gfphoto
06-02-2008, 01:19 PM
Hello,
I've just put together the following:
ECS NFORCE6M-A(3.0) 6100
AMD 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4G
G.SKILL 2x1GB DDR2 800
Barracuda 250gb 16m SATA
ATI FireGL 3100 PCI Express
500W PS
Win 2K
All (except PS and video) from Newegg. I know at least the ECS boards have a mixed reputation but I needed to keep cost as low as possible and wanted to get something that would be good for fairly heavy Photoshop use, 3D CAD, and some relatively modest video editing. Also wanted to reuse my existing ATX case.
The POST looked normal but it wouldn't see either an IDE CD or DVD drive, or either of two IDE hard drives I'd been using previously - just the SATA HD. I tried all the jumper positions on both the optical drives and the slave positions for the HDs. Also tried everything in the CMOS and the boot order screen. The most it would show in the CMOS was a series of characters for one of the HDs. Also swapped cables and tried both connectors. And have plugged in the second power plug.
Finally I went to Best Buy and got an SATA DVD and that worked and Win2K installed smoothly. Not quickly, but never mind. The MB installation disk had an IDE driver section that asked for the Win2K latest service pack so I installed that and the drivers seemed to install.
Still the IDE devices don't work or show up in the CMOS.
I've asked ECS but from what I've read don't expect much. Have I missed something? Is the board likely bad?
My thinking with the ECS board was that I didn't need onboard video or Firewire or SLI (why pay for things I don't need), it had a 2600 FSB, and was ATX so would fit my case. Also cheap and free shipping. Assuming I bite the bullet and go for a better board, would a 1000 FSB be a bottleneck or doesn't it matter? If I get Micro-ATX am I likely to be able to fit it in my ATX case?
Thank you,
Gary Fuchs
I've just put together the following:
ECS NFORCE6M-A(3.0) 6100
AMD 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4G
G.SKILL 2x1GB DDR2 800
Barracuda 250gb 16m SATA
ATI FireGL 3100 PCI Express
500W PS
Win 2K
All (except PS and video) from Newegg. I know at least the ECS boards have a mixed reputation but I needed to keep cost as low as possible and wanted to get something that would be good for fairly heavy Photoshop use, 3D CAD, and some relatively modest video editing. Also wanted to reuse my existing ATX case.
The POST looked normal but it wouldn't see either an IDE CD or DVD drive, or either of two IDE hard drives I'd been using previously - just the SATA HD. I tried all the jumper positions on both the optical drives and the slave positions for the HDs. Also tried everything in the CMOS and the boot order screen. The most it would show in the CMOS was a series of characters for one of the HDs. Also swapped cables and tried both connectors. And have plugged in the second power plug.
Finally I went to Best Buy and got an SATA DVD and that worked and Win2K installed smoothly. Not quickly, but never mind. The MB installation disk had an IDE driver section that asked for the Win2K latest service pack so I installed that and the drivers seemed to install.
Still the IDE devices don't work or show up in the CMOS.
I've asked ECS but from what I've read don't expect much. Have I missed something? Is the board likely bad?
My thinking with the ECS board was that I didn't need onboard video or Firewire or SLI (why pay for things I don't need), it had a 2600 FSB, and was ATX so would fit my case. Also cheap and free shipping. Assuming I bite the bullet and go for a better board, would a 1000 FSB be a bottleneck or doesn't it matter? If I get Micro-ATX am I likely to be able to fit it in my ATX case?
Thank you,
Gary Fuchs