Building a computer..have a video issue

[grimslarcat]

Here are the specs...Using a Chaintech 7NJL6 motherboard, socket A, Sempron 2800+proc, 512 of DDR ram, Radeon Sapphire 128 Meg Vid card, unformatted 200gb HD, and a CDRW, 400 wps. No onboard video.

All Jumpers, as near as I can tell have been set properly. When the power is connected all fans run but I hear no beeps and I have no video at all. Unable to even set the bios.

Any help you guys can give me on this is most welcome. I am willing to offer any other info you need to help with this as well.

Thanks

 

[paparazi]

grimslarcat
Check list:

1) You have only placed motherboard brass standoff mounts in the correct places (to line up with the brite solder ring points) on the motherboard ONLY!

2) Heatsink is mounted correctly, the recess in the base of the heatsink must be positioned so it is located over the raised cam box on the CPU socket (if you find this incorrectly fitted then the CPU is already likely fataly damaged)

3) That the front side bus jumpers (if it has them)are set to the 166 (333) setting to match the Sempron CPU.

4) The IDE ribbpn cables going to the hard drive and CDrom are orientated the correct way round and that the hard drive is using a fine core ULTRA cable.
Red stripe to pin number one
Cloured end to the motherboard.

5) Jumpers are set correctly on all hard drives and CDrom devices (master/Slave

6) Extra P4 power connector on the motherboard used if it has one.

7) Geforce 6600GT has got an extra power cable going to it if needed?

8)Clear Cmos (use cmos clear jumper or remove the button battery)

9) Front panel header wires on the correct pin outs

10) No sticking power or reset buttons on the case

11) I would recommend taking you configuration down to a minimum, remove all addon cards except video, just connect one hard drive one CDrom, one stick of ram, CPU/cooler and PSU.

12) PSU could be faulty, true enough! all fans spin, some lights illuminate but no post are typical symptoms.

That should be enoungh to be going on with.

Martin



We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[grimslarcat]

Update...I have stripped the build down to just the motherboard, one stick of 256 DDR ram, the psu, and the video card. Triple checked all jumpers...they are good. Risers were only placed where the metal circles in the board were.

Still no video or posting from the board when I turn it on. The heatsink was in the proper position on the proc. Its beginning to look like a bad psu. I have blown a proc before and I had no power to the board at all when that happened.

Gonna try hookin this to another psu and see how that works.

 

[grimslarcat]

Second update...Tried a different psu, still same result. After checking some other websites Im convinced its a faulty board. I hear no beeps, nothing.

Fans run, CDrom does open and close but otherwise no other functions on this pc at all.

Also swapped ram out a couple of times..still nothing.

 

[grimslarcat]

Okay...I dont know exactly how I did it, but now I am getting one long beep from the comp speakers when I power up.

Its alive...just barely..now I gotta figure out what that beep means.

 

[motorsyko]

Who makes the bios? Different vendors, different codes, Award, from memory, uses this for memory problems.

The world is full of apathy, but I don't care.

 

[grimslarcat]

Its a phoenix bios. When I power up nothing but the proc and mobo I get this one beep. Bout 2-3 seconds in length over and over. When put the ram stick in...no sounds at all. Have heard something about semprons running without fail with DDR400 ram. Which what I have is PC2100 266 mhz.

 

[grimslarcat]

Well, I did some checking at the Chaintech website and in the manual that came with the board. I bought this as a barebones bundle. This board does NOT say its compatable with a sempron. It says its compatable with an Athlon XP and a Duron. The website even has other boards it says are compatable with semprons but this one isnt it.

So only I can figure is this processor is not able to work with this board. Guess I will be on the phone to Tigerdirect next week.

 

[micker377]

My ECS K7VTA3 has a BIOS update which makes it usable with the Sempron (where did they get that name?) CPU. Check ChainTech to see if a BIOS update is available.

 

[cdogg]

Yes, there is a lack of documentation on Chaintech's website (the company is based in Taiwan). However, it's not a compatibility issue as you thought.

First of all, the Sempron Socket A CPU is almost identical to the Athlon XP, except that it has less total L1 & L2 cache. As a matter of fact, it uses the same CPU ID as an Athlon. So any motherboard that supports the Athlon XP should be able to see a Sempron (even older boards, although they must support 333MHz FSB for the CPU to run at the right speed).

This page in an article shows this:

http://www20.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040728/sempron-02.html

==============================================

At this point, I think it's quite possible that you have accidently damaged one of your main components (CPU or motherboard). Make sure you follow all of paparazi's suggestions above, especially numbers 2 and 9. Even just one front panel connector improperly connected can cause this.

Also take another look at the CPU core to make sure it wasn't damaged during the installation of the heatsink, and that you didn't use too much thermal grease. If any gets on the CPU die, it can cause a short.

I doubt the problem has anything to do with your hard drive, memory, or any other device connected. To get a beep error, the only 3 needed are: mobo and cpu, but video is also needed to see what's on the screen in the even you don't hear a beep.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[grimslarcat]

The thermal grease...thats the part I have never been real clear on how to apply. I have a tendency to blow proc real easy so Im guessin Im just not applying the stuff right.

Any tips on how its supposed to be applied to a heatsink? Gonna order another sempron and try this again.

 

[micker377]

Question: if my ECS mobo can take any Athlon (up to 2600), why does it require a BIOS upgrade to use a Sempron? It already runs at 333.

 

[paparazi]

cdogg
We are having to bios flash a whole load of motherboards to recognise Sempron CPU's
Most Manufactures are infact advertising on their packaging if a motherboard is "Sempron" compatible.
All the top brands have "ADDED" instructions in later bios revisions for there Nforce2, KT400a, KT600 etc etc based motherboards, newer stock have later supported bios already.

Typically bios updates have been added in the last 4/7months for Sempron support.
Martin





We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[cdogg]

Paparazi and micker377,

My apologies. I haven't yet worked with Semprons, and the only insight I really had were the articles that I've read. According to them, the Semprons have the same CPUID as Athlons. So theoretically, the system should recognize them. The BIOS upgrade might be to give full support for FSB and CPU multiplier, etc...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884