Epox 8hka+ Problems

forgettythatty · Nov 4, 2001

This is getting ridiculous. I had probs with the k7s5a and now well...:

The bios is loaded with fail safe defaults. The ram module is in Dimm1. The bios has been updated to the latest bios (Nov 17). Whenever I restart the computer, I get the C1 post code (that code means it is detecting the memory) and the computer does nothing. If I restart it again it will work. After I restart it again it will just stop at the C1 post code like before and then I have to restart it again and it will work.

Usually the C1, working, C1, working, cycle I get when resetting the computer is consistant, but sometime it will just work twice or even three times in a row, but then after I restart it will go back to where the screen is blank and C1 is all that is showing on the LED on the motherboard.

I tried putting in 3 256MB of PC2100 crucial ram (they are all the same type unbuffered, no ECC, ... ect.)Then the C1 post code was shown and I just got continuous beeps like it says here: http://www.epox.com/html/english/su...sp?Article=1041

I took all the ram out and put in one stick again like before.

Same C1 post code and continuous bios beep code.

I tried a vid card with no onboard ram, and put in all each ram module one at a time and got the same C1 post code and continuous bios beep code.

I did the same thing "tried a vid card with no onboard ram, and put in all each ram module one at a time" and then it just booted with one of the ram modules. I restarted the computer and as I expected, I got a blank screen with a C1 post code, but no beeps so I was back to where I started. I reset and it worked as usual, but reseting again gave me the same blank screen with a C1 post code on the motherboard.

It was having this problem before I updated the bios, and before I even installed an O.S.

Other notes:
<A HREF="http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?s=2088e31978663eba237a267ab303b006&threadid=43938" target="_new">http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?s=2088e31978663eba237a267ab303b006&threadid=43938</A>

"For anyone who has 8KHA+ with rebooting issues, you are not alone; as we have encountered whole batch of boards with the same problem. I have been in contact with EPoX last couple of days, apparently they are aware of it, and came up with a fix/solution. However, it sounds like it involves a BIOS chip replacement; not a simple BIOS update.

EPoX is overnighting me some BIOS chip as well as the tool to extract the BIOS chip to us, and I will let you guys know if it helps in resolving the rebooting problem. If it does help, those who purchased the boards from PCNUT, please contact me directly at pcnut@pcnut.com, or support@pcnut.com. If you didn't purchase the board from us, we can't help you; you will need to contact your reseller for a replacement BIOS chip."

forgettythatty · Nov 4, 2001

I answered my own question with that other info. I guess I have yet another bad motherboard and need to get a new bios chip since that guy is having the exact same problem.

tilepusher · Nov 4, 2001

Hey F,
I guess, I just lucky! I got the EPoX mobo, and everything has been totally fine. Keep us posted if there is anything else...... problems, incompatibilitys and solutions. Good Luck!
Peace Out............tile

Keep Hope Alive!

forgettythatty · Nov 4, 2001

there is a "state after power failure" option in the bios. mine was set to off. I turned it to on, but it had no effect.

pvsurfer · Nov 5, 2001

I realize that quality control is an oxymoron with most mobo mfrs today, but the fact that this is the second board to give you problems leads me to suspect a faulty or underpowered PSU (assuming both your k7s5a and 8kha+ were/are in the same case)!

God bless the USA

forgettythatty · Nov 5, 2001

Nope man they both had Enermax power supplies. The k7s5a psu was with EG365P-VE psu, and the 8hka+ was with a EG465P-VE FC psu.

THE K7S5A random reset problem SOLVED:
http://forum.ocworkbench.com/ocwbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=003125&p=

Thanks to Ncogneto for sending me the link, but I have already sold him the board so I'll be sending it to him soon. I just happened to have revision 4 mobo and a 1.4 GHz T-bird so the mobo was screwing up everything! Read the link for info, it is wonderful.

And the 8kha+ here has that bad bios chip, but what is also weird is a few other probs. I'm not going to talk about, because I think they also stem from the bad bios chip. But if I get a new chip with the same probs I am just going to go off the roof.

