QDI Kinetiz 7EA problem. Faulty board? Advice needed

[Bakup]

After upgrading from an MSI 6330 lite motherboard and AMD 1Ghz, to a QDI Kinetiz 7EA and 1.2Ghz AMD I have ran into quite a few problems. I have emailled QDI several times and have had no response. I was wondering if any of you guys could help me out?

I have 3 main problems :
- After reinstalling Windows ME (Tried W2k pro too) I cannot enable DMA on my Pioneer 103 DVD drive. This used to work fine with the MSI m/b but if I set DMA on the drive asks every CD to be formatted. I've tried different versions of the 4in1 drivers and tried swapping IDE cables over but nothing fixes it.

- My case uses a 250watt PSU and ran the 1ghz cpu fine. I now have a problem whereby sometime the motherboard doesnt recover after a reboot. No Post signals or hard drive activity, nothing. I suspect this problem is due to overheating, as if I remove the lid of the case the PC runs perfectly except for a bit of 'tearing in 3D games' However using QDI manage easy s/w the System temp is usually 38 and CPU is a max of 51 which was roughly what the 1ghz was running at.

- Even with the lid off and fans blowing directly at the CPU and Graphics card (AGP ELSA Gladiac 2 GTS) I get intermittent tearing in games. I have tried different drivers and nothing fixes it. I think it could be due to a 250 PSU or overheating. The video card worked fine in the 1ghz system so I know its not a faulty card.

Can anyone advise me on what to do? Could it be a faulty motherboard or CPU or could it simply be a PSU or overheating problem? I'm beginning to lose faith in the motherboard 'cos the problems only started after I put this motherboard in.

BTW the motherboard also refuses to boot if I put in my Aureal Vortex 2 soundcard (yet another ruddy problem

Thanks to all in advance

Bakup

[Zerotech]

I wish I was familiar with the QDI brand but, regardless, you would be much better off with a 300W power supply. I've heard that AMD setups 700MHz and higher aren't very stable with an under-300W supply. An extra case fan certainly wouldn't hurt either. I'm not sure what to make of the sound card problem.
It might be worth sending one last e-mail to QDI letting them know that your next e-mail will be to the Better Business Bureau if you don't get a response.
Good luck.

[Bakup]

Thanks for the reply (beginning to wonder whether if anyone was going to answer )

I've just borrowed a 300PSU from work (will let you know how that goes)

I forgot to mention that I have 5 fans already installed, not including the CPU one and system exhaust (got kinda paranoid about the heat!) so I doubt the extra fan will make any difference.

I really hope this 300w PSU fixes the problem.

Still unsure about the soundcard problem though - rumours have been flying round that they dont like 1.2ghz and above CPUs, although I dont think its that.

Thanks again

Bakup

[Bakup]

Well I tried a 300Watt PSU and still no luck. Tried a larger heatsink and fan too

Any more suggestions?

Bakup

[Silverman]

5 fans plus the Geforce plus the Athlon is going to draw alot of current and even at 300 watts you are pushing the envelope. You may have to go higher than that or remove a fan or 2.