BEWARE: Epia V8000 & Opus 90W combination

Jailer · 11-02-2004, 01:15 PM

Anyone considering purchasing the Epia V8000 should read this. The aggravation caused by this is certainly not worth saving a few bucks by buying the V8000.

I am currently having an issue with my Opus 90W and my Epia V8000. It seems that sometimes the PC won't boot, everything turns on, but I get no BIOS beep code and no VGA, so the motherboard is hanging up as soon as it turns on. After pulling my hair out for weeks within the forum here, the manuals for both the Opus and the motherboard, and trying to troubleshoot the problem on my own I finally send an e-mail to Opussoultions.com. Below is the response that I got:

If it boots up sometimes it means you placed the power-on connector in the correct direction. The Epia-V8000 motherboard has a compatibility issue with our power supplies. Some power supplies work and others don't, it's all based on a difference between the startup time of the 3.3V, 5V and 12V rails. Unfortunately Via does not wish to cooperate with us and try to resolve this issue, which could be done by a BIOS update.

If you would send us the motherboard with the power supply we can make them work together for you, it will require some hardware changes in the power supply.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Rafal Krawczyk
Opus Solutions Inc.
26941 Cabot Rd. S#120
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
Tel: (949)305-4200 Ext.225
rafal@opussolutions.com

I replied with some questions that I will post answers to as soon as I get them. The questions are as follows:
How long would I be without the unit (approximately) and would I be better off upgrading the motherboard to an Epia MII 12000? Are there any compatibility issues with the MII 12000 motherboard that you know of? If I send in the PSU and decide later on to upgrade the motherboard will there be issues with the new motherboard? Will I be charged for the changes to the PSU and if so how much?

eatyummypuppies · 11-02-2004, 01:24 PM

You'll be without your hardware for at least a month, probably more.

Jailer · 11-02-2004, 03:19 PM

Only the Epia-8000 and Epia-CL have this problem.
All the other Epia boards work flawlessly...
No, there wouldn't be any issues later on. The problem is the timing margin
that Via allows in these two motherboards. All the newer Epia motherboards
have this problem solved. There are no charges for these changes.

Quote:

You'll be without your hardware for at least a month, probably more.

I have the feeling you're probably right however, money's a bit tight right now so I don't think upgrading the motherboard is much of an option at this point. Guess I'll have to send it in

Jailer · 11-03-2004, 07:21 PM

Sent the package off today to have the modification to the Opus done. Opus says turn around time is 1 day so hopefully I should have it back in a couple weeks. I'll keep you guys updated on Opus's service.

TruckinMP3 · 11-03-2004, 08:39 PM

Good to know thanks for the info

ShawJohn · 11-10-2004, 10:21 AM

My EPIA V8000 runs fine off my OPUS 90w.

John

Jailer · 12-19-2004, 10:15 PM

Update:
Got my Opus & Motherboard back a couple of weeks ago, tried installing it last week. It's now worse than before and won't boot at all. I've been e-mailing back and forth with tech support at Opus but have gotten no answers yet other than "it worked fine here". Looks like I may end up scrapping the V8000 and move up to an M series board. Apparently this is only an issue with the V and CL series boards. Also it doesn't happen on all V and CL series motherboards, some work fine.

Jailer · 12-27-2004, 07:53 PM

So as of today I am officially giving up on the V8000. I just ordered an M10000 and 512MB of DDR266 RAM so that I can again have a working PC in my truck. Guess now I'll have to find a use for the V8000.

jeremyp111 · 12-28-2004, 06:37 AM

Dude, that sucks. Stick it in the classifieds. Someone will buy it from you. It's a good board. Just not with an Opus!

DarquePervert · 12-28-2004, 07:19 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Jailer

So as of today I am officially giving up on the V8000. I just ordered an M10000 and 512MB of DDR266 RAM so that I can again have a working PC in my truck. Guess now I'll have to find a use for the V8000.

Reading your thread, I'm inclined to disagree with you that it's the motherboard.
You sent the board to Opus and they tested it with your power supply and it worked just fine. You also say that sometimes it boots up fine and other times it does nothing.
I'd be more inclined to think that it's the electrical system in the behicle causing it, as the trained professionals have used your P/S and your motherboard in a lab environment successfully.

The trick is to determine what the factor is that's causing it to boot up when it does and what's causing it not to boot when it doesn't. That will at least give you something to start looking for.

Just my two cents.

Jailer · 12-28-2004, 07:57 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by DarquePervert

Reading your thread, I'm inclined to disagree with you that it's the motherboard.
You sent the board to Opus and they tested it with your power supply and it worked just fine. You also say that sometimes it boots up fine and other times it does nothing.
I'd be more inclined to think that it's the electrical system in the behicle causing it, as the trained professionals have used your P/S and your motherboard in a lab environment successfully.

The trick is to determine what the factor is that's causing it to boot up when it does and what's causing it not to boot when it doesn't. That will at least give you something to start looking for.

Just my two cents.

I've been through everything I can think of in the electrical system and here's the kicker. Before I sent it to Opus the PC would boot if you left it off for an extended period of time (overnight or while at work). Opus said that this is typical of the timing issue with the V8000. When the parts returned, I plugged everything back in and now it doesn't work at all. Ordinarily I would agree with you about it being something in the vehicle and that was my first though when I reinstalled the board and PSU, but I'll be damned if I can find what would be causing the problem since nothing has changed in the electrical system. I can tell you that the motherboard works fine with a standard PSU and that the Opus is sending power to the motherboard since the fan spins up on the Processor, however there is no BIOS beep and no VGA output. This is exactly what it was doing that made Opus say it was the timing issue in the first place. I wanted to upgrade the board anyway I just wasn't planning on doing it right now so it's not a huge loss at this point.