Calling all ECS K7S5A (SiS735) motherboard owners!

[VBboy]

Hello, hello!

If you own a ECS K7S5A (SiS735-based) motherboard, have you had any problems with it??
I'm tyring to collect as much information as I can before buying it for a friend.

Please post any issues you're aware of with this board.
Thanks!

 

[Jerboy]

<< Hello, hello!

If you own a ECS K7S5A (SiS735-based) motherboard, have you had any problems with it??
I'm tyring to collect as much information as I can before buying it for a friend.

Please post any issues you're aware of with this board.
Thanks! >>




how about the past tense of own, owned?

You bet I had tons of problem with it.

problem: random loss of CMOS content, failing to boot with FSB at 133, Windows hardware wizard detecting same hardware all over again, very frequent BSOD and crap.

solution: nuke K7S5A, buy different mobo.

<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.picturetrail.com/jerboi/517353
">k7s5a is a past thing</a>

 

[Buz2b]

Contrary to the previous opinion, the K7S5A is an excellent board. In sheer numbers it was the "darling" of budget MB's for some time and still is to a certain extent. The price/performance ratio is terrific. Yes, there were a number of folks that had trouble with this board when it first was released but that was more of a product of it's popularity than anything else. Many "first time" builders saw this board as their ticket to a kicka$$, ultra low budget system and populated their system with inexpensive and sometimes questionable quality Power supplies and components. Then they wondered why it wouldn't boot. Was this the sole reason for people like Jerboy's problems? No. But the vast majority of complaints or problems were not too difficult to solve and could be traced back to either weak components (power supplies especially) or inexperienced builders.
There are many opinions on this board but the bottom line is that it is an excellent performer and the overwhelming masses have had wonderful experiences with it. Heck, Newegg simply has NEVER been able to keep them in stock! Even to this day it is on the "Auto-Notify" list. If it were such a bad board I would think that, by now, they would have large numbers of them on hand or would simply not sell them anymore. Neither is true.
I have built 6 systems with this board in the past and the only trouble I had was of my own doing. Oops!

 

[Iron Woode]

I have never had any troubles with that board. Works great.

don't always believe what Jerboy says. He tends to troll and has earned the nickname Jerk-boy.

 

[Thump553]

Buz2b knows what he is talking about.

If you want more info, do a thread search, or better go to the ECS forum at ocworkbench.com. They have a FAQ and latest bios for this mb.

BTW, I built three systems in Sept/Oct and all work flawlessly. Only problems were on my initial system and they were primarily of my own inexperience. Am strongly considering buying another for my mother-in-law's system.

Make sure you have a quality powersupply and quality memory.

 

[Workin']

This is just my experience with that board, draw your own conclusions:

I built 6 systems using the K7S5A. All 6 now have different brand boards in them, because the K7S5A's ALL failed in one way or another after 2 weeks to 2 months of use. I'm by no means a "newbie" builder, and all the components work fine with the new boards, so they can't be THAT bad (sorry Buz2b). Buying a "budget" motherboard that only works if all the other components are "premium" seems pretty stupid to me.

 

[Brian48]

I was very hesitant to get this board originally as well, but for the most part, this MB has worked fairly well for me. Very stable, very fast, and actually quite overclockable via software utilities like CPUFSB. 'Cause of the price, I essentially bought this as a "throw away" board until I can afford something better, but now I think I'll hold onto it a little longer. I've no reason to replace it with a pricier MB at the moment. I submitted a more detailed user review of it over here under the nick "Jarhead".

Some more good links if you want to do some more research in regards to user experiences.

Newegg.com's K7S5A user reviews

ECS user forum over at AthlonMB.com

Of course, you can also do a search in this forum as well for old threads.

 

[Endless]

I too was hesitant about getting this board and thought from the reviews that it might be too good to be true...but I've now built 4 systems using this board and no major problems yet. I've come across some quirks but nothing I've been able to work around. Probably, the worst problem I've had was getting a Promise Ultra100 TX2 controller to work with it...this issue was eventually resolved by disabling the onboard sound as it seems to be an issue with either the SIS chipset or the Promise BIOS. I was planning to get an SB Live 5.1 anyway...

If you really want to read in depth stuff about this board you may also want to check www.ocworkbench.com and look for the ECS 2002 forum...as you'll see there are a lot of other owners who are willing to help with any issues...

 

[VBboy]

Thanks, guys!

I appreciate your feedback.
At this poing, I'm still considering this board....

To all who had problems with it: what is the revision of your motherboard? Could it be an earlier version, or maybe an earlier BIOS, that was causing those problems?

