New 1ghz Athlon Build not Booting

[rthielemann]

Hi All,

Just put together an Athlon 1ghz system last night with:
-Atlon socket a 1ghz chip (chrome orb fan and heatsink).
-Gigabyte ga-7zm matx board
-128mb and 64mb module of pc100 ram
-Voodoo 3 2000 pci video card (old tech I know but sufficient for my needs)
-cdrom,floppy,cdrw,
all going into and Enlight7237 ATX case with 300w power supply.

When I turn on the power, you can hear the fans and see the leds on the cd and cdrw go on, as well as the hdd led on the front of the case, but there is no POST beeps and no image on the monitor. I also notice that I have no light on my Floppy drive and it appears to be inactive. I don't know if that has anything to do with the problem but it was strange to me. Could it be the Pwr,HD,speaker,cables connected to the mobo? Gigabyte,while making a good board, is usually terrible with documentation,as the don't translate well. And as far as there tech support goes....well, lets just say that I am waiting on an answer to an email question I sent them 5 months ago. Any help would be appreciated. Boy is this frustrating.


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Bob

[Randy_tx]

First......try posting with only the memory, cpu, keyboard and video card hooked up. If it posts up then you have some device not cabled right in all likelyhood. If it doesn't post up, then you need to Make certain you have the right cpu perameters set (ie..unless it is the newest generation Athalon, you CANT run it at 266 FSB for example - it will only work at 100 mhz with a 10 multiplier& visa versa). If it is the latest generation Athalon (266 FSB) then you will have to return it or the motherboard...it's not fast enough. Double check the cpu to see if it is the "Standard" Athalon or the new generation requiring 266 FSB (which your board will not support). DO NOT TRY THE 110~133 MHZ FSB SETTINGS - they wont work!!

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Always wondered where Silicone Valley was...saw a pic of Pamela Anderson...now I know

[This message has been edited by Randy_tx (edited 04-05-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Randy_tx (edited 04-05-2001).]

[rthielemann]

Thanks for the reply. I believe that the Processor is the 200mhz "standard" version. Wouldn't I still get some sort of beep sequence from the POST even if there was some issue or would that be halted if something was connected wrong? Or could the speaker be connected incorrectly? I know the speaker cable is on the right pins but I don't know which direction it should be facing(an item lacking in the Gigabyte docs). Also, I have read that it could be the pci video card causing the problem. Could this be? You mentioned setting the bus to 100mhz. Should this be done using the set of Dip Switches that are on the board? Sorry about the "dumb" questions...this is my first AMD build. Any additional suggestions or ideas would be more then welcome.

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Bob

[Randy_tx]

Regardless of the Video card....you wont get ANY beeps until the CPU is correctly set up. There are Three "flavors" of Athalon Socket A cpu's @ 1,000 mhz. There is a 100 mhz /200 mhz /266 mhz type. The ONLY one that will work with YOUR PARTICULAR MOTHERBOARD is the 100 mhz variety. You can examine the cpu chip (Socket A chip) and tell which it is. If it is ANYthing other than 100 mhz......It wont work on your motherboard (Your board will only go up to 133 mhz). So...check that out FIRST http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif To achieve the 1,000 mhz, you will need a 10 multiplier (100 mhz X 10)- Additionally, you must set the voltage on your motherboard to the correct voltage ...The Second # stamped on the cpu itself after AMD-K71000 will be a T=1.6V or a P=1.7V or a N=1.8V ...that will tell you the "core" voltage to use. If this is too technical you will definately want to take this to a Technician ....YOU DONT WANT TO BURN UP THAT EXPENSIVE OF A CHIP! Anyways, the most important thing to learn is whether the cpu you have is the correct one for the motherboard you have. It MUST be a 100 mhz to work with your mobo.



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Always wondered where Silicone Valley was...saw a pic of Pamela Anderson...now I know

[rthielemann]

So...just to verify, if I am running the Athlon 1ghz at 200mhz fsb it will not work with my mobo? If so...its back to the store with the mobo.

