Major problems w/ Soyo 71S2. Help?

**xhepera** · December 29th, 2002, 03:15 AM

I recently bought two Soyo SY-71S2 motherboards. I also bought 2 Celeron 1Ghz processors for the boards. The processors would not work. I kept getting a msg from the Voice Doctor software, stating: "The processor might be damaged or improperly installed. Damage discharge lithium battery."

After much anguish and repeated calls to Soyo tech support (absolutely no help at all) as well as the tech support of the reseller (Computer Geeks), I finally got someone from Compgeeks who believed that the problem was processor incompatibility. Both Soyo's site and CompGeeks' state that the motherboard will take a 1Ghz Celeron processor. However, this guy told me that the problem is that the mobo will only accept a 1 gig processor running at 133mhz fsb, and the Celerons run at 100 mhz.

So I get an RMA for the processors and return them. In the meantime I buy a PIII 1Ghz processor, with a 133mhz fsb speed. I still get the same msg from the board. At this point, I have gotten RMA for both boards and am awaiting replacements. I'd like to know : 1) has anyone here had similar problems with that board and 2) is it likely that 2 motherboards would be doa in this manner?

These are the steps I took to attempt to solve the problem:
Changed the battery
Changed the power supply
Removed everything except RAM and processor
Isolated board from case

I am using a ThermalTake Golden orb heat sink and fan, with Arctic Silver 3 as thermal compound.

I'd greatly appreciate any insight into what the problem might be. Thanks!

**CERuppel** · December 29th, 2002, 04:00 AM

First, thats the first board I've ever heard of that takes both AMD and Intel.

Second, I recently had a problem with a new mobo, the prob turned out to be a default setting in the bios. Might be the same type of problem here. Check with the manu for the bios defaults and see if perhaps one of them is in conflict with your hardware. Processor bus setting for example, or memory bus setting (the prob I had).

Third, Welcome to TechIMO!

**xhepera** · December 29th, 2002, 03:07 PM

Originally posted by CERuppel
First, thats the first board I've ever heard of that takes both AMD and Intel.

Second, I recently had a problem with a new mobo, the prob turned out to be a default setting in the bios. Might be the same type of problem here. Check with the manu for the bios defaults and see if perhaps one of them is in conflict with your hardware. Processor bus setting for example, or memory bus setting (the prob I had).

Third, Welcome to TechIMO!

Thanks for the welcome! I appreciate it. No, the board is an Intel only board as far as I know. I'll take your suggestion re the bios defaults. That could be problematic since the board won't even POST. Thank you, very much, for the suggestion!

**Cody** · December 29th, 2002, 03:15 PM

What do you mean this is the first board you've heard of that can run both AMD and Intel?

Nowhere in the post does it say it can.

Cody

**MRCOMPUTER** · December 29th, 2002, 04:29 PM

That board will accept the 128 cache Celerons only. No support for the 256 cache Tullies...

**FreakyOCR** · December 29th, 2002, 05:12 PM

Originally posted by CERuppel
First, thats the first board I've ever heard of that takes both AMD and Intel.

PIII = Intel
Celeron = Piece of Junk

= Intel

Where's AMD?
AMD = Athlon, Duron, K6 Line

**landfill** · January 30th, 2003, 08:02 PM

Hi- I've been watching your thread with interest, as I await the dreaded SOYO 71SA boards I also (foolishly?) ordered from CompGeeks.

Like me, you probably did a search in Google prior to this folly and found, not too much, wrong with the board? Well, try this: change that "1" to an "I" and you'll see that 7ISA comes up with a QUITE a few more problems.

I contacted a couple of people with more recent issues (Jan 2003) and one person has a freeze problem that doesn't go away, along with having to reboot several times to get it boot up once correctly. Another person had the same problem as you, but then tried different RAM... and it worked! Unfortunately, he did not know what kind of RAM it was because it is unmarked. Still, you might want to try different RAM. I have CL2 and CL3 RAM I plan to try, if I get up the courage to open the box.

You said you RMA'd them... back to compgeeks, or are you RMA'ing them back to SOYO? Because I've read that the ones that come back to you are still troublesome. Which leads me to think either of 2 things is true: 1) they send you back the board you already had, or 2) something is wrong with one of your components that you have NOT changed in the mix of things.

