ScoobyDoo555

Well, I've bought it today -
A gigabyte GA-71XE4 (AMD750 AGPSet)

and an Athon GIG.....

I bought a new case too.....

Got the chip and M/Board for £185!!!

Now here's the problem -

I've set the board up (correctly I think) but when I power up, nowt. Nish. Nada.

Or to be more accurate, the system powers up (fans & hard drive), but nothing on the screen.

HELP!!!! I'm tearing my hair out

I think it's something to do with the AGP - I'm running an ATI All In Wonder 128 (Rage 128 chip)

ANY help would be greatly appreciated

BTW I've rebuilt my old machine to keep working in the meantime......

Thanks in advance,

Dan

(Copied from 'computer advice' for more coverage)

Lee

Take the graphics card out of the box and put it into the agp slot

seriously, do you get any indication that the machine is progressing (keyboard lights flashing, floppy light going on/off) etc that would indicate things are happening just that you can't see it ?

drop down to basics..unplug all floppy/hard drives (plugging the cable onto the floppy drive the wrong way round is a fav of mine - light stays perm. on) and remove all cards apart from the graphics one.

is your screen a power saving one ? does it go from suspend to signal-in, but just no picture. if you are not even getting a signal in then suspect the card. if you get a signal in but no display, its worth resetting the CMOS - I had a monster server once which exhibited your problems, I just reset the CMOS and was away..

failing that the next thing is to try a graphics card you know works (ie current machine)

Lee.

ScoobyDoo555

Cheers Lee,

I've taken it down to basics. Just plugged in the card (I know this works coz it helping me see what I'm writing right now! )

Just to re-emphasise - this is the same card that I'm using in both machines.

Re monitor. It's not recieving signal. It is an energy saving one though.

I get NO indication that the system is progressing.

The only thing I can think of is the RAM being the wrong type (SDRAM PC100 128 x 2 chips)

Will I still get SOME type of boot up with no RAM installed?

Just thinking of other ways to narrow down the problem....

What about shorting between the m/board and the case? I've got the white spacers etc.... Is there anything else I should be doing?

Again, any help etc....

Thanks in advance,

Dan

Ian Cook

Sorry dont know much about Athlons !

What bus speed does the 1GIG athlon run at, if its 133 FSB (Front Side Bus) then the memory will not work ! You would need PC133 memory, you can put PC133 memory on PC100 bus but not the other way round !

If you take the memory out and start it (i know this sounds daft) do you get piccies on the screen ! it will beep like mad !!

If this works, then you have the answer !

If the graphics card works on the other machine as you say it does, then i doubt its that !!!

Only other thing is the chip, is it seated correctly ? take it out, make sure none of the pins are bent ! (i assume they are socket not slot chips now like S370)

Hope this helps !

BarryK

Apologies if Granny and sucking eggs etc, what bleeps does it make when it fires up?

I have had this problem with nearly every AGP slot I have used, I never push the card fully home, even though I always think I have and it screws in position etc.

Just shove it in a bit more, as the actress said to the bishop. Honest guv, I'd swear I've pressed as far as I can and I haven't, loads of times, it's the first thing I look for nowadays!

ScoobyDoo555

Good point Barry.

It DOSEN'T bleep

But I can't guarrantee whether the speaker is working.... although I have plugged it into the jumper socket as per manual....

I remember when my mate had the same problem with a similar card - he actually HIT it!!!

Low and behold, it worked!!!

I'm just surfing to confirm a couple of other things (like whether the processor's inserted the right way around !)

Keep the suggestions coming

Thanks

Dan

Ian Cook

Processor should only be able to go in the right way round, will have a little triangle on one corner that coresponds with the corner on the socket that has some pins missing, if it is the wrong way round its terminal

ScoobyDoo555

Amazing the things you think it is eh?

Nah, of COURSE the processor's in the right way round!!!

Dead right Ian - it will only go in the one way.

This is how I've tested it so far -

Just the M/Board + AGP card. Nothing else. Oh yeh, plus the monitor No RAM or h/disk

Still nothing.

I've even tried a different card (NVidia TNT2) - still nowt.

What else can it be?

If I can't get it sorted today, I'm going to pay somebody to build it (I hate to do it but I need the new PC) - even if it's to see whether it's the processor.....

Anybody in the Midlands (West) fancy having a bash at it?

Cheers

Dan

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Managed to find your Motherboard eventually. That's a bit of an old bugger....
It does not support AGP 4X
Virtually no motherboard known to man will fire up and display the BIOS screen without any RAM in it.
I take it that both of the VGA cards are AGP?
Vey unlikely, but Most BIOS's have an option for which display adapter to initialize first, eg PCI or AGP. Normally, if it is set to PCI, but an AGP card is the only one present, then it normally binds to that, but some motherboards that I have come across have other ideas.... The AMD chipset does not support running RAM at 133MHZ while running the normal CPU bus at 100MHZ, so it it pretty unlikely that the RAM is the cause, at least speed rating wise...