By the way, My friend has ordered 3 motherboards for his own computer so far and it was confirmed 2 were bad, and the third isn't working either, but don't know why yet. So out of 5 mobos ordered that is 4 and possibly 5 BAD! I'm about to pay companies to test my stuff before I get it.

pvsurfer · Nov 5, 2001

Re: those mobo problems, as I said: "...quality control is an oxymoron with most mobo mfrs today". I've certainly had my share over the past several years with flakey Socket-A boards from (king of the hill) Asus, Abit, and Epox. Never have had a bad Intel board - hmm.

God bless the USA

forgettythatty · Nov 5, 2001

I said I'd pay to have to guys test them for me before I bought them... WELL NOW I CAN! I am returning my mobo asap.

http://www.overclockers.com/tips710/

forgettythatty · Nov 6, 2001

I guess I am just one of those guy with extreme bad luck check this out, I have a board made 10/15/01 (meaning the serial on the bottom pci slot starts with 011015), it is rev. 2 and has a bios chip with a letter K on it.

"However, we had two boards that were produced on 10/15/01. Putting the new BIOS chips into them actually made matters worse. "

If he hadn't of said that I would have got a new chip and been back here to complain about the stupid board still not working!!!!

I guess I need a bios chip with a L on it! Screw it. I am just returning it.

Guest · Nov 6, 2001

man, having just ordered an 8kha+, I sure hope mine is a little more fortunate. That is certainly scary, 4 out of 5 mb's and maybe a 5th to boot! Maybe I will end up getting to try that ABIT KR7A board after all? Otherwise...hello Intel!

forgettythatty · Nov 6, 2001

Why do they say stuff like this, when obviously every bad board so far I know of has a bios chip with a K on it!!!!

"The sticker makes no difference as I can paste any letter I want. The
stickers are used in the factory. Since your BIOS is from us - not the
factor it makes no difference.

But I will send you a new BIOS to the address free. Its sent by US mail
and may take 3-4 days or so.

Thank you for your interest in EPoX products and contacting our support
department. If you reply ensure to include all previous E-mail text. It
will prevent unnecessary delays and guarantee the fastest possible
response.

Best Regards,

=================================================
Technical Support (JRH)
EPoX International, Inc. USA
E-Mail: Support@epox.com
Web: www.epox.com
Please provide previous E-mail text if replying.
Specifications subject to change without notice.
================================================="

Guest · Nov 6, 2001

Having just jumped ship from the K7S5A, none of this is good news. And I thought I had a safe bet with the EPoX. Considering you probably ordered from Newegg.com, and also very recently as I have, things aren't looking pretty. It just shipped out today, so I'm thinking maybe Thursday it will arrive, and I can let you all know how it goes.

forgettythatty · Nov 6, 2001

well I am thinking I, like you, will order from newegg, (before I ordered from www.gopcroyal.com because they were cheapest). And since epox is already sending me a new bios chip, if the newegg board doesn't work, I'll try the new chip, if that doesn't work well.... I'll go crazy mad and be back here to yell about it! In the meantime report your findings here:

<A HREF="http://www.amdmb.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=72116" target="_new">http://www.amdmb.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=72116</A>

Edited by forgettythatty on 11/05/01 10:17 PM.

tilepusher · Nov 6, 2001

Hey Guys,
I just ordered from gopcroyal.com(because they were in stock & cheap), but my system seems stable so far.
Peace Out..........tile

Keep Hope Alive!

forgettythatty · Nov 7, 2001

I think I may be in luck, A new official unrelease bios, fixes the problem! I will test it very soon. You can get it here:

http://overclockers.com/tips710/

Guest · Nov 7, 2001

mine just came in...like 2 minutes ago from Fedex. Believe me its been on my mind since I ordered it.

manufacturer date: -011025 (10/25/01)
Revision: 2.0
bios chip letter: N, with a "+" written in magic marker

I'm going to grab some lunch, clean off the work bench, and get this baby installed. I'll let you know how it goes.

ahhh! That's what has me bugged about this board. I remember when I first bought it, I went with it because it had an Award BIOS, written clearly and deceptively on the 8KHA+ product page. I'm pretty sure in a review it stated it had an AMI bios, and now, when I look at the sticker on the last PCI slot(next to the manufacturer date) it says it has a Phoenix BIOS.

