# ECS Pt800CE-A won't start!!



## chiueu (Dec 19, 2004)

*Similar situation*

I have a similar situation but my case is building a comp. I don't see any picture on my monitor when I turn on the power. Everything seems fine from power supply to hard drive. CPU fan runs. The only problem is it's not detecting the monitor from my video card or my motherboard is not detecting my newly purchase video card (as far as I can see). I have stealth s60 radeon 7000 64mb video card. I double checked all the jumpers. Reset the bios. Pulled the battery for about 15 secs. Still no change.
Motherboard is PT800CE-A
512 mg SDRAM
Master & Slave setting on hd's
Intel Celeron D processor 2.53 gz

Any other suggestions? :4-dontkno


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

do you get the post beep


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## chiueu (Dec 19, 2004)

*No beeps!!*

No post beeps at all. Everything seems fine except that I don't see any picture.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

put it together out of the case with
cpu
video 
ram
speaker
and see if it posts


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## jaia (Dec 28, 2004)

*Same Problem*

I was having the same problem as chiued. I tried assembling the thing out of the box as suggested, and now it doesn't work at all! Even the power supply fan isn't turning.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

did you turn it on by shorting the 2 pins on the m/b that the switch connects to


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## senorpaco34 (Dec 29, 2004)

*Problems too*

I'm not having the same problems but have the same mobo and have different problems.


A few weeks ago I purchased a combo from outpost.com, that came with a Intel P4 3.2 G hyperthreading processor, and a ECS PT800CE-A mobo. It's the first computer I have ever built and there are two things I cant figure out.First problem is when i turn it on and it starts the post test does well, til it gets to Detecting IDE devices. At this point it takes close too 10 minutes every time just to detect IDE DEVICES and it always detects them, but its a new mobo and I know thats not normal. My other problem is I try to install my Windows XP operating system, it's booting to the disk and everything. But It makes me partition the hard drive and format it, also copys the files into the installation folders. It then tells me to restart my comp and setup will continue afterwards. So I do that it boots back to the cd again and it starts all over from the beginning and have tried repeatedly with the same thing happening.
Whats in my comp
I have a P4 3.2E 800fsb hyperthreading processor 
A Elitegroup(ECS) PT800CE-A mobo
a 430 watt psu
a wd 120g 7200rpm harddrive  
a sony floppy 
a Lite-on Dvd  
Ati All in wonder 9600xt 
Corsair 512mb pc3200 DDR RAM XMS Series
:sigh:  
I have been working on my comp trying to fix it for close to a week and any help would be greatly appreciated​


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

check the jumper on the wd h/d usually as a single master the jumper is removed
and you have used the 80 wire eide cable on the hard drive


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## senorpaco34 (Dec 29, 2004)

*I do*

I already have my jumper out because my WD its the only thing on the ide cable.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

and you have used the right cable


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## senorpaco34 (Dec 29, 2004)

*I beleive so*

I have used the primary IDE CABLE connector the one thats blue and connects to the blue IDE port on the mobo. Thats not my problem I dont beleive it's identifying everything alright just takes close to 10 mins.

AND my mobo wont load my XP os right.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

scroll down the list
http://labmice.techtarget.com/windowsxp/Install/installbugs.htm


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## senorpaco34 (Dec 29, 2004)

*which one*

which one am i supposed to go too

Would an OS work if i put My HD ina diff comp and install i there and then transfer the hd back. They both have different specs.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

Windows XP Professional won't install or won't start.
•	

Verify that your hardware is listed in the Windows Catalog (formerly called the Hardware Compatibility List).
•	

Temporarily remove all hardware that's not required by Setup (modems, sound cards, and network cards). Then try restarting your computer.
•	

Make sure that you have the latest drivers, firmware and BIOS for the computer and all hardware. If you don’t know whether you have the latest firmware or an updated BIOS, contact your hardware manufacturer or check their Web site.


