Bios detects NVRAM- not DDR

[boneburner]

Just did a system w/ an ECS elitegroup K7S5A Pro MB, and on startup bios sees a 256MB stick of PC2100 DDR ram as 256MB of NVRAM! Also, the processor, an athlon XP 1800, is being run at 1.15 gHz, not 1.533 as it ought. The company website shows no available bios update for this model MB.

[Budfred]

I am not sure what the story is on the NVRAM, but you need to go into the BIOS and change the CPU speed to 133 to get the right CPU setting.

[boneburner]

Great minds think alike. I tried that already( it's the only PnP setting that's adjustable =[. The sad result is that the bios will not run, necessitating a CMOS clearing. I'm kind of wondering about the CMOS battery because after clearing the CMOS, the bios says the battery voltage is wrong. This is wierd.

[Budfred]

It sounds like it could be a bad board, but I would try the bad battery idea first. I had no trouble adjusting the CPU speed on the same board.

[no-mbr]

The NVRAM statement is normal for some BIOS displays. You've got something screwed up. Either wrong RAM or wrong ram setting is BIOS or BIOS clear jumper goofed up. Double check BIOS manual for settings.

Boot once with no RAM installed.(until it beeps) Clear BIOS add RAM and see what happens...

[boneburner]

Yep, that was it. Bios refused to accept the 133/133mHz CPU PnP setting three times in a row, necessitating a CMOS dump each time. The fourth time was the charm, with the board accepting the setting and properly clocking the CPU. As for the NVRAM thing, the bios startup display is a bit confusing as it shows the RAM and AMI Flash tests concurrently. Now that the DDR memory is clocked correctly, the mem test runs quickly enough to not give a misleading output. The NVRAM test now appears separately(some sort of BIOS flash memory test). Still, boot up with this board is slower than my preferred ePox boards, and the settings for bios are too limited for my tastes. Won't be using another one until I hear some better things about ECS products. THANKS ALL!

[Budfred]

I found the board pretty easy to use and I liked the price, but the manual was pretty bad and ECS was nearly useless for support.

[boneburner]

Didn't mind the manual so much, have read much, much worse ;) . Still waiting for support to return an e-mail. Their website is no help at all. Would really like to see more specific tech info in manual, like temperature diode addresses and such. For the extra few dollars, the ePox boards are more robust and offer far greater features. Did anyone notice that the mounting holes mate to the atx case stand-off screws as poorly as any I have seen to date?

[josemavicente]

same thing .. got a ECS K7S5A .. 390 MB SD RAM ... apparently .. it also shows NVRAM... i dont mind it actually ... i htink its a default display .. whats important is that you set freq to 133/133.

[boneburner]

Yeah, no real worries with that anymore, but the board is now randomly rebooting and hanging the OS. Beginning to think ECS products are junk. Their website shows a myriad of different BIOS updates, far more than more reputable and established MB manufacturers. I have no idea what would cause the rotten thing to begin this behavior, the load-up of the OS went just fine and I had no problems loading his other software.

[josemavicente]

mine did that twice ... i've had that for three months already. what happens though sometimes is that io get a BAD CMOS sometimes and have to reload default values or something.


right now im having problems too with the on-board sound card for some applications.

well ... ECS is a budget board... oh well. *sigh*

we're both in a fix.

[boneburner]

I hear you, and commiserate :( . Just got the damn thing back on the test bench, went thru all connections (ok), booted and loaded OS (just fine), had some programs hang intermittently, restarted, dug around in bios, found a bunch of settings had gone off and changed themselves! Reset to correct bios settings and VOILA! it's working again. Must be something wrong with CMOS battery, losing or corrupting BIOS setting while in transit to his house. The only difference between test bench environment and his desk is his monitor runs a higher resolution. I will have to be more careful to look over bios when I restart it at his house.

[josemavicente]

SIGH! AGAIN.

arent CMOS batteries generic? like you buy them anywhere?

well in fairness, ECS is CHEAP...at least it doesnt BREAK down...well hasnt yet... *knocks on wood*