single pin). Do I just take the jumpers that came with the MB and use them to cover spots "6" & "10"?

I am not sure what kind of case you have, but the one time I actually hooked up a front panel for a friend (most people never use it), I do remember having return wires. In short, NO, you can't just jumper #6 to #10. That would still leave you with no signal returning from the 'front panel jack' to the 'rear of the case jack'. Are you sure that your case doesn't have 'r.ret.' and 'l.ret.' wires? I am EXTREMELY leary about suggesting this, because I can't imagine the case not having the proper wiring for the front panel. If you are sure that there are no return wires, I would think that you could cut the plastic off a jumper and solder the front panel feed to it, and then use the jumper in place of the original (just jumping 5+6 (for right channel) and 9+0 (for left channel)).

 

[BigSpenderNOT]

Hi Ken, thanks for taking the time to make the diagram. I found the manual and see exactly what you're talking about. Since, my case doesn't have anything to put over spots 6 and 10, I tried using the jumpers that I had removed in order to connect the front case audio and placed them over the 4 & 6 pins and then the blank and 10 pins. still only audio out of the front, though. Should I use the jumpers in some other configuration?

 

[deadken]

I have edited my last post... Please note that #4 is listed in the manual as a VOLTAGE feed, please be careful where you jump that! Clear the jumpers and look at what I just edited my previous post to read.

Let me try and explain it this way....

The left signal right audio signal comes from pin #5 and goes to the back panel on pin #6 (if you leave the factory jumper in position, IIRC). When you remove that factory jumper, you open the circuit and audio never gets to the back panel jack. Therefore, when you send that signal to the front panel (by connecting a wire on pin 5), you need to send it back to pin 6 if you want the rear jack to work. The same goes for pins 9+0 (left channel).

I haven't toyed with this much, but as I have stated, the one time I did I remember wires marked as 'return' (one return for left and one return for right).

 

[BigSpenderNOT]

Hi again Ken, yes my case only has the aformentioned 4 "pin covers" coming from the front of the case. Maybe I'll just say screw the front sound for now. Do you know which pins I should replace the jumpers on to then? I knew I should have wrote that down when I took them off!

OOPS! Should have read your last post more carefully... jumper 5 & 6 and 9 & 10. I'll try that.

 

[BigSpenderNOT]

That, of course, worked like a charm. I don't think I'll miss the front headphone jack too much anyways. Thanks Zap and Ken for the great help. Now it's time to figure out the onboard LAN stuff (maybe tomorrow... *YAWN*).

 

[T8ZBUD]

Originally posted by: freshspace
Well, there you go, folks. I think the combo is finally sold-out at Outpost.com. Thanks to everyone, my combo is working great.

Just saw it now listed at Outpost for 79.99

Also they show A64 3000+ (ADA3000BXBOX) with same ECS nf3 mobo for 129.99. Figuring say $20 for a CPU cooler for the Sempron combo, do you guys think it's worth $30 more for the A64 box cpu (512 L2)?

 

[furballi]

CPU cooler is worth $10 MAX. As for the 3000 64, the only advantage is the 512KB cache, and possibly another 100-150MHz more CPU core speed. At that price, I'd spring another $30 for a 939/3200 combo.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: deadken

Originally posted by: Zap
R L
* * * o *
* * * * *
RR LR

how AT.com cuts out spaces

DOH, didn't realize that.

For BigSpenderNOT... first, BTW, welcome to the forums. As you've figured out, jumper 5-6 and 9-10. Now, to get your strange front port configuration working, all you have to do is figure out how to keep 5-6 and 9-10 jumpered together while still having the single wires connected. One way to do that is to get some thin wire (maybe a strand from a phone or network cable) and connect the relevant pins together, then slap the single wire for the front ports on top. That's effectively what the "return" line does - act as a splitter.

T8ZBUD, IMO not worth it. I'd rather get the $69 2800+ deal (if available to you) or the $79 3100+ deal.

 

[T8ZBUD]

Originally posted by: furballi
CPU cooler is worth $10 MAX. As for the 3000 64, the only advantage is the 512KB cache, and possibly another 100-150MHz more CPU core speed. At that price, I'd spring another $30 for a 939/3200 combo.

Hey thanks furballi - I see A64 3200 box cpu for $30 more but it's not a mobo combo, just box cpu - maybe I'm missing something. But I feel myself heading down that ol' slippery slope: looking for the most bang for the buck I start adding on for "just $XX more" - pretty soon that inexpensive (OK, cheap) box I was going to build for my daughter's schoolwork will have a dual core cpu and be way overkill. Oh well, maybe I'll just get the Sempy 3100 combo all the folks in this thread seem to like a lot...or even the 2800+ combo for $10 less!
Thanks again - you certainly seem to be the go to guy on this deal.

 

[T8ZBUD]

Thanks also ZAP - have seen your fingerprints all over this thread too - your response came in while I was typing - supports my conclusion, but just realized that even though I have a Fry's B&M in striking distance, the $69 deal ended today. We'll see what the weekend ad brings. With all the work and tips you guys have put in on this combo, should be an easy build. Fry's must have access to a large stock of older processors, since I read somewhere that all Semprons made since last July are 64 bit capable.