Thanks for everything.

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Bob

[Randy_tx]

That is correct.....your mobo doesnt even GO to 200 mhz! It stops @ 133 mhz. Additionally, the cpu you have, if it is a 200 mhz variety, will only work with DDR Ram (the PC1600 variety)....sooooooo, you need to make sure you buy a motherboard that supports BOTH a 200 mhz FSB + PC1600 DDR Ram (which you will have to buy).
Needless to say, the LEAST expensive way to go is to trade the cpu in for a 100 mhz variety and then the RAM and MOBO you currently have will work.
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Always wondered where Silicone Valley was...saw a pic of Pamela Anderson...now I know



[This message has been edited by Randy_tx (edited 04-05-2001).]

[Reid]

Have you tried running with just one stick of memory at a time? Also make sure they are fully seated in the socket. Some info I found on the board says it has bus speed jumpers on it. You might try the lowest setting (95 MHz) and see if it posts. It looks like the CPU voltage setting is automatic.

I don't think speaker polarity is important in this case, and certainly would not affect the boot.

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reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[Randy_tx]

Reid - Is your last post related to this topic??? I'm lost on trying to understand what you are referring to. The motherboard he currently has is a Gigabyte for a Socket A 100 mhz cpu.

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Always wondered where Silicone Valley was...saw a pic of Pamela Anderson...now I know

[Reid]

Randy, I was just looking at this GA-7ZM (http://bxboards.com/mainboard/socketa/gigabyte-ga7zm.shtml) link. I thought that maybe the bus speed jumper was set too high.
I had problems in the past on a couple of boards that would not run with the bus speed set at the RAM specs, but were OK when I backed them down a bit.

Did I look up the wrong board?

Your help was fine, please excuse me for stepping in.
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reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[This message has been edited by Reid (edited 04-05-2001).]

[Randy_tx]

No.....that's the right board; however, AMD Athalon's are REAL exacting with the FSB speeds they will run at. There are only three FSB settings that will work unless you are a VERY experienced overclocker...Those speeds are 100/200/266 ....He believes that he has the 200 mhz variety of the Athalon 1000......so his mobo wont work with it.

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Always wondered where Silicone Valley was...saw a pic of Pamela Anderson...now I know

[Reid]

No, I believe that Athlons only exist in two effective FSB speeds, 200 and 266MHz, which are generated from 100 and 133 MHz bus speeds.

"Although AMD has bantered about a "200MHz system bus" spec, they have never really explained exactly what that means - the words "100MHz FSB" are basically non existent on their Athlon info site. The Athlon actually operates at a 100MHz FSB (Front Side Bus), which is the pathway between the CPU and the chipset. The 200MHz spec is actually an effective speed, because the Athlon is capable of transferring data on both the rising and falling edges of the system clock, which essentially doubles the bandwidth to 200MHz, or 1.6GB/second. AMD accomplished this by licensing the EV6 technology from Digital, makers of the Alpha processor."
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/reviews/athlon700/index2.html



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reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[sea69]

any Athlon 750 chipset uses EV6 technology so whatever the bus speed is mutliply that times two , as it signals on both edges of the clock- and you have it.

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*another 'toaster' bites the dust*

[Randy_tx]

Reid....you are quoting from a 1999 article....things have changed http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif The "classic" Athalon ran at 100 mhz FSB - period....yes they had vaporware which claimed to increase the speed to 200....BUT the motherboards were 100 MHZ BOARDS. Then AMD came with the SOCKET version of the Athalon...again 100 mhz FSB......HOWEVER, within the last 6 weeks or so they began producing two NEW versions of the Socket A or 462 pin Athalon which take advantage of the new DDR type Ram. Those cpu's run on 200 mhz FSB MOTHERBOARD's or in the case of the very latest chip - a 266 mhz FSB MOTHERBOARD.
See http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon/760chipset.html
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Always wondered where Silicone Valley was...saw a pic of Pamela Anderson...now I know

[This message has been edited by Randy_tx (edited 04-06-2001).]