My k7s5a with 1.4 ghz athlon broke. What board should i get? What's hot?

[gtr]

I turn it on and it's blank. It was giving me errors and then i tried to reinstall it and all the the reinstall tries were unsuccessiful. Saying hardrive error and lot of bs. Missing file on installation? Tested the hardrive, ram, video card and they all work on my spare computer. Board is probably shocked from the powersurge last month. And on the last try black screen like the cpu were unplugged.

I give up. "have the worst day this year" My question is what is a hot board to get? K7s6a any good? Any suggestions welcomed. I'm thinking athlon xp2000 or 1900 since it seem like the better deal.

Thanks

[BipolarBill]

Spend a little more. That poor eagle's crying!

http://usa.asus.com/mb/socketa/a7n266/overview.htm

http://queen.pricewatch.com/search/searchcat.idq?ne=38144&l=38098&CiCodePage=Windows-1252&cr=A7N266&qc=%22A7N266%22*+AND+@ctd+2&catd=2&ct=Computer&cn=Motherboards

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=582773/search=A7N266/ut=18a04c6a7a7d6b10/

[Jimstep]

Sounds like heat problems...

[BipolarBill]

Good point...is the CPU fan working?

[gtr]

Heat problem? I'm running the Sk6 thermoright copper heatsink with 33cfm delta fan. It sounds like a jet! No, i don't think heating is the problem but thanks anyways. It was moved home unless it was damaged during the transprotation? The fact is that i dont' know if my cpu or my mobo is damaged. The asus is pricey compared to the sis boards. Do you people think it's a good choice? Should i try the new amd XP cpu's? Much better than the regular thunderbirds?

[Jimstep]

I've had a lot of luck with the VIA chipsets on the MSI motherboards. Very stable system. The K7S6A has some good specs, but I don't know about the SiS chipset.

[Peter M]

Well if you transported it before it started acting up, make sure everything is well seated. Those edge connectors on cards and DIMMs are not at all made for vibrations, plus the case always warps a bit when carried. This easily dislodges cards. And those heavy heatsink/fan units also tend to come lose in shipping.

regards, Peter

[gtr]

What do you guys think of the asus kx7? Is that a good board? I think i might give a name brand boards a try instead of inexpensive one's.

thanks

[Peter M]

How about figuring out what's wrong in the first place? Your "brand" board will act the very same way if you make the same mistakes, period.

regards, Peter

[SPEEDO]

Peter I think the guy just wants a new motherboard, Period..:D

SPEEDO

[gtr]

Naw, the k7s5a was a great board to lean on during the build. I probably encounter every problem, Heat, ram, powersupply and etc.. I finally got it running using nothing but name brand stuff like crucial and messing with the setting in the bios for the ram to work properly. Personally this board doesn't like a lot of thinks and i think i must of broke it when i drop my screw driver on it. I hope the cpu is till good so a new board might help my problem. I probably have build 7 computers total and probably don't have as much experience as most of you. I have always gone cheap in board and I feel a quality board will be more compatable with hardware

[RamonGTP]

If you're gonna go with a new mobo, I'd personally go with EPoX. I'm running the 8K3A+ and I haven't had a problem with it at all. It has built in 6-channel audio, raid controller (although I think there is a model with out raid if you don't planon using it) 6 PCI slots and an AGP slot, and is based on the VIA KT333 chipset. I upped the FSB to 144Mhz with my XP1700+ and I haven't had a single crash on this mobo.

-Ramon

[deadkenny]

I prefer ASUS myself. There are a number of good socket A chipsets (nForce, KT266A / KT333, SiS 745). No Intel chipsets unfortunately.;)

[gtr]

I'm giving the asus a7v333 a try. My cpu fan is so noisy so maybe the variable speed will help with noise.

I still can't figure out the problem with the k7s5a mobo. I think when i reseated the processor the screw drive must of damage the board when it slipped :( . When it work it was a fast mobo for it's price. I'm going to give the asus a try. If i don't see that much difference when everything is running smoothly, i'm going back to the more inexpensive boards. Hopefully the kt333 chipset will have a faster benchmark and easier bios updates

[Peter M]

Slipping the screwdriver and damaging a trace is an all time classic ... you practically never slip the screwdriver onto the board and go without damage.

regards, Peter