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## senorpaco34 (Dec 29, 2004)

*Oh ya*

Heres a pic of the gay mobo 








I plugged the hard drive ide into the blue primary ide slot


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

i have already been looking at the m/b during searching this has a via chipset?
try a low level format and start the install again


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## senorpaco34 (Dec 29, 2004)

*????????????*

Im not that smart how do u do that what do u go to when its formatting is it the fat file type or NHTS quick or norm


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

you d/l the low level format utility from the h/d manufacturers web site,this returns the h/d to the same condition as when it was manufactured
then use xp to format in ntfs normal mode and see if it installs xp ok


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## Krash715 (Jan 1, 2005)

I also just got a ECS PT800CE-A combo with 3.0E processor from Fry's when it's turned on it goes through everything then says Verifying DMI Pool data and goes to the windows could not boot up screen where you can select safe mode and such but that doesn't work. Any ideas one what to do to make it start up?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

Krash715
did you reformat and reinstall windows when you changed the m/b


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## Krash715 (Jan 1, 2005)

No I didn't, would that be the problem then? Do I HAVE to format the hard drive?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

you may get away with a repair,if you have sp2 installed you will need to use a slipstreamed disk or you will not get the repair option


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## Krash715 (Jan 1, 2005)

I don't have sp2 installed..so I have to reformat?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

no you can just do the repair,but you will have to install all ms updates again
it is quicker to slipstream sp2 into the xp disk and use that to repair
use nlite to do the slipstream
http://nuhi.msfn.org/
it is virtually just mouse clicks


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## Krash715 (Jan 1, 2005)

How can I use that to repair it if i can't even get windows or anything to come up? I tried putting in the XP disk but it doesn't load up.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

set the bios to boot from cd first
pop in the cd and reboot
choose install
ignore the first repair option and continue with install
when windows finds the previous installation
the repair


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## Krash715 (Jan 1, 2005)

When I've tried to boot from the cd that has xp on it all it does is try to start and then switch directly to the windows could not start up screen, I don't think sp2 would cause it to actually boot up?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

either the bios is not set to cd first or you are not pressing a key when it comes up on the bottom of the screen to
press any key to boot from cd
what as sp2 got to do with it?,you are using the original xp disk or a slipstreamed disk


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## Krash715 (Jan 1, 2005)

I confused myself with the sp2 but, I set cdrom as first boot device and when it starts up it goes boot from cdrom immediatly to windows cannnot boot up. Doesn't ask if you'd like to boot from disk


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

is this a genuine retail xp disk not oem as sometimes they can be a problem


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## Krash715 (Jan 1, 2005)

I think its OEM. Am i supposed to go buy a new one to fix this problem?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

some oem's are locked to the original m/b
have you an earlier op. system disk you can use to see if the comp boots from the cd or can you borrow a disk from someone to check if it is the disk or the drive


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## senorpaco34 (Dec 29, 2004)

*reccomendation*

dont mess with this motherboard period its crap. I pulled my hair out for a week trying to fix it. I eventually just bought a Intel D865PERLL and it works like a charm. Its supposedly the most stable motherboard. Buy it from Newegg around bux but definitely worth it. It has the best embedded sound ever


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## yoyoyo (Jan 6, 2005)

I have the exact setup as Krash715. I am also having trouble booting XP from the hard drive. when the window says Verifying DMI Pool data ... successfully
Boot from CD then comes up. I have no idea whats wrong with this, thanks for your help.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

yoyoyo
please start your own thread and monitor ones that are similar,they have a habit of branching off in different directions leading to confusion


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## dea (Jan 26, 2005)

*PT800CE-A dead*

I am having the same problem with my MB. the only question I have is the ATX2 connector for the power switch. My case has only a two prong connector and since the ATX2 connector is 1)Gnd 2)Gnd 3)12v 4)12v I connected it to pins 2 & 3. The manual does not specify but should all four be connected or is it just a universal pin layout? ECS has not responded to my inquiries about this.

