Weird problem

[Chaintech 735]

The way I see it, with this board you pay $25 more than the ECS one, and it's smaller, for it being more expensive and then $10 for a LAN card.
But it has a normal heatsink on the chipset, and more power components. Not to mention software.

[binder]

DnOMINATOR,

I am also getting those same lock-ups and black screens with my CT-7SID .............I am using a Radeon 32MB DDR Graphics card w/300W SPI PSU.
I have replaced both CMOS batterys and shorted the pins twice on one (just to get the OS loaded .........Win2Kpro.)

I just recently flashed to the latest bios and think that helped, but I also get the red lines in the bios scrool screen......?

I have built two systems using the 7SID and both have been flakey ........... I don't really trust either systems stability, and I'm sure the speed of the Chaintechs' is not up to the ECS/Amptron K7S5A/K7-830LM ......... no bench marks to back this up, but I spend enough time on each system to know which one is more stable and noticably faster!

I, ........... for one will not be rushing out to purchase another Chaintech/SiS mb ........ 745 or not .......... however the ECS/SiS 745 or another brand is definately worth a long look!!!

[Chaintech 735]

Just checked AMD's web site, they list the 7SID as AMD XP approved, but up to 1800+ only, the ECS is 1900+, the Leadtek is 2000+ approved (SIS735 boards).

Just a thought.

Mine and my friend's have no problems yet, though once it spontaneously restarted after starting a cd. I have a 1500+ with a All in Wonder Radeon, then my friend has a 1700+, both powered by SPI 250w ps.

Benchmarks by ocworkbench of ECS and the CT board favor the ECS board, but mostly due to the FSB being higher in the ECS board, 133.9 vs. 132.77.

[binder]

I read on some other forum there are some 7SID issues with Radeon video cards?
If I have time I will dig deeper into that area, it's still locking up on me and I'm getting an occasional black screen or a random lock-up?

[Chaintech 735]

which radeon? I have the first gen radeon, and getting it to work with WinXP was difficult. I solved it by installing WinXP without the video card then adding it after install. It solved a lot of tv and video playback issues.

The way I see it, this board stinks at supplying 1.85v to a processor. Might be the problem, might not be.

[binder]

I'm using the Radeon 32MB DDR and still getting black screens ...........
I have disabled "AGP Fast Write Control" and "AGP Fast Write Capability" (double-talk or what?) in the bios and changed from 4X to 2X Support for the AGP Data Transfer Rate.......

All to no avail, I am going to start from scratch with this POS mb and re-install all components and Win2Kpro all over again ........ if it still does the same shit, I'll sell it to someone I don't like! Very cheap! and try the Epox 8KHM.

End of story

I finally rma:ed the board after testing the system with another memory module (as requested by the store). After almost two weeks they got a reply from their service partner that there is nothing wrong with the board. After this I realized that there is little hope to get the system working with another 7SID so I surrendered and got me a KT266A (Soltek 75DRV4) board instead.
The case I replaced with a Chieftec DX-01 SL-D with a 340 W PSU.

It's a bit sad cause it was a really nice gaming rig (powerful enough and easy to carry around).

I've had the new system running for about 12 hours by now and so far there has been no problems. Even EAX games seem to function well with my SBLive!.

Thanks for all your input on this one.

/Dn