K7S5A Troubles...

[lettucelover]

Hi,

I've just recently purchased a GeForce FX 5200 (cheap leadtek jobby, no fan, etc). Anyway, after installing it in my K7S5A I started to experience problems, when I ran a game my PC would lockup within minutes of starting playing. Slowly this has been getting worse, after a while my system would lock up in scrolling and now even during mouse movement.

In my current situation, sometime, when I turn on my system it wil take a few minutes to POST, then the BIOS will slowly appear and I expect that within a few hours it would fully boot. Other times, I will turn it on to experience a normal startup, only that when I get into Windows my mouse cursor will move jerkily and simple operations will take hours, eventually it will just lock up.

The curious thing is this has only happened since installing my new graphics card, yet seems to occour even with other graphics cards (eg. an old S3 PCI thingy) now. I expect the trouble is somewhere within my K7S5A.

This is my system:

- K7S5A
- Athlon-XP 1600+
- 256MB PC133 SDRAM
- Geforce FX 5200+
- 300W power supply (adequate, accoring to http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/)
- SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 and a few other bits of junk

Anyway, I hope you can help me find whats up.

Josh :confused:

[sm8000]

Is this a regular K7S5A or a K7S5A Pro (v.5)? If the latter, be sure you have no card in the first PCI slot, as long as you're using the USB 2.0 feature.

Otherwise, what is the make and model of that PSU? And you may want to run a RAM test - http://www.memtest.org

[BipolarBill]

Update your BIOS.

http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/bios.html

On that site, the latest BIOS update is on the bottom of the page.

A good 300W PSU is fine. A generic/cheap 300W is not. The AGP card draws more power.

[Peter M]

Check whether you shifted something out of its slot when installing the new graphics card. Next I'd take the Soundblaster out, these are known to cause strange effects to non-Intel-chipset systems occasionally.

[lettucelover]

Ok, it's the original K7S5A, v1.

That power supply is generic, but I don't think it's the problem cos my system ran fine before I installed the card and now it just doesn't run at all! :p

I've already updated the BIOS, and I've ran the board clean (nothing but what's necessary).

Finally, I'm not really in the position to run a mem test using that mobo, but the RAM seems to work fine in another system I've got hanging around.

Oh, and I don't think anythings been dislodged.

Oh well, I suppose I'm gonna need to buy a new mobo! :( I'm looking a cheap Syntax, it's supposed to work well, wot do you think? (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51254), ignore the words of evil 'PCChips' it's got nowt to do with it!

Thanks in advance,

Josh

[BipolarBill]

Buying another cheap motherboard is plain silly. "Buy cheap, buy twice." The difference between motherboards rarely exceeds $20 and that's not enough to risk failure. If money is that important to you, do the thing that costs nothing at all - reinstall Windows. After installing it, do not let Windows search the CD for drivers - run the CD as many times as it takes to install all drivers.

RAM that works in the one motherboard will not necessarily work in another. Test the RAM.

[Peter M]

Way too many "think" and "seem" in that message. Have a look at what the PSU is capable of supplying on the 3.3V and 5V rails (watch for limited combined output!). Then, at least check the voltages in BIOS, and then run the www.memtest.org software already (it runs off floppy or CD after all, you should have such a drive, don't you?).

Syntax btw are a PC-Chips spinoff, made to produce even cheaper gear. But that ain't your problem - the K7S5A is a stable board if you give it proper peripherals to work with.

[proskate44]

I used to have a K7S5A and for some reason it didn't like my PC133 RAM. I had to set the FSB to 100 to keep the thing stable. Maybe that is your problem? The RAM? Then again, you did say the system was ok before, so maybe not... If you have some DDR266 RAM lying around, try that out... It might solve your problem.

[Lowlevel2]

My K7S5A has a real touchy AGP slot. The first time i changed cards it went in tight and a couple days later the new card was fried. The next time i put a card in i couldnt get the PC to fire up....
I had to loosen the mobo-to-case bolts and shift the mobo a little to get the card to set right in the AGP slot, been working ever since.

Make sure the card is set well in the slot......

[Peter M]

This is a generic problem with the AGP slot as it is, not related to a certain mainboard model. It is because blade connectors in general are mechanically poor, even more so if they have a lot of contacts with little surface and gap inbetween, and even more so if the connection comes under mechanical forces (like, warping the case when moving the box around, or just plugging/pulling the monitor connection).

Be careful out there ;)

[causticVapor]

I hate the whole **** thing.

Case manufacturers need to become more prudent about quality and the connectors need to become better overall.

Hopefully PCIe/BTX is better, not worse in this regard. So far the latter just seems a marketing weapon.

[Bat25]

Originally posted by lettucelover
Oh well, I suppose I'm gonna need to buy a new mobo! :( I'm looking a cheap Syntax

Do yourself a huge favour. Get the Shuttle AN35N Nforce2 and a single stick of Giel Value ram with the blue heat spreader (512 stick). Also get yourself an Enlight 360 Watt PSU for about $30.00 (for the extremely value conscious it's s nice little PSU). Rails are solid for your setup.