Help the Mod!!!!!!!

My Motherboard ECS K7S5A PRO
(Brand New)

Processor: AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (Brand New)

Memory:
1 Stick. Centon PC2100 256MB 266MHZ Unbuffered 2.5V (Brand New)
1 Stick Micron PC2100 256MB 266MHZ Unbuffered 2.5V (Brand New)

I have a 400W PSU. Radeon 7000 AGP 4X Video Card

I hooked the motherboard OUT OF THE CASE, with just the Video Card, one stick of memory, processor and HSF. Power button switch only hooked up and obviously the PSU ATX connected.


NO DRIVERS OR ANY OTHER CARDS. Booted, Processor fan runs, motherboard lights come on. NO POST

What I have done:

30 day saga. 1st board was a gigabyte (refurbished) same identical symptoms, tryed everything. So I RMA'd and bought the above board.

Then I concluded it was the processor Athlon XP 1900+ with a Palanoma core(sp?), rma'd back to newegg, figuring they test? They refunded my $$, no longer sell, so bought the 1800+ instead. OEM Core: Thoroughbred

With the ECS board: Cleared CMOS, tryed both sticks of RAM each independently. What I haven't tryed yet is using the PC133 SDRAM (currently in this one) - board can take either but not both at same time.

Will work more this Thursday (off work) - try the PC133 Stick.

I am completely stunped. PSU is 400W about a year old and is powering sytem now as I type 800MHz celeron with 384MB PC133 SDRAM. I am just swapping the board and processor that is all. Hava good HSF, also tryed the HSF from this one.

I am missing something, as both boards acted the same, the only common denominator is the memory. Yes I know NEW MEMORY can be bad. But if I find that it will not post with the PC133, then should rule out the memory.

This is pretty much a jumperless board, and unfortuanely read some reviews today (too late) and it sucks. Although those that got it to run praise it.

Thursday I will mount the board and try different memory. But I am at a loss. Has to be something simple and have racked brain. Any idea's anybody every use this ECS board???

Can't take my own advice as I am out of advice.

Check to see it there is a jumper that needs to be changed to allow for the different types of cpus.

Your manual is here, scroll down to it.

Have you double checked the Clear Cmos Jumper? Lot of them now are shipped with the clear setting jumpered..

Hi Murf,

One of the problems with that board is the DIMM slots themselves. Two out of three are faulty/flaky.

Spaceman

Hum,

Will try the SIMM slots Thursday with my PC133 SDRAM, The only jumper is the Clear CMOS, which I cleared then put back to normal setting.

BIOS adjust for CPU no jumpers...

I have been discussing in the mod forum (that other forum you know) and the question of the PSU came up. This system (using now) has a 400W PS, which should be ample about a year old. Running a Celeron 800MHz, so the Athlon XP 1800 will require more voltage, and the DDR ram too but I am no where near the 400W. However, just checked my PC Health status in BIOS with the current system 800MHz and 384MB PC133 SDRAM and have the following:

VCORE ..1.67V
2.5V......2.46V
3.3V......3.31V
5V.........5.02V
12V.......11.94V

The 5v stays between between 5.0 to 5.02V

I know you need the +5V and below could shutdown the system, I'm not sure if the +12V at 11.94 has any bearing?????

Most voltage recommendations i've seen say your good if it's not more than 5% to8% off. That 0.6v would be 5% of 12v so that 'should' be ok.
Last ECS i worked on was a really thin board. Scared to plug the IDE's in unless i used a finger underneath to support it it bent so easily.:eek:

I'd say that you've just been unlucky and both the Mobo's are deceased.

Is the ECS mobo refurbished also?

I've always wondered how they refurbish a Mobo. I fear that they are customer returns sent out again, in the hope that the original owner got it wrong.

Have you checked to see if the power supply is AMD compatible?
Whilst it is powerful enough it might not be able to supply the surge required to boot up properly.Its a pity you cant borrow one to test the system with.
Do you get any error code beeps with the memory removed?

Just a thought but the board does support the Thoroughbred core doesnt it?

Adnedum:
Good info HERE c/o The unofficial K7S5A motherboard guide

Quote:

---

For an Athlon XP based system, you need something like this:

3.3volt line: 20 amps minimum
5.0volt line: 30 amps minimum
12volt line: 15 amps minimum
and
A combined 3.3v & 5.0v line output of 180watt minimum.

---

Murf.....that board does have a jumper for 100/133 mhz I dont remember where it is....but my ex wife built a machine on that board with a duron processor...and when I put a athlon xp on it had to find that darn jumper and change it.

Been watching to see what's what. So, I had to check something and yes, the same board is in my daughter's computer. She tried using DDR and her computer wouldn't boot. I did some research and found she would need a BIOS update to use DDR. Conclusion, she's using SDRAM. Hope this helps!!

I have a K7S5A Pro board here that I just gave up on. It would not cold boot. I built a computer for my son a few months ago and bought this board from newegg. I put every thing together and it booted after I think the forth try. I got the OS, board drivers, service pack from MS, Norton system works installed. It would restart ok but when I shut the computer off it might take up to 20 tries to get it to start back up, How did I know that? Because this is the 2nd ECS board I have owned that did that. My original ECS still runs, 4 years old. The 1st ECS started out with sd ram and I later upgraded to pc2100 ddr. This last one had ddr and ran it ok when it would start so I cant say if that was the problem or not. I bought a new Gigabyte GA-7VT600-L, problem solved. I cant say enough about this board. Last weekend I built two more computers with this board, one for my local Union and one for a friend. Both run fine. If you want I will ship this ECS to you free of charge, just email me if you want it. I have the box, driver disk Its brand new I just don't want to mess with it any more.

This board sucks... I think I have narrowed it down to the Power Supply. Been messing with it for 3 hours, hooked it up in the case, tryed booting with hard drive hhoked up, just the floppy, only card in was the video. Tryed the AGP card, then tryed a PCI card, tryed SDRAM by itself (good memory), tryed DDR. Took the I/O slot cover off and tryed. NADDA. Will not post period. No signal to the monitor.

Well I checked the power supply and will do some more research, but have the following:

Duron 400W (Has the P4 connector)

3.3V = 28A
+5V = 30A
+12V = 11A
-5V = 0.5A
-12V = 0.8A
+5VSB = 3A

So if the Athlon XP requires 15 amps minimum on the 12V rail eye's screwed. as mine is only 11A.

No problem with the PS with my Celeron 800MHz... Have to check the specs in my son's to see if it is more amp's..then I can swap.

Or

New power supply in order....

rbc1100 Maybe same problem...but the gigabyte worked go figure...

CASE CLOSED

Board is junk rmaing it. Will never buy another ECS board. I'm running one in this machine has worked great for several years. But their newer P4 boards are not worth the cardboard they are made on IMHO.

I swapped power supplies my son's HAD (it's now in this one), a 460W with the +12V rail of 18A, so plenty of power. Still no post.

Lesson learned, don't try and save money buying a cheap board, I will have to pay shipping back for the rma...but. Going out tomorrow and will find a good ASUS or ABIT board.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Good choice Murf,;) but don't forget Gigabyte or MSI boards. Just sorry you had to spend bucks to learn this. :(

YEP haven't forgot Gigabyte.....Maybe buy locally rather then order on the net.