ECS K7S5A Pro 5.0

[Craig Palme]

I upgraded my ram from 256 sdram to 512 ddr ram. I went from 2 128 sdram
sticks to one 512 ddr ram pc2100 memory. I tried to install the one stick in
the ddr1 slot, but the system wouldn't boot up. I switched it to the ddr2
slot and everything worked fine. I'm waiting to hear from ecs, but I'm
curious if this is normal for this board. Or do I have a problem. Or an
excuse to build a new dual core system?

 

[Don Taylor]

I upgraded my ram from 256 sdram to 512 ddr ram. I went from 2 128 sdram
sticks to one 512 ddr ram pc2100 memory. I tried to install the one stick in
the ddr1 slot, but the system wouldn't boot up. I switched it to the ddr2
slot and everything worked fine. I'm waiting to hear from ecs, but I'm
curious if this is normal for this board. Or do I have a problem. Or an
excuse to build a new dual core system?

The K7S5A had lots of reports from folks of refusing to work if you
put in two SDRAM. Google can find lots of those reports. I don't
remember any similar reports of problems with a single or dual DDRAM,
that was supposed to be "the fix" if you had problems with two SDRAM.
(but it has been years and my brain cells are dying like flies).

Another problem I do remember with mine and a few others locally
was that the BIOS incorrectly identified the speed of the memory.
I think it defaulted to 100 when I first put in two sticks of 3200,
but when I manually set it to 133 it started up and ran just fine
with the correct speed after that. So, you might check your BIOS
and see what speed it is setting the memory at in each slot, if you
can get that far.

Since memory is so cheap, if your processor will support it you
might bump up to faster memory, I timed mine before and after fixing
the memory speed in the bios and saw just about the same ratio of
processor performance (on serious number crunching applications
that were memory intensive). That would buy you a little more life
from the old board at a bargain price, and likely give you a
perforance jump enough to make it barely noticeable.

Mine is getting old, but is still stable, and I'm waiting for the
next price drop so I can get 2x the performance for a low price.

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

I upgraded my ram from 256 sdram to 512 ddr ram. I went from 2 128 sdram
sticks to one 512 ddr ram pc2100 memory. I tried to install the one stick in
the ddr1 slot, but the system wouldn't boot up. I switched it to the ddr2
slot and everything worked fine. I'm waiting to hear from ecs, but I'm
curious if this is normal for this board. Or do I have a problem. Or an
excuse to build a new dual core system?

Here are K7S5A forums that may have some information about your
problem:

http://pub65.ezboard.com/bk7s5amotherboardforum

I found that my K7S5A Pro 5.0 was more particular about PC2100 memory
than other mobos were, but... every module that failed contained
UnTesTed (UTT) or house marked chips, while none with prime quality
chips did, that is, chips marked with their chip maker's full part
numbers. Even major brand modules are now made with UTT or house
marked chips, including Kingston (they claim they never use UTT, but
they do slice silicon wafers and grade chips on their own), Mushkin,
and Corsair, and roughly 50% of the Kingston PC2100 I tried failed in
this mobo. Even worse was Kingston 512MB PC3200 RAM, with 8 of 11
modules failing in ECS nForce3A mobos (2 out of 2 Mushkins also failed,
but 5 out of 5 PNYs worked fine). All these modules were tested at
their SPD timings (but BIOSes don't necessarily default to them) and
with both Gold Memory and MemTest86.

 

[Ken]

I upgraded my ram from 256 sdram to 512 ddr ram. I went from 2 128 sdram
sticks to one 512 ddr ram pc2100 memory. I tried to install the one stick in
the ddr1 slot, but the system wouldn't boot up. I switched it to the ddr2
slot and everything worked fine. I'm waiting to hear from ecs, but I'm
curious if this is normal for this board. Or do I have a problem. Or an
excuse to build a new dual core system?

As others have said, this board is fussy with RAM. I tried a stick of
Kingston Value Ram 512 MB DDR in one and had to replace it with two 256
MB sticks of DDR. All were PC2700, but the Kingston failed due to
density of the RAM if I recall correctly. Once you find the right
memory it works fine.

 

[jaster]

I upgraded my ram from 256 sdram to 512 ddr ram. I went from 2 128 sdram
sticks to one 512 ddr ram pc2100 memory. I tried to install the one stick
in the ddr1 slot, but the system wouldn't boot up. I switched it to the
ddr2 slot and everything worked fine. I'm waiting to hear from ecs, but
I'm curious if this is normal for this board. Or do I have a problem. Or
an excuse to build a new dual core system?

I don't think it's the memory because the same memory works in slot 2.

If you're sure you installed the memory in slot 1 correctly there's a
chance the slot is bad. Air clean the slot and try again. Uncommon but
sometimes a slot just doesn't work. Hopefully, ECS is willing to
exchange the board but is it still in warranty?

