[Thauzar]

Hi,

I have an old athlon k7 cpu and board, which can be upgraded to use up to 1Gb of ddr 266Mhz.

So, I shutdown my machine, remove the old sdram, install the 256 and the 512 sticks of ddr then try to boot.


To my surprise: no bios beeps, but also, no bios either. The thing (judging from my cd drives activity) seems to reboot constantly before even the first beep that indicates "hey I'm alive" that's typically heard as the same time bios starts.

I tried to search around but can't find a way to formulate my question/problem correctly (I'm francophone).


Can anyone help me?

More infos: my board does not have jumpers, my bios does not have a function to activate ddr instead of sdram, there is supposed to be automatic detection whether it's sdram or ddr (from manual).

[nmX.Memnoch]

What's the make/model of your motherboard?

[Maleko]

WHat exactly are you putting in? 2 sticks of 512, and 1 stick of 256? DDR, or mixing with SDRAM?


It could be a number of things, incompatible memory, faulkty memory....


does the system work with the SDRAM in?

[Thauzar]

The system is back on, and still works perfect with my old 2x256MB sdram 133

No I don't mix sdram with ddr, i removed the 2 sdram sticks and added 2 ddr ones

there is 1x256MB and 1x512MB both ddr 266

my mobo is ECS k7s5a. manual does not specify it has been tested for 512mb sticks but I tried them both independently and got the same problem with each.

the 256mb one is from unknown brand but on the chips it reads infiniteon
the 512mb one is from advance modules

tested both of them separatedly and got the same "unexpected pre-bios reboot"

[Maleko]

ooo, my old mohterboard model! hehe

I never had probs with memory on that board...

hhmmm, possibly faulty DDR slots? maybe, i dunno.

from what i remmeber it is just plug and pray (play) with ddr on that board, shoudltn have any probs.

And the fact that you have the same probs with those sticks individually, says sommit must b up with the board?

[jago_lfn]

Had the same board, same probs. Everything worked like it was supposed to after flashing the bios to hacked cheepo bios @ http://www.ocworkben.../cheepobios.htm



if you dont want to flash maybe the guides there can help you @ http://www.ocworkben...ecs/k7s5aguide/

This post has been edited by jago_lfn: 24 February 2006 - 09:34 AM

[dirtwarrior]

jago_lfn
I have the same board. I am interested in the O/C bios. Does it unlock many useful features? I have never upgraded bios before, is there any precautions or special procedures to follow?
dirt

This post has been edited by dirtwarrior: 24 February 2006 - 10:24 AM

[jago_lfn]

@dirtwarrior: It allows you to change the FSB and speeds of the memory. Also allows support for newer cpus. I havent had no problems in flashing to these bioses. It's just like flashing an offical. I'd recommend reading through all the faqs and the forums there before doing anything though.

[dirtwarrior]

Does it allow voltage changes. There are several bios to choose from. Which one do you recommend?

[jago_lfn]

dirtwarrior, on Feb 24 2006, 11:19 AM, said:

Does it allow voltage changes. There are several bios to choose from. Which one do you recommend?

I belive it does. It's been a long time since i've had my k7s5a but i remember not using the latest version of the bios because it changed the way the pci slots were accessed. If memory recalls I think 0309f was the best version i used. You may not want the bios with fastwrites enabled tho i used it with a radeon 9200 with no problems. It actually helped the preformance of the video card by having it enabled.

@Thauzar: you can also try the ram in a different computer and see if it's not just bad sticks.

[Thauzar]

great, can't wait to get home, hope I wont scrap my board flashing it like i did with my p2 (flashed p2b-s instead of p2b cause on the box it says p2b series... dumb)

so just to be uber sure... the version I need to get is rev 3. not 5. But what's fastwrite?

gonna check the other link you posted until it's 5 and it's week end at last!

This post has been edited by Thauzar: 24 February 2006 - 03:34 PM

[dirtwarrior]

With this board I am running 1024 mb of PC 133. What benitit will I gain moving up to 1024 mb of DDR?

[Thauzar]

twice the speed? isn't it what Double Data Rate is all about?


for my part, i think my board is screwd. it's not even working with both my sdram sticks in now... so I guess it's time for a new pc.

[jago_lfn]

Thauzar, on Feb 24 2006, 03:32 PM, said:

great, can't wait to get home, hope I wont scrap my board flashing it like i did with my p2 (flashed p2b-s instead of p2b cause on the box it says p2b series... dumb)

so just to be uber sure... the version I need to get is rev 3. not 5. But what's fastwrite?

gonna check the other link you posted until it's 5 and it's week end at last!

Fastwrites is a faster way of accessing the AGP slot. For alot of people it's problematic but i've found it to be quite stable on that board. I've only used it with a geforce 4 and a radeon 9200 so it might not play well with others.

[Thauzar]

sometimes i don't even understand computers.

after not working with ddr, even if I flashed the bios.
after doing bluescreens when I put back my sdram
after not working anymore
after having only one out of 2 sdram sticks that work
after installing the one that does not work on another computer, and it actually works
after taking an old 64mb to fill the empty slot in my computer...

I'm stuck with a working but crippled 320MB of sdram.... wasn't I suppose to upgrade?

[dirtwarrior]

Sorry about your bad luck. I cant even begin to help you. I am sure some on here will be able to though.
I am using 1024 mb of pc 133 ram with no problems doing the things I need to do.
I was thinking of upgrading to ddr. I changed my mind.
The added cost
Maybe a little added performance
But after reading the perils, this made me not want to do it.
dirt

[Thauzar]

I think that after more than 4 years I'm simply dued for a new pc, without a cheap mobo this time