Hardware Analysis - ECS K7S5A

Re: ECS K7S5A

Stuart Pearson — 2005-10-27T22:39:47-05:00

I agree with all of the others mine is the same but now i've but a usb cable to get four ports using the connector on the board but that doesn't work either any help would be grate on that..

Ks75A mobo, Sound Blaster Live Value, GForce MX400, 1.7 Athlon, 512MB RAM
Win98SE

Cheers all,

Re: ECS K7S5A

Kel Ariwite — 2005-09-23T17:42:52-05:00

I had so many problems with this board, it would crash when I ran anything 3-D, I flashed bios, reformatted more times than I would like to mention, and the whole time all I needed was a BIGGER power supply. I got a 400 watt and have had NO problems.
SO what have you learned? Get at least a 400 watt Ps

Re: ECS K7S5A

yohanes bw — 2005-03-16T18:04:32-05:00

heLPP!!
i have a problem probably with my ECS k7s5a.
my computer
350 w psu
ecs k7s5a ..i buy it two year ago...
AMD athlon 1700+
Ati radeon 9550
1 mem module 256 Ram DDR
======================
i have a problem when I use winxp...
before that,i use winME and it seem to be good...
but I want to use the latest OS,so can compatible with new program that I need...

in winxp
my computer sometimes can automatically reset...or can appear a blue screen (tell about memory dump, disable your memory shadow BIOSS,etc)....
i try to change Bios setting,but I not worked too...
I already change my graphic card from geforce2 GTS PRO to radeon 9550, but I still have the same problem(auto restart)...
I also already change my processor from athlon xp 1600 to 1700....but I stiiiiilll have that problem...
I even try to install xp home editon , profesional edition ,and gold edition,but all have the same problem
my system only work stable if i use winME...but I need WINXP....

can anyone know where my problem is???

can anyone help me,pleaseee....

Re: ECS K7S5A

Mike Cully — 2004-04-07T20:50:16-05:00

Welcome to the club, we sold about a hundred of these boards in office systems and to end users, and almost half have come back. Anything from locking up to loosing BIOS settings during a restart or after being shutdown all night. We tried everything we could find and nothing would help any of the boards once they started loosing the BIOS, it was over. Cost us a couple good and old customers and then cost us money to replace with MSI or Shuttles.

ASI who we purchased from was no help, and said they had not heard of any problems, but then the bad caps started showing up on a lot of them, others, just never ran right. Upgrading or even down grading the BIOS had no or little effect. A search online proved there we lots of unhappy K7S5A customers. I never really got any bad feed back on their other boards, just that model.

Sad to say, ECS never responded to our calls, and only to a couple emails , usually 2 weeks after we sent them. Needless to say we no longer sell their mother boards, which was our main board for over 2 years.

Might as well trash them once you start getting lock up, chances are you got some from the bad batch that went around and no one wants to claim..

Re: ECS K7S5A

Alain Bourgie — 2003-07-27T10:13:40-05:00

This is the first time that I've experienced installing a motherboard, and very doughtful of my results when I booted for the first time..Surprise!, everything is working perfectly for the last month or so.

Re: ECS K7S5A

Mike C — 2003-06-20T08:01:15-05:00

The Board can handle up to an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (266 FSB Versions only)

Most of you might find that you have to Flash your Bios, as only the new bios versions can handle that processor... The board works for Palomino cores and Throughbred cores (Athlon XP cores) as well as Duron's Spitfire & Morgan Cores, Athlon Thunderbird's, Pluto and Orion Cores..

If your running an Athlon XP processor with 133 MHz Ram *PC 133*, dump the ram and pick up 266 MHz PC 2100 DDR ram and then try running the 133/133 setting, You'll find that is more stable. and that windows won't lock up on start up.

100 CPU = 100 MHz - 200 Mhz FSB (will automatically set the right FSB)
133 CPU = 266 MHz FSB Processors
133 Ram = 266 MHz PC 2100 DDR RAM
100 Ram = 133 - 200 MHz Ram sticks I.E. PC 133, 150, etc. (I used to run PC 150 on this board *150 MHz Ram*)

From my Experience This board CAN'T handle PC 100 RAM

By running
100/100 on an Athlon Xp you will notice the Down clock in the processor, thats because this board uses the Front Side Bus (FSB) to clock your processor to where its supposed to be at..

100/133 on Athlon Xp processor's will Down clock your Processor but allow you to run DDR ram.
If your a Duron, Athlon Thunderbird user (Old Athlons using 100 - 200 FSB ONLY) it will clock your processor to where its supposed to be at, And allow you to use DDR ram.

