When I power up, the power supply kicks on, and the hard drive indicator light comes on. Then after a few seconds it makes a grinding noise and then turns off. This is as far as it goes. It started after I installed 32mb pc133 for a total of 64 mb. I'm guessing that it doesn't detect the memory, because the boot process is halted immediately. I did the usual check on the jumpers and cables, then reseated the ram, but to no avail. Here are some specs:

PII - 450
2 x 32mb pc100
AMI Bios 5.2.2.8
Floppy, CD rom, 7GB HDD, and Windows 98se

Not sure what kind of mboard...it has 1 pci and 1 isa, no agp. It has on board sound and video. It looks like a cut-down version of Gigabyte's Ga-5ax. Warranty is expired, that was my first insticnt was to check the warranty. Figures it screws up now...Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Try just with your old memory and see if it boots. I had the same problem, had to flash my bios for it to take more memory. Old memory worked fine had to re seat about 3 time to get it to work. After bios flash it took all the memory. Post back if this does not work and we will try something else. And a big welcome to the PC Guide http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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One day I will be a pro, Thanks Andy

Yeah, I talked to a friend of mine, and he said just to reseat the ram over and over and over and eventually it would just come on. I reseated it about 20 times, maybe I just need to do it some more. How do I flash the bios?

Read this and understand thouroughly before flashing a bios

it is definatly not for the faint of heart.

http://www.tyan.com/support/html/how_to_flash.html
http://www.abios.com/

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W/Me (memory eater)
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Ok...uh...I think I'll reseat the ram some more!

Hi Jinks,
Open your case and see if you pushed a wire into the CPU fan. This new Grinding noise concerns me greatly. It could be the system is not detecting enough fan speed to protect the CPU and auto/shutdown happens.

Oh yea, unless you have barnicals and algee growing on your RAM slots, reseating them 20 times or more will not fix your problem http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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Please let us know if what we suggest helps. This helps us help you better.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but "grinding" noises coming from your computer usually signifies a harddrive problem or going out?

Question, does it "beep" repeatedly after it boots up?
Usually when I have a memory detection error, the PC beeps 2,3, or 4 times.

J.S.

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("If at first you don't succeed, suck harder, then you will succeed!" cited Curly Howard of the 3 Stoogies)

The grinding noise is coming from the hard drive, yes. It only does it about 5 seconds after I hit the power button for maybe half a second, and then the indicator light on it goes out. The fan wasn't obstructed, and it doesn't beep at all, either. This is the weirdest thing I've seen yet...

if that noise is coming from your HD The smart thing to do right now is back up every thing you need to save becouse it sounds like it might be going south for the winter and not returning.If your sure it's not the fan and it's the HD

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W/Me (memory eater)
Me Help (http://www.webtechgeek.com/center_Frame_win_me_tips.html)
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answers (http://www.dewassoc.com/support/index.html)

Time for a new Harddrive.

The Master Boot Record/Operating System etc. isn't being furnished by the HDD as it has come to a grinding halt. As you stated the boot process is halted immediately.

barnicles and algee... now that's
funky. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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......Indecision may or may not be my problem......
...... Kickin' A Rock....

If you have a Win98 boot disk wouldn't that bypass the HDD initially and isolate if the HDD is the problem?

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May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

..If you have a Win98 boot disk wouldn't that bypass the HDD initially and isolate if the HDD is the problem?

Si, Senior.

That's why knowing DOS and having an emergency repair disk ( bootdisk ) are important no matter what OS you are running {Linux included}.

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iisbob
"Bachelors should be heavily taxed. It's not fair that some men should be happier than others."
-- Oscar Wilde

Problem solved! The guy that sold me the ram told me it was pc100, but it turned out to be pc133, which the mboard didn't like. So I swapped out the 133 with a 100, and it works now. That still doesn't explain why it didn't boot with the original ram only, but as long as it works I'm happy. Thanks for your help!

that also does not explain the Grinding noise coming from the hard drive??? I would still think your going to have problems mem.not going to make grinding noises??

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Treading,Troden,Trails
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I don't know about the grinding noises, either. I'm just gonna be careful and back up everything often so when it fizzles out I'll still have all my work. Computers are just plain weird sometimes!