HELP! Computer won't boot properly after installing Asus A7V8X-X mobo

[jagr10]

Ok, i just finished replacing my epox 8k7a mobo with an Asus Asus A7V8X-X mobo and when i first booted up the computer, everything was fine and the bios screen was there. I had to choose a cpu speed and since my cpu is amd 1.4GHz i chose 1400. Then i changed the date on the bios because it said May 8 and today is May7.

Then i exited and saved the changes. The computer reboots and then the monitor goes out like it's not connected or there's no video card. So then i try with my other monitor and same thing. What did i do wrong? Now i can't see anything. THe computer is on and running in the background but what good is that when i can't see anything?

What should i do now?

 

[mechBgon]

For starters, try resetting the CMOS (unplug computer, press Power button to drain the power supply, and reset the CMOS using the jumper, then power the system up again).

Also, a full rundown of the parts (brand & model, including your power supply) would be useful.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: jagr10
Ok, i just finished replacing my epox 8k7a mobo with an Asus Asus A7V8X-X mobo and when i first booted up the computer, everything was fine and the bios screen was there. I had to choose a cpu speed and since my cpu is amd 1.4GHz i chose 1400. Then i changed the date on the bios because it said May 8 and today is May7.

Then i exited and saved the changes. The computer reboots and then the monitor goes out like it's not connected or there's no video card. So then i try with my other monitor and same thing. What did i do wrong? Now i can't see anything. THe computer is on and running in the background but what good is that when i can't see anything?

What should i do now?

You formatted the hardisk right?

 

[jagr10]

I formatted the HD earlier. I tried what you said mechBgon. It surprisingly didn't do anything. How come the very first time everything works fine and then since i left the bios i get no video.

I have:

IBM P96 Monitor
Fong Kai Case
Asus A7V8X-X Mobo
AMD Athlon 1.4GHz cpu
ATI Radeon 8500 LE vid card
2x 128 MB sticks of Crucial ram
no sound card
12x Toshiba DVD ROM
40 gig Maxtor HD
431W Enermax PS

I also have 2 fans.

 

[mechBgon]

Is your 1.4GHz Athlon designed with the 200MHz frontside bus, or 266MHz? They had both variants, and I wonder if your board is trying to force a 200Mhz-based CPU to run at 266MHz now. I'll see what I can learn from the owners' manual and report what I find.

 

[jagr10]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Is your 1.4GHz Athlon designed with the 200MHz frontside bus, or 266MHz? They had both variants, and I wonder if your board is trying to force a 200Mhz-based CPU to run at 266MHz now. I'll see what I can learn from the owners' manual and report what I find.

That's a good question. Any way for me to find out? Would that allow the system to work at first though?

I also noticed the floppy light is solid and on.

 

[mechBgon]

Hmm, the board's not equipped with a jumper to set the FSB range or anything...

One other thought: the old Thunderbirds don't have an onboard thermal diode, so if your CPU isn't getting effective thermal contact with the heatsink, it's going to overheat and fail, whereas the AthlonXP's would tell the board "Shut down, NOW" in that situation. The usual reasons for poor thermal contact are:

[*]Heatsink installed backwards (it's directional)
[*]Heatsink clip intstalled backwards, if the heatsink/fan unit comes disassembled (eg Volcano 7+)
[*]Heatsink and clip are on the right way, but too close to the raised solid-plastic end of the CPU socket and gets jacked up at that end, preventing flat contact with the core
[*]No thermal compound or used-up thermal patch
[*]User forgets to take cover slip off of a new thermal patch[/list]

So you might want to double-check your assembly work and consider buying a nice shiny AthlonXP 1700+ if you think you cooked your old Thunderbird Athlon. Hope it all works out for the best...

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: jagr10

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Is your 1.4GHz Athlon designed with the 200MHz frontside bus, or 266MHz? They had both variants, and I wonder if your board is trying to force a 200Mhz-based CPU to run at 266MHz now. I'll see what I can learn from the owners' manual and report what I find.

That's a good question. Any way for me to find out? Would that allow the system to work at first though?

I also noticed the floppy light is solid and on.

Solid floppy light usually means the floppy drive's cable is installed upside down at the floppy drive, so flip it over there. There's another possibility too, it might be trying to recover from a BIOS corruption (see page 2-7 of your manual about the CrashFree BIOS).

As for the CPU, if you can get us the writing off the CPU core, we can check to see which FSB it's built for.

 

[Erasmus-X]

In a situation like that, I think it's most likely the CPU. I'm guessing that your chip is a "T-Bird" variant, which like mechBgon was describing, isn't equipped with a thermal diode (i.e. easy to fry if the heatsink isn't installed properly). That particular motherboard should actually detect whether the chip is designed for 200 or 266 MHz FSB, so no problem on that end.

The only way to really test this though is to slap another Slot-A class chip on the board. You can slap a 1700+ Thoroughbred chip in for all of $69.00 (retail box with full 3-yr warranty and heatsink/fan) from Newegg. If you're not overclocking, the retail heatsink with the thermal tape will work just fine.