Tha Athlon/ Duron chips can be a bit fragile when attaching the Heatsinks and it a delicate operation to avoid damage to the core as I'm sure you realised. What power rating, output-wise is the PSU? You really need a PSU capable of cranking at least 250W+ to run Athlons and Durons. Avoid using the piggy-back from the PSU to power the Monitor ( just being paranoid). Just because, you have not got any peripherals, cuh as HD's plugged into the power source does not mean that you can rule this out. Most PSU's as far as I know only allocate a certain % of the PSU power to the Motherboards ATX connector. This provides power to the Main CPU and AGP Bus etc. The 2 mentioned produce quite a drain on the PSU, especially the Athlon which can pull upwards of 50W all on it's own!

I take it that you have removed the BIOS battery and pulled out external power and shorted the cmos reset jumper if it has one?

CPU speed/bus speed set absolutely correctly?
By jumpers or BIOS?

Check out all of the above and fire her up with a PCI graphics card, if you can get hold of one . Place in PCI1 and make sure that the AGP card is not plugged in when you do this.

Downloading the manual for your board as I type. Will see if I finds anything interesting.

Unfortunatly, the AMD chipset that you have really is a tad behind the others now...

See if you can take it back if you can and get one of the boards we all discussed in your previous post.


Hope some of this helps.......


Nick

ScoobyDoo555

Would I be correct in assuming that if there are NO beeps at all, the processor is most likely to be at fault, or would it be the mainboard?

I'm contemplating sending it back to the shop....


Dan

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Not necessarily, but no way of telling i suppose. I would take it back if you aren't getting anywhere and make a note of the things tried. I have found that unless I blind them with science when I have to return things, they are reluctant to do anything about it. Go on, get an abit, you know you want to!
Did you check out any of the above things?????

Nick

ScoobyDoo555

Morning Nick

Yeh I tried that lot. The ONLY thing I haven't tried yet is using PC133 RAM. Do you think that will make a difference?

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Doubt it very much, as it is certainly not a speed issue. Your chipset can only run the RAM at 100MHZ, so it's not that the board is too fast for the RAM. I suppose that it could be a RAM incompatability, but this is pretty bloody rare these days.

Nick

ScoobyDoo555

Well I'm just waiting to get in touch with the shop. When I've got a result I'll let you know.

BTW thanks for all your help

I'm also gonna try and change it for the Abit - hindsight's a wonderful thing - it waasn't that much more!!!!!

Cheers

Dan

ScoobyDoo555

Result!!!

Just been in touch with the shop - had fears that they would worm out of it, but fair play to them, the bloke said "no problem, just send it all back and we'll replace it all and test it for you"

When I get it all back, I'll name the company for other people to use

I'm off to package up the stuff

Again, a BIG thanks to all who've replied.

Dan

Dr Hu

I'm betting on a dead motherboard - I have have bought a brand new motherboard with the same symptoms as yours in the past - shop swapped it and no problems.

The only other option is dead processor - although this is more unlikely.

Both will give the same symptoms as you.

As it is not giving you any POST beep codes it is not even running the BIOS so it has got to be one of the above - and my money's on the MoBo.

The shop SHOULD sort this out pronto - it's a terrible feeling though isn't it - I know I've been there several times - a pile of expensive bits and it doesn't work - DOH!

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

Probably too late now, but is the case you are testing the m'board in setup for the correct board. Had a problem in the past where the m'board was shorting out because it was resting on top of a screw point on the case, giving the same situation you describe. Put a bit of card or something betwen them and it worked fine. Had sent back 3 boards before I found out what the problem was, doh!!!

ScoobyDoo555

Yeh, it's a horrible feeling especially when I begged the wife to let me buy it. Just to see it all there in bits.... not a nice feeling at all. In fact, I had a sleepless night last night worrying about it (first time EVER - I must be getting old or something )

Robertio, I'm sure the case is the right one - it even gives you little surface mounted nuts for the various board sizes (AT/ATX etc) The screw/bolts come with little red plastic washers on top just to break the contact. I've even bought some more plastic board spacers to ENSURE it doesn't short.

Just need to wait for the board to come back. Cost me £10 in postage, but hey, if it's sorted, who cares eh?

Cheer peeps again, for all your help

Dan

robski

When I bought my system I had a duff mobo and a duff processor!!

all credit to dabs they replaced both asap and it worked fine the second time.

I have heard of a few people with the same problem when overclocking. Its caused by the level 1 bridges, you wernt trying to overclock a system at build were you!?

robski

ScoobyDoo555

Nah Robski!!

If I wanted a faster processor, I'd have bought one.

My current PC is only an AMD K6-2 450....

Going up to an Athlon 1Gig/256Meg RAM/32Meg ATi card - should be a BIT of a difference anyway

I'll keep you all posted

Dan

ScoobyDoo555

Well, I've had the shop on the phone today.

They were bang on. Very helpful. They put the board & chip on test, and.........

it works fine!!!!

Turns out it is the RAM. Apparently, the board will take PC100, but is VERY fussy.....

apparently......

Anyways, it's being posted back to me and I should have it up and running over the weekend

Again, thanks to all who've responded.

Dan