Hello Everyone,
I just purchased a new ASUS motherboard (P4T-E i850 P4 (Northwood) Skt478 RDRAM ATX Motherboard) and a new P4 processor. I have been having difficulty trying to get my computer to even get to the POST test. Right now, I have the motherboard sitting on the box it came with, hooked up to an ATX power supply, P4 processor, and a GeForce 3 graphics card in the agp slot. Currently there is no RDRAM or hard drive installed. What I should be getting when I power up the computer is a some sort of beep signal indicating that no RAM is detected or something to that nature. But I do not hear anything. Everything powers up, the fans turn on and everything - the green light goes on in the motherboard, but the monitor instally goes into standby mode. It's not the video card either because I've used different ones that I know work (PCI cards as well). It's not the CPU because I just got it replaced and it's brand new. I don't think the motherboard is fried. There are no burn marks and power still circulates through it. Something is prohibiting the system from completing the POST test though. I've been working on this for weeks now and still stumped. I'm thinking maybe it has something to do with jumper settings on the board or possibly the CMOS battery - i don't know. There is a jumper-free setting on the board and it's currently set to that.

Any help from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

Hi Brian

I'm having exactly the same problem only mine is with a system that, until the problem occured this weekend, was totally stable. My first thought was that the CPU had gone so I went out and bought a new AMD 1700XP (with new cooling fan - just to be on the safe side) - no luck - it didn't resolve the problem. I've been out today & bought a new motherboard - horror of all horrors!!! it still hasn't fixed the problem. Unless I'm missing the obvious, that leaves two possibilities - memory or power supply (unless the old motherboard fried the new cpu ????). I think my next step is to replace the power supply (but i'm open to advice) as I would have thought that memory problems would generate an audible beep?? I will let you know how i get on. Let me know if you solve yours in the meantime.

Thanks

Ian

------------------
Ian

bjb3812,

What happens with the memory installed?
Did you try the memory in different slots?
Did you clear CMOS with a MB jumper or by removing the battery?
Does the battery test at 3.0+ volts?
Are the memory and the video card securely inserted?

Originally posted by ski:
bjb3812,

What happens with the memory installed?
Did you try the memory in different slots?
Did you clear CMOS with a MB jumper or by removing the battery?
Does the battery test at 3.0+ volts?
Are the memory and the video card securely inserted?

- When the memory is installed I still get no beeps
- I tried the memory in different slots (memory is good also)
- It actually won't matter if there is memory present or not, because if not, I should be getting a beep during the POST and it's not even reaching that point yet.
- I can't find a MB jumper for the CMOS, but I did remove the battery, boot the computer, then put the battery back in.
- I do not know how to test the battery at 3.0+ volts - anyone else know?
- Yes, all devices are securely inserted

Thanks in advance for any more suggestions...

What Bios do you have in this mother board.
1005 adds a few feature including

Add support for Northwood CPU B0 stepping microcode.


You may need it to support your cpu.

Originally posted by Rick:
What Bios do you have in this mother board.
1005 adds a few feature including
You may need it to support your cpu.

Rick,
I do not know the BIOS installed on the motherboard, but would that not allow the motherboard to even execute a POST? The motherboard I bought should be fully compatible with the 1.80A Ghz P4 processor I got - maybe it might help if i show you exactly where I got the board and what kind it is - http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=240223

Thanks,
Brian

You are correct .
That board should support the 1.8 with no problem.

I would start by double checking the dip switch settings.
You have to set it on 1-2 for jumpered and 2-3 for Jumper free as I recall.
Then the switches must be in the proper position on the dip

If it fails using jumper free then you may be better off using jumper mode.
Your manual should have a diagram for the proper settings of Buss, CPU and Memory
settings on the dips.

I would also double the speaker wires for correct polarity.
Red to + and black to -
It should work if they are reversed. But it’s still worth checking

Originally posted by Rick:
You are correct .
That board should support the 1.8 with no problem.

I would start by double checking the dip switch settings.
You have to set it on 1-2 for jumpered and 2-3 for Jumper free as I recall.
Then the switches must be in the proper position on the dip

If it fails using jumper free then you may be better off using jumper mode.
Your manual should have a diagram for the proper settings of Buss, CPU and Memory
settings on the dips.

I would also double the speaker wires for correct polarity.
Red to + and black to -
It should work if they are reversed. But it’s still worth checking

Rick,
I appreciate your help. I tried setting the dip switches, disabled jumper-free and turned on the computer, but I got the same thing. I also made sure the speaker wires were in the correct positions, but unfortunately that wasn't it either. ahhh, I'm running out of ideas.
Anything else anyone can think of would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,
Brian

Appears that the MB is bad. Have it checked to make sure.

Interesting, I have been having the exact same problem for the past few days, with a system I've had for over a year and which has always worked fine. I start it up, the fans start, the power LED comes on, nothing else happens. No beeps, nothing on the screen. I also tried all the standard methods of determining what was wrong, with no success.

One thing I noticed was that before it started doing this, it would sometimes boot up a bit more slowly and make a series of low beeps (or buzzes) which don't match any of the Award codes, but everything went fine after that.

I'm running out of ideas... I just can't see the problem - can a motherboard 'go bad' all of a sudden? And I don't see any burn marks or any kind of physical damage. If anyone else has some insight it would be greatly appreciated.