Otherwise, try booting up with that chip again on the old motherboard (unless of course that board's dead...).

 

[jagr10]

Ok i went through a box of old software and manuals (thank God i kept those) and i found a paper that says my AMD Athlon is FSB 266MHz.

I'll check the floppy cable, but the red line is in the direction lised in the mobo manual.

As for the heatsink, i'll try putting it the other way. When i was putting it on i noticed you could put it on either way and didn't know if there was a correct way. Is there a clear way of seeing if the cpu is no good? will it be darkened in some areas?

 

[Erasmus-X]

Is there a clear way of seeing if the cpu is no good? will it be darkened in some areas?

To answer that question, I've seen fried CPU's that show no visible sign of physical damage whatsoever; and I've also seen dead CPU's whose cores look like they've been burned in an oven. The only true way to tell whether or not that CPU is dead is by testing it on an another supported motherboard. After all, you could have a bad motherboard and not even know it.

 

[mechBgon]

Edit: Forum gremlins banished (I hope) by deleting what I posted

 

[mechBgon]

Something is freaking out the Forums, I have not been able to correct the bad link in the previous post. Let's try again... Asus A7N8X-X page

 

[jagr10]

Man, this is the most annoying thing ever. I feel for anyone out there that has problems after putting a rig together. I was so fricken happy when it was all together and i booted up the computer and saw the bios screen. Then after that it was all frustration.

I'll waste more money and try buying a cpu tomorrow and see how that goes.

I can't try the bios crash thing because i need the "aflash.exe" file and it's not in the bios updates on the asus site.

Thanks for your help guys.

 

[mechBgon]

Search the motherboard's CD for aflash.exe, I bet it's on there.

 

[jagr10]

ok i'll check that. thanks.

 

[jagr10]

No luck with the disk. i popped it in and the green light just stays on. It's not even trying to read the disk for some reason. Does this sound like a mobo problem or cpu? I know i'll be pretty ticked off if i buy a cpu and find out i have the same problem. I guess i don't have much choice though. The joys of building a computer!

 

[Erasmus-X]

Well at least with buying a new CPU, you'll pretty much know for sure which component is the culprit. It's starting to sound more and more like a CPU problem though. In my experience the BIOS generally has little to do with a problem like that. They don't just work and all of a sudden stop working like that. Here's what we know as of now:

1) Your BIOS initially let you set processor speed, date, and time. After making those settings your system won't boot and will only give you a blank screen.

2) Your floppy drive doesn't seem to be working. Well, we know that floppy ribbon cables are directional, and USUALLY the red stripe on a floppy cable will be positioned on the same side as the power cable going into it (this isn't always the case with some models, however). If you get a solid access light (green or amber, depending on the drive) from the floppy drive when you boot up, that's a tell-tale sign the ribbon cable is plugged in upside-down. However, whether the floppy drive works or not has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the system booting up. In fact, it is 100% possible for a PC to function without one. Case in point: lots of new laptops, where a floppy drive is optional equipment.

3) Okay, now assuming that the floppy drive is connected properly, if you still can't boot at all, we know for FACT that it isn't your floppy drive. You wouldn't be able to run the ASUS aflash.exe utility if you wanted to. So I reiterate, you have a major system component problem (motherboard, CPU or memory). But I'm going to be put my money on the CPU. I've seen too many people fry their Athlons from improperly installed heatsinks. Then again, I've also seen similar problems happen with bad RAM or DIMM sockets. It's really hard to say at this point.

Good luck to you!

 

[jagr10]

Thanks for all your help guys! I'll go buy a cpu today and install it. The floppy drive thing is very weird. I'll try the floppy drive in my other computer and see if it works.

 

[jagr10]

Good news guys. I installed a new cpu (xp 2220+) and now my computer works just great! Thanks for all of your help!

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: jagr10
Good news guys. I installed a new cpu (xp 2220+) and now my computer works just great! Thanks for all of your help!

w00t! Have fun!

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Something is freaking out the Forums, I have not been able to correct the bad link in the previous post. Let's try again... Asus A7N8X-X page

I think I wore my scroll wheel out on that bigazz post of yours Mech

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Something is freaking out the Forums, I have not been able to correct the bad link in the previous post. Let's try again... Asus A7N8X-X page

I think I wore my scroll wheel out on that bigazz post of yours Mech

Ohmigosh :Q I did try to edit it about half-a-dozen times trying to fix the link that wouldn't work Aaaack, now I look like a mad l33t 1D10t!

edit: ok, I deleted it. It didn't look that way yesterday, at least on my end, so I don't know what's going on.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Something is freaking out the Forums, I have not been able to correct the bad link in the previous post. Let's try again... Asus A7N8X-X page

I think I wore my scroll wheel out on that bigazz post of yours Mech

Ohmigosh :Q I did try to edit it about half-a-dozen times trying to fix the link that wouldn't work Aaaack, now I look like a mad l33t 1D10t!

heh...I'm dumber..I actually read three of those goofy paragraphs b4 I noticed that ..hey...same things were being said... then I was like scroll to hell and back....heh...wheel still works..love Logitech