no post beeps

[Guest_imported]

I recently bought a amd athlon xp 2100+ barebones motherboard with a sis730 chipset from "PCCHIPS" I have a amd xp 1700+ cpu,512 pc133mhz mem modules, and 80 gig HHD.To make a long story short I get no post beeps whatsoever when I put it all together.I took the mem out and then tried so I should have at least gotten a no memory post error.Right? I also tried without the cpu installed.I took everything out and installed agian. ACK! nothing.Anyone out there ever had to deal with this?
Thanks
STumped

 

[papa70]

Yes you should get error beeps with no RAM.
To narrow it down further disconnect all the drives and pull all the cards. You might want to leave the video card in, if you aren't sure the speaker works.

 

[GrandpaCarl]

Vital missing information:
1) Do the fans all run?
2) Do the lights on the keyboard lite at all?
3) Does the disk access LED ever turn on?
4) When you press the power on switch, what do you hear happening?
5) Is the speaker properly connected?

Things to check:

1) Measure power supply voltages with a voltmeter.
2) Make sure CPU fan runs.
3) check all connectors, being sure they are correct.
4) make sure all boards, memory chips, and CPU are firmly seated.

More comments when you answer above.

GrandpaCarl

 

[raven1]

Thank you both.I have integrated video and sound so I have any cards installed.I tried to put in a video card but that didn't help either.My monitor is a black screen.I'm not even seeing a signal on the monitor for detection.All the fans(cpu,casefan) run, along with the led lights, power switch,keyboard,and my speaker is connected.I know when I first got everything put together I had the cmos jumpers set to clear by mistake but have since then corrected them.AS far as the specs go on this board it says that it should support amd xp 1.4 ghz cpu. one question I cant find is whether it supports high density modules and how can I tell the difference between high density and registered?
Thanks for your help

 

[raven1]

I have tried to hook up to another monitor also thinking that it might be the problem but same thing.No beeps,no video.

 

[papa70]

RAM problems should cause beeps, so I wouldn't be concerned about RAM. If you have disconnected everything else you are limited to a power supply problem (not likely because it was working ok before), motherboard (plugging OK?) or CPU.

 

[Neo81]

sounds more like a CPU Issue, you will not get any post error beeps when the cpu is not working or not setup correctly, have you check all the dipswitches and stuff are setup correctly ?

Later
NEo81 >:O>

 

[raven1]

I don't see where I can set dipswitches.From what I can see there all in.Could it be the motherboard? I guess I would need another mobo to check the cpu.
Thanx

 

[jbourque]

I had a similar problem, and believe it or not, the problem was a defective diskette drive. made the computer DO NOTHING. I assume you have already tried to bring up with nothing but cpu, and memory. if you have unplugged ALL THE CABLES AND POWER except for the above, then the MBoard is probably bad, or the CPU is hosed. If you just got it, check with the company on their replacement policy. Ain't this a fun business to be in some times!!!!

 

[mikecx]

Either CPU or set a jumper/dip-switch wrong. My computer wouldn't boot up the first time I used it. There was a jumper set to use DDR ram and I was using SDRAM. No beeps. If Cpu is dead, no beeps will be heard.

 

[GrandpaCarl]

HI RAVEN,

O.K., so you have fand running, seeming to indicate that +12V is O.K.; LED lights light (on keyboard too?) light so maybe +5V is O.K.

Troubleshooting a system that has never worked yet, and as I understand it, is the case here, is rougher than troubleshooting a system that suddenly failed. While the power supply seems to have some life in it, it is still suspect until proven innocent. The CPU could be bad, and the motherboard could be bad. The real scary thought is that two or more could be bad at the same time!

If you bought the components from a local source, I would definitely take them in for testing. I bought one motherboard/CPU from a local dealer, and try as I might, could not get it to work. Took it in to have it tested. They did not want to wast the tims, saying, "We have had a lot of trouble with these motherboards, here's another." It was also bad. Took it back again, and they started to just give me another. I asked them to let me have two, hoping that at least one would be O.K., but they were both bad. Took them back and demanded refund. I hope your source is better than that, but it would save some time to have them show you it works on their test bench.

As far as beeps go, you should have beeps in case of error even if video was bad or monitor was dead, assuming the speaker is connected properly and that section of the motherboard is O.K.

One other thing you could check would be to leave the system on for a few minutes, then power down and feel of the CPU heatsink. It should be quite warm to the touch, even if the fan is working. If it is cool, then either the power supply +3.3V on power supply pins 1, 2, and 11 is bad, the motherboard CPU supply circuitry is defective, or the CPU is dead.

Other power pins are +5V at pins 4,6,19,20; +12V at pin 10, -12V at pin 12; -5V at pin 18. Pin 9 should be +5 when the power supply is plugged in, even if the system power is down. Power O.K. signal is at pin 8.

I wish you luck and hope I have helped.

GrandpaCarl

 

[ceh4702]

You may have a grounding issue here. Sometimes even a metal standoff can gound the motherboard out. I like to use those little brown paper washers when I mount my motherboard.

Take the motherboard all the way out and then remount it making sure nothing is grounding out. Do not ever bend or flex a motherboard. It can pop or separate a trace or a circuit and ruin a motherboard. Place motherboard on a flat piece of cardboard and install the memory and CPU before you install the motherboard to keep from bending it or flexing it in any way.

