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To sum up: Bought a new CPU, motherboard, and a 512MB stick of RAM, put it all in the computer, and now... it's not working. (I'll list the parts at the end.)
The symptoms: Nothing happens when I turn the power on, then I get a long short short short beep code, then a few seconds later it turns off. The monitor is blank throughout this.
Now, I'm not sure what BIOS I have, but the beep code indicates either "Conventional/Extended Memory" problem or something to do with the video card. My bet is it's something to do with the video card, based on the symptoms. Also, I tried taking out the video card and starting it and got the same result.
I'm confused as to why the video card wouldn't be working with this computer though. I've been using the video card (Radeon 9200se) for a while in the old computer just fine. The only thing that I think I could see being the problem is that there's a warning on the manual saying that this motherboard won't work with 3.3 volt cards, but after a search on google, I drew the conclusion that only old videocards, 2x I think, were 3.3 volts. The Radeon is a 4x/8x card.
So I'm stumped. Here are the new parts I'm using:
Athlon64 3000+ S754 512K AMD Athlon64 3000+ PIB 2.0ghz Socket 754 512K L2 800FSB (retail)
KV8 Pro VIA K8T800 AGP8X S754/800FSB DDR400 Dual-ATA133 Dual-SATA-RAID-0,1 Audio GLAN, 8USB
Samsung DDR400 512M OEM PC3200 512M DDR400 184pin OEM pack
And the videocard is a Radeon 9200se.
If you need any more information, feel free to ask, and if you know ANYTHING or have even just a tiny idea, please don't hesitate to post.
Thank you.
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Refrigerator,Mar 27 2005, 01:16 PM Wrote:The symptoms: Nothing happens when I turn the power on, then I get a long short short short beep code, then a few seconds later it turns off. The monitor is blank throughout this.
Now, I'm not sure what BIOS I have, but the beep code indicates either "Conventional/Extended Memory" problem or something to do with the video card.
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-Have you tried the RAM in a seperate computer known to work? You could have just bought a bad stick of RAM, I have had this happen on occasion. This would be my first guess with the Conventional/Extended Memory problem. If you don't have another computer to try the RAM in, see if you can borrow a friend's computer and or stick of RAM to try in your computer.
-Does the motherboard have onboard video? If so, hook your monitor up to that.
Hope this helps!
WWBBD?
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Do you have access to any other video card that you could swap to your computer to see what happens (or, can you try your video card in someone else's computer)?
When checking the RAM, you can also move the sticks around to different slots in your motherboard, in case you got a bad DIMM or something like that.
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UPDATE:
Recent events may have changed everything. My dad discovered that the LED on the motherboard actually had nothing to do with the temperature, it showed the stages of the POST as it went through them. So we watched that, and as it started up, this is what happened:
8.3
8.7...
9C BEEEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
9E
9F
I have no idea where the 9C 9E and 9F came from, but the 8.7 was the last stage it got to, so we looked that up in the mobo manual, and that was the CPU core voltage. Which doesn't seem to make sense, BUT dad also noticed that our power supply doesn't meet the requirements of the motherboard. It needs "350W, 20A +5VDC". Our power supply is only 300 watts. Also, there's an 'auxilary power' connector on the motherboard that our power supply doesn't have a wire for. Dad's not sure if that's essential or not. I don't think it really matters much, being auxilary, as it says, but he's not so sure.
Anyways, it looks from this information like the computer isn't even getting to the video card stage yet. Hopefully this can all be fixed by a power supply. Maybe.
Thank you for the help so far, I've tried all of your suggestions except moving the video card into another computer to see if it works, because it just came from a working computer.
*crosses fingers* Work, dammit!
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I had a similar problem. Different bios, Intel Chipset, and 4 GIG of ram, a 512 MB video card, a few higher level items in the build, but I was stumped too, and had this neat sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I'd just dumped two grand for nothing.
First recommendation? Check your CPU heatsink. If it's not on correctly, computers going to go through some beeping and shut off. You shouldn't see anything on the monitor, or if you do it'd only be for the breifest moment before it shuts down.
Then, check the RAM. Make sure it's the right type for the motherboard, and check the board manual and see if it's actually a supported manufacturer as well.
3rd? If nothing else, take a 12-gauge to it. Won't make it work, can guarentee that, but is a good way to vent your frustrations. :)
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Yes that 4 pin aux connector is important. You need a new powersupply.
