ECS K7S5A System Problems! HELP!

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
G

Guest

Guest
I am building my first computer and I have a big
problem. First here are the specs of my system so
far:

ECS K7S5A Motherboard
AMD XP 1800+
AMD approved CPU fan
AMD approved 300W power supply, HEC brand
Floppy Drive
20 GB Seagate HDD
Creative CD-RW
Voodoo3 PCI video card
256 MB DDR PC266 RAM, brand NEC

I followed the manual exactly, and have everything
connected. But when I boot here is what happens:
Power LED turns on. CPU fan turns on. CD-RW light
blinks several times, then stops, then blinks again,
and does this repeatedly. The HDD starts to spin, but
the HDD LED doesn't turn on. The motherboard doesn't
beep. The big problem is that the monitor doesn't
turn on. I have tried the Voodoo3 PCI video card on
all 5 slots, and 2 different monitors, to no avail. I
do not have a AGP card to try. Yes I know the video
card works because I used this card just the other
day. I am beginning to think it could be the RAM, but
I am not sure. Any kind of help would be much
appreciated! THANKS!

Jeff
 
I am also building a system similar to yours except I have an athlon 1400 and pc 100 sdram. However, I am having the same problems as you, my monitor wont turn on. I try with 2 different video cards AGP, I am thinking that its my memory, I am going to go buy DDR memory and see if its that. If you find anything post it here.
thanks,
 
Gezz.. seems to me that most motherboards, if they can't find the memory put out single long beeps in a loop.. you know.. Beeeeeep..... Beeeeep.... Beeeeep... beeeeep.... on and on and on...

Are you guys sure you didn't smoke your CPUs by not having the HSF's down tight onto the MoBo straight away?

The only time I've ever seen what your describing is when the CPU has gone up in smoke... but usually in that case, you at least saw the initial BIOS screen then keyboard hang, and when you reboot, then nothing... not even a beep indicating it located memory!

Not saying it's not the memory, but it certainly seems to me that the MoBo should beep if it's not finding the memory.... Not beeping or anything tends to indicate something else....

<font color=red>When you smoke your CPU, what kind of papers do you use? 😱
 
Reset your Ram, clear cmos, disconnect all drives except floppy and HDD with nothing installed but the video card then report back.

Video editing?? Ha, I don't even own a camera!
 
well, i have never actually BURNED a cpu, but i have seen one, and sometimes, you cant actually tell when it is burned. you might see some actual BURN marks, like some dark pcb, or black marks on the cpu, or something might have actually melted off! other than that, the only way to tell is to either take the cpu and test it in another board, or to test another cpu in your motherboard. if neither works, then i would say that both are toast....which can happen when the cpu actually gets to the point that it is so hot, that it melts components on the nmotherboard...not a good thing...
i hope that all works out.


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-
 
i took off the heatsink and fan off the CPU to see if it was smoked, the processor melted the little thing under the heatsink a little, and the proccessor was blue around the center chip but I think that was there already. Does it look like a sign of a smoked cpu???
 
i think that the blue stuff is some sort of protective coating, but i am not sure 100%...mine has the same thing, and it was there when i got it, so i think that is norm...
the thing that troubles me is the melted plastic under it...
are you talking about the socket itself, or the thermal sensor?
if the socket itself is melted, then i dont think that it is going to work anyways...but you might want to have someone look at it.
check the processor on another motherboard...like a friends...and if it works, wihtout any problems, then i would say that you need a new motherboard...
processors like the athlon can take some heat...they do have their limit, but i keep hearing these crazy numbers like 69*c....which is really quite hot!
so i would say to try the componenets...because there is really no way to really tell if it is burned, unless you can actually sewe physical damage to the processor...
but you motherboard might have fried, but if it is just a little, then it might be ok.
it all depends on what melted, the socket or the thermal sensor...check your manual or the manufacturer's site to see what they say about what part is what...
i dont know if the motherboard will work righ tif the thermal sensor is damged...
even though it would take quite a bit for the thermal sensor to get messed up, but if it isnt functioning right, there may be a failsafe that if the thermal sensor is messed up, then the system wont power on, just to protect itself...
anyone else concur on that?