Oh well. My boards arrive tomorrow. Yup, like a pig, I ordered 2 because they were such a great price (know we know why). I'm wondering if I can RMA back to compgeeks for a credit (minus 15%) or something. Depending on my mood, I will either open the box, or just fedex the box as I receive it back to them.

Let us know what your status is!

**xhepera** · January 31st, 2003, 01:51 AM

Hi there! Thanks for the reply. The current status on this issue is as follows: I (FINALLY) got the two new motherboards. I've only had a chance to install one. . .guess what? Same problem. I'llbe trying the second one tomorrow.

In any case, I'm back to phoning CompGeeks (shudder). What a major pain! I'll let you know whether both are bad.

In answer to your question, I RMA'd them back to Computer Geeks. And you're right about the "1" vs "l" thing on the Google search! Thanks for the tip. I'm off to see what I might have missed in my prior searches.

**landfill** · January 31st, 2003, 03:10 PM

Sorry to hear the new one isn't working for you.. my boards arrived today. Wonder what I should really do with them? Part of me wants to give it a shot. I hate throwing away good money, though.

I was also planning to try to use a brand new Pentium III 1000 chip, which I read you had no luck with. Question: What are the markings on your chip? Did you get it from compgeeks, too?

It is bizarre that the Celeron chip didn't work. Boy, my old Aopen BX board is way more flexible (with use of a slotket)!

FYI the markings on my Pentium III chip (which is new, untested from Newegg, but I'm going to assume it's good in the first place) are as follows:
1000/256/133 1.75v
Pentium III SL52R

I am going to look on SOYO's website and see if they have a chart that specifies which chip can be used (probably a little late for that activity

Let me know what transpires!

**landfill** · January 31st, 2003, 03:17 PM

one more thing- did you try DIFFERENT RAM?

This is specifically a positive answer I got from the person who had (what sounded like) the same problem as you:

"I got these from tigerdirect.com. I went yesterday and bought a new case. I was thinking it could have been the power supply or the memory. I am not sure but it could be real picky with memory. I tried different memory and I finally hit the right one. I got the system up and running now and it is working fine. I think it was the memory, but still not sure. This is the first time running in to this type of problem. I am using Windows xp pro and it is running great. Besides the initial problem, the board seems to be fine. "

**Target** · January 31st, 2003, 03:20 PM

Hey CERuppel... old machines, say socket 7 and older, accepted CPU's from several manufacturers (Intel, AMD, VIA, etc)

Just giving you a hard time buddy.

**landfill** · February 2nd, 2003, 09:36 AM

Hi,
I tried to contact you outside this forum. Wondering if you had any success. Thanks!

**xhepera** · February 5th, 2003, 10:18 AM

Originally posted by landfill
FYI the markings on my Pentium III chip (which is new, untested from Newegg, but I'm going to assume it's good in the first place) are as follows:
1000/256/133 1.75v
Pentium III SL52R
. . .
Let me know what transpires!

Hi Landfill. yes, those are the markings on my chip as well. And the second motherboard has the same problem.

I'll be on the phone with Computer Geeks today. I think I'm going to just ask for a credit RMA and try another board. Any recommendations for a socket 370, PIII compatible board, anyone?

Thanks!

**landfill** · February 5th, 2003, 11:22 AM

Thanks for responding. I'm sorry to hear there is no success here. I got my RMA # on Friday and was waiting to hear what happened with your boards #3 & #4. Part of the allure of that Soyo board, besides the price & features, is that it has an Intel 815ep chipset. Oh well.

So, today I'll be Fedexing them back. I'm getting the "IHC" (In House Credit) otherwise there is a restocking fee of 15%.

As for a recommendation, I have no personal experience with a solid P3 motherboard. I currently have a great BX motherboard and slotket I got on eBay (AOpen AX6BC with a MSI 6905 slotket running a Celeron 900 100fsb). It is rock solid.

But, do go to newegg.com and do a search for P3 motherboards. The problem is that they are kind of limited on what's left, but there are some good recommendations there. Too bad all the P3 boards there are either VIA or SIS chipsets. I'm not sure if those will get along with my soundcard which specifies Intel chipsets. Also, at newegg, be careful because most of them are micro-ATX form factor.

The "best" one I'm looking at is the MSI 694T Pro with an ATX form factor. The downside, for me, is that it is expensive, and it has a non-Intel chipset. It takes Tualatins. Man, you could get a nice motherboard & Celeron Tualatin for $100 there. Wish I'd seen that sooner...