Nope, it does have an Award BIOS. Thank goodness!

Edited by PachoC on 11/08/01 00:12 AM.

Guest · Nov 8, 2001

Noo! Why do I have to hear about this when I had just made up my mind about buying the 8KHA+ for my new XP1600

Please tell me of your findings pacho - I wanna know if I'm risking anything buying an EPoX 8KHA+, the shop said they had the newest revision in stock, whatever that is - is there anything specific I should ask for?

- What to do!??!

xazos79 · Nov 8, 2001

That sucks, i just got my epox 8kha+ 2 days ago and have had a couple of minor/major issues.
1. I installed win98, that was fine. Installed the graphics card, that was fine. Then installed the VI 4 in 1 drivers. After that, my DVD started playing up. I would click on the drive and see all the folders, but some would be renamed wierdly. I'd try to click on the folders, and i'd get the message "D:\<folder name>\ not accessible. The folder was moved or renamed." I'd put the cd in my old computer and it would be fine. Basically this DVD corruption crippled my system. I wiped the HD and started again. It ran fine, until the VIA 4 in 1 driver was installed. Wiped it again. Haven't installed the VIA 4 in 1 and DVD is running fine.
2. Can't boot from floppy. Reason? Corrupted data. Same as the DVD. When i view the contents of the floppy, files end in an __ and some of them are renamed.
3. My USB mini drive suffers the same fate as my floppy.

This problem sucks. I have BIOS version 10/17/01. A new one has just been released 10/31/01 so i'm gonna try that out tonight. Not sure what version the VIA 4 in 1s are on my CD but the latest version on the Epox website is 4.32a. I'll try those too. Has anyone ever heard of this problem???

Guest · Nov 8, 2001

Hey Guys! Just wanted to let you know I'm putting the system together as we speak. I didn't end up having a chance this afternoon. But hopefully it will be up and running in a short while. Just put on the thermal goop, and the fact that this board has 10 mounting holes took me for a surprise. I really like all the documentation EPoX gives with their boards, gives detailed lists of pin layouts, all that stuff. Hopefully it will boot then...we'll find out in a little while

Guest · Nov 8, 2001

Whoa. Okay, basically, I've connected everything, checked up on some drivers, downloaded those, and hit the power button. Nothing. AHhhh!!! At first it was because I didn't push in the ATX power connector all the way, basically that was because you can't see much down there, it is surrounded by capicators and connectors. And then, nothing! I looked over all the cables, double-checked all the LED and power connectors. Nothing. Then I switched the Clear CMOS jumper. I initially switched it, because according to the manual, it was set by default to clear the CMOS. Obviously I changed that, along with the 100/133 FSB jumper, to 133. So when I switched back, voila, it started right up! I've booted to a win98 boot disk, and that has worked fine. I'm a little unsure about this bios led mechanism. I'm just not making the connection I guess, I mean everything is listed as a 3 digit hex code in the appendix, but you've got a two digit readout. <---haha, that h(hex) gets me everytime, my bad
Also, I may have a bad memory module. I've got 512MB (2x256)Crucial, and it showed up as 1600, I've got 2100. I took one out, and now it shows fine. Guess I'll have to check it out. <--- this seems to have cleared itself up also, I've got 512MB at 2100.
So far I like it...but even my K7S5A was able to boot...

So most of the little issues are taken care of. I am getting a strange lock-up, in the bios of all places, when I go to the PC Health menu. basically, the keyboard stops responding, and I have to reset twice, the first time it will hang at the POST, can't enter BIOS setup, the second reset makes it all better.

