Pc chips m848a poor starter

[FIXITNOW]

will not boot first time but ok if i retry stright away it wil start up
will not restart from windows shutdown (if i click the restart button from xp)

went it is first powered on does not start but cpu fan runs harddisc spins
have to hold power butten in for 6 seconds to get it to shut down (so guess northbridge working) if i press power button again stright away pc starts and runs all day
if i wait a few seconds before tring to restart it does not start (after 6 second button hold to get it to shut down)

it has to be quick for second try to be good

have recaped using panasonic fm caps
tried new psu
new agp card
another cpu and another ram stick
still no better

where do i go next ??
thanks

[bigbeark]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

Was it showing these symptoms before the recap?

Check your case for possible trapped and shorting wires.

I would double-check the solder joints on the new caps. It wouldn't hurt to reflow those joints. Did you replace all the caps?

Check the board removed from the case. Does it have the same symptoms?
Also check to see you remembered to trim all capacitor legs.

Drain the CMOS. Test the CMOS battery. If not OK, replace.

Could also be a corrupted BIOS.

[Scenic]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

i usually just trash those ECS/PCChips boards.

recapping them is a nightmare, because you have to replace ALL caps. even the really tiny ones (as they dry out)

if it's the version 2.x, it's a stripped down version of the ECS L7S7A2, which is well known to be unstable and glitchy right out of the box..
version 5.x seems to be an updated version.. with just 2 RAM slots instead of 3..

PCChips M848A Version 2.x


ECS L7S7A2


note the general lack of capacitors on both of them compared to big brand boards from that era..
kinda amazing how they managed to strip the already crappy ECS version down even more..

[bigbeark]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

I have a PCChips motherboard with permanently attached CPU.

It had similar problems to yours, taking forever to start up and longer to shut down.

I later tried it with a Mandriva Live (Linux) CD - it worked perfectly.

The Windows XP drivers obtained from Microsoft were obviously crap.

Try an Ubuntu Live CD (free download) and see if your problems are resolved.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

note the general lack of capacitors on both of them compared to big brand boards from that era..
kinda amazing how they managed to strip the already crappy ECS version down even more..

ECS is PCChips - they changed name to try and get rid of the bad rep. They didn't do much besides changing name though - they're still junk.

[Scenic]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

i know that ECS = PCChips = Amptron..
i meant that it's kinda amazing that they managed to strip a board which is already crappy as hell (ECS version) down even more (PCChips version).. missing FETs in the CPU/AGP/RAM VRM and all..

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

Well it's just like the gutless wonder PSUs. They just tell you it'll run a computer, not what type of computer it'll run.

[kaboom]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

Replace ALL caps, as mentioned above. However, if it's really nasty, you'll spend more time on it than it's worth. We're not talking about a Tyan here

Those old amptrons were real special, Scenic. Fake cache chips, anyone? How 'bout the boards that had both 72 pin SIMM slots and 168 pin SDRAM slots, but the board layout was too sloppy for the SDRAM to sync?

-Paul

[FIXITNOW]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

Feedback
To those that gave positive help

To bigbeark
Yes it was the same before the recap it has a new cmos battery and is still playing up when out of the case


To
Scenic
I have not replaced the really small caps so that’s a good point
But it is a version 2.1 board

To
Kaboom
your comments just about sum up my thoughts


So I guess it may be best to stop here rather than waste more effort


Thanks to you 3 for your help

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

How 'bout the boards that had both 72 pin SIMM slots and 168 pin SDRAM slots, but the board layout was too sloppy for the SDRAM to sync?

First time i hear about this really... I had one of those boards but it was an Acorp and it worked fine with either type of RAM.

[Scenic]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

[OT]
quite a lot of these early boards actually supported both 168pin EDO and SD-RAM.
so it might have worked fine with 168pin EDO, but not with SD (bad layout)
[/OT]

[FIXITNOW]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

cheers Scenic
will try some some EDO RAM

[Scenic]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

ehm.. that was just OT (off topic) talk follwing kabooms post (#8)
if you try to put EDO RAM into this board (which won't even fit physically unless you put it in with a hammer) you'll fry both the board and the RAM lol

edit: two 168pin EDO sticks vs. 184pin DDR-RAM

[FIXITNOW]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

yes this is a 184 pin only board
not a dual 168 /184 board

[kc8adu]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

wonder if someone flashed the wrong bios into it.
i have seen some strange results.i just toss those old turds into the recycling box.had a control from a suface grinder in a while back.replaced the ecs 462 board with a recapped gigabyte.owner reports its stable for the first time in 10 years.he had brought the board in to get it recapped.i also put the latest bios on it too.it passed every test i threw at it but it would still crash sometimes in the middle of an operation.just a poor quality board.

[sabre504]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

I have 2 of these boards
1 with 2 ram slots and one with 3 and both working
If you want to try one to test the hardware you are using am in the Ely area on tuesday if thats any help

[FIXITNOW]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

sadly i have given up on this board i removed the memory and cpu and fitted to a simular board this all works so i am sure the motherboard is the route of all my problem
thanks sabre504 for the offer

[Pyr0Beast]

Re: Pc chips m848a poor starter

I have had similar problems with most of Pc chips motherboards even after full recap.

They work somehow but still experience weird lockups or sudden reboots for no reason at all !