Help! What is the problem?

[Atomik]

Hello All! I have spent the last few days browsing the forums here to see if I couldn't fix the problem myself. Although many people have had the same issues as me, I could not seem to find the culprit.

Anyways, I inherited a p4 3.2E processor so I decided to build the best rig I could afford around the chip. I went with an Abit IC7-G, 1GB Kingston HyperX PC-3200 (2-2-2-5), BFG 6800 (vanilla) and a 200GB Maxtor SATA drive. I chose the Zalman CNPS-7000B-AlCu for the HSF. To power it all I have a 420Watt Enermax Noisetaker.

I hooked everything up, powered it on and got no video. Stripped it down to the bare minimum (cpu + ram + vid card) and finally showed some signs of life. Hooked up a cdrom drive, and once again stared at a black screen. Took everything out of the case, disconnected the cdrom drive and got video, although this time it gave me a "CPU has been changed or is unworkable" error. Reseated the CPU, and started it up with the cdrom connected and it posted fine. Shut down, connected the SATA drive to the SATA1 connector, and once again got no video. From here, no matter what I did I got no video. I disconnected everything and tried a new power supply, and it posted, although without my HD connected. In the odd chance I did get video, I either got a CMOS Checksum Error or the afformentioned CPU error.

At this point I tested everything individually in another setup (ram, video card, hard drive, cdrom drive) and everything worked. I am thinking I may need a BIOS update. I will try it later today when I pick up a Floppy Drive.

Anyone else have any other suggestions? I am hoping I am just missing something minor here and won't need to RMA this mobo. Thanks in advance, and props to all those who read this novel 🙂

 

[montag451]

Some vid cards have an extra power [molex] connection that is needed for it to work

 

[Atomik]

Yes, I did have my 6800 connected to a seperate molex connector. I also tried a different video card, and also a PCI vid card, both to no avail. It was hit or miss with the video, but now it is just miss. I cannot even update the bios to see if that is the problem. I think I am going to send the mobo back and look at some alternatives.

 

[firerock]

Have you tried to update your mobo bios? Or, it is possible that you have a defactive mobo?

 

[boshuter]

Chances are the bios update will fix it. You will get that error if your bios doesn't have the microcode for the cpu you are trying to run.

 

[jackschmittusa]

Topic Summary: This isn't supposed to happen with Intel chips!

Where'd you get the idea that Intel is bullitproof?

I think you don't see as many posts about Intel stuff because most homebuilders/enthusiasts don't choose it. Kind of like not hearing about a lot of problems with Kias on the racing circuit.