It is using the 10/17/01 Bios version. I just flashed the bios to 11/02. It cleared up the problem with the PCHealth. And it is an Award BIOS...whew.

Edited by PachoC on 11/07/01 11:15 PM.

Guest · Nov 8, 2001

I'm in heaven...

Hey guys, it loaded winXP Pro wonderfully. Pretty darn fast too, from the winXP screen(with the flashing green dots) to the start bar, it only took 15 minutes to install!! (using an amd1200-266mhz)

Considering that K7S5A could hardly load on OS, there were so many read/copy errors, I was going nuts. The EPoX 8KHA+ loaded without any ifs, ands, or buts..

At its present state, I would recommend this board to anyone. It even works nice with a KVM switch

I remember there were a few people up the thread wondering about this board..

For quick setup, remember to switch the 100/133 to whatever yours is listed, and look out for the CMOS jumper. This is how mine looks, having the PCI cards to your left, and the bios chip to your right [][][0] where the 0 is the open pin.

Here are some things that I like about EPoX. They give you a nice thick manual, detailing pin layouts, even which is positive, ground. That helped a lot in figuring out the power LED actually. The bios led is a neat feature. I'm using this board in my wonderful Antec SX600(no PS) with an Enermax 365P-VE. I can't say enouth great things about those two products. The ATX power, in my system at least, causes no disruption in airflow over the CPU fan/hs. It's just all the other cables, IDE(flat), etc, that will block air flow. Like usual. With the 80wire IDE cable, they have the pull tabs, making it very easy to pull out the pin connector. I like that!

So far, all I can disagree with the board is the bios update, which was minor for me, I feel for ya forgethatty though, I hope things are going smooth. The placement of memory DIMM 1, makes it so that you cannot pull out the memory without first having to pull out the video card(agp).

Guest · Nov 8, 2001

PACHOC, So glad to hear an Epox 8KHA+ success story!
I've been straddling the fence between this board and
the ABIT KG7 for a while now and frankly all I've heard is horror stories! Thanks!

Just curious, what video and sound card are you running?

dejay · Nov 9, 2001

Well, I'm gonna give you another success story. I've just put this mobo into my case along with an AthlonXP 1800, 512MB of ram and the GF3 is coming on Monday. Everything works fine, with Max Payne and Unreal Tournament running very well at high details, especially considering I'm using a TNT Ultra. I'm using the onboard sound for the moment and everything seems very stable. I will be installing WinXP shortly. I think I will flash me a new bios first, because I've heard there are issues with installing WinXP and the GF3 cards with this mobo.

I'm new here, I don't deserve a sig.

Guest · Nov 9, 2001

I'm just wondering what "extra" drivers I should install. As in the VIA 4-in-1. At first I thought it was a no-question, but on VIA hardware, they say XP has native support, and the drivers are usually not needed. The system works fine so far without them, just wondering what others users are going with, if they've seen any performance gains.

Guest · Nov 9, 2001

Yes, I was looking at the Abit KG7 also, and then a few KT266A chipsets. Since their retiring the chipset now, I guess that was AMD's way of getting everyone to use DDR, I decided to give the KT266A a whirl...after the K7S5A, didn't much care I guess. I'm using XP pro, and its passed some Sandra benchmarks with flying colors. No crashes, although I think twice now, I've had soft-reboot problems, but those seem to have vanished. I still can't believe any computer could have a problem with restarting of all things! The documentation is thick, and I really am starting to like this BIOS led onboard tool. Better make up your mind quick, before those nForce boards come out, I hear the 6 channel audio is pretty nice...no more SB Live! No more extra $30.

Just thought I would update. The soft-reboot is becoming a little more apparent as I restart the computer for these benchmark programs I'm running. Everything else appears to be ok. Not sure how much I like this 3D Prophet card(4500). Oh, well, maybe the GeForce cards will take another price drop soon before Christmas.

Edited by PachoC on 11/09/01 09:49 AM.

Epox 8hka+ Problems

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