Determining version of K7S5A??

[jeffo_2003]

Hi everyone,
I've stumbled upon this Forum in my quest to determine which version of the k7s5a motherboard I have. From reading a lot of the posts there are some mighty smart people posting here so hopefully someone can help.

The problem I have, is that whilst the User's Guide that came with the board is for version 1.0 and the box it came in has no indication of what version it is, there is a small white sticker located adjacent to the furthest PCI port (PCI5) that says "V3.1" (but nothing else), which I guess indicates that it is a version 3.1 motherboard although this sticker is in fact some distance from the "K7S5A" markings.

I'm wondering then, if there is any way of being completely sure that it is a 3.1 version motherboard or in fact a version 1.0.

I've tried everything I could think of at ECS's websites with no luck.

The board was purchased in Jan/Feb 2002 and the BIOS version which has not been changed since the purchase is 10/16/2001 if this is any help.

Any advice would be most appreciated

[BipolarBill]

It's an early ver. 3 alright.

[Rocketmech]

The later 3.1 versions have a retaining clip for the AGP slot. The ver.3.1 also have an XP sticker near the CPU socket .
If you had a ver. 1.x , you would be more confused. They did'nt mark some, or just a numbered sticker that didn't refer to the pcb ver.

[jeffo_2003]

Thanks for the reply,

so its safe to go off the sticker.

Another quick question then, when I used the installation disk for the board it installed SiS7012 Sound Drivers for the onboard sound but looking at the ECS's website there is an updated sound driver "C-Media 9738 Codec Sound Driver" for K7S5A V3.X.

Why the difference and would there be any problem installing this update.

[jeffo_2003]

Thanks for the peace of mind ROCKETMECH and BIPOLAR,

I have those XP stickers on the board.


Just a note to say that I've never had any problems with this board either and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting a cheap motherboard.

[Rocketmech]

The ver. 1.x and early rev. 3.1 's could have either sound chips. Could be the C-Media or Avance Logic ALC100P chip . I cant say for sure about the latest 3.1's . Take a long look thru the ECS sound drivers and you'll see what I mean.

If your sound is working fine with the SIS7012 driver then its got a Avance Logic sound chip buildt for SIS. You can confirm this by looking just above the rev. sticker near PCI 2 slot for the small square chip marked Avance Logic ALC100P .

[jeffo_2003]

Thanks Rocketmech,

the board has got the ALC100P Sound Chip, so I guess its a very early version 3.1 board then.

I presume this means that the updated "C-Media 9738 Codec Sound Driver" is of no use to me and I should just use the most recent SiS7012 driver.

One more question which maybe you can answer, I've just bought an XP 2400 chip and as far as I can tell I need to flash the BIOS to get the board to recognise it (which is how this all started), at ECS's website

http://www.ecs.com.tw/download/k7s5a.htm

there are multiple versions of the AMI BIOS, should I just use the most recent one? also the 02/01/12 Version added support for the C-Media 9738 Codec which I assume is maintained in the more recent versions of the BIOS, will this cause me any problems given that I have the ALC100P sound chip.

Advice would be most appreciated.

[BipolarBill]

Always choose the most recent BIOS unless it states "Beta".

[Peter M]

The later BIOSes ADDED support for the CMI9738, but didn't drop support for the ALC100. Just use the latest BIOS - you don't even have to pick the right (LAN/no-LAN) version anymore ...

Before upgrading CPUs, make sure your power supply unit is up to it.