---
It's all just zeroes and ones and duct tape in the end.
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AHAHAHA! My dad had a power supply in a case that he bought to put the parts that I was replacing in, which just happened to be exactly what we needed.
One power supply swap later...
I never thought I would be so happy to see that the primary hard drive can't be detected.
So, I've exchanged one set of problems for another. At first, it would only detect the slave hard drive, but now it won't see either of them. I'm going to try switching IDE cables, but then... I don't know what to do next. I've checked the jumper settings... so what else could I do?
If any other kind people want to help me with ideas I would be a very happy little Lurker.
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Refrigerator,Mar 27 2005, 04:28 PM Wrote:I never thought I would be so happy to see that the primary hard drive can't be detected.
So, I've exchanged one set of problems for another. At first, it would only detect the slave hard drive, but now it won't see either of them. I'm going to try switching IDE cables, but then... I don't know what to do next. I've checked the jumper settings... so what else could I do?
If any other kind people want to help me with ideas I would be a very happy little Lurker.
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What is the HDD setup? What kind of drives exactly?
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Refrigerator,Mar 27 2005, 07:28 PM Wrote:AHAHAHA! My dad had a power supply in a case that he bought to put the parts that I was replacing in, which just happened to be exactly what we needed.
One power supply swap later...
I never thought I would be so happy to see that the primary hard drive can't be detected.
So, I've exchanged one set of problems for another. At first, it would only detect the slave hard drive, but now it won't see either of them. I'm going to try switching IDE cables, but then... I don't know what to do next. I've checked the jumper settings... so what else could I do?
If any other kind people want to help me with ideas I would be a very happy little Lurker.
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So the drive is IDE? Is it a new drive? Have you tried the drive in another computer? Make sure it is plugged into the primary IDE slot on the mobo. Make sure the cord isn't backwards, the way I remember it is if you fold the cord in half, the single connector goes to the mobo and the two connectors go to the drives.
WWBBD?
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Did you check to see that the right cable is connected to the right drive? It's not just jumpers anymore, usually you need to have both drives on the same IDE cable, with the black end connected to the master drive, and the grey end connected to the slave drive.
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03-31-2005, 12:19 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-31-2005, 12:19 PM by HowGozit.)
Hi,
OK - you've found out that Athlon 3000's *need* the extra voltage ... and you have the beast powered up at last.
Now - lets talk about IDE drives. I'm assuming that have 2. Master and slave..
Firstly - CHECK THE JUMPERS. A lot of drives are set to cable select. Its not too rare to find someone who has cable select on one of the drives and not on the other - that *may* work on some motherboards - but its not too guaranteed.
Set the master to Master and the slave to slave. Then it doesn't matter where on the cable you have them.
Next - are you using 40 wire cables or 80wire. You need the 80-wire to successfully usse the drives at UDMA-66 or higher. Most halfway recent drives (2000 and onwards) are capable of UDMA-100 speeds. Your old motherboard may not have been. Your current motherboard IS capable of the higher speed.
A way of testing this is to cut the speed of the drive down some in the BIOS to ATA-4 (UDMA-33). If things pop on line, then good - get y'self a new cable.
If still nogo, then have a look at how your power is distributed. Are you using the same string of molex connectors for your floppy, CD-ROM(s) and hard drives. Move the drives onto a seperate string. You *can* run out of power (another reason why I buy pretty expensive power supplies - Antecs in my case. Power is clean and there is a lot of it on each string of molex connectors).
If these don't work, then Hmm - try just one drive or start suspecting an odd motherboard problem (warranty time).
HowGozit
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Also, if they are SATA drives, IDE won't work.
Of course, you already knew that.
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Alright, lot of good information here. First, yes I have the right cable plugged into the right drive. I'm using a new IDE cable that came with the mobo, and it has labels even on each connector. So, the motherboard end is plugged into the IDE1 spot, the slave is plugged into the slave drive, and the master is plugged into the master. I've checked the jumper settings on the master, and they're correct, but I haven't checked the slave. I'm pretty sure they're right, because I was just using it in a different computer.
About the power idea...
It could be that, but I'm not sure. I can hear the drives spinning when I start the computer, I think, but it might be something else. I've tried switching around the Molex connectors but that hasn't seemed to help.
One thing that I'm wondering about though...