Thanks in advance,

Donald


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## newbie55 (Jan 28, 2005)

*Help!*

Bought a combo p4 3ghz with ecs pt800ce-a mobo @ fry's, installed it, and when booting up, it crashed with the same message of "stop: 0x0000007B...INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE..." It said to check the hard drive to see if it is properly configured and run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, then restart. Tried safe mode and everything else I can think of, but still crashed at the same point with same msg every time. 

The drive was working on 2000 prof os, but now it's corrupted? I'm using the same os, so what gives? Cable is connected properly, bios detected it, so I can't figure this out since I can't even get pass the error. 

Any help to this dilema is greatly appreciated.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

have you formatted the drive


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## somarf (Jan 21, 2005)

*Pt800-ce A...*

Well.. now I'm kinda concerned for my setup. I haven't experienced the problems that you guys are having, luckily, but I'll have to monitor my system more often I think. I also got my system through Outpost.com, but it's been working like a charm.


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## caligirl626 (Jan 30, 2005)

*If your mobo wont display, this may help.*

http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?p=174279#post174279

ATX2 power supply cable is essential for this board to boot. 

Tina


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## godscorn (Feb 18, 2005)

*ECS PT800CE-A ATX2 cable*

I'm having a similar problem with my board. 
I picked up a combo deal from Outpost.com with the ECS PT800ce-a motherboard and Intel Pentium 4 Prescott processor.
I put in 1GB Corsair memory, and nVidia Geforce FX5200 video card w/ 128MB RAM.
Antec 300W ATX power supply. 
The problem I am having is the motherboard will not power up with the ATX1 
and ATX2 cables plugged in. When trying to power on the system, the CPU, 
video card and power supply fans power on for less than a second, and then the 
board shuts off. It doesn't respond to repeated attempts to restart unless I turn off the power switch on the power supply and unplug the power cord. After plugging the cord back in, I attempt to power on again, which fails as described previously. 

If I unplug the ATX2 cable, which is the 4 pin 12volt connector, and retry to boot, all fans power on normally, but no video image appears. I cannot tell if the board posts. 
I tried another ATX power supply (400W) with the same symptoms. 
I have also removed memory & video card, with only power cables & case 
power switches connected to the board with the same results. 
I have tried to clear the CMOS with no success. 
I have returned the board to the retailer and replaced with the same model. 

The replacement is demonstrating the same problems.
I cleared the CMOS and now it's powering on with the 12V ATX2 cable plugged in. But no video, post beeps, etc. 
I'm thinking that when I tested the 400 W supply, I didn't clear the CMOS when I tested it. That power supply conveniently died today as well on another system, so I don't think it was reliable to use. 
So my thinking is that my 300W supply is not enough juice for the Prescott chip and ECS board. I'm stopping by the store tomorrow to replace the broken power supply and I should pick up an extra to try on this board. 
Does this make sense? Any recommendations?

I'll probably open this as a new thread.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

check your power requirements here
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/
based on a quality supply and add 30% to result
set it up out of the case with
cpu
ram
video
speaker
start it by shorting the 2 pins the case switch connects to the m/b and see if you get post
i would go for a 550w antec


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## Pepelutivruski4 (Feb 24, 2005)

*SATA drive not detected...*

same here. i bought the combo from fry's... well it was a gift... this xmas. i haven't had too huge of problems, and any problem i've had, (loss of monitor-VC signal etc etc.) i've been able to resolve. i do get some BSD's about IRQs but i do i wanna believe those are due to the malhandled geforce 2, and 30GB 10 year old HD... but we'll see i guess. but anyway. point being. i bought a new HD (maxtor diamondmax 9 120GB SATA 7200RPM) and a new VC (MSI RX9550 256MB DDR 128-bit AGP 8x) and so i pop em in... and BAM no HD detected. i'm running only one power cable thru it at a time, either the crimping SATA, or the 4 pole, it's plugged into the SATA 1 slot of the M/B... :4-dontkno i'm no computer idiot. but i'm also not an A+ cert, i've digged thru BIOS a lil bit, but when i mean a lil bit, i mean the minimum. please tell me i'm just being stupid and forgot to change 1 lil thing or there's just these steps to take, and my comp is gonna continue to work w/ my new HD that i just bought and waited a week for... :sad: i'm having friends take a look at it for me, which are more computer savvy, and maybe even A+ cert'd
win2k pro on the 30 GB
hopefully winXP Pro on the new 120GB :heartlove
1GB corsair pc3200 (2x512MB)
thanks in advance dai, u seemed to be very helpful in ure previous replies... please help me too! :sayyes:


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

i have avoided the sata drives,check your m/b manual for bios settings and if you have to load a driver
i tried to find your manual to d/l but ecs does'nt have one listed under their manual section


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## Pepelutivruski4 (Feb 24, 2005)

*avoided eh?*

what precautions have forced u to avoid SATA drives... to my understanding it's a faster data xfer rate... supposing the manual says nothing about anything... i had a buddy of mine try and help me over the phone and he read the manual, and also supposing i didn't have to load drivers, what are my options to modify in my BIOS or CMOS to force it to read an SATA rather than look for an IDE HD? any ideas. i got the mobo OEM i think, no cd, no manual, my bro gave it to me in a static bag w/ the cpu already in it... *sigh* the more i delve into this (6 hours last nite and so far 7 hours today) i'm starting to believe i need a new mobo... 
my only real option is to find my long lost brother and get the mobo cd from him and try and load it... so how do i flash a BIOS w/out an OS?  anyway. i dunno where to run to, this has to work... the mobo has worked properly so far, and the HD seems to be working as well, it spins and runs and rumbles like a powered HD doing its thing... ****. in all sincerity, i just wanna make this work to not pay shipping again + the %15 restocking fee, ****en ********, pardon my french, but why can't things just work properly, i wouldn't sell anything i wouldn't buy, and i wouldn't buy anything if i knew it wouldn't work as expected. but now i'm just whinning. please tell me more... :dead:


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

i have avoided them mainly because of all the problems i see setting them up reported on the forums and they are more expensive.
usually there is a manual on your m/b setup cd that you can view and print out useing adobe
i found the manual here
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Produc...uID=22&LanID=0&DetailID=423&DetailName=Manual
in the bios check that the item
on chip sata 
is enabled
forget about flashing the bios,you only flash when you need a specific update to fix a specific problem
you can also d/l the setup drivers from the site i listed for the manual the important one is the via 4 in 1 driver the rest you can get later


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## danobegood (Mar 4, 2005)

*ECS PT800CE-A1 Won't Start*



godscorn said:


> I'm having a similar problem with my board.
> I picked up a combo deal from Outpost.com with the ECS PT800ce-a motherboard and Intel Pentium 4 Prescott processor.
> I put in 1GB Corsair memory, and nVidia Geforce FX5200 video card w/ 128MB RAM.
> Antec 300W ATX power supply.
> ...


I had the same problem with a board and processor I got from Newegg. Push power buttin, fan stays on for 1 second and then nothing. I removed my 20 pin ATX connector and jumpered the skinny green wire to the black one beside it (this is the way the mobo signals the PS to turn on when you push the power switch). After allowing the jumpered config to run the PS fan and the opening a cdrom drive I powered the PS off by removing the jumper and then plugged it back into the board. Pushed the power button on the case and whalla, up and running. I don't know what causes this but it could be that the mobo thinks it is pulling too much power when you pres the power button??? and then powering the PS manually lets the mobo allow for the higher power draw...like I said I don't know but I'm guessing.
Dano :wave:


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## joukas (Mar 9, 2005)

ECS PT800CE-A & BIOS, P4 CPU 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just bought P4-3.0E GHz & ECS PT800CE-A set from Outpost.com, also 512DDR 400 Kingston RAM, FX5200 plus 128 mb graphics card, new Case W/380w . I put the CPU in MB, put in RAM, graphics card, attached speaker, power switch, reset switch, 3.5 fdd, cd rom, & hdd, also mouse & KB. When I turned on power, fans came on, monitor came on, BIOS started, Ram checked, then shut itself off after searching for IDE drives. It only will stay on for 10 sec. Do I have a bad MB or CPU, is there something I am doing wrong, or not doing? What do I do? Everything is brand new.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

joukas
pleases start your own thread and monitor any similar threads


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## gamester90ms (Mar 14, 2005)

hi i need some help to when i turn mine on everthing goes but no pictuer the cd rom opens fans work everything help me later :4-dontkno


