SiS chipset Mobo = USB woes?

[RichardH]

Morning all. Having built an HCPC using an ECS K7S6A, and liked it's layout and price I decided to upgrade my wife's PC, and got another.
I have had ALL SORTS of anguish with reboots, mainly when USB devices are accessed - occasionally the printer, but every time the scanner is used. A pain, as I need to scan 400 images in before the end of the week - I've set my laptop up with the scanner, so we have an alternative.

These probelsm happened on both Win98SE and Win2000. New scanner drivers do nothing, and as it works fine with the laptop, it's definitely not the scanner.

Anyway, I tried clean installs of the OS - no joy, just a waste of a couple of hours (well, it needed doing anyway). Then I found this website where the SiS USB chipset is labelled a "problem chipset". Doom! I've tried all of the various suggestions (except getting a new PCI USB card!) there to no avail.

Has anyone else using an SiS chipsetted board (ECS K7S5A I know is being used by a couple of people) had probelms like this? My HCPC is OK so far, but then I've not added any USB devices as yet!

 

[feet14]

Try sending the mobo back to the retailer you got it from and get them to swap it with a more well-behaved board. If they won't, you could ask them to send you a PCI usb card, or buy one yourself from ebuyer (they've got one for £5 but look for a usb 2.0 one for future proofing). I hope my new mobo won't have this problem (SiS 648 chipset) but it supports usb 2.0 so it will be a newer design.

 

[mjn]

SiS are some of the worst chipsets ever made for the PC market. they are usually found on budget board.

 

[RichardH]

....However the VIA AMD chipsets apparently cause problems with audio stutter when used as an HCPC....

Might have to contact the supplier and see what they offer to do.