Need help , building new system

[casper]

Building a new system, with a 950 amd athlon tbird. 200 fsb,.
ecs k7vza motherboard. Have an older sis 6326 agp video card. Some have told me the card wont work with this system. Does anyone know if this would be true. ? Some have also said some motherboards such as this one wont allow first start up with an agp card , and have told me that i will need a pci video card.. Didnt know this would be so difficult.. Any help would be greatly appreciated... Thank You
Mark

[Whyzman]

Hello Mark,

I run an ASUS A7V133 with an AGP card. The most important thing I found during my getting this on the right track was the latest 4in1 Drivers for the VIA chipsets. Along with that would be the latest BIOS. You can get the 4in1 VIA drivers at: http://www.via.com.tw (latest BIOS of course from ASUS's web site).

If you retail purchased your MB then you have access to telephone Tech-Support from ASUS and they should be able to handle the AGP question swiftly and directly. Otherwise, I would email them...this could take time!

Again, up until the recent proliferation of alternate chipsets, peripherals were based on Intel's architecture and thus require a "workaround" to be used elsewhere. Be sure to have the latest drivers for anything you decide to add.

May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[YODA74]

This is a real good web for your Bios needs

http://members.nbci.com/WEB_HQ/bios.html

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

[iisbob]

Have an older sis 6326 agp video card. Some have told me the card wont work with this system.

? wonder why they said that? Did they give you any valid reason why not? Win98se actually comes stock w/SIS drivers, so why would a SIS brand AGP not work? Me thinks they did'nt know what they were talking about. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

Some have also said some motherboards such as this one wont allow first start up with an agp card , and have told me that i will need a pci video card

Sheese, someone really had their heads on backward that day-i have yet to find a Mobo ( at least not in the last 6 years ) that wouldn't recognize an AGP card upon boot-worst case scenario you'd have to enable AGP display 1st in the BIOS_but unlikely as it should detect it and configure it upon 1st boot.

Take your time, install your CPU/Heatsink-then memory, then plug in your AGP board, power it up and make surte everything looks right-then install your peripherals( floppy, CD drives, Harddrives, etc. ) then load your OS of choice and then configure your drivers. Seems like a lot doing it your first time, but just take it slow and make sure you make good connections with all your cables/jumpers configured correctly. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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iisbob
"640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates, 1981"
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." --Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

[casper]

Sorry, i guess i should have given more info.. What had happened was, i purchased all the parts. Put the system together. First push of the power button all i had was a cpu fan running, and a light on the motherboard telling me yes i have memory installed. No beeps, no screen on the monitor. Nothing. Checked all jumpers. Re inserted the memory. Re inserted the sis agp card. Checked all connections. Posted my problems in various
post it sights. majority stated the items i posted. agp card ect. Called the place i purchased the mb and cpu, they told me to send it back. Sounds like a faulty mb or cpu. Mailed it back last tuesday, second day air, with insurance. Guess what. Its lost. Usps told me i have to wait thirty days to file the claim. Anyways back to computer stuff. Should my system have reconized the monitor or i should say agp card. What else could have caused no beeps, and a blank monitor. Its not the monitor because im looking at it as i print this.. Ive been angry , frustrated, you name it.
My first shot at building my first computer. But now with everything else going on in the USA i guess my problem isnt so bad.. It can wait. But if you have any ideas im open too them .. Thanks for the recent help and any in the future,. And GOD BLESS AMERICA

[Whyzman]

Not specifically familiar with your ASUS board. However, from my initial struggles with my A7V133 I suspect that there may be similarities in their structure. My conversations with ASUS tech-support sorting things out brought to light the disclosure that ASUS does not really consider their boards user friendly. By that I mean that although their bench marks beat most competitors, the systems they usually go into are distributed by vendors building bulk numbers of the same system. Compatibility issues have been dealt with and then units are cranked out in assemby-line fashion.

Most of the posts I read in the ASUS NetQ Forum were problems dealing with not only hardware and IRQs, but finding correct placement in the PCI slots. There are shared slots on mine and I would suspect shared slots on yours. There is a page in my manual covering shared slots. This is more than IRQ sharing and you will not get through POST if there are conflicts.

You can check this out in the manual for your board. For example, the AGP slot shares with Slot 1. If you put your sound card into Slot 1, since it is shared with the AGP, you will not get through POST(thus, leave open). These simply cannot share resources. You will need to look wisely at the Interrupt Request Table for your MB. Yes, you may need to play musical slots! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

May all your dealings in life be win/win! And yes, God Bless America!

Whyzman

[bassman]

Hello Casper,
Well, I am sorry to hear about your situation of lost parts but, with the events on the east coast, our problems here do seem trivial. They are important to us none the less.
I have to go with iisbob on this one. When you get your parts back, try installing ram and agp only. You might even try it with the mobo out of the case on non-conductive material. If succesful, continue to install all other devices one by one and testing the system for functionality. Of course you want the mobo back in the case and working before you start installing everything else.
I can't agree or deny Whyzmans comments about Asus but, whether good or bad there seems to be a lot of talk about their mobo's and Via chipsets here. Just something to concider http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif
Good luck and keep us posted


EDIT: Seems I got more into what someone else was talking about. I see you don't have an ASUS mobo.Sorry. Setup proceedure still applies. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif
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If I tell you to think for yourself, then you're not doing it.
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This is not directed at those asking questions in order to gain knowledge. That shows you are thinking.

[This message has been edited by bassman (edited 09-16-2001).]

[chemaholic]

I would get an Abit KG7 if I were you. Good chipset and runs very stable.