built new computer, won't boot

[wistar]

hi, i just built a new computer. it's an amd athlon 1 ghz on an iwill kk266 motherboard with 256 megs of cas 2, 6 layer sdram. it uses a matrox g450 video card. every time i try to boot, i get no video, and it just beeps continously at consistent 3-4 second intervals. the fans also work. i read somewhere this may be a ram problem, so i pulled out and replaced the ram stick (in dimm 0), and just for fun, i pulled out and replaced the video card as well. same thing happened. then i pulled out the ram again and all the ide cables and all other cards besides video, and booted, and the beeps were still the same. so i think it is a ram problem, but before i go returning the ram to the online store and waiting for a new stick to arrive, i would like to be sure it's bad ram. any suggestions? is there a way to test? could it be some other problem (processor, motherboard...)

thanks!

rob

 

[Tels]

do you know what the beeps actually mean?? I havn't got a clue from here, but when i had a similar problem a few years back, I took a look at the M'board manual and figured that the beeps were a specific error message.....

Do you get the same error message with no memory in there? is there any spare memory (even -coff- 16MB -coff-) from another PC that you can stick in to see what happens???

 

[wistar]

thanks for helping.

i checked the manual, and there was no mention of post codes. i think it has an award bios.. the manual didn't come out and say it, but there is a screen shot in there that implies it. so i went online, and it said that for the award bios, one short and two long beeps (or something like that) meant a video problem, and anything else meant ram. i have a hard time thinking that those could be the only two problems with the setup though.

hmmm... i do have other ram around, but it is from an old pentium 1 box. would it even be compatible with my motherboard?

 

[jumenwoke]

U must match the bus speed of your AMD with RAM & MB. AMD is very sensitive about this

 

[wistar]

are you saying i cannot use old ram to test my system, or that my system is wrong?
have pc133 ram, and the motherboard and processor support 266mhz fsb

 

[jumenwoke]

Please, I want to get these points right. You have AMD Athlon 1Ghz/266FSB, Your Motherboard is 256Mhz and what make is it? can you state exactly what make and model of your Motherboard? I need these info to be of further assistance. Please let me know if u already have a solution.

 

[wistar]

i don't have a solution, and i appreciate the help. it's an iwill kk266 motherboard:

http://www.iwillusa.com/products/spec.asp?ModelName=KK266&SupportID=

thanks!

 

[jumenwoke]

Ok, Pull out your Athlon carefully and reinsert and make sure that it is properly seated, then insert a 128MB/PC133 DIMM (NOT SINGLE SIDED) Make sure it is double sided. If still no Video, and still beeping, change the video Card and let me know the result. Make sure all the jumper settings conform with the MOBO Manual instructions before turning on your PC again. Good Luck.

 

[wistar]

thanks, i will try that. unfortunately i am at work right now, but as soon as i try all that i will let you know. though finding another video card may prove tough, since my old box had integrated video (yuck).

 

[jumenwoke]

I think, if the video card is integrated with the MOBO then get the Dual in Line Memory Module not single and try the recommendation before going to video card. I suspect the RAM you have, try a double sided 128MB/PC133. Please let me know. What kind of case do you have use a new 300Watts ATX case with new power supply that matches the MOBO.