k7S5A problem

[HeroOfPellinor]

This is my first computer build.

Enlight 3237 w/300W PS
ECS K7S5A
AMD XP 1700
2x256 PC2100 DDR
20 GB Maxtor HD
16X CD-Rom
Geforce2 ti

I'm getting different issues with just about every reboot. I haven't even got an OS installed yet. The main issue is that I can't get any CD-Rom drive to read. The other issue is that the MB will only occasionaly detect the HD and CD-Rom.

I already flashed the BIOS to the newest version. I disconnected and reconnected everything. The CPU temp is around 40. The voltages are within the +/- 5% range allowable. No mounting brackets are touching the board except where they're supposed to. I've tried a couple different CD-Roms, but they're all pretty old.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[AZGamer]

Not the invulnerable ECS board having problems? This is impossible according to certain forum members.

It sounds like you may have a bad board - Did you try putting them on different IDE channels?

 

[IFICUDIWUD]

AZ..
I dont know if anything is invulnerable but im a first time builder and mine runs fine.. I built it myself and im a computer idiot.. I was iventive enough to read about the pro's and cons for awhile b-4 I made my decision as to which board to buy and what type of components to buy to go with it...


Hero,
You might want to look at some of the threads on this forum and also oc' workbench.. there are some valuble insight there.. Good luck mine is doing fine

 

[FrostyFlakes]

can you post the brands of the memory? that *may* be the issue. its very fickle about the type of memory it likes. i just used crucial and it worked fine wit that. that would be the only problem i see wit your configuration. check ps, what ur 3v and 5v are.

 

[osage]

Have you installed the nessasary drivers for the mobo, ie:IDE,AGP etc:

see this page

 

[Duvie]

< Not the invulnerable ECS board having problems? This is impossible according to certain forum members.

It sounds like you may have a bad board - Did you try putting them on different IDE channels? >

Not many have said that dickhead...Many like me have admitted ECS has quality control issues (ie bad cmos batteries, and a bit high of an rma rate whether that is due to some user error I don't know) just not the sis chipset which you love to harp on, but lack any evidence or common sense to realize you are plain wrong...

You just go have sex with your via boards....

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

I tried switching the ide drives to no avail. I tried to load Win 2k by starting with the floppies to no avail; once it gets to the part where it asks for the CD it fails because it can't read the CD.

It recognizes the CD-Rom drive fine, but won't read from it.

I guess I can try loading the SiSIDE drivers. Is this the kind of thing that signifies a bad MB?

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

 

[Lord Gwynz]

Have you tried out different IDE cables?

 

[Gunslinger08]

<< Have you tried out different IDE cables? >>



I was going to suggest exactly that.. my floppy had random problems for the longest time until I switched cables.

Josh

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Tried several different cables.

It detects the cd-rom, but it won't actually read from it. I've tried reverting to older versions of the BIOS, but that hasn't helped. I tried changing the PIO to 5, but that didn't help. I tried making two different cd-roms primary slaves, secondary masters, and secondary slaves; but no combination worked.

 

[dAv]

Hero
Download and run Memtest86 from Here
Also visit OCworkbench and read Mr. Athlon's article OCworkbench
Sounds like my problems with this MB. Updated BIOS does not help.
It can be fixed if you don't mind soldering a resistor on your new MB.
If if fails Memtest, I'd RMA it and get a different MB

 

[L00PY]

Standard reply: "Is your PSU on AMD's Approved PSU list for your processor speed?" Just having a generic "AMD approved" sticker isn't good enough.

Also, are you using the I/O panel that came with the board?

You can try pulling a stick of DDR, but that doesn't sound like your problem.

 

[Duvie]

dAv,

Hey I see you may be the newest resident ecs basher....

If you actually read any of the f^cking articles you would know the data coruption problem is believed to be linked with an incorrect ohm resistor. This is thought to only affect tbirds of roughly 1.2 to 1.4ghz... XP's have no issue with this...The resistor is not correct with amd specs for the processor and may be the reason...

Though I don't agree this is in fact or enough information to prove this I am already tired of your response I have seen twice in minute....

I have seen many posts on ecs problems and no one here has mentioned to someone "soldering a resistor on your new MB"

You were just another person with limited computer experience who gave up too early or just didn't realize that some get bad boards...

Abit kt133 and 133a's had large post here with mobio failing to post...

Epox 8k7a's had post of bad agp ports that fried many cards...

Shuttle ak31's are having many posts now as well...

I personally know of 5 boards I have built and about 10 more others a friend who does it more for a living as built and not one board had to be rma'd....

Sometimes it happens...grow up...move on...maybe you have bad charma...

Also go back and read the entire 18 plus pages of mrathlons post and you will notice that many ppl have solved many of their issues even after memtest had told them it failed...

