computer upgrade question

weaselnoze · February 19, 2006, 07:31:03 AM

thanks again sys. i'll hit up the store on my way home from church today:)

john · February 19, 2006, 09:03:56 AM

Quote from: sys49152 on February 19, 2006, 12:02:56 AM
Weaselnoze,

I believe (and will try to confirm) that the Athlon 64 (including the Sempron 64) and Intel P4 chips require the auxiliary 12V 4-pin connection along with the standard connection,

Yes it does. If the power supply weaselnose has now lacks this connector then it won't run.

weaselnoze · February 20, 2006, 06:32:33 PM

well guys that seemed to be the problem. i am now typing on my new system

thanks for all the help guys. i'll keep this thread alive and let u know how things work out. so far so good. just getting all the things set up (ugh). under the system properties, it says i only have 512mb of RAM. how come it doest show 1Gb?

sys49152 · February 20, 2006, 07:34:24 PM

That's awesome!

Credit goes to John though. He called it first :

Quote from: johnYou also installed the small square power plug to the board right? If your power suply is old it will possibly lack the right connector..

Let us know how you like it and if it's significantly faster than your previous setup. I'd suggest running CPUID again, to see what the memory slot information shows. Again, post your results.

Enjoy!

weaselnoze · February 20, 2006, 09:18:10 PM

cpuz says im still running 512mb. wtf. it also says the timing is 199.99mhz. shouldnt it be 400mhz?

just noticed i have the mod in DIMM2. gonna try and put it in 1. brb

weaselnoze · February 20, 2006, 09:28:28 PM

nope. in cpuz it still says 512mbytes. but under the SPD tab, the module size for the stick is 1024mbytes...

sys49152 · February 21, 2006, 06:58:03 AM

EDIT : read the next post first. If it doesn't work try the steps outlined in this post

200Mhz is fine.. it should be running at that speed. If you look at the CPU tab in CPU-Z, in the clocks section it will show that your FSB is running at 200.

Now, a couple of questions :

- when you turn your computer on and it does a memory count/post, what does it read?
- under the "Memory" tab in CPU-Z, what does it have listed for TYPE, SIZE, CHANNELS, and what are the CAS#, RAS# to CAS# and RAS# values.
- under the SPD tab, check each slot.. only one should have any values. For this one, what does it list for Module Size, Max Bandwidth, Manufacturer (might be Samsung or Micron), and again what are the SPD Timing Table values.

The RAM code be defective. RAM is generally the most flaky piece of hardware in new computers (probably a close race b/w the RAM and the video card for most number of defects). If there's any way you can plug this into a friend's computer to see if it's recognized properly, it will help us figure out where the problem lies.

sys49152 · February 21, 2006, 07:07:49 AM

I just noticed on the ECS website that they've got a newer version of the BIOS..

Quote from: ECS Website-Update AMD K8 reference code to patch memory size detect

Sounds like that might be the problem. Go to the BIOS download page and grab the 1.1b BIOS update plus the firmware flash utility. Read the "How to use Award WinFlash utility" PDF file and it will guide you through the process.

john · February 21, 2006, 09:42:38 AM

Quote from: weaselnoze on February 20, 2006, 09:18:10 PM
cpuz says im still running 512mb. wtf. it also says the timing is 199.99mhz. shouldnt it be 400mhz?

just noticed i have the mod in DIMM2. gonna try and put it in 1. brb

Flash the bios (you really should) and 200 mhz is correct.

john · February 21, 2006, 09:45:05 AM

Quote from: sys49152 on February 20, 2006, 07:34:24 PM
That's awesome!

Credit goes to John though. He called it first :

Quote from: johnYou also installed the small square power plug to the board right? If your power suply is old it will possibly lack the right connector..

Of course! I'm a network Administrator

2 months ago I was an idiot, now with my new title I'm an expert

I know the board, if that 4 pin connecter isn't snapped in right (and it goes on real tight) the same thing results.

chinox22x · February 21, 2006, 12:00:21 PM

damn..you bought an ECS board...sigh...

john · February 21, 2006, 08:19:44 PM

Quote from: chinox22x on February 21, 2006, 12:00:21 PM
damn..you bought an ECS board...sigh...

ECS has come a long way. Performance is almost the equal of similar boards of that vintage. It sucks to overclock (if you have SATA drives) but it's a strong performer....at least the A2. I can't speak for the newest boards.

yamahonkawazuki · February 22, 2006, 10:09:05 PM

blaaah i like my setup beter

weaselnoze · February 24, 2006, 03:01:07 PM

ok wtf. i replied the other day and im checking now and dont see my reply. how strange. anyway it went soemthing like this...

im really happy with my new system. things are coming together and im completely satisfied as of now. i havent done much photo editing but i already see how much of a difference it will make.

the bios update worked btw. everything is cool now

thanks again guys!

sys49152 · February 24, 2006, 06:18:01 PM

That's really good news! Enjoy the new system.

And btw, John's on the money with the ECS board you ordered. It's had nothing but great reviews from all of the well respected hardware review sites (AnandTech, TomsHardware, if those mean anything to you).

john · February 24, 2006, 06:53:11 PM

Quote from: sys49152 on February 24, 2006, 06:18:01 PM
That's really good news! Enjoy the new system.

And btw, John's on the money with the ECS board you ordered. It's had nothing but great reviews from all of the well respected hardware review sites (AnandTech, TomsHardware, if those mean anything to you).

At the time I built my AMD64 system the comperable boards were hardly any better and in some tests worse. The A2 sucks for the overclocker, but for a regular user it works fine. My 1 gig AMD64 /ECS system has worked without hitch for almost 2 years. No complaints from me.

Trwhouse · February 25, 2006, 08:50:18 AM

Hi there all,
Well, I had an ECS K7S5A board in a machine I built three years ago and it recently died. The first one I bought was DOA and the dealer replaced it under warranty, but it was still a pain to build it up and find it was dead. I replaced the ECS board with an MSI board and am very pleased with it. Maybe ECS quality is better now, but to me, it's not worth going back to their stuff. It's like the Hyundai Excel I once owned, a 1989 model. Supposedly, their cars are better now but I won't ever buy one again. It needed a transmission rebuild at 60,000 miles and they wouldn't fix it under warranty. Enough said.
Good luck,
Todd

john · February 25, 2006, 10:14:53 AM

The ECS A2 is almost an exact copy of the SiS reference board. This is probably why it worked so well out of the blocks. Like I said, I have heard ECS horror stories but this one board is reliable. No question that for an extra $20 or $30 you can get an ASUS that is considered far better quality.

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computer upgrade question