HELP! KX7-333 Boot problems

[heat23]

I just put together a system that uses an Abit KX7-333 motherboard, with AMD Athlon 2100+ CPU, 512 MB DDR PC2700 RAM, cdrom and WDC 40gb hard drive. When I turn it on, it POSTS just fine, finds the drive, scans for RAID devices, but then the screen goes blank and my CRT monitor clicks (as if going into power saving mode). It does not attempt to boot from CD or boot from the hardrive with already has windows on it. Ive tried resetting the CMOS and changing boot orders, but it does not help.

Any advice?

Thanks

Edit: Tried booting off a floppy but it didnt even try to. Doest get that far to boot from anything! ahhh

 

[mechBgon]

I don't know if this will help, but

1) make sure the WD has no jumper on its Master/Slave/CableSelect pins if it's all by itself on its own data cable, they prefer to be in this "Single Drive" mode

2) Windows2000/XP don't like being transplanted from one platform to another, you may need to do a reinstall or an install-over-the-top (search Microsoft.com for "in-place upgrade").

 

[heat23]

I tried with 2 different hard drives, one Maxtor and one WD same problem. Ive tried booting off of a CD and floppy, it doesnt work -- it doesnt get far enough into the boot-up process to load anything.... any ideas?
I just bought a 400W power supply and still having same problem

Originally posted by: mechBgon
I don't know if this will help, but

1) make sure the WD has no jumper on its Master/Slave/CableSelect pins if it's all by itself on its own data cable, they prefer to be in this "Single Drive" mode

2) Windows2000/XP don't like being transplanted from one platform to another, you may need to do a reinstall or an install-over-the-top (search Microsoft.com for "in-place upgrade").

 

[mechBgon]

It might be interesting to try this: unplug all the drives from the data cables, then fire up the system with no drives and see if it still clicks out.

If the monitor stays on this time, then try shutting down and hooking up just the HDD on one data cable, fire it up and see if it freaks out again. If it does, cut the power, switch the data cable to the other IDE port on the motherboard, and fire it up again, to see if it likes one IDE channel but not the other. You could repeat the test with the CD-ROM drive if the HDD seems ok on either channel.

If the mobo dislikes one IDE channel, then take the mobo out of the case, lay it on cardboard, and test it outside the case to eliminate a short-circuit possibility where the mobo has been shorting to the chassis.

If the video still cuts out with no drives hooked up at all, then I would try a different video card. If there's disk activity going on when the monitor has cut out, then make a sandwich and come back after a few minutes to see if Windows Setup has been running in the background (I have seen systems where Windows Setup does this!). If so, it may come to the surface after a few minutes.

Good luck

 

[heat23]

Disconnected all IDE devices so that all I have connected is PSU, RAM, CPU, and VIDEO CARD....video cuts out.... Tried an AGP and a PCI video card...video cuts out....
I really dont think this is a video issue because its not booting from any drive.

Originally posted by: mechBgon
It might be interesting to try this: unplug all the drives from the data cables, then fire up the system with no drives and see if it still clicks out.

If the monitor stays on this time, then try shutting down and hooking up just the HDD on one data cable, fire it up and see if it freaks out again. If it does, cut the power, switch the data cable to the other IDE port on the motherboard, and fire it up again, to see if it likes one IDE channel but not the other. You could repeat the test with the CD-ROM drive if the HDD seems ok on either channel.

If the mobo dislikes one IDE channel, then take the mobo out of the case, lay it on cardboard, and test it outside the case to eliminate a short-circuit possibility where the mobo has been shorting to the chassis.

If the video still cuts out with no drives hooked up at all, then I would try a different video card. If there's disk activity going on when the monitor has cut out, then make a sandwich and come back after a few minutes to see if Windows Setup has been running in the background (I have seen systems where Windows Setup does this!). If so, it may come to the surface after a few minutes.

Good luck

 

[mechBgon]

Huh I don't suppose you have a similar motherboard you could swap in there as a fact-finding step?

 

[heat23]

Nope, I dont have a similar mobo.....but
i did connect my TV to the video card instead of the CRT, and it does still cut out..but maybe a half a second slower than my CRT. I was able to see the screen where it displays all the IDE devices, ram, IRQ stuff, and it says "VERIFYING DMI POOL DATA...". That is the last thing it says before it cuts out. Any ideas?

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Huh I don't suppose you have a similar motherboard you could swap in there as a fact-finding step?

 

[mechBgon]

My thought is mostly along the lines of "faulty mobo"

 

[heat23]

after changing some BIOS settings I am able to get it to say "UPDATE SUCCESS" for Verifying DMI Pool Data...However, screen still goes blank. doesnt boot off floppy or my hard drive which already has windows on it

 

[heat23]

Ok we might be getting somewhere... I only connected my CDROM as the primary master and I was able to boot off the Windows XP CD! However, when I disconnected the IDE cable from the cdrom and put it on the Hard Drive...back to the same problem.. doesnt seem I can boot off the floppy either
any ideas?

 

[CaptnKirk]

If you tap on the <DELETE> key during start-up, you should be able to get to the BIOS.

In BIOS first find and load {DEFAULT], then load [OPTIMUM],
then in the first display menu on the left, set TIME and DATE

Find the BOOT SEQUENCE and set EVERYTHING to [BOOT FROM CD]

Insert the CD & do a re-start, and see if it will run it.

You may have to run a WD-Diagnostics, even back to the Floppy Disc 'WRITE ZEROS".
if it BSOD's on you during the program loading.

 

[Lvcoyote]

Make sure your using an ATA 133 Cable with that hard drive, also double check that you have the floppy drive cable inserted to the motherboard and the floppy correctly.

 

[heat23]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
If you tap on the <DELETE> key during start-up, you should be able to get to the BIOS.

In BIOS first find and load {DEFAULT], then load [OPTIMUM],
then in the first display menu on the left, set TIME and DATE

Find the BOOT SEQUENCE and set EVERYTHING to [BOOT FROM CD]

Insert the CD & do a re-start, and see if it will run it.

You may have to run a WD-Diagnostics, even back to the Floppy Disc 'WRITE ZEROS".
if it BSOD's on you during the program loading.

i just bought a new ATA133 IDE cable and floppy drive cable but I'm not having any luck booting from the CD anymore. However, I was able to boot off the hard drive ONCE, but thats it. As soon as I changed something around it broke again. I've tried every combination of devices hooked up and all kinds of BIOS setting changes, but I cant seem to boot off anything... screen just goes blank...im running out of ideas. I at least want to boot off a floppy disk, which I cant even do

 

[heat23]

Ok Im seeing some weird behavior. Somehow I got the hard drive to consistently boot up with that being the only device connected. I then connected my CDROM and CDRW onto the Secondary channel but then I couldnt boot off my hard drive, the screen went blank. So then I disconnected the IDE cable going into the secondary channel but then i STILL cant boot off it.. how could that happen?

 

[heat23]

OK I replaced the CMOS jumper with the one from my CDROM and now the computer seems more stable. I am finally able to boot off of my CD with my hard drive also connected...Windows setup is currently running... I'll keep yall posted

 

[Lvcoyote]

Wow, a bad cmos jumper??? First time I have ever seen that happen.....LOL. Looks like your on your way.......