FTR, my ECS is running 2 Mushkin 512 DDRs (IIRC 1-pc2100, 1-pc2700)

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

I don't think it's the memory because the same memory works in slot 2.

But each memory slot has slightly different timings, so marginal memory
could work in one slot but not the other. This why I test modules in
every slot.

 

[Craig Palme]

The K7S5A had lots of reports from folks of refusing to work if you
put in two SDRAM. Google can find lots of those reports. I don't
remember any similar reports of problems with a single or dual DDRAM,
that was supposed to be "the fix" if you had problems with two SDRAM.
(but it has been years and my brain cells are dying like flies).

Mine worked with the two stick of sdram. It's just when I installed the one
stick of ddram (yes I removed the sdram) in the dimm1 slot it wouldn't boot
up. But when I installed it in the dimm2 slot it did. It's got me wondering
if I should even bother getting another 512 stick to take it up to the 1GB
max or leave it where it is. I'm not sure I want to waste my money if it
won't work.

Another problem I do remember with mine and a few others locally
was that the BIOS incorrectly identified the speed of the memory.
I think it defaulted to 100 when I first put in two sticks of 3200,
but when I manually set it to 133 it started up and ran just fine
with the correct speed after that. So, you might check your BIOS
and see what speed it is setting the memory at in each slot, if you
can get that far.

I've had that problem and have to go into the bios and change it up to
133/133. I'm not sure about changing the timing setting in the advance
section. I really don't want to go through the hassle of resetting the cmos.

Since memory is so cheap, if your processor will support it you
might bump up to faster memory, I timed mine before and after fixing
the memory speed in the bios and saw just about the same ratio of
processor performance (on serious number crunching applications
that were memory intensive). That would buy you a little more life
from the old board at a bargain price, and likely give you a
perforance jump enough to make it barely noticeable.

That maybe an idea to get the next stick to be pc2700 or something like that
so even if it doesn't work I can use it on a new board.

 

[Craig Palme]

I'm using a stick of crucial.

As others have said, this board is fussy with RAM. I tried a stick of
Kingston Value Ram 512 MB DDR in one and had to replace it with two 256 MB
sticks of DDR. All were PC2700, but the Kingston failed due to density of
the RAM if I recall correctly. Once you find the right memory it works
fine.

 

[Craig Palme]

I don't think it's the memory because the same memory works in slot 2.

If you're sure you installed the memory in slot 1 correctly there's a
chance the slot is bad. Air clean the slot and try again. Uncommon but
sometimes a slot just doesn't work. Hopefully, ECS is willing to
exchange the board but is it still in warranty?

No, I've had it for about 2 years now. I just finally got around to changing
the memory. More apps are requiring more memory.

 

[Craig Palme]

Thanks.

Here are K7S5A forums that may have some information about your
problem:

http://pub65.ezboard.com/bk7s5amotherboardforum

I found that my K7S5A Pro 5.0 was more particular about PC2100 memory
than other mobos were, but... every module that failed contained
UnTesTed (UTT) or house marked chips, while none with prime quality
chips did, that is, chips marked with their chip maker's full part
numbers. Even major brand modules are now made with UTT or house
marked chips, including Kingston (they claim they never use UTT, but
they do slice silicon wafers and grade chips on their own), Mushkin,
and Corsair, and roughly 50% of the Kingston PC2100 I tried failed in
this mobo. Even worse was Kingston 512MB PC3200 RAM, with 8 of 11
modules failing in ECS nForce3A mobos (2 out of 2 Mushkins also failed,
but 5 out of 5 PNYs worked fine). All these modules were tested at
their SPD timings (but BIOSes don't necessarily default to them) and
with both Gold Memory and MemTest86.

 

[jaster]

I'm using a stick of crucial.

Uh, oh.
Not fond of Crucial (value memory). I got a 1G PC2700 which
wouldn't work with the Mushkin PC2700 on another machine. No SPD or
something. Works fine in any slot just not in any combination with the
Mushkin (ECS 755A m/b). That's how the K7S5A got 1G with 2 sticks of
Mushkin. No problems with Mushkin.

Others will swear by Crucial but ..............

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

Uh, oh.
Not fond of Crucial (value memory). I got a 1G PC2700 which
wouldn't work with the Mushkin PC2700 on another machine. No SPD or
something. Works fine in any slot just not in any combination with the
Mushkin (ECS 755A m/b). That's how the K7S5A got 1G with 2 sticks of
Mushkin. No problems with Mushkin.

Others will swear by Crucial but ........

I've heard of only one other person having problems with Crucial, and
that was with a Crucial module containing Samsung chips, perhaps
because the SPD wasn't programmed right for them.

I've tried only two Mushkin modules, 512MB PC3200 Enhanced, but they
were the worst PC3200s I had and were the only ones that simply would
not run reliably at 400 MHz regardless of how much I slowed the other
timing parameters. Even the Kingstons with the completely unmarked
chips were better. Oddly, Thaiphoon IDed these Mushkins as Kingston.