bottom feeding effort

[johnoh]

I upgraded my old athlon 1.0g t-bird machine yesterday. A local place had a cpu/mobo combo deal for a 2.4g P4 & ECS P4VXASD2+ for $159. ECS has a poor track record with me, but since the place is right here I figured I'll take it back if it doesn't work. I am using my existing case, 350W psu, ATI 8500le video, WD 40gb 7200rpm drive, and cd-rom and floppy. I planned on a fresh win98 install so I reformatted the C partition and have the cab files on D.

The machine posted intermittently, and when it did it kept hanging early in the win98 setup. I switched to a larger psu and that did not help. Swapped out memory and video card also, to no avail. Then the next day the machine would not post at all so I went back to the store and exchanged the p4vxasd2 mobo for another. Got home and that one would not post either. Then I switched the fsb jumpers from 133 to 100 and now it runs fine, as a 1.8g. The cpu temp is 34. I did not think to exchange the cpu at the store since I just assumed the problem was the mobo but now I don't know. This is exactly like the problem I had a couple years ago with the via kt266 chipset, which would only run at 100mhz as well.

Now that win98 is installed and running fine I just tried switching the jumpers back to the 133 fsb and now it will post as far as the system information screen where it tells you that its running at 2.4g plus a lot of other detail, but it halts there. Not a hard freeze though as ctl-atl-del will cause a reboot. The halting is happening right before I get the chance to hit F8 to go into safe mode. This mobo is a ddr/sdram combo and I'm running pc2100 ddr. The manual implies the fsb jumpers are optional and that the board will detect the proper speed without them, but when I booted with the fsb jumpers all open it would not post at all. Thanks for any advice.

<i>Reason the only absolute. Irrationality the only enemy. </i>

 

[Crashman]

YOu got a crappy board. Hell, it's probably even using a VIA chipset! Not certain about the memory either. Considering you paid about what a P4 2.4B cost, you could call the board a freebe and resell it on eBay after installing something better.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[nickursis]

I have run into this problem with ECS boards before. Sometimes, when they load the bios, there is a strange thing they need. Try to go into the bios and "load default settings". Then reboot, and check what FSB/Ram settings come up. You may hve to tweak one or the other, and check everything. I found that this is a must do for all ECS bios after flashing it, and also when setting up a new machine (sometimes). I don't know why. I have only had one ECS board that was real crappy, and hat was an Intel 815 board. I wasn't thrilled with the SiS635 board either, but I have had Via133, and Sis 645/645DX boards that ran great. The Via P4x333 chipset is a rocky place to go, since it is still in the dark area of the law, not much available, and the info on the via website is nonexistent. If you go to a board, look for an ECS 645DX board, or go to a dual ddr 655 chipset. You could also spend some bucks for a granite Bay as well. The key to beating an ECS board is to look very closely at the FSB and Ram timing settings and indicated speeds. It does NOT always autodetect and set it right, and that causes your problems.

Backup my harddrive? How the hell do I get it in reverse?

 

[johnoh]

Duh. Its not only crappy, it may be the worst of the bunch. Now the goal is to see if I can get it stable, or else I take it back and no harm done.

<i>Reason the only absolute. Irrationality the only enemy. </i>

 

[johnoh]

Nick you are onto something, though I'm still working on it. The bios appears to default to 100mhz for the memory. Setting the memory to AUTO results in no post, regardless of the cpu timing. Memory speed of 133 or 166 yields a windows protection error after a successful post. CPU of 133 results in a windows protection error regardless of memory setting. The memory speed is controlled by the bios and the cpu only by a jumper, btw.

The only way to get a post when the cpu is at 133 is to have the memory set at 100, and that causes a windows protection error. To summarize:

memory on AUTO - no post
memory at 100 and cpu at 100 - good
any other memory/cpu setting - windows protection error
the above is only for memory voltage at 2.5v.

My memory is pc2100 and has worked for a year in two other computers. There is also a jumper for sdram voltage, which says should be set at 2.5v for ddr and 3.0v for sdram. Will it fry my ddr if I set it at 3.0v? Not sure what else to try. Maybe I'll see if I can run a DOS only diag at cpu and memory both at 133.

... 30 minutes later - the program tufftest which boots itself would not load with the cpu at 133. The machine froze at the amibios information screen after successfully counting the memory.

