PC Chips Motherboard

[ADRAMELK]

Has anyone ever owned a mobo with both SD and DDR slots..... dont buy one..... the fsb will never run at full speed without DDR. So I overclocked the biaaach and then accelerated it.... at 9.81 m/s. Wait what was my point, oh ya EconoPC sucks never ever ever ever buy anything from them. They ripped me off.. I though I had a good deal on this mobo until the floppy controller failed. Oh well I have a warranty right.... so they sent me back a different board that doesnt support my processor so im stuck at 1050, hmmmm my girlfriend is making lunch.

[ADRAMELK]

Oh ya anyone wanna buy a computer.....?<BR><BR>AMD 1.4 Ghz over....er under ..... uh running at 1050<BR>20 GB maxtor<BR>20 GB samsung<BR>GF2 Pro 64 MB<BR>256 MB RAM<BR>AMR Modem<BR>Ethernet Card<BR>Sound Card.... ************************ey<BR>21" monitor<BR><BR>$600

[Comixion]

EconoPC....egads!!! So I'm not the only one to have suffered from those...uhh...whatever they are.<BR><BR><BR>Whats brand is your Monitor? and I take it your running the PCchips Mobo in it?

[Colin]

PC Chips/PC Wave/ECS/Houston Tech are all the same company... They make low end motherboards mainly for OEM's who are driven by $$$ over anything else.<BR><BR>Actually your PC Chips motherboard is basically the same thing as the ECS K7S5A which was very popular a while ago. It's quite fast actually but the quality level of hte MB is quite lousy.<BR><BR>Btw your FSB problem is well known it's the SiS 735 chipset overheating! What you should do is replace that with an active cooler (with thermal paste <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">) and you should be able to run at a 133 MHz FSB! SErious try it out, it'll work! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Hehe... I don't think anyone wants to buy your computer after hearing about that! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Oh and one more thing you can get an overclockers BIOS for your board eh...

[ADRAMELK]

You dont want it Comixon, Im gonna try to sell it to a friend, because once I ship it anywhere things are gonna get all kinds more expensive. Plus the PCI slots are fuxing up left and right. The monitor is a Dell though (trinitron tube), I got it off ebay for 200$ like a year and a half ago, it was a sweet deal. Wow Colin youre a pretty sharp guy there.... even knowing the little details about a crappy motherboard, im impressed. Ill throw a fan on ths SiS chip but I think there might be more to my problem, see the old mobo I had was a EC SK7VZA, actually I really liked it. I have a T-bird 1.4.. and the PC chips mobo they sent back to me supports up to a 1.3. When I try to start it at a fsb of 133 windows wont boot at all. When I move the jumper ( I thoght that was wierd to have a fsb jumper ) back to 100 itll run but at 1050. If you acould make my puter run at 233 ill be amazed... but Ive taken it to all the cs guys I know around here and nobody knew about the SiS chip... so I think you could be the guy to know. <BR><BR>An overclockers BIOS you say eh... please dont tell me its AMBIOS... Ill flash it with pooBIOS if you can find me anything other that AMBIOS.

[Colin]

Haha... Well thanks, I'll take those comments as a complement... <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> I'm assuming your motherboard is this one...<BR><BR><img src="http://www.pcwave.com/PCchips/Image/Socket%20A/prod-m830lmr.jpg"> <BR><BR>Looks very much like this eh? <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"><BR><BR><img src="http://www.pcwave.com/prod-k7s5a.jpg"><BR><BR>YOu're right the K7VZA was actually a good motherboard, pretty quick for a KT133A. Your current MB the M830LMR supports your 1.4 GHz processor in if you flash your MB with the lastest it will even support an XP CPU! <BR><BR>I'll see if I can dig up some info on the overheating northbridge. Since I don't have that MB myself I'm not really sure what BIOS it uses but I thoguht it was Award. Again I'll see what I can find and let you know a little l8r.<BR><BR>PLease try replacing the chipset heatsink and let us know how things go! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[Colin]

ADRAMELK I need to know what you do with your computer most first though and what videocard you have... I have the ECS K7S5A overclocker bios now but they are kinda specific... Let me knwo and I'll upload the appropriate one.

[ADRAMELK]

Mobo: PC Chips M817<BR>Vid: GeForce 2 Pro 64 MB <BR><BR>I do everything with old compy here - play UT - crack UT - um..... oh ya I have a modem too.<BR><BR>I need help flashing my BIOS, its been a while, I was sure I could do it without a startup disk. The boot disk XP makes for you is worthless.<BR><BR>I guess i have to track someone who still runs 98 and get a startup disk

[Colin]

Just found this <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://forum.ocworkbench.com/ocwbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=27&t=003724">link</a> it might be albe to help youmore then I can...<BR><BR>AS for startup disks download <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://dos.li5.org/IMGS/WIN98SE.EXE">this</a> and extract it to your floppy.<BR><BR>The Flash file has a read me, if you need more help let me know.

[ADRAMELK]

Hey Colin do you have AIM?<BR><BR>My problem is that there isnt enough disk space for the flash utility the BIOS and the startup files.<BR><BR>I tried deleting the startup files I dont need like scandisk, fdisk, cd support ect and I can get all the files to fit then.<BR><BR>But then when I go to flash it tells me the ROM doesnt exist. (file doesnt exist: error 2) {then the font turns red.... like blood}<BR><BR>Real player immediately associates the file as one of its own when I extract it, I dont think this is the problem I think Im flashing wrong.<BR><BR>I just run the flash exe followed by the BIOS right?<BR><BR>Whats goin on here?<BR><BR>

[Colin]

No, sorry I don't use AIM. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>What you should do is make a temp folder on your hard drive and store hte flash there. Use the boot disk just as that. Then go to that folder and flash.<BR><BR>You ahve to flash from DOS mode, not a DOS prompt within windows.

