P5K is rubbish

[daveasp]

Afternoon. This is my first post because I would like a little advice from someone please. If I miss anything please bare with me.

I bought the following board from SCAN last week, scan part LN18699.

Asus P5K, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 667/800/1066*, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX

Unfortunatley I have had no end of problems with it from day 1. Processor, memory, drives and case are new. I have done a lot of searches online and noticed that a lot of other people using the same board get the same problems. Have tried everything including BIOS flash, clear CMOS , memory, PSU and even processor so I am convinced this is a board problem. Lots of people on the ASUS forum discuss this. A brief description follows:

When powering on the system it takes at least 4 or 5 attempts for the system to succesfully boot into the O/S. I get a variety of different issues each time it fails. These are:

1 - System powers on, but no video output occurs, no error beeps and it needs to be powered off via the mains switch

2 - System powers on, Video output is fine, but hangs halfway through BIOS post - system needs to be switched off via mains switch

3 - System powers on, video output is ok , POST fails with corrupt or missing CMOS settings. It asks me to press F1 , or F2 to reset settings. I do this but it can happen again the next time i power it on.

4 - System powers on, video is ok , POST fails with "Overclock failed" error message - note , I have not overclocked the system.

5 - Systems POSTS ok but blue screens on loading windows

I have updated the Bios to the latest version (0603) , and also cleared the CMOS as per the instructions manual. I have tried all other components excpet the processor in another machine and all appear to be fine. I have seen a number of other posts similar to this with people who have bought the P5K so am hoping you can help!

By the way - After the initial 4 or 5 failures the system will eventually boot into Windows and everything runs fine but it will happen again after I have powered it off and back on.



Anyway I sent the board back to SCAN under RMA and was informed that no fault was found after extensive testing. They would not swap the board and wanted to return at my cost. After much haggling they eventually agreed to give me a full refund minus the shipping cost.

Obviously I do not want to get a P5k replacement as I know there is a fundemental problem with the board. Can anyone suggest what the best alternative to ASUS might be? I am looking to spend anything upto £75-85.

Cheers

[MaddAussie]

what PSU are you running?

Ive had a PK5 for 3 months now and not a problem

Its a good idea to disable the AI overclock in the bios as this can cause probs

[Mossy]

Abit IP35 Pro would be a good option

Regards

[Agent]

Abits are usually bomb proof in my experience

[DataMatrix]

Sounds like a dodgy motherboard to me. RMA it to Scan, can't hurt.

[jonathan_phang]

Sounds like a dodgy motherboard to me. RMA it to Scan, can't hurt.

He's already done that (I think he mentioned it in the OP) and theyve agreed to refund, hence the need for a different board recommendation.

[LuckyNV]

for about that money, go for an Abit IP35 (not the E or the Pro, but the one inbetween)

[shaithis]

Having gone through a number of different Asus boards over the last year and then building a number of machines based on various ABit IP35 boards for friends recently, I have decided that ABit will be my manufacturer of choice for the foreseeable future.

Just wish they would get boards with new features out a bit sooner then they do =S

[daveasp]

Just like to thank everyone for there assistance on this. I went with the Abit IP35 board. Works a dream. Also got a new PSU so upto 600w rather than 520w.
Now running perfect.

Cheers