 

[Lord Gwynz]

That's a strange problem considering your hard drive is working fine on either IDE channel but not your CDROM? What kind of CDROM is it exactly? I've used several different CDROMs on this board, a Toshiba 16X DVDROM, a Pioneer 16X DVDROM, a Samsung 16X CDRW, a Liteon 24X CDRW and even an ancient Philips 2X CDRW drive and I don't recall having to do anything out of the ordinary to install them and have them running.

 

[Duvie]

I had a problem about a year ago where my new kt133 board would not detect my older 16x goldstar cd-rom....I was going to flash the firmware of the drive but threw into my moms older pentium system and it ran fine...

Maybe this is a hardware compatability issue...

 

[dAv]

Hey Duvie



<< If you actually read any of the f^cking articles you would know the data coruption problem is believed to be linked with an incorrect ohm resistor. This is thought to only affect tbirds of roughly 1.2 to 1.4ghz... XP's have no issue with this...The resistor is not correct with amd specs for the processor and may be the reason... >>



A little touchy are we?
I did read his 18 pages, did you? If you notice, Athlon XP's fail also, and soldering a resistor
IS the recommeded cure.
Did you run memtest on any of your boards?
I'd be really reluctant to rely on a board that failed the test.
I didn't give up on it too soon, I gave up on it too late. (no RMA)
Tried different PS, OS etc.
Also, notice the K7S5A is NOT approved by AMD for Tbirds, only XP's

I posted on this forum just to let people know that they should be carefull with this MB
and that there is very good info about it at OCworkbench from someone who obviously
has studied this matter a whole lot, plus there is a simple test to see if your board is OK.
I had problems that were not easy to pinpoint and wasted a lot of time. I hope to save
some else from wasting their time. So flame me for my effort.

 

[Thump553]

If replacing the cable & CD reader doesn't solve the problem, I would try installing the OS directly from the CD-set your bios to boot from the CD.

Early versions (like mine) of this motherboard had a bug where they would write corrupted data to the floppy-this was corrected in later bios versions. By chance did you make your boot floppies before upgrading the bios? If so, make them again (or on a different machine).

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to buy a brand new retail cd-rom and try another disk--even though I know all the drives and the disk I've already tried work on other systems. I'll post an update after I try that.

 

[AZGamer]

<< If you actually read any of the f^cking articles you would know the data coruption problem is believed to be linked with an incorrect ohm resistor. This is thought to only affect tbirds of roughly 1.2 to 1.4ghz... XP's have no issue with this...The resistor is not correct with amd specs for the processor and may be the reason >>





<< Not many have said that dickhead...Many like me have admitted ECS has quality control issues (ie bad cmos batteries, and a bit high of an rma rate whether that is due to some user error I don't know) just not the sis chipset which you love to harp on, but lack any evidence or common sense to realize you are plain wrong... >>



Seeing as I didn't make a statement directed towards you, there was no reason to reply as such. These two statements also had nothing to do with Hero's problem. I feel those two statements above go over the line of good taste into personal insults, and respectfully ask you to remove those two insults from your post.

 

[Duvie]

You tone down the via propaganda, and sis bashing when you have failed in every argument to link any issues to the chipset...You have rubbed many ppl in this forum wrong with your misinformation, and with only one board you have issues with you lack sufficient experience with this board to truly comment other then IMO stated in front of every sentence. You take every testament by forum membes as gospel yet don't realize the visual and vocal few make up a small percentage who have problems with the mobo...ppl that are not issues most likely will not post, so you don't see them and forget about them...

Lets agree on 3 things....

1)via has a pci latency issue, but t is questionable in how many ppl it will actually affect in real-world experience

2)ECS is not a great quality mobo manufacturer like asus and others, but sis735 is bug free at the moment

3)The whole market stes to benefit from mor mobo manufacturers building sis735 and sis745 mobos...Quality and features will inevitably go up....

 

[dAv]

<< Lets agree on 3 things.... >>



Hear Hear!

Let's keep the discussion focused on the problems we all run in to.
There are people with plenty of experience to help those that don't.
That's why I joined this forum 3 years ago.

 

[osage]

what dAv just said

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Well, my thread seems to have been diverted, but I'm still having the same problem.

I just bought a brand new 52x Hi-Val cd-rom drive and still have the exact same problem. It's not the cd-rom drive, it's not the ide cable. The cd works fine in the same cd-rom drive in a different system, so it's not the cd. Has nobody had this problem before? Just a reminder, the bios detects the cd-rom but it won't read from it, so I can't install an OS. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[AZGamer]

Have you tried using a different IDE header to see if it is an IDE header issue?

Also.



<< sis735 is bug free at the moment >>



The other two points are understandable, but the one above is laughable. Radeon 7500, Thunderbird incompatibilities, where to start?

 

[DieHardware]

Hero what OS are you trying to install?(I quickly looked through your hijacked:disgust: thread but didn't see it listed). Do you have the CD as the first bootable device in your bios(or at least the bios set to search for other boot drives)? If your installing win9x do you have DOS drivers loaded for your CD-ROM?