Mother Board showing A7 1

[JoBlac]

I have an Abit BD7-RAID motherboard with a pentium 4 1.6GHz processor. I've just put it together and tryed to boot it up. It is beeping and displaying 'A7' on the POST code display on the motherboard.
The nearest code in the book is '7A' (detect and install co-processor).
Can anyone suggest what is wrong and how to fix it?

many thanks

Howard

 

[FatesWebb]

Here is a list of everything that happens during a AMI POST it has the codes and what they mean this will show A7 as one of the last ones...

AMI WinBIOS; 12/15/93 Onwards

Code
Meaning

01
Processor register test about to start; disable NMI next.

02
NMI is Disabled. Power on delay starting.

03
Power on delay complete (to check soft reset/power-on).

05
Soft reset/power-on determined, going to enable ROM (i.e. disable shadow RAM cache, if any).

06
ROM is enabled. Calculating ROM BIOS checksum.

07
ROM BIOS checksum passed. CMOS shutdown register test to be done next.

08
CMOS shutdown register test done. CMOS checksum calculation next.

09
CMOS checksum calculation done; CMOS diag byte written; CMOS initialisation to begin.

0A
CMOS initialization done (if any). CMOS status register about to init for Date and Time.

0B
CMOS status register init done. Any initialization before keyboard BAT to be done next.

0C
KB controller I/B free. Going to issue the BAT command to keyboard controller.

0D
BAT command to keyboard controller is issued. Going to verify the BAT command.

0E
Keyboard controller BAT result verified. Any initialization after KB controller BAT next.

0F
Initialisation after KB controller BAT done. Keyboard command byte to be written next.

10
Keyboard controller command byte is written. Going to issue Pin-23 & 24 blocking/unblocking command.

11
Keyboard controller Pin-23 & 24 blocked/unblocked; check press of <INS> key during power-on .

12
Checking for pressing of <INS> key during power-on done. Going to disable DMA/Interrupt controllers.

13
DMA controller #1 and #2 and Interrupt controller #1 and #2 disabled; video display disabled and port B initialised; chipset init/auto memory detection next.

14
Chipset init/auto memory detection over. To uncompress the POST code if compressed BIOS.

15
POST code is uncompressed. 8254 timer test about to start.

19
8254 timer test over. About to start memory refresh test.

1A
Memory Refresh line is toggling. Going to check 15 micro second ON/OFF time.

20
Memory Refresh 30 microsecond test complete. Base 64K memory/address line test about to start.

21
Address line test passed. Going to do toggle parity.

22
Toggle parity over. Going for sequential data R/W test on base 64k memory.

23
Base 64k sequential data R/W test passed. Going to set BIOS stack and do any setup before Interrupt

24
Setup required before vector initialization complete. Interrupt vector initialization about to begin.

25
Interrupt vector initialization done. Going to read Input port of 9042 for turbo switch (if any) and clear password if POST diag switch is ON next.

26
Input port of 8042 is read. Going to initialize global data for turbo switch.

27
Global data initialization for turbo switch is over. Any initialization before setting video mode to be done next.

28
Initialization before setting video mode is complete. Going for mono mode and colour mode setting.

2A
Monochrome and colour mode setting is done. About to go for toggle parity before optional ROM test.

2B
Toggle parity over. About to give control for any setup required before optional video ROM check next.

2C
Processing before video ROM control is done. About to look for optional video ROM and give control.

2D
Optional video ROM control is done. About to give control to do any processing after video RON returns control.

2E
Return from processing after video ROM control. If EGA/VGA not found do display memory R/W test.

2F
EGA/VGA not found. Display memory R/W test about to begin.

30
Display memory R/W test passed. About to look for the retrace checking.

31
Display mem R/W test or retrace checking failed. About to do alternate Display memory R/W test.

32
Alternate Display memory R/W test passed. About to look for the alternate display retrace checking.

34
Video display checking over. Display mode to be set next.

37
Display mode set. Going to display the power on message.

39
New cursor position read and saved. Going to display the Hit <DEL> message.

3B
Hit <DEL> message displayed. Virtual mode memory test about to start.

40
Going to prepare the descriptor tables.

42
Descriptor tables prepared. Going to enter in virtual mode for memory test.

43
Entered in virtual mode. Going to enable interrupts for diagnostics mode.

44
Interrupts enabled (if diags switch is on). Going to initialize data to check memory wrap around at 0:0.

45
Data initialized. Going to check for memory wrap around at 0:0 and find total system memory size.

46
Memory wrap around test done. Memory size calculation over. About to go for writing patterns to test memory.

47
Pattern to be tested written in extended memory. Going to write patterns in base 640k memory.

48
Patterns written in base memory. Going to find amount of memory below 1Mb.

49
Amount of memory below 1Mb found and verified. Going to find out amount of memory above 1Mb memory.

4B
Amount of memory above 1Mb found and verified. Check for soft reset and going to clear memory below 1Mb for soft reset next (if power on go to POST # 4Eh).

