K7S5a running slow

[christophiend]

K7S5a, Athlon 2gb, 768 RAM. All was good until the other day when I switched my machine on, got a "no signal" message on my monitor, and not even the initial beep from my computer. So I jumped the blank the CMOS jumper and computer started okay then, but double bleeped and gave me a "CMOS battery low, hit F1 to enter setup or F2 to set defaults and startup" message. Went into setup and detected HDDs etc and computer started okay. This however meant I was running my processor at 1.2gb and 100Mhz for the RAM. Went back into setup and changed voltages/FSB speed to 133/133 but computer went back to original problem when restarting. I.e. Just didn't respond after starting and required CMOS jumpers to be jumped to restart (which resets voltage to 100/100 again).
Any suggestions?

 

[Kurt]

I have a similar happening. My machine barfed (K7S5A, 1GB, 1.2G Athlon), and would no longer work at 1.2Ghz. I dropped to 900Mhz and it works reliably, but is dog slow at times. I think a forklift upgrade is probably in order, especially since I just found out the USB ports are v1.1. Using an external USB HD for backup sorta sucks that way.

Cheers,
Kurt

 

[christophiend]

Well glad to hear it wasn't just me then. Let me know if you get anything to make it work again. I'm perfectly happy with this machine (well I was when it was running faster), although you're right, an AMD X2 machine would be kinda sweet!

 

[fruna]

i had the exact same problem twice, but the first time was odd. i took out my ram to see which type i need so i can get some more, then i put it back in, and i got a no signal, and the pc didnt beep. then i shut it off, walked downstairs, came back u to try again, and it worked. then the second time it happened when i replaced my harddrive, and now it wont work at all. and when i tried to use the hd on another pc, it was makin high rpm noise. now i have this pc sittin around, if anyone wants it, reply to roma_addict_18@hotmail.com. and btw, i got mad and ripped the speaker that makes the beep noise kuz i got mad, so u need another one if u want it.

 

[sbroadbent]

Yea, this board is pretty horrible. Here is the list of problems I've had with it.

LAN: The NIC sometimes has issues. If I've been using this machine at home, and then bring it over to a friends, it has problems connecting (getting Limited or No Connectivity). The way to fix it is to shut down, pull the sound card, and reseat it. Once you boot back up it connects fine.... until you bring it back home and you have to do the same thing all over again. Yea, try to figure that out. Lately though it's been behaving itself.

USB: My back panel ports are USB 2.0, but they have problems with a SATA hard drive in an external enclosure. To fix this I installed a 4 port USB 2.0 card and my drive has no more problems.

Onboard Sound: Can't say anything good about this. This was holding back my entire gaming until I installed a $30 Creative SB Live 5.1, and then things ran quite nicely.

AGP: The AGP slot is 4x, and can handle my Radeon 9200, but when I tried to install my friend's 9800 Pro (which can run at 4x, but the board didn't like it), and I had nothing but problems with crashing whenever I tried to load a game... I'm sure I could've loaded Solitaire or Minesweeper, but that's not why you upgrade from a 9200 to a 9800 Pro 😉

To resolve my problems, I'll be picking up the following board/CPU combo once Tigerdirect ships my new Ultra Microfly case for my future build.

Biostar - P4M800-M4 bundled with Celeron 2.26Ghz for $109

This will be a temporary solution which will enable me to use most of my original components, until I have the disposible income to go to something better (either an AMD Dual or Quad core or Intel C2D with DX10 video).

On the positive side, when I do get my friend's 9800Pro, and this mobo/CPU combo, I can sell off my existing setup as a basic websurfing/word processing machine. I think my grandfather is in the market for a new machine since his no longer functions, and that's all he needs it for.

Then once I do my future build, I can sell off my upcoming Celeron system (pick up a cheap case/PSU)... I've always been stuck on incredibly old hardware that by the time I do upgrade, my old parts just aren't worth anything. I did manage to sell off a Maxtor 40GB drive, but that's about it.