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## Omega_republik (Apr 7, 2005)

I'm an IT for this one ***** company and we recently upgraded a server with one of those OUTPOST combos, (PT800CE-A w/ P4 3.2 ht) and apparently I had to go trough all the same issues posted here, I first ran a diagnose on the board and got nothing but negative results. After almost 2 days of struggle I managed to get it up and running with the following configuration

Enermax ATX 320
Mushkin DDR 400 (512 X 2)
Maxtor 120gb ATA-133 (x 3)
ATI 256mb PCI 9200 Series
Microsoft Windows ME

Windows XP (sp2) Will Not Install
Setup wont go pass the "detecting hardware"
Windows XP (sp1) Will Not Install
Setup wont go pass the "detecting hardware"
Windows XP (Build 2600) Will Not Install
Setup wont go pass the "Inspecting your hardware configuration"
Windows Server (All 4 Version) Will Not Install
Setup wont go pass the "Setting up Hardware"
Windows 2000 (All 3 Versions) Will Not Install
Setup wont go pass the "Bootting from CD"

It is not much of a loss to just toss the MOBO away but it is strongly recomended :grin:


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## passiondude45 (Apr 19, 2005)

*problem*

refresh rate on moniter ok ?


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## sjac4 (May 11, 2005)

*Installing XP, Attaining Stability*

I bought a PT800CE-A motherboard / 3.2E P4 processor combo recently, and
have experienced a number of the problems discussed in this forum. I
thought I would share what I learned in stabilizing the computer containing
this motherboard.

The computer:
- Antec SLK 1600 Case/300W power supply (known good product)
- Zalman Al-Cu heat sink/fan (known to be better than Intel solution)
- Kingston DDR400 (PC3200) value ram 512M (pre-tested)
- Diamond Stealth S60 AGP graphics card (should use minimal power)
- WD 80 GB hard drive (known good product)
- BTC DVD ROM (pre-tested)

Through experience building systems like this, I've learned that the
300W power supply is adequate, even if the CPU is run at 100% utilization.
However the new machine has a Prescott (E) processor, known to use more
power than the Northwood processors I am familiar with, so that is a variable.


1. First Problem: Cannot Install XP Pro
-----------------------------------------

This problem was described earlier in this thread. The XP installer
will format the hard drive, copy files into the install folder, then
reboots. Instead of continuing after the reboot, after the "Verifying DMI
Pool Data..." message, it boots again to the setup start menu.


1A. First Problem: Old BIOS

The BIOS was way out of date. After power-up, "version V1.1a 08/04/2004"
BIOS was reported on the monitor. According to the ECS web site, BIOS
V1.1e is the latest. Since I could not get XP to boot, I had to use the
"upgrade BIOS from floppy" technique. The web site was less than helpful;
fortunately I have some experience in this area.

1A1. Create a BIOS upgrade floppy disk

a. Create a bootable DOS disk
- find a working PC with a 3.5 inch floppy drive
- insert floppy
- Windows Explorer / my computer
- right-click on floppy drive
- click on format
- check "create an MS-DOS startup disk"
- Start

b. Download the BIOS file and BIOS programmer application
- browse to the BIOS download page
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Produc...enuID=22&LanID=0&DetailID=423&DetailName=BIOS
- Find BIOS for PT800CE-A(PCB:1.0), Version 1.1e
- WARNING! Make sure this matches your motherboard!
- click on the upper GO button to download 11e.exe
- click on the lower GO button to download awardflash.zip

c. Extract the necessary files
- use right-click / extract all to unzip awardflash.zip
- double-click on 11e.exe to cause the archive to self-extract
- Run
- A window pops up with gibberish for text
- click on the lower leftmost button to self-extract

d. Copy necessary files to disk created in (a)
- copy Awd854C.EXE from the awardflash directory
- copy ptcea120.BIN extracted from 11e.exe

You now have the disk you need to update the BIOS in the ECS motherboard.