133/133 Requires an avrage of 400 Watts or Greater PSU to run safely with no 3D program lock up's, On Athlon XP or Any other Athlon Processor that has 266 MHz FSB, This setting will Clock your processor to where its supposed to be at, and if you notice the 133 for ram meaning you should run DDR ram.. I had a problem in which if I dident have DDR ram on a 133/133 setting the Computer woulden't boot, or would crash while booting up... When I got the DDR RAM
(Mushkin PC 2100 266 MHz DDR) the problem was fixed, and when I got my 400 Watt PSU that fixed all other problems I had.

Most will find that the Board locks up on 3D programs, Best solution to fix this is a Better PSU, this Board requires alot of power to operate, and I wouldent recommend you run this board on the 133/133 setting without having a 400 Watt or Greater PSU and PC 2100, 266 MHz DDR RAM...

The only Exception to the 400 Watt PSU is:
If your on a older Athlon Thunderbird or Duron Core that has 200 FSB or less
In which case you would run the 100 / 100 (PC 133 or 150 ram) or 100 / 133 Setting (DDR RAM)
Then you could use a 350 Watt Power supply... and not have to worry about locking up unless your computer overheats or your Vid card overheats....
(the older cores had 100 - 133 FSB and Duron Cores don't Hit 200 FSB or above)

I run a closed case, The temperature outside is 100+ degrees (its summer time) and the Idle temp of my processor is 54 *C when I stress it with load it will jump to a max of 73 *C (when the case is dusty on the inside) If my case is clean the Max temp will only be 62 *C under heavey stress and still be stable as a rock..
If I open my case you can minus 10 - 15 * C on those above posted Temperature ratings, I use system bios and Speedfan to check my tempatures...

For those of you who missed my above post my system is running

I'm running

ECS K7S5A with latest Official Bios 02/10/29
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ Palomino Core
256 MB PC2100 Mushkin DDR RAM 1 stick
Nvidia Geforce 3 TI 500, Now Overclocked
Aureal 2 Sound Card
Maxtor 10.2 GIG HD 5400 RPM 512k Buffer (Old I know)
Western Digital 5 GIG 5200 - 5400 RPM 384 K buffer, (Even older lol)
Sony 24x CDRW
1.44 Floppy
System cooler, Type that slides in a PCI slot
Stock CPU fan that came with the processor
400 Watt PSU

Your 3.3v & 5v ratings have the most to do with your crashing... If they are lower by 5% or more then you should get a better Power supply

Your 3.3v can be no lower then 3.150 (for the 5% theory)
and your 5.5v can be no lower then 4.75 (5% Theory)

Heres something else I posted
http://sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=135983

This also has the Fix, and some other stuff...

I've built over 13 Different systems, and of all the systems only 2 others have given me problems that were tough to figure out...
It took me 5 Months to Solve my problem for this board (ECS K7S5A), 5 months of reading Forums and all that other crap, I hope this helps everyone else and saves you time & trouble....

Good Luck!

Re: ECS K7S5A

Michael Watson — 2003-05-09T17:24:16-05:00

To Dan W
Sounds like a power supply failure.
With 'puter turned off, and unplugged from the mains, try disconnecting all ps cables, and reconnect to your mb, drives,peripherals, etc.
I think a 300w ps is too small.

Re: ECS K7S5A

c p — 2003-05-09T06:16:13-05:00

i changed my PSU to a 300w.

my comp sometimes doesnt boot, just powers on , but no boot. then i turn off then on again, but loose the 133/133 mhz setting. so i have to re-enter it in the bios.

happens once in awhile, annoying

Re: ECS K7S5A - having problems myself -- help

Dan W — 2003-05-02T20:43:49-05:00

hello,

i'm having problems with my computer (which has the k7s5a mobo). i'm using a enermax eg301p-vb power supply (300 watts) and didn't know if i needed a better power supply or if my cpu was toast? so i guess my question is, does this sound like a psu problem or both the psu and cpu? everything was working fine a week ago. i didn't add any new hardware or anything, and have been using this computer for a year now without any problems. here's my problem i'm experiencing:

when powering on, the cd writer and dvd lights remain on all of the time

the floppy light doesn't come on at all or the floppy doesn't make the usual noise at boot-up or won't work if i stick in a floppy disk

it doesn't sound like the hard-drive is powering on

there were massive amounts of dust clumps behind the cpu fan and on the fan that i had to clean out (whatever that sectioned big square thing is called between the fan and cpu)

no video

no keyboard lights light up

my optical mouse does not have the red light

no beeps regardless if i take out the memory cards, video card and/or etc... and power on

i tried taking out the cards, battery, unplugging both the cd burner and dvd, i yelled at it, gave it the ol finger, and nothing seems to work.

