Ecs kt-600 post problems

[Canyon411]

Hi all. I've got an Ecs Kt-600 setting on my bench on a piece of non-static foam. I have a pci video card in slot 1, a stick of apacer 256mb pc2100 in slot 1, an athlon 1.3gig processor, and an antec 400w power supply hooked up along with ps2 keyboard & mouse.

When I short the pins for the power switch, I get a partial powerup. The monitor comes on and shows the energy star label and identifies the kt-600 mainboard. It shows the amd 1333 mhz processor and then freezes.

I cleared c-mos and experimented with the fsb jumpers (jp8 & 9) in both 100 & 133 positions. no difference other than the processor reports as a 1000 mhz in fsb 100 & 1333 in 133. What is causing the board to freeze?

[Canyon411]

I tried a different stick of memory and had the same results so I RMA'd the board back to newegg. I waited a week and just got the new board today. I Assembled the board again out of the case and I have the exact same problem!

I shorted the reset pins a dozen times or so and once it actually reported memory at 256mb and went to detect ide drives and froze again.

I could not get it to go that far again. It get as far as id'ing the board and processor and freezes. Is there a jumper I am misssing? Help~

[Peter M]

Lesson learned: Troubleshoot PROPERLY, then RMA.

Sounds like a cooling problem to me. Heatsink and fan mounted correctly?

Or, it's hanging on IDE drive detection. Are your drives jumpered correctly? Have you attempted clearing CMOS? (Is the "Clear CMOS" jumper in its "Normal operation" position at all?)

[Canyon411]

Because I am testing the board outside the case, I did not connect the ide cables so that rules out possible drive jumper problem.

Yes I rma'd the board after I tried everything I could think of as a potential cause of the freeze. The fact that the freeze occures before the memory finished counting led me to believe it was a mem problem. A test stick of 512 pc3200 yielded the same results, so i ruled out memory as a factor.

Possible ground problems eliminated by testing out of the case.

I too considered heat as a factor, but the hsf is cool to the touch. I will again try reseating the hsf on the chip and remove and re-apply a small layer of artic silver to see if anything changes. The hsf (Tt volcano 9) can really only fit one way as it has a groove to accomodate the front edge of the socket.

I noticed the bois is dated 12/03. Since the ram I am using is single side ddr 266 pc2100 apacer 256 mb, is it possible that the bois version is not compatible with that mem and needs to be updated?

[Peter M]

If the heatsink is cool to the touch, then often enough that's because it doesn't make good contact to the CPU die. Look whether you got it on backwards, forgot to remove any protective pads, etc. etc. Don't laugh, these are the most frequently made mistakes.

256-Mbit memory chips have been around last year, no need for a new BIOS. Besides, you should NEVER attempt to flash a BIOS update on a machine that doesn't run right.

[Canyon411]

I called ecs today to ask for their input. The call center rep said the board would only recognise athlon xp processors and not the athlon 1.3 gig I purchased for this build. I could hardly wait to get home from work to try the processor from my primary machone (xp2100+)..... no dice.....

I am still at the point where the chip is recognosed, in this case it shows as an xp1500 with the jumpers in the 100mhz fsb setting, and goes no further.

I checked each component one at a time in a working machine. The processors (the xp2100 and the athlon1.3) and each works fine and boot fully in the working machine. I put the ram chip (256mb pc2100 ddr266 single side) into the test machine and it boots fine and logs into windows. The power supply was tested against the new unit in question and the test machine boots fine using it. I am confident these parts are good and I got a bad board as an rma. I did notice it was not in the origional box and the factory orange sticker holding the static bag closed was not there either.

I would sure like to know if anyone is using this board currently and what processor they are using as well. Curious to see if the xp only advice I was given is accurate.

[Peter M]

You did hook the power up correctly, no? Including the extra 4-pin supply?

[Canyon411]

Your making me worry pete......What extra 4 pin power conection are you refering to?? I know some power supplies have a 4 pin square molex conector and some motherboards need it, but I have not seen a 4 pin socket on this one (ecs kt-600). I am looking for any possability at this point for the board to work so if I missed it somehow and that's the problem.....Yehaw!! Show me the way!

[Peter M]

That was generic advice ... if your particular board doesn't have the 4-pin extra power connector, then just ignore what I said.

You should not ignore what I said about the heatsink probably being mounted incorrectly.

[Canyon411]

I have finally figured out the problem with this system!! :D
Here are the components I am using:

1 - ecs kt600 motherboard
1 - athlon 1.3gig processor
1 - 256mb pc2100 ddr apacer memory
1 - trident 9680 pci video card
1 - Rockwell v.90 modem
1 - ibm deskstar 12gig ide hd 7200
1 - sony cd/rw
1 - sony dvd/rom

Each of these tests 100% in my primary machine, except the mb ofcourse. Through the troubleshooting process, the board has been out of the case and on an anti-static foam pad on my bench testing with only video, ram, proessor, and psu. The hd, cdrw, dvdrom, and the modem card have not been hooked up.

I had tried 3 different processors. a 1.3gig, an xp2100+, and a 900 tbird. No difference. I tried 2 different mem sticks, no difference. The only thing a hadn't tried several of were video cards. after all the trident card works fine in the other machine....

So I tried one last hunch and installed a diamond media pci video card I had laying around and about fell out of my chair when I got FULL POST!!!!! I could hardly believe my eyes. It was one of those laugh out loud when no one else is in the room kind of deals!! I have reboot 25 times now just to be sure everything is golden and it seems to be. Mabey there is a compatibilty issue with tridents chipset and via?? I put the trident card back in the primary machine and it fires right up??!!

Can you see my ear to ear grin even without a jpeg....:D Thanks peter for all your ideas!! Ecs should check this issue out

[Peter M]

Maybe you should rather contact Trident (now XGI), they might want that card for their company museum :D

Yes, early PCI VGA cards did have their quirks, compatibility issues, as well as rather hair-raisingly misbehaving VGA BIOSes. The latter is what usually makes newer systems fall over.