Please help my media centre boot!

matttaylor

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Processor: AMD 64 3500+ Venice 939
Processor Cooling: Zalmon CNPS7700
Mobo: Asus A8N-SLI Premium
PSU: Seasonic SS-401HT 400W (S12-430 OEM)
Case: Silverstone LC17
RAM: 1Gb (2x 512MB DDR400 PC3200) Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT
HD: Samsung Spinpoint 250GB SATA II
Graphics: Gigabyte 6600GT Fanless PCIe (GV-NX66T128VP)

I've just put the above system together and it is not booting. :confused:
The fans and the hard disk are all firing up each time but that's pretty much all.
The main symptom is that I'm not getting any output from the graphics card.
I'm torn between the mother board and the graphics card as being the problem.

The last set of tests I performed resulted in 1 long beep & 2 short beeps (Failure in video system) from the motherboard which points to the graphics card.
If that was all then I could definitely say that the problem was with the card.
The confusing thing is that the motherboard has been really inconsistent in producing beeps which makes me think it is playing up.
Most of the time it just doesn't produce any beeps at all when booting giving me no indication of the fault.

To begin with the board wasn't producing any beeps at all.
Then I removed all the memory and got 3 short beeps (Base 64K memory failure) which is fine.
Putting both 512 MB sticks back in and again no beeps.
With just one stick in it will stop complaining about the memory and produce 1 long beep & 2 short.
Upon rebooting it may beep again or may just remain silent.
I even tried it without the processor once and it didn't beep.

I would greatly appreciate some pointers on how to get to the bottom of the problem or ideas of what could be the problem.
Unfortunately I don't have any compatible hardware I could swap about.

Thanks,

Matt
 
You have got the extra power via the molex connection connected on the motherboard haven't you?
 
Hi,

Yep, I've got the 24 pin connector inserted, the 4 pin ATX power connected and I've even tried it with the extra power cable for when your using two SLI graphics cards which I shouldn't need but no joy.

Just checking out the ASUS web page.
Seems they've got some tips which may help.

Keep those ideas coming.

Thanks,

Matt
 
Doubt it can cause a "no boot" but is the h/d in the first sataII (the black ones from memory) port?

Have you tried clearing the bios out - remove battery and short the jumpers?

I'd double check that the pins on the 24 connector are not bent - also on the mobo.

Reseating the chip may help.

Lastly, try and post out of the case - some times there are grounding issues?

And that's about all the shrimp you can get!!!!!
 
The fanless 6 series Gigabytes don't have a dedicated power input, they draw everything from the motherboard.
 
BigBry said:
The fanless 6 series Gigabytes don't have a dedicated power input, they draw everything from the motherboard.

My one does !
 
deleted member said:
Power to the graphics card?

Hi, no the Gigabyte fanless 6600GT that I have does not have a power special input.
The Asus motherboard does have a molex connector next to the first PCIe x16 slot which you have to connect should you want to run a 2nd graphics card in SLI. I've tried connecting that just incase but no joy.

I'm going to follow some trouble shooting guides from the Asus website tonight* and then post again if I'm still not getting anywhere. I don't want to be wasting peeps time.

Thanks,

Matt

* If I get time seeing as the girlfriend is moaning about me spending too much time on it
 
I don't think the PSU is the problem.
The fans & HD are all going and the green LED on the motherboard is say all is OK.
The motherboard manual says that for an AMD 64 3400+, two 6600GT cards and two HDDs config you need at least 350W.

Well I've got AMD 64 3500+, one 6600GT & one HDD with a 400W PSU so there's plenty of juice.
 
I spent and hour or so last night re-testing the system.
The motherboard was taken out of the case and had its CMOS cleared.

Upon booting with no memory installed I received the vocal POST warning message "System failed memory test", a good start.

Now I've got two sticks of Corsair Twin 512MB PC3200 DDR400, as recommended by the Corsair website for the motherboard.
When inserting these sticks in every combination imaginable (just one, both, different slots etc.) I get no vocal POST warning message, not
even when I deliberately put a single stick into what the manual says is the wrong slot.
Again no output from the graphics card.

Now this morning I took a PC2100 DDR266 chip from my girlfriends PC.
Put it in, booted up and fantastic! It all works, output from the graphics card is fine.

Now, the dilemma is this:
Either somehow both of these Corsair memory chips have blown or the motherboard is faulty and it is not recognising it?

The fact that a different memory chip works points to the memory.
The fact that the motherboard is just hanging rather than reporting the Corsair memory is duff plus the chances of both sticks being bad makes me think it could be the motherboard.

Any advice on how to handle it with the retailer/manufacturers?

Thanks,

Matt
 
BigBry said:
It's unlikely that the memory is fault but this free tool from Microsoft will verify if that's the case or not;
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Thanks,

I've just tried both the Corsair memory sticks in my PC at work and guess what, they work.

So the motherboard works with different memory and the memory works with a different motherboard.
It would seem then that I have a compatibility issue between the two despite them supposedly being compatible.

I think I shall contact both Asus & Corsair.
Any advice on how to handle it?

Thanks,

Matt
 
matttaylor said:
Thanks,

I've just tried both the Corsair memory sticks in my PC at work and guess what, they work.

So the motherboard works with different memory and the memory works with a different motherboard.
It would seem then that I have a compatibility issue between the two despite them supposedly being compatible.

I think I shall contact both Asus & Corsair.
Any advice on how to handle it?

Thanks,

Matt

RMA the memory (I was going to write RAM, but that would've looked wrong!) and get a refund or exchange it for another brand. I use Geil Value RAM without problems.

D.
 
The PCIExpress draws from the the motherboard - the AGP version requires power from a MOLEX
Thanks, I thought I was right and the OP is for a PCIe card which is why I'd said it in the 1st place.
 
Hooray, got it sorted after much fuss. :thumbsup:

Turns out all that was needed was a BIOS upgrade.
Of course you need some working memory in order to do that upgrade but luckily I did.

The actual upgrade was a bit of a palava, with the constant swapping about of floppy drives and the AWDFlash app complaining that the new BIOS file was corrupted.
For some reason the AWDFlash app from the Asus website didn't work so I used the EzFlash utility that's built in to the exiting BIOS.

I'm told you can updrade from bootable CD or USB pen but I can't find any instruction for it.
You'd think these days that would be the standard practice rather than filling manuals with floppy drive instructions. :thumbsdow

Cheers,

Matt
 

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