 

[FrostyFlakes]

no specific revision or bios. i have all different revisions for the 4 mb i have and all work fine

 

[NTB]

I like the board, but right now it's being a pain in @ss. Locks up randomly for no apparent reason. Temps aren't out of spec, nothing's OC'd, and in fact I've got the timings set as conservatively as possible. Next step is to pull the RAM chips out one at a time and see if possibly I've got a dying chip on my hands.

Nate

 

[Freewolf]

Mine has been working fine with no problems for at least 4 months now.

 

[SleepyGuy]

Here are my systems:

Duron 750 @ 1000 Mhz
ECS K7S5A rev 3.1
256 SDRam PC133
IBM 40 GB 7200 RPM
Radeon 7500
Windows 2000 Pro

Going 2 months no lockups... Radeon 7500 330/290 (580 Effective) is extremely overclocked!

Duron 700 @ 966
ECS K7S5A rev 3.1
256 SDRam PC133
IBM 20 GB 7200 RPM
All-in-Wonder Radeon
Windows 98 SE

Crashes but i blame the win9x core. Reliable nonetheless.

Remember to use the latest bios and disable stuff you won't be using... ie, sound, com ports, serial ports, etc. I use manual mem settings. CPU's run hot but are staple 24/7. Gotta love this $88 Canadian board!

 

[de8212]

I've got one and it's been great for about 3 months. I even flashed the bios this morning and all went well.

I also flashed the bios of my epox 8kha+ and somehow it will not recognize my on-board sound now but that's another deal.

de

 

[CocaCola5]

I have this board and its running fine except the occasion cmos disappearing problem. However, I wouldn't recommend this board for heavy users, the board though stable seems too flaky at times for me.

 

[Jerboy]

One word answer:
inconsistency



Maybe the factory sends out relatively low yield of good product.

Those who got the good board are happy but rest arent.

There are always going to be people happy even with something with 10% yield, because even though 9 out of 10 might be unhappy, the lucky one who got the good board is satisfied.

 

[drake6]

Check my sig I've had zero problems with the mobo, (crap blaster sound card different story wonkie drivers with widoze xp) the install is a snap *especially with windoze xp* Onboard lan works well and it very very stable and very quick.

 

[Duvie]

Hey jerbil....

I think you got your answer in above this post does not require multiple input from the same person...

We can get into why your board and your experience (or lack thereof) with this board was so bad if you wish...I don't think you do though!!!


I think it is more like 9 or 8 out of 10 is happy with this board with no problems...


I have built 5...no problems... use 1 right now and never have had instability....I run it oced via cpufsb at 143fsb (would be nice if it had ram voltage adjustments) at ultra settings...no lockups...run Autocadd 2000, 3dstudioviz, and gknot all the time...I never have to shut the system down cause of freeze ups...I 've had the board now for over 3-1/2 months.

To be honest I had a bad cmos battery that I replaced for 3.00 bucks...problem solved with loss of cmos and bios data...Jerboi was not smart enough to figure that one out considering it was widely reported here and ocworkbench as a problem with earlier revision boards...

 

[joecool]

i've got the k7s5a & love it. no problems at all. in fact, it's the best board i've got right now (see my sig for all my systems). go for it - i think you'll be happy!

 

[Dundain]

Ive built 3 computers with this board so far, and the only problems I had was the early Win2k/Floppy problems and then one that wasnt really a result of the board...just one VERy stupid kitty...hehe

 

[TBC]

If you buy this board, make sure you buy it from a place that lets you return it for any reason.

I would also do a search in the message forums here, and other places, for people who have had problems with this board. I had to return mine due to problems.

But buying from a place that lets you return it is most important in my opinion.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I've had mine since August and have used 3 different CPUs(including a 1.4T-Bird) and both DDR and PC133 in it and it's great. The only issue I,ve had is the POS KTS battery they put in it dying after 2months but that was cured easily and for free as I have extra batteries lying around. Also, the on-board LAN is great and the black PCB gives it the cool factor IMHO.

 

[Phiton]

I have two of these boards. Been running fine for a couple of months. Generally, they seem to do well with good quality power supplies. One of mine needed a replacement battery. All my machines run the Seti@Home project 24/7, with no lock-up's, & the ecs boards are very fast.
If either of them dies, then I'll pull it out & put something else in it's place without question. No need of whining about a $57.00 board.

 

[Budman]

I have had this board for a while now & not 1 problem with it .

Btw i have a 1.4ghz Athlon with a rev 4 board & it's running like a champ.

 

[trikster2]

I've had it for 3 weeks.

So far no problems.

Pleasantly surprised: Everything worked the first time and has been rock solid since I put it together.

Not exactly stressing it: 1Ghz Duron, 1 stick of 256MB ram, SBLive 5.1 MP3.

So far great bang for the buck.

Good luck!