[ADRAMELK]

I cant go anywhere else other than the A drive once the boot disk boots. It has something to do with the fack that XP does not have a real DOS environment. So everything has to bw on the floppy. Its not too much of a problem I dont think, the problem is when I go to flash, the flash utility errors and says that the file is not found. Ive tried all types of BIOS the one you linked the one thats supposed to work, and another hacker one. None of them exist apparently so I mush be doing something else wrong... <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif" border="0">

[Colin]

Hmm, ADRAMELK that really sucks. Gimme a little bit of time, I'm gonna talk to one of my friends who works in a retail store and see if I have the same problems you do.<BR><BR>Just wondering are you using a NTFS file system?

[CygnusX1]

yeah, sounds like your using NTFS...(i am also) to flash the bios, you will need a 98 (not second edition, regular 98) startup disk to boot into 'dos'. copy the flash program, and the .bin file to a blank floppy. after the boot process is complete, copy the flash program, and the .bin file (from the a: prompt with the disk yo have the flash prog & bios .bin file on, copy ****.exe c: and copy ***.bin c:) to the 'diagnostic drive' (usually c<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> switch to the c: drive (dir c<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> and run the command to flash the bios ( ***.exe ***.bin)<BR><BR>good luck!!!

[ADRAMELK]

Thanks guys Ill see what happens. I am using NTFS... I figured it would be quicker than FAT32 for XP. Get on ICQ sometime Colin, Im running Trillian now so I can talk to ya. Thanks for your help too Cygnus, I appreciate it.

[ADRAMELK]

My puter just booted at 1.4 GHz @ 133 fsb.... thats a lot for your help everyone.... Id send you guys a dollar, if I knew you wouldnt spend it on booze.....<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Im so happy I dont know what to do woth myself..... I know im gonna go oer klok dis bish

[CygnusX1]

glad to see ur back up & runnin...<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> i am happy too..just got my replacment 1.4 ayhja from AMD!!!! with a purty skived hsf...thanks amd <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[Colin]

Booze? Hehe, I don't drink anymore! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>We're all glad your computer is up and running well. Happy fragging in CS!<BR><BR>Hey CygnusX1, how high can you get that baby? <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

[ADRAMELK]

My northbridge was definitely getting very hot and my system was running at 100 Mhz fbs. So I took your advice colin and stole a heatsink and fan off a P90 at work and threw it on there. Almost like magic it ran at 133. It was running so cool I overclocked the bus to 166, and it ran fine, I overclocked the CPU to 1.7 and it crashed like a mo, but its stable at 1.6. So thats 600 MHz CPU improvement and a 66MHz up in bus in four days thanks to you guys. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"> <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

[Colin]

Kick ass man that's pretty awesome! Didn't I tell you? <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>It does feel faster as well right? <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[ADRAMELK]

My 3D benchmarks didnt go up (very much), but oh ya shes feels way faster, Ive running a lot of statistical packages lately too and Ive been blazing through them.

[Colin]

YOu're using a GTS/Pro/Ti right? You're all videocard limited now, so it doesn't really matter how much faster your system is. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Overall system benchmarks should be faster though. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Now that the heat issue has been resolved, you'll find that the SiS 735 is actually quite a fast chipset! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[CygnusX1]

colin...you teh mang!!!!<BR><BR>ADRAMELK, thats one hell of an o/c...good luck!!!

[CygnusX1]

<br><br><< <i>Hey CygnusX1, how high can you get that baby? <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"></i> >><br><br><BR><BR>Cant wait to throw it in...factory unlocked baby!!! i have to wait to get my backup mobo back from rma...i blew it up good...shot a capacitor about 3 feet in the air of the board..suffice to say, the board is dead...<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[Colin]

Haha! Well thank you. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> I love helping ppl!<BR><BR>Ya ADRAMELK that's a very good oc. My old AYHJA 1.4 GHz T-Bird would do about 1.65 GHz with a GlobalWin WBK-38. Loud, fast and hot! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> I'm sure with a bit of tweaking you can get it higher!

[Colin]

<br><br><< <i>i have to wait to get my backup mobo back from rma...i blew it up good...shot a capacitor about 3 feet in the air of the board..suffice to say, the board is dead... </i> >><br><br><BR>?!? Damn dude that must have sucked! What board was it?<BR><BR>Maybe on th4e wknd if I have enough time, I'll build a TEC for my XP... I wanna break 2 GHz! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[CygnusX1]

it was a fic ad-11..was testing the h20 kit for leaks in it (it didnt leak!!) i dont know what caused it...prolly shorted against a screw that was laying in the case...it was late, and i was tired...so it got my mobo, and my xp 1700...mobo went back to day, hangin on to the 1700 to see if its really dear..will prolly send it back soon tho...

[Colin]

Damn. Ya I killed an Epox 8KHA+ the same way well at least I think so anyway, the stupid metal nut was touching one of the resistors... It didn't blow, but burnt out.<BR><BR>Does your XP1700+ work? Hey what stepping is it? We have one here, AGOIA that does 1.89 GHz with air! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[CygnusX1]

i am pretty sure the 1700 is dead...it's agkga y couldn't get it to unlock, but was able to run it @ 150*11 (1650mhz)...now i have the 1800 w/ agoga y stepping...unlocked, but havent pushed it yet..want to wait for the h2o setup...its killin me tho...may see what it can do soon...

[Colin]

That's a shame. The 2 AGKGA Y's I had both maxed out at around 1.7 GHz while my XP2000+ which was AGOGA did 1.8 GHz. That was with air cooling though so I'm pretty sure you can go higher then that with water! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">