DDR ram not working on a ECS k7s5a. Could it be my power supply?

[johningram]

I have a ECS k7s5a and i cant get DDR ram to work for some reason. Im thinking its either the motherboard or my power supply.
Reasoning is the motherboard stinks really badly.
Im using a 250 watt power supply and i have a high powered 128 mb video card. Nvidia fx 5200 ultra by PNY.
I have like 3 chassis fans a big cpu fan and of course the power supply fan.
I have 2 hard drives a cd burner and a floppy.
A modem
Sound card
So im thinking i dont have enough juice to run the ddr ram since it takes a higher voltage than the 256mb pc 100 i have in there right now.
Also when i put the DDR ram in it would attempt at upping the motherboard and cpu speed since i have a 266mhz bus and right now with pc100 ram its only at a 100mhz bus. That would also take more power im assuming when the cpu and motherboard are running at higher speeds. Right?
Anyways when i install the DDR the pc just doesnt turn on or go anywhere. Just a black screen. I think the power supply does turn on though but maybe not? Im not sure. I forgot now its been awhile now.
Thanks
John Ingram
What could it be?

 

[paparazi]

There are a few things concerning me with your post, but firstly What CPU do you have?
Why do you think your motherboard smells?
Yes it would seem that your 250watt PSU is too little for your setup but I dought this is your present problem.
Reset the cmos clear
Reset both CPU and front side bus speeds in the bios (this depends on the CPU you have)
Don't obviously use both ram types at the same time.
Reseat graphics card and memory.
More info please.
Martin


Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[johningram]

Ok when i said the motherboard stinks i meant its a pretty cheap motherboard that seems to have tons of problems. My only real problem was the ram but others seem to hate this board. The people i bought it from said they get most of them back dead before 30 days from the sale. But i thought they were lying to sell me more expensive stuff.
I have a AMD athlon pro 2700 i think? I think its a 2.4ghz but maybe its a 2.1? I forgot. Anyways it came with the motherboard as a bundle so i know there compatible. Supposedly though i can only run it at 1.4ghz or something around those lines because of the bus on the motherboard. Something like that was explained to me before.
I have cleared the motherboards memory using a jumper several times and nothing helps. I dont know how to reset the video card or ram. The motherboard is supposed to automatically detect my cpu and ram and adjust accordingly. Ive tried numerous settings before though.
I always only used 1 stick of ram at a time and im postive im putting it in correctly. Also the motherboard is suposed to be able to take the ram im using.
It is crucial brand ram if that matters.

 

[Snickle]

Here's a link about the board, doesn't seem to be a bad board:

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2002/ecs/k7s5aguide/ABOUT THE K7S5A BOARD.htm

 

[dakota81]

That model board is a lot better than "most of them dead after 30 days." I just set one up last week with Windows 98, had been running XP for a long time.

I believe the problem you are having is the board does not support the multiplier that the cpu is locked with, if you replace that cpu with a 2600+ you should be fine.

http://www.ecs.com.tw/support/techcpu/athlonxp.htm

Even if you have the fsb down at 100MHz, that still doesn't change the cpu multiplier, which is probably the cause of all this.

 

[paparazi]

The ECS K7S5a only supports 266fsb processors upto XP2.6+
But as most current XP2.6+ CPU's are 333FSB the XP2.4+ is the fastest new CPU available for this motherboard.
I have recently (last 3 weeks) done 3 upgrades on systems that have had this motherboard fitted, one was over two years old running a 750Duron.
A quick bios flash and replacement XP2.4+ with appropriate heatsink fan and all my customers have reported a good improvement in performance.
Swop the XP2.7+ for a XP2.4+ and all will be fine.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[paparazi]

To add to above post:
So if the motherboard is older than 2003 it may need a bios flash as well to recognise the XP2.4.
I think the final bios release for this motherboard was Nov 02.
Yes it is a cheap motherboard, early versions V.1`.0(first six months of production) were a nighmare but as with a lot of products that have a long production run, latter versions ie: V.3.1.0 have all the problems sorted so prove to be both cheap and reliable.
Latest replacement ECS K7S8XE is a stonking board choice for a cheap system build.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[johningram]

Ok it must be the 2.4 then that i have because it definately matches the board. Anwways what do i have to do to make this thing work right without changing cpu's because if anything it would be the board to go not the cpu.

 

[MaxPipeline]

Going back to paparazi's initial reply, you didn't per chance try installing the DDR Ram with the PC100 in place did you? You can use one or the other but not both. Also have you tried using the other DDR RAM slot? Bad ram can cause your system to not boot. Can you verify the RAM stick is good by trying to install it into another system?

BTW, I also believe 250wt PS is insufficent for the hardware you have. I'd seriously consider upgrading to 300wt or more.

 

[johningram]

Im posive i didnt use both. This has been an ongoing thing for awhile now. Ive tried it several times and in both slots available.
The ram is good. I checked in another rmachine and it was fine. Are you sure im not having a power problem?
My video card is so beefy it even takes a power wire from the power supply.