8kha C1

[stevo1210]

Hello Everyone,

I received an Epox 8KHA motherboard today. It belongs to my uncle but he didn't want it and its been in storage for a while now.
Everytime I boot it up, it gives out a C1 error on the POST LCD/LED. I am using Kingston DDR266 256MB sticks of RAM and no matter how many times I reseat the RAM.... the C1 error is still emitted.
When the motherboard first boots up I get FF on the LED display.... but after 1 second it goes to C1.
The PSU that sed to power this board and the AMD Athlon 1200+ CPU was a DEER PSU. The DEER PSU has bad Rulycon caps in it.... from what I can see.... they are not on the +5V SB line.... but mostly 5V or 3.3V lines.
My uncle also said that before he stored the PC away.... it took two times to boot the PC everytime.... from what I think it was the PSU.
The PSU that I am testing it with is a Sparkle brand 250W PSU.
The caps on the 8KHA motherboard are all Tayeh and Teapo. The Tayeh caps are 2200uf 10V and Teapo are 1500uf 10V. For a strange reason I have a feeling that the caps could be bad....
I really don't want to have to ditch this motherboard because it has RAID and it is better than the Jetway V266B I have now.

Thanks.

[starfury1]

Re: 8kha C1

I seem to remember reading something about C1 errors it might have been on these forums or possibly the net generally.
(stuffed if I can remember what it was about thought)

if you dont get a reply Stevo try googling it

Al thought I think there are few here who are familiar with that MB, I'am not, so no real help to you.

Cheers Mate

[stevo1210]

Re: 8kha C1

I also noticed that upon boot up the keyboard lights all flash and that every fan spins. Also the HDD can be heard spinning up.
The monitor on the other hand has no signal. I was told that the PC worked before it was stored in the cupboard over many months.
I also took noticed that 3 pins on the ATX power connector are a bit oxidised/tarnished.... not the worst i've seen though. I've seen worse on other boards and they still worked.
I looked up C1 errors on the net and it is a memory error. And I think FF means the board is working??.
None of the caps on the motherboard are bulging either.... but being Tayeh and Teapo.... I feel a bit odd.

Thanks.

Thanks.

[starfury1]

Re: 8kha C1

I dont know mate just cant really recall, it was something (I think) to do with memory errors, timings and brand...possibly bios too.
So maybe you need to tweak the timing in the bios to get rid of the errors
but I have a feeling it went a little deeper then that.

Really wish I had an answer for you

here a quick search on it
but use the grey matter mate maybe something useful in the thread

http://www.motherboardpoint.com/t242...-code-led.html

[kc8adu]

Re: 8kha C1

i have an 8kha+ on my bench as a testbed.would take several resets to get past c1 and even then it would bootloop .
would fail memtest too.
vdimm was 1.8v and had a ton of trash on it.
i recapped the whole board.
not even 1 of the old caps had accceptable esr!

[Per Hansson]

Re: 8kha C1

I'd say it's badcaps
Check the voltage on the memory slots when you boot, probably out of spec or too high ESR

Yes, C1 means memory error but can be caused by allot of stuff, not just memory...

http://www.bioscentral.com/postcodes/awardbios.htm

Your BIOS is probably AWARD v4.51PG

[starfury1]

Re: 8kha C1

sorry stevo I assumed you had changed the caps, since you have been around here for awhile...next time I'll make sure I read the posts a bit more closely before I open my big trap!.
(all thought the above vague memory holds true)

Caps dont have to look stuffed to be stuffed, as you know and considering the age of MB and junk used its a very good bet as pointed out above

thanks guys

keep us posted on how you go

Cheers

[bgavin]

Re: 8kha C1

I have a lot of experience with fixing C1 errors. Recapping the board will cure this, if the rest of the board is still working.

Memtest86+ will fail Test #5 consistently on many Athlon boards. I have 100% failure of Test-5 on boards with the AMD-761 Northbridge, but the board itself runs just fine. Your board has the KT266a, which I avoided like the plague, so I have no useful information for you. After years of getting burned badly by VIA chipsets, I refuse to own any more. Ever.

[gdement]

Re: 8kha C1

I've had this error on many Epox EP-8K7A+ boards. Recapping might fix it, but that hasn't always worked for me. I've not yet found a bad Teapo, but I won't deny that other people have found them. Tayeh on the other hand is much more frequently bad. Go ahead and replace them all if you're recapping.

I also took noticed that 3 pins on the ATX power connector are a bit oxidised/tarnished.... not the worst i've seen though. I've seen worse on other boards and they still worked.

Sounds consistent with the circumstances, which suggest that the board was damaged by the Deer psu. I'm guessing those 3 pins are probably on the same rail (+5V most likely), and you might not be getting proper voltage onto it anymore because of the pins being burned. I don't know about the 8KHA, but the 8K7A is very demanding on the +5V rail. I'd check the resistance on those pins - the connector might need to be replaced, and there could still be other damaged components. But maybe the real problem lies elsewhere, as you said it doesn't look very bad.

I looked up C1 errors on the net and it is a memory error. And I think FF means the board is working??.