Oh Yeah, Do not buy PC Chips motherboards
(Personal Recommendation) If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[GrandpaCarl]

Rereading the entire thread reminded me of something that I found in the case of one motherboard that I purchased separate from the CPU. Since the motherboard was designed to use a variety of CPU's with different voltage requirements, NO jumpers were installed, so the CPU would not be powered at all until the (hopefully) proper violtage was selected by jumpering. No CPU power = No active CPU = no beeps. Did you get a manual with the motherboard? Hopefully it would tell whether jumpering was required for what CPU. I would think you have already checked this, but I would rather not take it for granted.

GrandpaCarl

 

[raven1]

There are only two set of jumpers to set which are the cmos and the hotkey for the keyboard.Both are set right.I'm in the process of sending the mobo back too pcchips.Also,ceh4702 is right...dont buy PCchips mobo's.I have read the reviews which are not to good.I have a new mobo on the way and if this happens again I will at least know it has to be the cpu chip.
Well back to check to see if it indeed might be shorting out.If it is...does this mean that the mobo is fried?

Grandpacarl...was this motherboard that you had so many problems with be a PCCHips? lol...I thought I had a mess.

Thank you all for helping I will let you know what the problem was.

 

[raven1]

Can someone set fill me in on power supplies? I got to thinking that maybe my ps wasnt enough for everything I had loaded.I had amd xp 2200+ mb with a xp1700+cpu, a 80 gig hd and 512mb ram.This barebones system came with a atx 250w ps.

I was looking at power supplies and some say atx ps wp4 ready.Does this mean that this ps will work for pentuim and atx mb?

 

[GrandpaCarl]

HI RAVEN,

No, the motherboard I had problems with was not PCChips. It was nameless, and I should have been extremely suspicious from the start. No name meand I am not proud of the product I make. It was an import, nut no further info.

As to power supplies, it is always better to have more power, but 250W may be O.K. Believe it or not, an 80GB HDD these days takes much less current than an ST225 Seagate 20MB! I typically run at least 2 drives.
AMD chips do require more power than Intel CPUs, I believe, but don't know right off hand just how much.

Some external video cards draw a fair bit of power, but from what you stated at the beginning, I assume the video is on the motherboard, and total power for those is less than a separate card.

Hope you are able to get your system running soon.

GrandpaCarl

 

[GrandpaCarl]

HI RAVEN,

Here is a site you should check out regarding power supplies:

http://cgi.techtv.com/memberservices/newsletters?click=6006&release=1211

The guys on The Screen Savers go through the calculations. For what you have, 250 might well be adequate, but you don't have a lot of room to grow, should you desire to.

GrandpaCarl

 

[ceh4702]

Most likely the problem is the PC Chips motherboard and the high return rate of PC Chips Motherboards. This is the one brand of motherboard I would definitely not recommend. Before you buy another motherboard you may want to go to

http://www.motherboards.org/rank/AMD/total/motherboard-

rank.htmland

See which motherboards have the best rating. Keep in mind this is a suggestion. There is another good site at:

http://www.anandtech.com/

They have benchmark tests and reviews of motherboards. If they did not test the motherboard, you may want to avoid buying it. Their tests still sometimes pick brands that are not the best quality from time to time. Even with all the preperation and research you can still get a lemon. Price may be an issue, but if the motherboard just is not trustworthy, no amount of savings can fix that.

It is possible all the jumper settings are controlled by the BIOS. This is a common paractice among motherboard manufacturers. Usually they also have jumpers, but normally a jumper free boot option is available which is safe enough from keeping a person from destroying the processor.

Dont ever start a motherboard up unless the CPU has a properly installed heatsink and fan or some other type of cooling system approved by the CPU manufacturere (AMD/Intel/VIA) If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[raven1]

Ok so I got my new motherboard today.A ECS k7s5a.
I installed everything at a time as far as drives and memory gnce I had the chip(xp1700+) in and a 512 stick of sdram 133mhz.I powered it up.I got a sucessful post beep and then it says..checking nvram and stays there.Nothing else.Also, as some of you might remember I wasnt getting any post beeps on the PCchips motherboard.Well I had a 256 stick of ram that is no good. As far as I can tell anyway.I put in the second slot on the new mb and I got no post beeps or video.But I think I tried the 512 in pcchips too.
Anyway...back to my problem now.Why does it get stuck on the checking nvram?Or am I impatient and not waiting long enough? I waited at least a minute I can't imagine it would take longer then that.
thanks

 

[GrandpaCarl]

HI RAVEN1,

I am not sure what the problem is, but the message you are getting about testing nvram has nothing to do with the SDRAM chips. NV means nonvolitle. Which could be the CMOS RAM, some flash memory or other nv RAM on the motherboard. It could also be some form of configuration RAM on a card plugged into the motherboard. Try operating with a bare minimum of cards in place and see if it makes a difference.

Rereading your messages, I note that you have a 1.7GHz CPU. At that speed, I somewhat doubt that the memory bus is only 133MHz. Make sure that your RAM chips are adequate for the motherboard. That may have been the problem with the first motherboard, and I am sorry that I did not catch that right off the bat. Check the manuals for the boards if you have them and see what they say as to the memory requirements. Is the motherboard matched to the CPU as well?

GrandpaCarl