any help would be greatly appreciated. i don't have tons of moola so if i could isolate the problem before having to buy one of the two (psu or cpu) that would help. but if it sounds like i need both, please let me know.

thanks for any suggestions you might have,

dan

Re: ECS K7S5A

Roberto Verrocchio — 2003-05-02T14:46:13-05:00

c.p. did u try a differnt PSU?

Re: ECS K7S5A

c p — 2003-05-01T17:11:11-05:00

Sierra games... i play CS on it, without any problems, BUT when i play DoD or the new one "ESF", it crashes on large maps or when there are alot of players. Try the power supply ? i will try that.

When i turn on my comp, my bios goes back to 100/100mhz (from 133/133) , so my cpu (Athlon XP +2400) runs ate 1.49Ghz, so i have to go back to the bios to set it back to 133/133. then when i boot up again, settings are back to 100/100. the bios clock remais the correct time, so its not the battery.

any ideas? the board can handle that cpu, right ?

Re: ECS K7S5A

Ali G — 2003-05-01T11:19:38-05:00

my god...
had same problem with my comp for over 2 yrs now. Duron 700mhz with gigabyte board (7zm i think). CS usually locks up between 5 seconds and 20 minutes yet sumtimes it goes for hours!?. Also other fps like quake3 crash after a while while running winamp in background. Ive changed my mobo, cpu, and finallu today my graphics card and was finally about to give up when i thought it has to be the PSU. After reading your post in which u did many of the things i tried (downclocking gcard and cpu etc) ive come to the conclusion thats its time to change my (crappy) 250watt psu . (No wonder it couldnt cope, ive got a delta cooler on my gcard, an extra exhaust fan on the back and one on the side and front aswell as on my new Radeon 9100.
Btw can sum1 explain the bit about the wattage not being as important as the amperage? Thx

Re: ECS K7S5A

Green Lady — 2003-04-30T15:22:48-05:00

I have to say I agree with the article, this is a good board for a DIY beginner who wants to upgrade on a budget. I had zero trouble with it, POSTed first try, everything smooth as silk, and I had no prior experience inside the case. It was easy to find where everything was, from the mounting screw holes to the itty bitty case LED connections. It was even tolerant of slight edge bending and dropped screws (ARGH!!). Manual is very detailed and written by a native English speaker for a change.

Here's what I used:
Athlon XP 1700+
Large CoolerMaster fan/hsink (w/Arc Silver grease)
350 watt Enermax PSU (seems to be Crucial to have enuf watts)
2 sticks SD-RAM (384MB) one new, one old Dell stick
Ati Radeon 8500 Pro (AGP)
Old Creative sound card from Dell PC (PCI)
Old modem
old drives from the Dell
Win 98 SE
Generic ATX case from CompUSA

I did not overclock and it runs nice and cool. As a software person basically, I think WinXP has a lot of miserable problems and doesn't get the blame it deserves from hardware folks. I have read a lot of horror stories on a lot of boards and they mostly seem to be on XP platforms. Hmm. Anyone running Linux got a comment?
Cheers--greenie

Re: ECS K7S5A

c p — 2003-04-29T06:10:06-05:00

yes, i bought the KS75A at Fry's too with an athlon 2400($119), the default setting of the board is 100/100 mhz at that the cpu runs about 1.49Ghz only , when i set it to 133/133 , it runs at 2Ghz. thats fine , right ? but when i reboot it sometime stays, sometime doesnt, THEN sometimes it doesnt want to boot at all, then i turn it off again for a few seconds, then boots fine but with the 133 settings gone. so im running 1.49Ghz unless i change the bus speed everytime to make sure. so which has the problem.. the cpu or the board ? FYI, the specs for the board at frys says "max cpu is 1.3Ghz" for the motherboard , but they sell it with an athlon 2400. thats frys for you.

so what u think guys?
..diappointed user.

Re: ECS K7S5A

Eric Hvinden — 2003-04-29T04:18:29-05:00

80 Bucks at Fry's with a Athlon XP2000+. Chip alone costs more....I expected the board to be a joke, but went together great...Copper CPU Cooler, and 300 Watt. Windows XP Pro....Works Great....I Keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but not yet.