I must be missing something fundamental. My mobo died (smoke coming out). My best guess is it shorted when I jammed some wiring inside a bay, but I'm not certain.

I purchased a new mobo - Soltek 75FRV. I am using XP 1800+, Volcano 9 HSF, 512 PC 2100 RAM, Antec True Power 430 PSU and 60GB Maxtor hdd. Only the HSF was bought at the same time as the mainboard because my old one required attachment from under the board with 4 screws and this mobo didn't come with the holes.

I powered up and all fans (including heatsink fan), lights and switches work properly. Then I brought the machine into my office and attached the monitor and connected the hard drive. The monitor works because the LED lights up and I see the test pattern. But there is no bootup, the case speaker doesn't beep, nothing. I turned over the IDE cables in all possible combinations, but that wasn't it. I then tried another hdd with the same result.

Suggestions please!!

When you say the LED lights up on the monitor, what color is it? Green or amber?

Try reseating the video card and memory.

Those components that were on the Mboard

that got smoked.... RAM etc.

May have got smoked also.



RD.

Your PC is failing to complete the Power-On Self Test [POST].

There is no point in connecting the HDD because it's not reaching the part of the startup process where it tests memory, detects drives and attempts to boot.

1. Disconnect all Peripherals & System Adaptor Cards except the display setup [Video card & Monitor] and keyboard.
2. Test PSU voltages if you can.
3. If they're ok but POST still fails [no single beep and no display of white characters on black background] then you have a fault in the motherboard or something on it [assuming an ok PSU].

Unfortunately, you're all on the right track. Firstly, the new mobo, upon close inspection, showed some worn areas. Parts that were supposed to be black, sections of them showed metal. So I'm sending back to newegg. I was concerned also that I was finding tiny metal shavings in the case. I don't know if they came from the mainboard or the case lian-li, aluminum) when I screwed in a drive, maybe. Or perhaps a
fan?? Anyhow I ordered an Abit KD7 from newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/app/specification.asp?item=13-127-136

That leads me to some questions. How to I know if the cpu is fried? I have no other AMD system with which to check it. With just the video card and memory there was no beep at all. And nothing appeared onscreen.

A friend to the PSU to see if it's okay. It powers fans and lights, but I don't know.

I bought a retail box CPU in January, would I be under warranty or does that not cover frying? ;) And if I had to buy one, I previously had an XP1800+. would going higher make a performance difference? I don't overclock or game. But the new board is rated DDR400 so I figure someday I'll upgrade the 512 of PC2100 I have.