<i>Reason the only absolute. Irrationality the only enemy. </i><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by johnoh on 02/25/03 10:43 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[johnoh]

I just read through a forum post <A HREF="http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/3640" target="_new">(here)</A> where maybe 10 people have the same issue as I do. Another ECS debacle. Fortunately Fry's Electronics (where we all bought this thing) is cool with you using their shop to swap in boards until you find one that works. I'll try that.


<i>Reason the only absolute. Irrationality the only enemy. </i>

 

[Crashman]

You got a free motherboard! I'd recomend reselling it and purchasing something decent.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[johnoh]

You got a free motherboard! I'd recomend reselling it and purchasing something decent

A fair point. But let me ask this. If I can go down to the store and test out more of this same admittedly lame mobo until I find one that works, is that not even better?

Of course I have no overclocking hope and probably no future upgrading hope, but if it does crap out in 6 months, I can always get a new mobo then. I base this plan on the assumption that I can't sell this thing for squat.

I find it amazing that the "leap" from 100mhz to 133mhz brings about so many manufacturing quality issues.

<i>Reason the only absolute. Irrationality the only enemy. </i>

 

[Crashman]

That "leap" only affects low end parts.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[nickursis]

Again. let me stress that this board is ursed with the Viapx333 chipset, of which Via has no legal liscense to be selling in the first place. ECS boards have never been know as "top" boards, but have you ever thought that the bits and pieces (and crappy capacitors)all came from the same warehouse? Does mighty Asus make a PX333 board? It would probably be as lame as the ECS one. And let's not forget one of the "top" manufacturers "Abit" has a HUGE number of boards coming back for repair (or ripoff if your "reduced" warranty of 1 year is expired, too bad) because of the bad capacitor issue. How come Tom's has NOT mentioned this little debacle, yet you insist on trashing "inexpensive" boards? Maybe this guy is smart enough to realize that it isn't how much you pay for the thing, or what name may be on it, or even, god forbid these days, what stinking color it is, but how well it works and if it is stable. Good grief, I would guess he has a handle on the fact it has issues, maybe he wants to try to beat those issues and learn something along the way... a novel concept these days....

Backup my harddrive? How the hell do I get it in reverse?

 

[bob_dn]

Backup my harddrive? How the hell do I get it in reverse?

LOL - If you ever figure out how be sure to check your mirrors.

 

[Crashman]

Ah, but selling "your" P4X board means that the person who bought it from you won't be buying a "new" P4X board, and could help reduce the total sales of P4X boards from the manufacturers by 1 unit!

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[johnoh]

Well I went back to Fry's but they were unwilling to let me use their shop, and were also unwilling to run the new board using a bootable diag tool I brought with me. All they would do is see if the board would post, and that doesn't tell me much so I figured the odds were not good that any given board would work so I just got my money back. Now I'm going to treat myself to a quieter hsf so that my T-bird will sound more like that P4. From what I was able to run of the P4, the 2.4g is almost unnoticeably better than my 1.0g athlon anyway, since most of my work is net dependant and disk dependant.

<i>Reason the only absolute. Irrationality the only enemy. </i>

 

[Crashman]

D00D, you gave up a perfectly good deal on a P4 because you didn't like the free motherboard that came with it?

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[johnoh]

Yes. I really only wanted to upgrade for the heck of it since the deal was so good. What I have is what I need, a lean win98 setup and fast cable internet and good sound and 7200rpm hard drive to go with the 1.0g cpu. A faster cpu would be fun, but I can't justify it. I suppose I might have resold the cpu and the mobo and made a couple bucks, but why go through the effort. I am seeking to quiet this dang thing down though. Will post on the cooler board now on that topic.

<i>Reason the only absolute. Irrationality the only enemy. </i>

 

[RobD]

Do a search on the the boards for all the posts about ECS boards, and then you'll see just how many unhappy people have been stiffed by them (I've had 3 fubar on me).

What Crash is trying to say is that there is a reason why the deal was so cheap. The mobo ain't worth sh!t. Free. Gratis etc. Yes, I accept that he's trying to learn, but I bet my left gonad that one harsh lesson he'll learn is that ECS=Extreme Crock o'[-peep-]. Crash is advising him ditch the mobo and go with someone else to save heartache.