1A2. Upgrade BIOS from the floppy disk

If you have a floppy drive in the system you are building then this
will be easy. I did not, so I ran to Fry's and bought a cheapie floppy
drive in a plain brown box. I set it on a piece of cardboard, hooked it
to the motherboard with the ECS-supplied ribbon cable, and hooked up
power. I plan to keep it in a drawer for emergency BIOS updates.

a. Change the BIOS settings to boot from floppy
- on the first screen, make drive A a 3.5 inch floppy drive
- on the next? screen set the boot sequence as follows:
1. floppy; 2. CD-ROM; 3. hard drive
- save BIOS settings

b. Boot the BIOS update disk
- reset computer
- insert disk in floppy drive
- after it boots,
- type "awd854c" (no quotes) to invoke the application
- enter "ptcea120.bin" (no quotes) in the GUI box.
- yes to save old firmware (you can go back to old BIOS using this file)
- yes to program BIOS
- do not reset or power off before this completes!
- remove the floppy and reboot.

After rebooting, reinstalling XP Pro from CD (with slow format)
almost went correctly, but there was a problem. With the new BIOS,
the hard drive was no longer found in the IDE scan.


1B. First Problem: Cannot See Hard Drive

I had installed the Western Digital hard drive with the jumper set
in the "master" position. It seems that newer Award BIOS refuses
to recognize a WD drive so configured. I finally discovered that
moving the jumper to the "cable select" position made the BIOS
happy. 

After the BIOS upgrade and the hard drive jumper change, XP Pro
installed correctly. Would moving the jumper without upgrading
the BIOS have fixed the problem? If you know, please post a reply.


2. Second Problem: Computer is Not Stable
-------------------------------------------

There were a number of complaints about stability with this motherboard.
Using Prime95 torture test, I determined very quickly that my system was
similarly afflicted. I saw my first torture test failure within a few
minutes (no more than 15 minutes; I recall it was less).

I set up my BIOS settings by starting off with "fail-safe defaults." I
then disabled spread spectrum for extra stability, and made a few other
changes to my liking. This is the configuration that failed.


2A. Testing Stability

One highly effective stress test is the "Torture Test" feature in
the Prime95 program. Volunteers run this free program in a distributed
computing effort aimed at finding extremely large prime numbers. It is
also freely available as a system test.

I found "Options / Torture Test / Custom with min FFT = 4096,
max FFT = 4096, run FFTs in place" to generate errors the quickest,
but your mileage may vary.


2A1. Downloading and Running Prime95 Torture Test

a. Downloading and installing
- browse to http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm
- click on p95v238.exe to download
- run p95v238 to install
- follow the directions
- choose "stress test" if you just want to test your system
- choose "join GIMPS" if you wish to volunteer
- either choice will get you the program you want

b. Running Prime95 Torture Test
- invoke prime95.exe
- Options / Torture Test
 - custom
- min FFT size = 4096, max FFT size = 4096
- check "run FFTs in place"
- OK

Initially, I was seeing rounding errors within 15 minutes and the
test would stop.


2A. The Quest For Stability

One or more posts in this thread mentioned voltage settings, so I
experimented with those next. In the Frequency and Voltage screen
in BIOS settings I experimented with several parameters. BTW, if
you are changing voltages, you must exit and save your changes
before they are reflected in the PC Health Status screen.

First, a word about spread spectrum. If your computer is interfering
with anyone's television or radio reception, leaving spread spectrum
turned on is a good idea. If there is no interference, then turning
it off can improve the margins in your system, possibly improving
stability.

Spread spectrum frequency modulates the motherboard system clock with
a lower frequency signal. This "smears" the electromagnetic emissions
of your computer, lowering peak emissions and reducing EMI (electro-
magnetic interference). It also pushes your motherboard closer to its
limits without increasing the amount of work done. For example, if
your front side bus frequency is 200 MHz, and it is modulated +- 0.5%,
the actual frequency is from 199 - 201 MHz, averaging 200 MHz. It is
pushing the design of the board as hard as if you were overclocking
0.5%, but without gaining any speed advantage.

Enough of that. The default memory voltage on this motherboard is
2.5 volts. The Kingston memory is designed for 2.6V. This suggests
that the memory voltage can (and probably should) be increased 4% for
maximum memory stability. BTW, www.shop.kingston.com and www.outpost.com
have the specifications for Kingston memory modules.

The default CPU core voltage on this motherboard appears to be near
1.25V. Checking the Pentium 4 Prescott processor specifications,
http://www.intel.com/design/Pentium4/datashts/30056103.pdf
the acceptable maximum core voltage is at or near 1.4V. Increasing
the CPU core voltage by as much as 6% appears to be reasonable.


2A1. Stability at default frequency

My processor has a 200 MHz front side bus. For now, I want to see
if I can stabilize the system without changing the bus frequency.
Later, I will increase this to see how much margin there is.

Setting core voltage to + 2% and memory voltage to +2%, I found that
the torture test ran for four hours, until I manually stopped it.
This is not conclusive, but does show a substantial improvement.


2A2. Stability at 208 MHz

First, a word of caution about overclocking. Exceeding the recommended
frequency stresses components and generates excess heat, both of which
can shorten the life of your computer. Overclocking may also void the
warranty of your processor and possibly other components. You may also
experience errors, detected and undetected. Overclock at your own risk!

After setting core to +6% and memory to +4%, I set the bus frequency to
208 MHz and attempted to attain stability in the torture test. The test
ran 46 minutes before erroring out. This is not acceptable for normal
use, but is a valuable data point regarding stability.


2A2. Stability at 206 MHz

With core at +6% and memory at +2%, I tried again. Torture test ran
14.5 hours before erroring out. Stability is nearer!


2A3. Stability at 205 MHz?

With core voltage +6% and memory +4%, experiments continue. 


2A3. Stability conclusion

I hope to find that the computer will run torture test for 24 hours
at +6% core and +4% memory, with the system bus set to 204 MHz. If
this works at 205 MHz, so much the better. With the data I have, I
believe it will work correctly at 204 MHz.

So, what am I trying to accomplish? I want to prove that the system
has enough margin that I can trust it to work correctly in all cases.
If the torture test shows it to be stable at 204 MHz, I can then turn
it down to 200 MHz and know I have at least 2% margin.

What settings will I finally choose? I believe my motherboard needs
the CPU core voltage boosted to +6%, and the memory voltage set to 
either +2% or +4% for maximum stability. I plan on leaving it at
+6% core, +4% memory and 200 MHz system bus. If I feel like indulging
in some risky behavior, I may try a mild overclock of 201 or 202 MHz.


3. Conclusion
--------------

For the XP operating to install correctly on a PC containing a PT800CE-A
motherboard with a 3.2E GHz P4 processor, the hard drive jumper must be
set to "cable select." It is probably necessary, and almost certainly
a good idea to upgrade the BIOS firmware to version 1.1e.

For my motherboard to be stable, it is necessary to increase the CPU core
voltage to +6%. It is probably a good idea to increase the memory voltage
by +2% or +4%. The data sheets for Intel Prescott processors and Kingston
ValueRAM memory modules appear to indicate this is safe to do.


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## Omega_republik (Apr 7, 2005)

... and one more thing .... 
BY NO MEANS ever ever use a PCI video card when trying to install the OS .... for win xp and versions above SETUP continues only if AGP video card is detected ... dont know how or why :4-dontkno


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

due to the multiple hijacking of this thread i am now closing it.
if you need help with a problem then start your own thread and monitor anything similar
dai


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