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-
 
I posted yesterday about what I thought was my K7S5A motherboard not working. Well today I meticulously analyzed my motherboard, and looked at the processor. Well I found on the bottom of my CPU fan was this black rubber stuff, it had melted onto my processor, and now there is a black ring around the middle chip of my new AMD XP 1800+ processor. This is the first computer I have built, so would this be the reason my comp doesn't boot? If it is, any ideas on how to get the black stuff off the processor without ruining it? Hopefully I can.
Jeff
 
Hi,

Its my thermal sensor that melted, the motherboard socket looks good. Is the heatsink suppose to be really tight or there should be no force to be used to secure the heatsink. I am using the heatsink that came with the processor and it was a pain to get attached to the motherboard. I think my motherboard might not be working because I bought it refursbished so i am going to return it and get another one. So I think the proccesor its still good.
 
the heatsink on a socket a are going to be a pain to install, well, not a pain, they are supposed to be on there pretty tight, as to make sure that the entire core is in contact, and that maximum contact is assured with the core and the heatsink...
and if you got the motherboard used, and it might be fried, then i would say that the processor is probably still good...
what i would do, is to make sure that the heatsink's fan is running good BEFORE you put it in the case, and BEFORE you put it on the cpu...it only takes seconds to fry...and in those few seconds, there is no way to turn the power off...
i mean, i am sure that a processor might live when you have at least a heatsink on there, but if the whole assembly is missing, or not working...then you will have a problem...
you might want the people who you take the motherboard back to check the board out, and see what is up, and what the hell, bring in your cpu, and let them check that, just to be sure it works...
i hope that it all goes well, and that you get a new motherboard as quick as possible...GOOD LUCK!

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-
 
Well, depending on what the composition of the stuff is thats on your CPU and HSF, there are several things you can try.

On the HSF, I'd disassemble the HSF so that the HS n' F are apart. Then I'd likely try something like using some really hot water or a hair drier to see if after the heat you can remove the goop. If not, then you can try another solvent like Aceatone.

I usually pour a small quanitity of aceatone into a small dish ( of course the dish has to be large enough for the HS to sit flately on the bottom of the dish.
Then I pour in a fairly thin pool of aceatone, then insert the HS. I don't use enough aceatone so that it comes up over the lip of the HS. BTW.. do this in a really well ventalated place.. like between two shady trees in the middle of of your back yard.

As for getting stuff off the CPU... Again, I've used the method described above. Here, MAKE SURE YOU DON'T USE SO MUCH ACEATONE that it COMES UP OVER THE TOP OF THE CHIP and TOUCHES THE PINS.

IN both cases, it's good if you can let it sit there for a while, adding aceatone as necessary. Aceatone evaporates fairly quick, and the last thing you want to do is to have all the aceatone evaporate away from the component before you get the opportunity to try and clean off the goop.

As for figuring out if you've cooked the CPU? This is a little harder to figure out. But like I said earlier, if you don't get a BIOS screen, and you had power on for say um.. now how long did it take you to just read this? That's too long.... if the heat sync didn't do it's job, then you can almost assuredly bet you cooked it. Now, if you really let it run for a long time without the HSF properly down, you can sometimes smell it and just know......... drat!

But the other methods described above to determine if the CPU is shot are better.. you know.. using a pal's board and seeing if you can get it to run in another board... be sure you properly install the HSF in this system too or you'll run the risk of doing something not nice to the second board as well..

<font color=red>When you smoke your CPU, what kind of papers do you use? 😱
 
i dont know...but i think that the athlon xp might not be as acetone friendly as it's younger brother the thundebird is....
i have never held, seen in person, or been close enough to tell what it is made of, but it looks like a different material than the athlon is made of...the board part of it..not the core...
looks almost like it is some sort of pcb...instead of ceramic...
and where the heck would black rubbery stuff be coming from??????
i cannot think of anything under the cpu that would make that...unless there was some sort of weird temp probe...
and yeah, in most cases, a thunderbird, and probably the xp, are toast in less than like 2 seconds....cases which include the hsf not being mounted flsh, so that only an edge of the core is actually touching the hsf...
not having a strong clip can cause this...if the hsf is heavy...
i wish i could see this black mystery goop that he is describing...just for the experience, so that if i ever see it in the wild, i can say..ahh...i have seen this before...and BAM, have a solution!

