2 new Fry's combo pc's neither one posts, help

[Soulkeeper]

i just purchased 2 combo deals at fry's electronics

athlon 64 3200+ am2 + ecs k8m890m-m

and

core2 duo 4300 775 + ecs p4m800pro-m


after installing a stick of 256MB DDRII 533 in each system, connecting an 80GB pata hard drive, and hooking up a tr2-430watt thermaltake psu neither system will post
or atleast neither system will give a signal to the monitor

both boards have integrated via graphics

i shouldn't have to put an addon vid card just to get the systems to post on first boot right ?
i shouldn't have to connect a floppy to get them to post either

i tryed clearing the cmos on both boards to no avail
the fans spin up, i can hear the hard drive spin up each time i hit the reset switch, but i get no post beeps or vga signal

any ideas ??


is it possible they sold me crappy outdated boards with bios's that don't support these cpu's at all ?


anyone else purchased one of these fry's combos ?


thanks for any help

 

[BigShroom]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
is it possible they sold me crappy outdated boards with bios's that don't support these cpu's at all ?

BINGO!

At least on the e4300 combo for sure. There's a thread about that one in hot deals.

 

[SparkyJJO]

ECS boards are crap IMO, but I don't see why 2 would be DOA like that. Maybe they don't like that RAM that you have. I've heard that these newer systems with DDR2 are more picky about RAM than the s939 platform was.

 

[Soulkeeper]

what would you all recommend as my next step ?

take everything back ?


btw i built both these systems for 500 bucks total

 

[BigShroom]

From what I understand you either need to find(or buy then return) older cpu's that are compatible to put in so you can update the bios or sell/give away the ECS mobos and buy new ones.

 

[mechBgon]

If the 80GB PATA drive happens to be a Western Digital, then make sure it's jumpered for Single Master (which is when the jumper cap is completely removed and left off).

Other than that, ensure that the ATX12V cable is hooked up (two yellow wires, two black wires, square 2x2 connector). Try the system outside the case on cardboard. Research the BIOS/CPU issue too, of course. More troubleshooting brainstorms here, 4th link down the page.

 

[Soulkeeper]

yeah the hard is set right

another thought, if infact the bios/cpu support issue is the cause, why would any am2 board not support an athlon64 3200+ wasn't that like one of the first and pretty a sure thing to be supported by these bios's ?

 

[Soulkeeper]

i'm too tired to mess with this crap anymore tonight, i'm getting illiterate

i was mostly hoping someone that had purchased one of these combos would see this post

tomarrow i'll try throwing a stick of ddrI in the conroe board as it supports both ddrI and ddrII
also i'll try a different psu

 

[pcgeek11]

I have ordered three ECS boards in the past and each and every one was DOA and would not post when I received it.

ECS = The Suck.

pcgeek11

 

[engiNURD]

i ordered a couple e6400's with the p4pm800-m v2.0 from fry's, and they posted fine on first boot. make sure the hsf is in all the way.

 

[jackschmittusa]

Single stick of ram needs to be in the first slot on most mbs with built in vid.

Does ECS still ship the baords with the cmos jumper in the clear position? Did you move it before trying to start?

 

[Soulkeeper]

yeah i tryed with the cmos jumper in both positions to no avail
also tryed 1 and 2 sticks of mem in different slots

 

[Soulkeeper]

is there a place where i can buy preflashed bios chips for ecs motherboards for cheap ?

 

[Soulkeeper]

anyone know where i can download a bootable dos iso image for bios flashing ?

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
anyone know where i can download a bootable dos iso image for bios flashing ?

I believe bootdisk.com has some CD images that would work for you (though it's mostly just floppy images there)

 

[corkyg]

Why even hesitate? Take 'em back to Fry's and get something that works.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i just tryed flashing both bios' in my other system with no success
the bios utility apparently won't work on a system with different hardware
and i can't force the awflash to flash an ami bios

looks like my options have run out
i shoulda just purchased online


any chance fry's would flash these bios chips for me if i go down there ?

 

[corkyg]

I just dodn't understand the reluctance to take 'em back to Fry's and say, "Make 'em work or give me my money back."

Gotta be one or the other. At least a full credit towards the buy of a pair of decent mobos.

 

[engiNURD]

Originally posted by: corkyg
I just dodn't understand the reluctance to take 'em back to Fry's and say, "Make 'em work or give me my money back."

Gotta be one or the other. At least a full credit towards the buy of a pair of decent mobos.

i agree.

 

[Soulkeeper]

well i took the AMD combo back
with the 100 bucks from that i purchased an asus core2 duo mb (which is nice)
i figured i'd keep the core2 duo combo because i payed 150 for the cpu +mobo and at most other places it costs 170 for just that cpu alone
if i ever wanna use that motherboard i can pay 25 bucks for a new preflashed bios from badflash.com

 

[iluvdeal]

People have reported Fry's flashing the board for them for free, not sure why you wanna spend $25 for a BIOS (which is about what the board would fetch on ebay). I'd bring it back to Frys and ask them to flash it.