 

[blo]

it's NORMAL for the system to report the battery as low after a bios reset.

I'm looking for some info on k7s5a myself, so i haven't got time to go into any more depth at this time.
All the best - Blo.

 

[PCD]

Try change the CMOS battery, reset the BIOS with the jumper then set the BIOS corretly. If that doesn't work the motherboard most likely is about to go on leave. Generally the K7S5A is not the best motherboard ever made but surprisingly there are still some working sample around.

 

[Mousemonkey]

What sort of info dude? I've got the mobo manual in front of me right now!, had the board in my mother's rig damn thing blew it's caps one day after 18 months in service POS thing, having said that my 24/7 rig runs on a ECS K7VTA3 and it's still going strong after four and a half years (fingers crossed) :lol:

 

[blo]

Sorry bout that - Didn't realise you were talking to "Muoh".
Yeah Mouse - I got 2 of these "Rigs" (Mine since Jan2001 + Kid's since last Chrimbo!
I'm sure you know anyway, but K7S5A was the best buy socket A Mobo at the time, with a variety of on-board sound/Midi?Game/NIC + Modem options) + 133 SD Ram + PC2100 (i.e. DDR266 slots) - 4xAGP slot........................ All for £37.50
It's had a lot of bad press over the years, but i really think that it's not justified!
Unfortunately, within weeks, there were other boards which had more bells and whistles, seeing as technology was moving so fast at the time!
A couple of issues are that the slots, Inc. the Memory, PCI, and especially the AGP slot, need to have the cards inserted correctly, as over a period of time, it seems that heat can un-seat a card - Leaving users with a computer that doesn't boot!
Another is the power requirements - Which if not known about, and a user get's hold of a weak PSU, can help their computer convince them that they've bought a "Lemon".
There's lots more - But i haven't got time now...
I was looking for info regarding Daughter's PC - It wouldn't boot - - - 1st time - Locked-up after post - So i used Recovery Console + CHKDSK with R command - - - - - --
It now boots - But takes 5 Minutes - However - It runs like a dream after that!
THERE'S NO VIRUS'S OR ADWARE ETC (ALL SCANS CLEAR)...
SO I WANTED TO KNOW WHETHER I CAN RUN FIXBOOT OR FIXMBR WITHOUT DOING ANY MORE DAMAGE TO PC.
Anyone?

 

[Mousemonkey]

Good luck with that dude I've never had it work for me but you may be luckier/more skillful, if however you have a spare HDD and some free time it might be worth putting a clean install on it just to be sure that it is a 'windoze' MBR issue although as you say once it's up it runs fine oh and I'm assuming that you have the HDD set as the first boot device in the bios and no disc in the CD\DVD drive.

 

[southwow]

fixboot and fixmbr won't hurt anything.

When I was working in a large IT department, I built more than 30 PC's with the K7S5A. Every single one of them had the battery problem when disconnected from power. Unplugging them, removing the battery, resetting CMOS, installing new battery, and powering back up should fix the problem.

Until the NForce2 boards came out, these were the board to have for socket A, they are hella stable when they work!

 

[blo]

Thanks for the fixboot/MBR info South.

As regard to all those batteries - When you clear the bios on a K7S5A, the "CMOS Battery Low" Messageis quite normal!
You have to 1st load the "bios defaults", to let the system re-detect the hardware...
Save and exit...
and then, when PC is rebooting - (But before windows starts), Go back into the bios and select "Load Optimal Settings" - Then Save, and Exit.
Check that the correct processor speed is shown on the 1st Re-Boot Screen, (You can click Pause/Break to freeze the screen), and if it's lower than you know it should be, then it may also be neccessary to "Up" the CPU speed to 100/133 or 133/133 in CPU Plug'N'Play Setup. ***But only if your memory/CPU will support it***

All the best - Blo.