Need some hardware help...

Started by benthehutt, February 21, 2005, 05:00:40 PM

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February 21, 2005, 05:00:40 PM
Hey, I've got a nifty problem...It seems that my motherboard is acting screwy or something.  The problem is thus:

I'm putting together this computer(I know everything is compatible) and the first time it starts up it's fine, so I mess with some CMOS stuff (the CPU frequency, etc.) and reset it.  However, the computer will not display any video now.

So, I cleared the CMOS and restarted--it started fine.  Now, even if I don't mess with the BIOS, whenever I restart the dumb thing, I have to clear the CMOS to get video...  Anybody got any idears?
Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
February 28, 2005, 06:27:16 PM #1
Need more info... what kind of video card, onboard or not, MB type, etc... Need full specs and settings...
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March 03, 2005, 03:54:39 PM #2
sorry, here's the full specs:

Soyo P4-VTE MB (Prescott ready)
P4 2.4Ghz/533Mhz FSB Processor
8M S3 Video Card (I also tried a GeForce 4MX and it didn't work either)
256M Generic PC3200 RAM
30G Seagate HD (parallel)
DVD-ROM, CD-R, Floppy
Windows 2000 Pro
350W PS

That's it, I don't think there's anything else on it.  Any help would be appreciated.
Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
March 06, 2005, 11:30:11 PM #3
Well, not sure exacts here but ill start from the top. If your machine doesnt POST (beep) on startup then you arent setting your CPU settings correctly in the BIOS. Take a peek at the manual that came w/ the Motherboard to check and verify that the settings are correct. If they are and the board does POST, just no video, you may have a bad board. I really dont think its your video card only because resetting the BIOS on the board wont affect the card unless you are changing some settings specific to the AGP/PCI/PCI-X slot. POST is done with the CPU, so if the board isnt doing it, that means the CPU isnt working right either because the board is bad or the chip is bad. Thats always a hard one to troubleshoot, so if you have another board to try the chip in, that will help. Also, check the MB website and see if maybe there is a BIOS update you may be able to apply. Sometimes BIOS updates can fix those annoying glitches.
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March 13, 2005, 05:02:49 PM #4
It turned out, after I updated the BIOS and tried a different board and all that crap, that the company sent me different RAM that wasn't compatible with the MB.  I've never seen RAM incompatibility do that; it was funky cause it would run fine with Windows and all after you cleared the CMOS.  Anyway, thanks for the advice.
Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
April 14, 2005, 02:52:57 PM #5
That is unusual. Ram incomp. or just bad ram the machine generally will tell you in POST or you will notice annoying quirks like lockups or spontaneous reboots (always a favorite). ;)
"A well known hacker is a good hacker, an unknown hacker is a great hacker..."

I don't care what your parents told you, you aren't special.
  • https://github.com/tazinator
April 14, 2005, 05:27:58 PM #6
Plus, the idiots were selling the RAM in a MB/CPU/RAM bundle, so why the crap wouldn't they make sure it worked? >:(

But it's all good now. 8)
Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
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