At the back of the power supply, there's this red switch. Right now it's switched to "115", but it has another setting, which i think is "230". I have NO idea what this switch does, and I'm a bit hesitant to switch it without knowing what it does. Could anyone tell me?
I'll also check the jumpers on the slave drive.
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Refrigerator,Apr 2 2005, 03:42 PM Wrote:At the back of the power supply, there's this red switch. Right now it's switched to "115", but it has another setting, which i think is "230". I have NO idea what this switch does, and I'm a bit hesitant to switch it without knowing what it does. Could anyone tell me?
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Voltage rating. Generally, it should be set to 115 in America and 230 in Europe.
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04-02-2005, 09:55 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-02-2005, 09:55 PM by Munkay.)
Edit: Nystul beat me to it!
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AHA! Hard drive problem SOLVED!!!
Solution: The new cable must have been too new or something. I found an old cable and tried it, and BINGO! So, the hard drives are detected now. It just won't boot off of them. From the recent thread about something similar, I gather I'll have to do a repair install or something similar. Thing is, I'm running Windows 2000... does it have that option?
I'll find the disc somewhere and try it. If it can't do that, my dad suggested a.. parallel install, I think it was. So it could at least connect to our little network and I could recover some data.
But, the bottom line is, YAYI'MGETTINGCLOSER!
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Refrigerator,Apr 2 2005, 08:42 PM Wrote:One thing that I'm wondering about though...
At the back of the power supply, there's this red switch. Right now it's switched to "115", but it has another setting, which i think is "230". I have NO idea what this switch does, and I'm a bit hesitant to switch it without knowing what it does. Could anyone tell me?
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Nystul pointed out what the volatage switch is for. I'll fill you in on what happens if you move it. If you do it on your power (110V) it will possibly damage the power supply and make your drives run too slowly (possibly also causing damage). Not a good idea.
Here in Australia - moving it to the wrong setting (it is 240V AC power here) causes a vicious BANG - some smoke, and usually a heart attack on the unsuspecting technician near it. I've been around when an unmodified USA model of PC was sent to a site I ran. I swear - the guy who powered the machine up went gray on the spot.
HowGozit
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HowGozit,Apr 4 2005, 04:29 AM Wrote:Nystul pointed out what the volatage switch is for. I'll fill you in on what happens if you move it. If you do it on your power (110V) it will possibly damage the power supply and make your drives run too slowly (possibly also causing damage). Not a good idea.
Wait... what does "If you do it on your power (110)" mean? Does you mean running it at the setting ~115/110?
Quote:Here in Australia - moving it to the wrong setting (it is 240V AC power here) causes a vicious BANG - some smoke, and usually a heart attack on the unsuspecting technician near it. I've been around when an unmodified USA model of PC was sent to a site I ran. I swear - the guy who powered the machine up went gray on the spot.
And from this I'm getting that I really don't want to try the 230V setting either. I'm sort of confused now, I must be interpreting this wrong... :huh:
I'm going to leave it at 115 for now, because it's recommended by another Lurker, and because the results for doing it wrong seem less disastrous.
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A bit of practical wisdom, the voltage in the states is listed as 110/115/120 depending on the product, and as 220/230/240 in Europe and Australia.
But practical wisdom lacks the account. So just don't ask me why :whistling: .
Cheers,
Munk
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Refrigerator,Apr 5 2005, 01:37 AM Wrote:I'm going to leave it at 115 for now, because it's recommended by another Lurker, and because the results for doing it wrong seem less disastrous.
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Sorry,
Sorry - assumptions assumptions. You are in North America - 115 volts is what you want. It works for anything from 110V-120V.
In Australia voltage is nominally 240V - in New Zealand its 230V - and there are countries that use 220V. 230V is a nice middle ground, and power supply manufacturers don't have much space for the numbers - so they use just one.
I was just mentioning as an aside that the 115V setting in a 240V country causes an explosion in the power supply caps - been there, done that - sent the techo off for a beer to calm his nerves (not really - but would have been a good idea :huh: ).
Putting the voltage switch on 230V for you would hurt the system as well - but no bang.
But not really a worry - as most times, a power supply is set correctly for the country it is sold in. (My problem was a set of boxes freshly shipped from the USA without being checked at the Australian factory.. :) ).
Sorry for confusing you.
HowGozit
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