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-
 
I think the black rubbery stuff he is talking about is the little plastic thing you take off the thermal sensor on the heatsink before you put it on the socket. I think he forget to take it off and it melted into the proccesor, well at least my heatsink had a little black plastic paper covering the thermal sensor.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by brown1978 on 11/05/01 01:55 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
did you try resetting the bios with the jumper?
my friend's computer did that the first time i powered it on, and instincively, i reset the bios, and it worked fine...
i am still trying to figure out about that black stuff...and i am starting to think that it might be just the protective stuff that they put on the cheapo thermal interface material...it is like a sheet of plascit, and it is supposed to be removed BEFORE application and use of the heatsink.......so if you never did that, then you might want to clean everything up, and put on some arctic silver...


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-
 
Good grief, the melted material is nothing more than the thermal pad ( NOT SENSOR!). This is normal its supposed to melt! question is did he take off the plastic from the pad befoe he installed the heatsink.

Video editing?? Ha, I don't even own a camera!
 
forgettythatty

He has a xp not a 1.4, besides he is not posting at all, this is not a cause of the problem. Reset RAM, clear CMOS and try again.

Video editing?? Ha, I don't even own a camera!
 
I think this motherboard is a bit stupid. I recently put together a system with it and also experienced problems. Sometimes when I'd turn off, the computer would turn off but the fans would stay turning inside and the power supply would stay on. After this, it usually would not turn back on. Also, if I would turn it off by not shutting down in Windows, it would not turn back on. Resetting the BIOS didn't do anything. What seemed to work was unplugging the PSU from the motherboard and plugging a different one in. It would turn on, then I'd turn it back off, then plug in the original PSU, then it would work. It was really stupid. It had to do with the Sleep function in the BIOS. After that setting was disabled, it started, and still is, working just fine. But it sounds like your problem is a bit different, and if you bought it refurbished, it may be a bum part. Not sure though.

"Trying is the first step towards failure."
 
Oh... n' I did some research on the new AXP's.. seems like the "CHIP" is not (as was suggested earlier) as ceramic as it's older brothers/sisters/aunt's n' uncles.. seems the new AXP's are "organic material" and after doing a lot of reading sounds like it's more akin to the material PCB's are made of.. so I'm not entirely convinced that aceatone would be a good solvent choice!

<font color=red>When you smoke your CPU, what kind of papers do you use? 😱
 
k7s5a with 256mb ddr works fine with Duron 750! no trouble with me! =)

peace outz!!!
 
hey, that is what i was thinking it was made of...thanks for confirming it...hehe


oh yeah, this board is not stupid...i have built two systems with them, and they are fine...
just make sure that the psu is putting out as close to specs as possible...
mine is running fine...256 megs of ddr, 900athlon, volcano6cu, ata133 7200 rpm hd, 40x cdrom...
all of this on a generic psu, not an enermax or something..i just got a good generic psu...and it works fine...


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-
 
Hrmmm.... I've put together a number of Athlon systems, and this is the first time I've tried one of the ECS K7S5A motherboards. I'd heard loads of glowing praise, but:

I got the same exact problem.

Power on, fans spin, cd-rom access lights blink, and nothin' else.. no video.

There were no error beeps from the motherboard, and at first I thought "Oh shizat... either the processor is dead or broken (which would be my first on athlon/duron) system, or this board is fubar." Processor works like a champ in another board - so it's back to this ECS board. I try reseating the agp card, memory (using sdram), the processor... unplugged everything except agp card, memory, and power on, and the same damn thing - power to the motherboard and no video. Power supply is 300watt generic but has clean signals.

Looking at the various hardware forums on the web, I'm seeing lots of people with the same exact problem, which leads me to believe that ECS just builds truly crappy boards. It's funny that not a single of the dozens of reviews covering the ECS board mentioned any kind of stability or quality problems, but I for one am going to be getting a RMA for this board within the next week if I can't get it up and running.



"Laziness is a talent to be cultivated like any other" - Walter Slovotsky
 
There have been a lot of reported problems with this board (actually quite a few from ECS in general). That being said, when they work...they work very well.

I think you should check the ECS website - they actually have a forum on the site with postings from people who are having problems. Although the forum is supposed to be monitored, I don't recall EVER seeing a response from any ECS staffers. Anyway, the problem may be posted...but I think consensus from the above posts point towards a funky board.

---------------
If you can't take the heat....go to Canada
 
The board rocks. Anyone who got a lemon should get a replacement. Here's the forum for any ECS issues.

<A HREF="http://forum.ocworkbench.com/ocwbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=4" target="_new">http://forum.ocworkbench.com/ocwbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=4</A>

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom