PLEASE HELP, PC CHIPS M810LR

**SasmanJ** · October 23rd, 2002, 09:07 AM

I have just got a new pc with,

pc chips m810lr mobr (onboard graphics, sound, amr modem, lan)
1700 AMD XP
512 RAM
20 maxtor hard drive (5400rpm)
cd rom etc

this problem is really getting to me

every thing else is working fine

i cant change the resolution from 600x800. iv updated the graphics drivers from the www.pcchips.com web site, but still have no joy.

i know that my monitor can handle better as i have tested it on an other machine.

All help will be appreciated.

If you need any more info, just let me know.

**osprey4** · October 23rd, 2002, 09:24 AM

Please don't post in multiple forums. Believe me, someone will see your post and try to provide help.

**Peter M** · October 23rd, 2002, 09:38 AM

You need to pick up the AGP and 730S VGA drivers from www.sis.com, and install these, in that order.

**SasmanJ** · October 23rd, 2002, 12:24 PM

Hi peter,

Thanks for your reply.

I can find the 730s VGA drivers, but con not find the AGP.

Would you be so kind to provide some more info on where to find it.

Thanks a mil.

**Etruscan** · October 23rd, 2002, 03:16 PM

If your using onboard AGP, you don't need to install the AGP.VXD drivers. Install them if you put a video adapter in the AGP slot. Your problem seems to be a mix up in Windows, and is probably not related to the video drivers - which work well at all resolutions, if installed properly.

**TOAD6147** · October 23rd, 2002, 03:43 PM

Etruscan,
Just because the graphics chip is 'on-board' does not mean it doesn't use an APG pipe/interface. I may be wrong - and Peter will have the right info - but I'm pretty sure I've seen many boards advertised that it's on-board video is AGP. And if that is indeed the case, why would you not want to use the latest
drivers and/or related files?

**Peter M** · October 23rd, 2002, 05:30 PM

The SiS chipset's integrated VGA is an AGP device, and requires installing chipset AGP drivers. They're on www.sis.com driver section too - in the Generic Stuff and Utilities section. Come on, a little browsing is not too much to ask for, is it?

**Etruscan** · October 23rd, 2002, 07:58 PM

I didn't tell him not to get the latest drivers. Nevertheless, his problem isn't faulty drivers - because the old ones work fine and provide all resolutions. Something else is wrong - not the drivers, in my opinion. My purpose wasn't to contradict Peter M., rather to shed light on the member's problem.

As far as the AGP drivers go and the SiS730S chipset, it was my sincere belief that you didn't need the PCI to PCI bridge installed with integrated video. I've used the onboard video with this chipset with and without AGP drivers and can't practically find any diffrence in performance. I think I read somewhere in the material that came with my board that you didn't have to install them. If Peter M. says to install the AGP drivers I'm not going argue. he knows a lot more than I do about these boards. I stand corrected. I suppose they might aid communication to the memory on the PCI bus.

**Kruzin** · October 23rd, 2002, 08:13 PM

Your comments have been deleted.
Kruzin, if you are not going to contribute any positive advice when someone has a problem with their motherboard, then please do not post.
.

surreal
Moderator

**Peter M** · October 24th, 2002, 04:51 AM

Etruscan, that's because SiS often sneakily include an AGP bridge driver with their VGA drivers for the integrated VGA. The way SiS implement it, the integrated VGA acts like a separate AGP device, and as these do, it requires the AGP system to be alive and functional.

Kruzin, are we proving FUD with more FUD here? The Elitegroup bunch of companies (including PC-Chips OEM business, ECS retail brand, Shuttle and Abit contract manufacturing, and countless others) isn't outselling everyone else because their stuff is and has ever been crap. Especially in the large volume OEM market (where PC-Chips live) you're losing your customers like nothing if you don't deliver. Did they lose customers? Hardly, if you look at the numbers.
regards, Peter

**Thud** · October 24th, 2002, 06:02 AM

SasmanJ-- The very top download appears to be the one you're looking for: http://www.sis.com/support/driver/utility.htm

**John Prophet** · October 24th, 2002, 09:50 PM

Peter, Id like to ask you a very serious question. I know you are highly respected on this forum. If PC Chips is good quality, why do technicians have sooo much trouble with them?? I mean really...if a tech works on abit, asus, soyo, pc chips...and the tech reports more problems with pc chips boards...where does that leave us? Are we saying that the tech, who builds systems with other boards just fine...somehow loses the ability to load drivers etc with a pc chips board? In my short one year experience I have seen too many 810 lmr boards that didnt last a year in an install...(duron and athlon). Where there is smoke there is fire.

And to say that just because a company sells a lot means that they have better quality....that almost doesnt deserve a comment. We all know the "quality" that goes into HP's, some gateways, emachines, presarios.

Some companies get ahead financially by catering to the least common denominator...for instance, I doubt alien or falcon will ever sell as many comps as hp or compaq but who makes the better stuff?

Im not making a comment personally against you, but then again, I cant tell thousands of techs that they dont know how to build systems either. Too many techs and enthusiasts have probs with pc chips boards.

Was ecs always owned by pc chips or is that just recently? Are they made in the same fab?

I guess there are some RMA numbers floating around somewhere...if they can be trusted. (can anything in big bizness be trusted?)

Does anyone know where to find any numbers on RMA percentages?? I once heard that DFI had the best rate.

I happen to like the design of some PC Chips boards but with all the smoke I see, Im scared of the fire.

JP

**Etruscan** · October 25th, 2002, 06:05 PM

I won't speak for Peter or PcChips John Prophet, but I'll pose a question to you. If you pay half as much to get the same job done with a PcChips board as you do with one of the "enthusiast" name brands, where's the fire? The point is these are value priced boards, widely used by OEM constructors ("techs") to get a job done at a certain price. They are not a tinker's tweak board.

**Peter M** · October 25th, 2002, 06:15 PM

John, ECS has been owned by PC-Chips since late 1998 or so. By this merger, ECS product has actually improved quite a bit. Shuttle outsource their entire manufacturing and some engineering to ECS/PC-Chips, ABit has them make "selected" (their words) models, server board maker SuperMicro also quietly got assimilated into ECS/PC-Chips a few years ago.

I've been using PC-Chips gear pre-merger as well, no complaints either. The vast majority of all these boards I used over the years are still alive and kicking ... a few were retired, some were user fried, and I just had to pull a 1995 ECS board from its original home simply because the battery was empty and no replacement available anymore. Unexpected death rate is close to zero. Very close.

My personal experience with their gear is around 100 boards, and I'm happy with them. My local shops here have been increasing the number of ECS products they carry over the years, and shift them in impressive numbers, as DIY product as well as in their shop brand computers. I have an old friend of mine "inside" one of them - from there I know that DOA rates are where the others' are, and that most of the stuff their customers bring back in has died from unadmitted user error. That's what I know, I don't rely on hearsay.

DFI might be good at DOA rates (I don't know, I didn't even use a handful of theirs) but they're very quick in retiring BIOS supports for boards they don't make anymore. And I just had one of them die from blown capacitors (poor quality parts), something that never happened to any PC-Chips/ECS board I had hands on.

My theory on the death rates is that cheap boards often go with cheap cases (with underpowered PSUs that tend to kill things while they struggle) and inadequate cooling solutions. Assembly by minimum wage workers also doesn't quite help build quality ... I make quite some extra money putting stuff together the right way round in my spare time

**John Prophet** · October 26th, 2002, 11:11 AM

Quote . If you pay half as much to get the same job done with a PcChips board as you do with one of the "enthusiast" name brands, where's the fire?

Fair enough..if it was HALF price it would be one thing...but if your gonna save 10 bucks..why take a chance.

My gut instinct as admittedly Im pretty much a newcomer to tech work...(only passing one solid year now)...is that pc chips..being HUGE...must have many internal divisions etc. the different divisions must work under different supervisors, inspectors, guidelines etc etc etc. Everyone is entitled the their opinion. As I say, mine is just gut instinct from life experience. But even though ecs or now Supermicro has been "assimilated" into the same "family" as PC Chips...I dont think that necessarily means that they are the same board....or even actually "made by the same folks". I cant see supermicro server boards coming from the same process as 810LMRs. If so...then its a matter of QC and inspection requirements being different. If you look at the price of Supermicro and then look at the price of Pc chips many "off brand" names..youll have to notice something is different somewhere.

Martin guitars...one of the best names and quality...also own and make "sigma" guitars....kind of an economy version of a martin. If you own a sigma...I dont think you can say you own a martin just because it was "made by the same company". Same "family...but totally different products. Gibson guitars also own/make "epiphones"...same story.

Quality also involves ease and accuracy of setup...I mean, lets get real here....not every tech all over the world is going to have a Engineering degree..and even so....if Joe novice stands next to Jim engineer...both of them still click the same "install" button on the same PC chips driver cd...the cd either runs correctly or it doesnt...makes not a lot of difference who pushes the button.

So all I am saying is that from my admittedly limited 1 yr of experience...I saw the same techs have more probs with PC chips boards by a large margin.

To each his own...I dont own stock in any of these companies so I dont take any of this personally lol. To each his own...there are plenty of brands to go around.

JP

PS....why doesnt anand or tom do many reviews of pc chips stuff....maybe they dont know how to set em up either...(good natured elbow in the rib)

**littlebird** · October 26th, 2002, 11:49 AM

Originally posted by Kruzin
Sorry, but PC-Chips = garbage.
These mobos are nothing but buggy, uncompliant, unstable horrors.
I deal with these POS mobos every day, and I would rather have an HP system than one with a PC-Chips mobo.

My advice is to take the system back to whoever you bought it from, and pay the extra $50 for a REAL motherboard.

I refer to a recent thread from a different forum, where I posed the question "what is the WORST mobo you can get?", where well over 1/2 of the respondants answered PC-Chips.
http://forums.matroxusers.com/showth...hlight=pcchips

I'm sorry Kruzin but I have disagree with you!
I have worked with PCChips boards in the past (and ecs too) and they have worked flawlessly. Of course the performance is not that great but these are oem boards with everything integrated great for everyday jobs or work like Internet browsing office thingies, etc. Maybe is the buyer! They think they can do wonders with a cheap board and end up killing them. Also, if you are a "GAMER" or "ENTHUSIAST" you wouldn't buy a PCChips board anyway nor a freaking Parhelia card (YES YOU HEARD ME RIGHT!!! GET A GF4 Ti4600 or a 9700 Radeon Pro!!!!!).

**John Prophet** · October 30th, 2002, 11:46 AM

I could send you several pictures of PC Chips boards with blown caps and burned uo voltage regulators. We must have had a bad batch where I used to work cuz only the rare few lasted through the year that I was there...at least 5-10 got replaced with K7S5A or dragons. Of course we had some probs with the ECS boards as well. I dont remember there being any probs with the K7SEM boards...they built quite easily. The main probs I noticed were when you take a 810LMR and put a TBird on it with any kind of decent amp drawing vid card....I would be wrong not to be biased because I saw too many of them run for 3 months and then die.

To be fair, I never built any of the pc chips systems so I dont know how the tech(s) built them up....but I cant think of anything a tech could do wrong to cause the board to come back 3 months later with bulging caps and fried regulators. (then again, we have a lot of lightning here in Virginia...lots of trees to act as lighting rods)

JP

PS--Experiences vary...I had a chevy Beretta which was the worst lemon I ever heard of...everything broke on it....brakes, water pump, starter ignition module, battery etc etc. finally the heater core went. But some peeps swear that the beretta was a good dependable car..cie la vie.