4C
Memory below 1Mb cleared.(SOFT RESET)

4D
Memory above 1Mb cleared.(SOFT RESET); save memory size next (go to POST # 52h).

4E
Memory test started. (NOT SOFT RESET); display first 64K memory size next.

4F
Memory size display started. This will be updated during memory test; sequential and random memory test next.

50
Memory testing/initialisation below 1Mb complete. Going to adjust displayed memory size for relocation/ shadow.

51
Memory size display adjusted due to relocation/ shadow. Memory test above 1Mb to follow.

52
Memory testing/initialisation above 1Mb complete. Going to save memory size information.

53
Memory size information is saved. CPU registers are saved. Going to enter real mode.

54
Shutdown successful, CPU in real mode, disable gate A20 line next.

57
A20 address line disable successful. Going to adjust memory size depending on relocation/shadow.

58
Memory size adjusted for relocation/shadow. Going to clear Hit <DEL> message.

59
Hit <DEL> message cleared. <WAIT...> message displayed. About to start DMA and interrupt controller test.

60
DMA page register test passed. About to go for DMA #1 base register test.

62
DMA #1 base register test passed. About to go for DMA #2 base register test.

65
DMA #2 base register test passed. About to program DMA unit 1 and 2.

66
DMA unit 1 and 2 programming over. About to initialize 8259 interrupt controller.

67
8259 initialization over. About to start keyboard test.

F4
Extended NMI sources enabling is in progress (EISA).

80
Keyboard test started. Clear output buffer; check for stuck key; issue reset keyboard command next.

81
Keyboard reset error/stuck key found. About to issue keyboard controller interface test command.

82
Keyboard controller interface test over. About to write command byte and init circular buffer.

83
Command byte written; global data init done; check for lock-key next.

84
Lock-key checking over. About to check for memory size mismatch with CMOS.

85
Memory size check done. About to display soft error and check for password or bypass setup.

86
Password checked. About to do programming before setup.

87
Programming before setup complete. Uncompress SETUP code and execute CMOS setup.

88
Returned from CMOS setup and screen is cleared. About to do programming after setup.

89
Programming after setup complete. Going to display power on screen message.

8B
First screen msg displayed. <WAIT...> message displayed. About to do Main/Video BIOS shadow.

8C
Main and Video BIOS shadow successful. Setup options programming after CMOS setup about to start.

8D
Setup options are programmed; mouse check and init next.

8E
Mouse check and initialisation complete. Going for hard disk controller reset.

8F
Hard disk controller reset done. Floppy setup to be done next.

91
Floppy setup complete. Hard disk setup to be done next.

94
Hard disk setup complete. Going to set base and extended memory size.

96
Memory size adjusted due to mouse support, hard disk type 47; any init before C800, optional ROM control next.

97
Init before C800 optional ROM control is over. Optional ROM check and control next.

98
Optional ROM control done. About to give control for any required processing after optional ROM returns control next.

99
Any initialization required after optional ROM test over. Going to setup timer data area and printer base address.

9A
Return after setting timer and printer base address. Going to set the RS-232 base address.

9B
Returned after RS-232 base address. Going to do any initialization before coprocessor test.

9C
Required initialization before co-processor is over. Going to initialize the coprocessor next.

9D
Coprocessor initialized. Going to do any initialization after coprocessor test.

9E
Init after coprocessor test complete. Going to check extd keyboard; keyboard ID and NumLock.

9F
Extd keyboard check is done; ID flag set; NumLock on/off, issue keyboard ID command next.

A0
Keyboard ID command issued. Keyboard ID flag to be reset.

A1
Keyboard ID flag reset. Cache memory test to follow.

A2
Cache memory test over. Going to display any soft errors.

A3
Soft error display complete. Going to set the keyboard typematic rate.

A4
Keyboard typematic rate set. Going to program memory wait states.

A5
Memory wait states programming over. Going to clear the screen and enable parity/NMI.

A7
NMI and parity enabled. Going to do any initialization required before giving control to optional ROM at E000 next.

A8
Initialization before E000 ROM control over. E000 ROM to get control next.

A9
Returned from E000 ROM control. Going to do init required.

AA
Init after E000 optional ROM control is over. Going to display the system configuration.

B0
System configuration is displayed. Going to uncompress SETUP code for hot-key setup.

B1
Uncompressing of SETUP code is complete. Going to copy any code to specific area.

00
Copying of code to specific area done. Going to give control to INT 19h boot loader.

 

[FatesWebb]

as you can see from above A7 is when it assums NMI and parity enabled. and is Going to do any initialization required before giving control to optional ROM at E000 next.


Now dont ask me but maybee its your ram?

 

[JoBlac]

cheers mate,

after you gave me the full POST code list (motherboard book only gave some codes) i fiddled about with the RAM, took it out and put it back in and hay-presto it boots up.
thanks again

howard