Ecs Rant!

Cyberwiz01

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Joined

Jul 3, 2003

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hunting wolverines

• Jul 29, 2003

• #1

These boards SUCK!
I have gone through so many ECS K7S5A motherboards! I am not a newb to installing computer hardware, i know what i'm doing. Sometimes Fry's sells boards that have already been opened. I have gotten two with messed up ps2 ports, on one the keyboard wouldnt detect, and on the other, whoever had the board before me must have had the same problem because he bent the keyboard port so much that nothing would fit in it anymore. And then theres the problem of it not holding the bios as mentioned on another thread. And then when i do get one that works, it spontaneously goes out a few months later. My brother built a computer for his friend and used an ECS board, now that computer comes back to us to fix every few weeks. Those boards are horrible, ECS needs some serious quality control, i'm sure some people get decent boards from them, but so many of them have defects and flaws, it is a gamble to try to get a good board. Boooooo for ECS!

EDIT: I wonder why it posted twice? Mods, please delete one of them.

 

Last edited: Jul 29, 2003

GameFAQsRolo

Official Cool Guy

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Joined

Jun 3, 2003

Location

Commerce, Los Angeles County, California, USA

• Jul 29, 2003

• #2

Cyberwiz01 said:

...My brother built a computer for his friend and used an ECS board, now that computer comes back to us to fix every few weeks.

Click to expand...

I thought it was the Albatron board that kept coming back?

 

OP

Cyberwiz01

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Joined

Jul 3, 2003

Location

hunting wolverines

• Jul 29, 2003

• Thread Starter
• #3

Well first it was an ECS board, now its an albatron board. You know what, its not the boards! My house is a computer hell!

But ECS still sucks

 

palee72

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Joined

Sep 10, 2002

Location

Pittsburgh, PA

• Jul 29, 2003

• #4

I had a K7S5A bought for my FIL. Didn't work. Bought something else...worked fine.

I then bought a barebones system.. Had the PCchips 810L mobo. It's the exact same thing as the K7S5A. (I didn't know at the time they were basicly the same company). It didn't work with what I wanted to put in it.. So, I figure I'll dig out the ECS board.. Guess what, it works.. I've been running it for almost a year. I'm not wild about it. It seems to be bottle necked somewhere...

I dont seem to have an issue with the CMOS batt going on me. Then again, when it didn't work at first, I replaced it. I honestly believe they recycle the CMOS batteries from old mother boards to save $$$..

I now am working with a K7SEM (ecs.. I don't learn) and I've been having nothing but problems with it.

I've got an MSI board sitting in a box somewhere that I haven't used yet.. wonder how it is..

From now on.. I'll buy EPOX.. I had one once and I loved it.. Never had an easier install in my life..

 

sup3rcarrx8

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Jun 23, 2003

Location

Folding in California

• Aug 23, 2003

• #5

"You get what you pay for" ??

 

7keys

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Joined

Dec 12, 2001

Location

Montreal

• Aug 23, 2003

• #6

What are you soyo users doing in the ECS area, slumming?

 

sup3rcarrx8

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Joined

Jun 23, 2003

Location

Folding in California

• Aug 23, 2003

• #7

My sig is old now i guess. I bought a k7s5a pro for $30 from my friend and i think it's ok. I do have ONE BIG problem though. Everytime i start up, it gives me a CMOS low batery message or CMOS whatever errors. So i go to the BIOS and i see that all my settings are not even saved. So i change them and save and reboot. Next thing i know, it won't boot! I have to reset the cmos again. After doing THAT part of the process, i press the power button on and off twice just to get it started everytime i use my computer. But overall when i'm in Windows, it's pretty stable. Any suggestions with my CMOS problem guys? Possibly a jumper setting put in the wrong place? Thanks.

 

7keys

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Joined

Dec 12, 2001

Location

Montreal

• Aug 24, 2003

• #8

Sad to say, this is a common problem with the K7S5A, many people have that prob.

I hope this helps!

K7S5A problem FAQ:

Q: I loose my Cmos frequently, have Memory misdetection or am getting a blank screen at coldboots. Is there a possible fix for this?

A: Yes, you can try an other BIOS release or apply Mr.Athlons resistor fix if no BIOS will help you. For more details and how to improve it read here:
http://pub65.ezboard.com/fk7s5amotherboardforumfrm10.showMessage?topicID=567.topic
Worked for a lot of people who couldn´t fix it with an other BIOS release. There is a BIOS (021029tsd) that adresses this issue but it´s only fake. Just a renamed 021029 bios that was released before.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: I did the resistor fix but the issue persist. Does it mean this fix doesn´t work for me?

A: Maybe it doesn´t work for you but it could be also just a weak battery or a corroded battery holder.

 

sup3rcarrx8

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Joined

Jun 23, 2003

Location

Folding in California

• Aug 24, 2003

• #9

I"m not sure if i want to do some modding on my board or mess with the bios though. I feel that i have no experience so i may short the board or something. It's kind of freaky to do it for a nooby like myself with no experience to do it.

 

7keys

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Joined

Dec 12, 2001

Location

Montreal

• Aug 24, 2003

• #10

The resistor fix wouldn't be a mod I would like to do either but flashing the bios is not a problem.

Give it a try as it’s not really hard at all. I was a very nervous the first few times but now it only makes me a little nervous.

 

sup3rcarrx8

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Joined

Jun 23, 2003

Location

Folding in California

• Aug 25, 2003

• #11

My floppy drive doesn't work though... do you think that i could burn the things needed for flashing the bios on a cd and then set the bios somehow to make it run the cdrom first so i can start the flashing the bios process?

 

AllenSmoker

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Joined

Apr 20, 2003

Location

Washington

• Aug 25, 2003

• #12

You can have the bios image and flash program on your hard drive , boot from cd and then run them. Or there are cd images around that have the newest bios and are already bootable, just burn it to a cdrw and reboot.

 

sup3rcarrx8

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Joined

Jun 23, 2003

Location

Folding in California

• Aug 25, 2003

• #13

Could you find a link for me please? I wouldn't know what to search for on google lol.

 

7keys

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Joined

Dec 12, 2001

Location

Montreal

• Aug 26, 2003

• #14

bootable CD


That will find you something.

 

sup3rcarrx8

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Jun 23, 2003

Location

Folding in California

• Aug 26, 2003

• #15

Cool thanks!

 

7keys

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Joined

Dec 12, 2001

Location

Montreal

• Aug 26, 2003

• #16

Let me know how that works out for you as I would like to try it myself.

 

AllenSmoker

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Joined

Apr 20, 2003

Location

Washington

• Aug 26, 2003

• #17

Depending on what version you have, you can boot up from a windows install cd, and when you cancel it will drop you to a dos prompt. OR you can download a bootdisk from bootdisk.com, and then burn it to a cdrw with nero.

 

sup3rcarrx8

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Joined

Jun 23, 2003

Location

Folding in California

• Aug 27, 2003

• #18

Yup, that was originally my plan. I'm going to try it out tomorrow if it works if i have time.