'FF' is the default post code that automatically appears on the display on Epox boards - it's equivalent to '00' on other readers. It will start on 'FF' even if the board is completely brain dead. The only significant codes are the ones that come after that. C1 seems to be the most common failure point, probably just because it's the first test, not particularly because it involves memory.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: 8kha C1

Tayeh and Epox is a bad combination bro.
And those Teapo are 'bad caps erra' Teapos.

I have the same Tayeh/Teapo/Epox combo on a K7XA that I have to get around to recapping one of these days. (Was my favorite board for like 2+ years and then it started corrupting data and not recognizing hard drives. Didn't know to look for bad caps back then so it's parked in a box in the garage.)

.

[bgavin]

Re: 8kha C1

I recapped four 8K7A boards, all with C1 errors. Recapping 470uF and higher fixed all four boards.

[stevo1210]

Re: 8kha C1

Oh this is just great.... I had a closer look at the board today and the model is EP-8K7A+. The chipset is an AMD one with a VIA southbridge. There is a Highpoint chip which I think controls the RAID IDE connectors.

I had a closer look at the ATX power connector and just like what gdement said previously, the 5V connectors are the tarnished ones.
The DEER PSU with the bad caps have all the voltages within spec. The 5V line is 5.20V, 12V is 11.98V and 3.3V is 3.2V.

[stevo1210]

Re: 8kha C1

I also made another error.... nearly every capacitor on this Epox motherboard is a Tayeh except for a small GSC cap near the audio chip.
The smaller Tayeh (1000uf 6.3V) has a Teapo vent and not a honeycomb vent like the larger 2200uf 10V Tayeh near the VRM.

Sorry about the errors I made regarding this motherboard.... the motherboard was left at my uncles place and I only picked it up today.

I also see that Epox decided to put heatsinks on the MOSFETS around the CPU....
This Epox 8K7A+ motherboard is one of the first boards that I have seen with MOSFETS on the underside of the board.

Thanks.

[kc8adu]

Re: 8kha C1

I had a closer look at the ATX power connector and just like what gdement said previously, the 5V connectors are the tarnished ones.
The DEER PSU with the bad caps have all the voltages within spec. The 5V line is 5.20V, 12V is 11.98V and 3.3V is 3.2V.

you are running this board on a junk psu with bad caps and a burnt plug and wondering why its not working?toss that POSMF deer now!

[stevo1210]

Re: 8kha C1

you are running this board on a junk psu with bad caps and a burnt plug and wondering why its not working?toss that POSMF deer now!

I am actually running this motherboard off a 250W Sparkle PSU to test the motherboard . The Sparkle PSU weighs a ton and is filled with Rubycon caps .
I tossed the DEER/ Transworld brand PSU into the trash can this morning. But before I put it into the trash I tested the voltages of the PSU.... for the PSU load I used a HDD and a few 50mm fans.... and the 5V lines read out 5.20V.... which I think is still in ATX spec.

Thanks.

[zandrax]

Re: 8kha C1

I tossed the DEER/ Transworld brand PSU into the trash can this morning. But before I put it into the trash I tested the voltages of the PSU.... for the PSU load I used a HDD and a few 50mm fans.... and the 5V lines read out 5.20V.... which I think is still in ATX spec.

Maybe the Athlon is an higher and different load than an hard disk, as it should draw much more from the 3.3 v rail, while the drive requires a few amps on 5 and 12 v.

Zandrax

[gdement]

Re: 8kha C1

for the PSU load I used a HDD and a few 50mm fans.... and the 5V lines read out 5.20V.... which I think is still in ATX spec.

It's not easy to maintain 5V on an 8K7A though. Many PSU's fall down when put up to that challenge. It sucks hard on that rail, and it's so lopsided it really requires independent 5V regulation - joint regulation with the 5V will cause bad results.

I had a PowMax 400W which couldn't manage anything within spec (no surprise really). My FSP-InWin 250W could only marginally run the 8K7A's, not working with all of them. My Lite-On 400W and InWin 350W both sagged as well, even though they work quite well on some other boards. The best PSU's I've found for it were an old Vextrec 300W and a HiPro 300W, which is still sold at Newegg. But I still get some sagging under heavy loads.

Have you checked what voltage you're getting from the Sparkle when attempting to POST this board? It's probably okay, but worth a check.

[bgavin]

Re: 8kha C1

I have several 8K7A with Sparkle ATX-350PN running as business machines. This PSU is the one with the 120mm fan. The machines run a Matrox G450 AGP video card, and two hard drives, and two CD. Typical memory is two sticks, LAN card, Sound card.

I settled on this PSU for price, 120mm fan, and ease of future recapping. Haven't done one yet, as still hunting around for the best caps for the job. They come with Teapo SEK series.

All the 8K7A work for me after recapping.

[stevo1210]

Re: 8kha C1

Ok, I have some good news and bad news about this motherboard. I'll start with the good news.

The good news is that the board now boots and I have Windows XP MCE running off it now.

The bad news is that I still get random C1 errors which will disappear after the reset button has been pushed. I have replacement caps coming my way soon so I may recap this board along with some others.

Thanks.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: 8kha C1

Maybe the Athlon is an higher and different load than an hard disk, as it should draw much more from the 3.3 v rail, while the drive requires a few amps on 5 and 12 v.

Zandrax

Don't that motherboard run the Athlon off the 5V rail?