 

[freshspace]

Originally posted by: BigSpenderNOT
Hi everyone,

I purchased this combo based on this discussion (and also joined the forum!) and everything is going fairly well except that I get a BSOD error when trying to install the NVIDIA drivers that Furballi suggests (not installing the NVIDIA sound and IDE drivers). It definitely installs something when I run it because after the machine reboots the onboard network works! I'm just worried about the BSOD even though things seem to be working fine because I cannot uninstall the NVIDIA drivers from the add/remove programs screen after this happens. I've tried it twice now with a clean install of WinXP Pro both times. The first time, I thought it was because I didn't have DirectX 9 installed (even though it warned me that I should), but the second time, I installed DirectX 9 first. Should I try it again and use the drivers on the disc that came with the Motherboard (rather than the ones Furballi mentions)? I also am not getting any sound after installing the sound drivers that Furballi recommends, but I haven't looked into that too much yet. Thanks in advance for any input, guys (and gals!).

I don't know if your computer is working now, but I had a similar problem. My computer would just shut down (I mean shut down!) when I tried to install the Nvidia platform drivers after XP install, both sp1 and 2. Guess what fixed it? After a fresh XP install, install your video driver first, then the Realtek audio driver and then the 5.10 platform driver from Nvidia. Everything works great now. Give it a shot. This problem gave me a couple of sleepless nights. Good luck.

 

[BigSpenderNOT]

Thanks Freshface, I stil haven't gotten it up and running yet with the LAN drivers. I tried the ones from the ECS website and they didn't do the trick. Maybe I should just do one more clean install tonight. One thing that I noticed was that I don't think my XP disc had SP1 updates (and since I couldn't access the Internet-I didn't download them before trying the Nvidia drivers), so maybe, now that I have downloaded the SP1a updates from MS and put them on my "drivers" disc, that will be the ticket. Two questions... do you think I should also download SP2 onto a disc (and install that, too before the Nvidia drivers)? And... when, in your process, did you install DirectX 9?

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: T8ZBUD
Thanks also ZAP - have seen your fingerprints all over this thread too

I knew I shouldn't have been eating fried chicken at the keyboard.

Well, probably because I "reviewed" the motherboard back in November when I got my Sempron 2600+/ECS NFORCE3-A combo from Fry's for $70.

Zap's mini review of ECS NFORCE3-A

 

[deadken]

AMD Sempron Processor 3100+ & ECS NFORCE3-A Motherboard for $99.99 + Shipping.

IT's BAACCCCKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

Yes, now for only $20 more (then its lowest price) and $10 more (then at the time of the OP), you can get the same lovable combo for $100.

 

[thetxstang]

Originally posted by: deadken
AMD Sempron Processor 3100+ & ECS NFORCE3-A Motherboard for $99.99 + Shipping.

IT's BAACCCCKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

Yes, now for only $20 more (then its lowest price) and $10 more (then at the time of the OP), you can get the same lovable combo for $100.

Ouch! Deal doesn't seem nearly as attractive now.

 

[T8ZBUD]

Originally posted by: thetxstang

Originally posted by: deadken
AMD Sempron Processor 3100+ & ECS NFORCE3-A Motherboard for $99.99 + Shipping.

IT's BAACCCCKKKKKKKKKK!!!!

Yes, now for only $20 more (then its lowest price) and $10 more (then at the time of the OP), you can get the same lovable combo for $100.

Ouch! Deal doesn't seem nearly as attractive now.

Last night it was 79.99 on outpost...25% up overnight...

 

[Iahova]

ECS MB makes this a warm deal at best, Try to drop the MB on ebay and buy a better one somewhere else. I have this processor and it is VERY overclockable.

 

[BigSpenderNOT]

Boy, same thing after installing in the following order:
XP
SP1a
SP2
Nvidia Geforce 6200 Drivers (84.21 ForceWare - Video Card)
Realtek Audio Drivers (the ones Furballi recommends)
DirectX 9 (February 2006 Edition)
Nvidia nforce3 Drivers 5.11...
In the middle of installing...
CRASH! BSOD!
Windows then won't even boot up anymore this time!
Maybe it's this ghetto $20 CompUSA case... first the front sound doesn't have any loop back pins, now I'm thinking maybe the system is crashing because of the front USB ports? I'm unplugging those from the board and trying this again... very frustrating! Anyone have any other ideas? I think I'll try the 5.10 drivers this time also. I'm so sick of loading Windows... aaarrrrgghhhhh!

EDIT: Sorry had to vent there for a second, back to the grind...

 

[DarkTXKnight]

I was setting up my machine last night, installed windows fine, then proceeded to install the nforce3 drivers.When my mahcine began to load the GART driver the screen went black and the machine rebooted and stayed black when it loaded XP. I have a working geforce6800nu . Has anyone seen this behavior before?? Should I not instal the GART driver?

 

[BigSpenderNOT]

Hi Dark Night you probably don't want advice from me with all the problems I have been having, but I just got everything working right installing in the following order...

XP
SP1a
Realtek sound Drivers (Furballi recommendation)
DirectX 9 (February 2006 Ediiton)
Nforce drivers 5.10 (not 5.11 that Furballi recommends - Uncheck IDE & Audio only like he does recommend, though)
Video Drivers (aformentioned)

Of course, I don't exactly know what fixed my problem as I also unplugged the USB connections from the front of the case (I can live without those as long as my computer is running like a champ (knock on wood!)

Thanks to everyone for the help on this one!

 

[thetxstang]

To those that are experiencing BSOD during the middle of nForce3 drivers install, you might try the following, as it worked for a friend of mine with this same setup that experienced the very same issue.

What he did was install each nForce3 5.11 driver component INDIVIDUALLY, restaring after each install before installing the next component. Maybe you can give this a shot and report back on the results.