k7s5a ECS Motherboard

[meister]

this board has some video card issues with bios defects. i found resolution for this issue with an update to the bios from http://www.ecsusa.com/index.cfm there are several bios releases for this board, if you read the release notes back thru the versions you will see there is a defect with w98 and more than one video card and ram. i was told that the latest version contain the all previous updates but i am not sure.

[Robert Meldrim]

I finally got a board from my supplier that booted up; I had two others that didn't. All I can say is that the third one booted up without any problem, using the same everything that I had used for the previous two. I put it in the case without any regard to shorting out the board with the screws.....I never understood this problem that was reported by the supplier and here on this forum. I can understand about looking out for the contact points ie; the nine hole matching the nine attachment points of the case. Could it be that my supplier reads this forum? Now that it is installed I can say that it is cranky even though it is a lot better than the old IBM that I had. I appreciated all the comments that was directed to me and even to the others that seem to be directed to the known world.
Robert

[corrupted]

robert, all i can say is the same as anyone else would right now. make sure you have the updates for the BIOS and all system drivers. after that, if there is a specific problem that wasn't there before go back to the old drivers for that device. it's just a matter of playing around with it now it's working. good luck.

[IronHawk]

I have built several systems based on the K7S5A, and had no problems. I have a freaky one now--

K7S5A
256M DDR
Tbird 950
20G WD HD
Enlight 350W case

I am trying to dual-boot it to 98 and 2000. Patched the BIOS to lates, then installed 98, no problemo. Then tried installing 2000 to make dual-booted, and it started freezing whenever you tied to boot into 2000. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesnt. I have switched case, MB, RAM, video etc, and all still happens. This can't be happening!... Oh-- if you install 128 M of PC133 it works great. I dont know what the manufacturer of the RAM is, but it works in the first two units I built.

Any suggestions?

(BTW I am still a fierce proponent of this board

THX
IH

[Symes]

Well what do you know - the same problem as me!

I have an S5A that works great with 2x128Mb PC133 but won't even boot up with a single 256Mb PC2100 DDR module which works OK (under W98/Me but not 2K) in a colleagues S5A!!!!

Only difference is that my board is slightly newer and is 'XP' ready (stickers next to the ZIF).
Haven't tried any other DDR as I'm waiting for the price to drop again before I indulge!

Symes

[corrupted]

might it be soimething wrong with the way the RAM sits in the slot? i know that win2k is a little memory intensive when loading, maybe some drivers are hogging the RAM on startup?

also, i've recently been forced back to using the onboard sound, and it works great, but i don't have the amplified speakers i need to be able to hear it. untill i get a new card in or better speakers, i'm forced to use headphones. it works fine if i have all volumes turned up. i tried playing around with all possible causes, and nothing has worked. it's still way too soft. anyone else think this is a grounding issue?

[Robert Meldrim]

I would like to ask that on the k7s5a motherboard.....there are (+) and (-) signs on the socket where the case LEDs and on-off and reset switches go. Is it supposed that the polarity of the LED is such that the white wire is supposed to be the negative lead and the other coloured lead the positive? Also is it common knowledge that on a Western Digital Disk Drive of 10 G size...that the shorting jumper on the terminals on the back that are marked; master, slave and es....is not to be connected in any of the three positions?

[corrupted]

with the LEDs, yes, the coloured wire is positive. with the drive, it might be designed so that the setting jumper is only required if there is another device on the channel. otherwise, yes, connect it as master or slave depending on where it is setup. anyone else help here? please?

[Robert Meldrim]

I should have qualified the question of the Western Digital 10 G drive by stating that it was on a Microstar 6143 K7 Master MB. I did find this to be the case. This board has four little LEDs that monitor the progress of the boot, and the colour combination of the four revealed that it was hanging up at the hard drive. I asked a technician about this problem and he said right off that the shorting pins should not be put in the master or slave position. I went home did just that and it continues to boot.

Robert

[DangerGuy]

Hi Folks,

If you check the post counter you' ll see this is my first - I joined up just to thank all the contributors to this thread. Two days ago I got my K7S5A/XP1600+/2x256Crucial/case/etc. for my first home built. Found the 3->2 pin LED problem and started looking for info. Came here (mostly by accident) and read this thread, with all the hints, caveats, and encouragement.

Punchline: POST first try, system install finds all the cards, and everything working silky smooth. Plus, I'm upgrading from a MMX166, so the performance is godlike.

Thanks to everyone!

-DangerGuy

[wyvrn]

I built one of these for a friend and had sound troubles. We updated with the newest bios and it works fine now. Also, this site has a ton of great information on troubleshooting this mobo.

[Fat_Rob]

First of all... not sure if this was posted earlier or not... i read about half of the posts before I got tired... heh so if I am repeating something someone has already posted, I apologize for wasting the space

There seems that there was a problem with the CMOS jumper being set to 'clear cmos' and not in the right spot when the boards were shipped. Make sure that you check this jumper and it is in the right spot.

Otherwise... this is a good board. It only costs $60 which is one of the cheapest boards out there. And if you really wanted something 'good' then go spend a few extra dollars. Otherwise, stfu! and enjoy the board!

FR

[SCARAB]

I HAVE BUILT 11 PC's WITH THE K7S5A MOBO AND HAVE HAD NO PROBS WITH ANY OF THEM. I BOUGHT ALL BOARDS FROM THE SAME OUTLET IN GLASGOW (ECS APPROVED DEALER). I DID HOWEVER HAVE SIMILAR PROBLEMS WITH THE ECS K7VTA3 MOBO, THE DEALER REPLACED IT AND I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM...ie. THE BOARD DID NOT RUN AT ALL BUT THE RED LIGHT ON THE BOARD WAS ON. I TOOK MY SYSTEM TO THE SHOP AND THEY STRIPPED THE BOARD OUT AND TRIED 2 MORE BOARDS BEFORE THEY FOUND ONE THAT WORKED. I AM WAITING TO HEAR WHY BUT I THINK IT WAS JUST A DUD BATCH OF BOARDS. THE K7S5A BUILDS ALL HAD AMD THUNDERBIRD 900's OR 1.2gigs AND WERE BUILT BETWEEN NOV & DEC LAST YEAR. SO FAR NO COMPLAINTS. I WAS TOLD THAT SOME OF THE ORB FANS WERE NOT GOOD FOR AMD's SO I STUCK COOLER MASTER FANS ON EVERY BUILD.

[corrupted]

i have a cooler master fan on my duron 750 (k7vza) and in winter it has trouble booting because it gets too cold. i think i got a better fan for this 850 on the k7s5a, and it hasn't once gone near 50C. as for the 11 builds scarab, do they all have an additional sound card or are you using the onboard?

[SCARAB]

all 11 builds are using the onboard audio appart from two of them giving a stutter at startup they all seem to work fine. If they didnt then believe me I would know quick enough. unfortunately I dont like Durons I built all of mine with athlon thunderbirds so I cant comment on cooling Durons but I can say this I think your winter may be very similar to our spring/early summer weather?