Can't boot Biostar M7VIW / AMD XP1700

[Dimear]

I just bought a new motherboard and processor, but can't get into the bios setup. The system doesn't get beyond the Biostar splash screen. I have almost nothing connected:

Motherboard: Biostar M7VIW version 1.0
Processor: AMD TBRED 1700+
Memory: Crucial 256 Mb PC133 SDRAM
Hard drive: Maxtor 14 Gb
Video card: ATI Radeon 9500 Pro

I don't see any jumpers on the motherboard that look relevant (other than CMOS clear, which is in the default setting). I've tried replacing the memory with a DDR DIMM (the motherboard can take one or the other), tried replacing the hard drive with another Maxtor, tried replacing the video card with a Voodoo 5. Nothing changed. All of the components (except the new motherboard and processor) were taken from a working system. I tried pressing all of the keys, and the F9 key brought up a message about loading a setup menu, but didn't get any further.

I'd like suggestions on what else I can do before I send it back to Newegg. Also, I assume it's the motherboard that's bad. Can someone smarter than me confirm or deny my suspicions? Thanks.

 

[microAmp]

For grins try clearing the CMOS. I rememeber a long time it was always a good idea to clear the CMOS when getting a new board....

 

[Dimear]

I tried this too...no change. Would you guess that the motherboard is bad or should I suspect the processor?

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: Dimear
I tried this too...no change. Would you guess that the motherboard is bad or should I suspect the processor?

Welcome to AnandTech forums ! You would not have even got a splash screen with a dead proc....

 

[Dimear]

Ok - made a little progress, but I'm still stuck.

Turns out I didn't press ALL the keys. The tab key gets rid of the splash screen so I can see where the system fails. The system checks the memory just fine, then says "Detecting IDE drives ..." , then just sits there. If I disconnect the hard drive, the system runs normally and allows me to setup the bios. Yay. But I still haven't been able to get the system to run with a hard drive.

Some other info: If I have a hard drive connected to the primary IDE cable, the system fails with "Detecting IDE drives ...". If I have it connected to the seconday cable, it's ignored (not detected) and the system functions normally. It doesn't matter where I plug it in on the cable, nor whether the hard drive is set up as master or cable select.

I've tried 3 hard drives (2 maxtor, 1 western digital), 3 IDE cables, and all of the permutations of jumper settings/IDE ports/placement on the IDE cable I can find. The bios is the most recent version (came this way), and it's set up to automatically detect anything on the IDE ports.

Is there anything I'm missing or is this definitely a dead motherboard?

 

[xSauronx]

any optical drives work?

 

[Dimear]

I just tried a couple of optical disks too. One of them, a newer DVD-ROm, is ignored (not detected). The other, an older CD-ROM, causes the same "Detecting IDE drives ..." problem described above.

Is there a chance that the Power Supply has gone bad? Everything seems to be spinning and whirring like it should, and the hard drives feel like they're on, but I can't open the tray in the optical drives. Does the system need to be functional at some level (i.e. the optical drives recognized) for the optical drives to open?

I'm still guessing the motherboard has IDE issues, but would like other peoples' opinions or suggestions. I'd hate to pay a re-stock fee for something that I just didn't know how to operate.